RIVAL managers Stan Ternent and Sammy McIlroy were involved in an angry war of words after Burnley clinched a last-minute 4-3 win over Macclesfield Town at Turf Moor yesterday.

And Ternent and some of his players were also engaged in a heated debate with Macclesfield defender Efe Sodje as he became embroiled at the centre of the storm as the teams left the pitch.

The Burnley boss revealed that the run-in with Sodje was a throw-back to last October when the Macclesfield defender was involved in an incident with Clarets striker Andy Cooke, who was sent off for violent conduct.

"When we played at Macclesfield, Sodje, in my view, cheated and got Andy Cooke sent off and it's a roll-over from that," confirmed Ternent.

"The lads were incensed with it and they told him so because they have been waiting a long time for that."

Ternent added: "Sammy McIlroy accused me of calling them a pub team. Never, ever have I called Macclesfield a pub team.

"I have got the greatest admiration for what he's done there. I never said that.

"He sparked it off. He's the manager, he should have dealt with Sodje and in my view he didn't.

"I reported it to the PFA and they didn't do anything either.

"This is the guy who was in the bar, and I have witnesses to it, after the match bragging that he got Andy Cooke sent off and there was nothing wrong with him. "That's what all that was about and players have long memories.

"I shook hands with Sammy after the game.

"I have no axe to grind with Sam. He runs his club the way he sees fit and it's up to him."

Feelings were running high after a remarkable relegation showdown that saw Burnley come back from the dead in inspiring fashion and then almost throw it all away again before a last-gasp Steve Davis strike lifted them out of the bottom four.

But nothing was ever going to take the gloss off arguably the Clarets most important result of the season in a must-win game for Ternent's men who fought back from 2-0 down with goals from Glen Little and Tom Cowan and then equalised again at 3-3 when Andy Payton struck his first goal in 10 games.

"We needed to win that match," admitted Ternent.

"We showed a lot of character, a lot of resilience and to be fair we could have scored 10 and perhaps should have scored 10.

"It was a shock for them at the start, defensively we were poor and gave some poor goals away but I said when I came to the club that we have an ability to score goals and that was proven again.

"If you create the chances they will go in sooner or later. To have to score four goals to win a game isn't really a very good idea but we won and that's very important for us. "It was a good team performance. They never let their heads drop and they kept going.

"We were battering them on chances and eventually Steve came up trumps so all's well that ends well."

The win - Burnley's first in nine games and first at home for four months - lifted them two places and two points out of the drop zone and a step nearer safety.

"I think that we need to get another four wins. That would have been my target when I started, to get 50 points. And if we get that we would be okay," Ternent added.

And no-one felt the relief more than top-scorer Payton who had been stuck on the 17-goal mark since early January.

"I thought it was going to be one of those days, especially when I had a free header in the box and it went just wide and I should have scored," he said.

"But you just keep plugging away and it was a goal out of nothing. I thought it had gone wide as well. I thought 'watch this bounce wide' but luckily it bounced in.

"As a goalscorer you need to score goals so hopefully now I can start banging them in. You'd think we'd won the cup in the dressing room afterwards. But it is a step in the right direction."

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