Little injury blow

Early indications suggest Little is suffering from an abductor strain, a muscle injury which is set to keep him out of next Saturday's visit of Reading and the Clarets' trip to Wycombe Wanderers a week later.

"Glen could be out for a fortnight. I will know better later on but it's looking that way," confirmed Burnley boss Stan Ternent.

Burnley's 2-1 defeat by Luton on Saturday was just Little's fourth game back in the Clarets' line-up since recovering from a double hernia operation.

He hasn't fully recovered his former zest in that spell and Ternent is glad to have got to the bottom of the problem.

"He hasn't been up to his usual standard since he came back from his operation.

"I thought something had been bothering him and I had been on to him and I think that's what it is, but he was always keen to play," Ternent added.

The loss of a fully fit Little would have been a major blow to Burnley but two further weeks out of action may get him back to his best for the end-of-season run-in.

Whatever plan Ternent devises to cope with Little's absence, he will be hoping for better than the performance against Luton, notably in the first half when the home side were completely outplayed.

"We have got to do much better than that. That was not where we are coming from," Ternent admitted.

"I am disappointed as well because I wanted to win that game, I'm no different from anyone else.

"We did better in the second half with 10 men and I'm disappointed we lost the game two minutes from the end because we deserved better.

"In the first half we were particularly poor. In the second half we were alright but we didn't give ourselves a chance."

The Clarets played with a man short for more than half-an-hour after the dismissal of Neil Moore who was sent off for two bookable offences.

The defender could count himself hard done by, however, as the second decision in particular looked a bad one by sub-standard referee Peter Whalton.

Ternent wasn't happy with the official's performance and will be marking him accordingly, although he felt Moore should have known better. He said: "Being booked before and then going tackling someone from behind when you're not allowed to do that now was stupid, although I thought the 10 men acquitted themselves very well against 12.

"I've no sympathy with him whatsoever. He's a seasoned professional and I've told them in the dressing room you can't do that.

"You run the risk of being off the field and then what happens after that is you're trying to play with 10 men and it's very difficult."

However, Ternent felt his side could still have got something from the game and Burnley should have regained the lead given them by Micky Mellon in the first half when Little spurned a heading chance.

He added: "I thought we had enough chances to get something out the match, even when we were reduced to 10 men.

"There were one or two pretty good chances knocking about and for all their possession until it was 2-1 then I felt we were okay and I was quite pleased with them, the way they battled in the second half.

"I thought they showed a lot of resolve and commitment but we need to do that from the word go.

"So all-in-all it was a very disappointing day, result-wise, but there are always some pluses come out of it so we have to go away, lick our wounds and get ready for next Saturday.

"Out of all disappointments there is always a little ray of sunshine. I am prepared to look on the positive side and I think we are making progress, although nobody's more impatient than me."

The result meant an unhappy reunion with his former side for Burnley defender Steve Davis.

"It was disappointing, not just from mine but from Burnley's point of view because we wanted to win the game," said Davis who left Luton to rejoin the Clarets for £750,000 just over a month ago.

"A win would haven taken us above Luton but all credit to them. They came here played well and won.

"They are a good team with some good individual players. Burnley are a big club and most clubs enjoy coming to places like this. You don't really have to motivate yourself to play against a team like Burnley but they were up for it and, even though we were down to 10 men, they probably deserved to win.

"We weren't helped when we were down to 10 men, the referee certainly didn't help the cause, but having said that we had a couple of chances at the end without being able to nick one. We are still creating chances, which is a good thing, it's just a case of keeping them out at the other end.

"It's very frustrating because we are doing well away from home. But we will get it right. We have got a week before the next game to work on a few things and hopefully take it out on Reading."

Meanwhile, Ternent was today looking to tie up a deal to take Lee Howey to Northampton Town on a permanent basis.

Howey completed a three-month loan spell at the Sixfields Stadium over the weekend and the Clarets' defender is likely to join the Cobblers for a five-figure fee.

And Ray Ingleby will finally join the Turf Moor board tonight when he is voted on by the club's directors.

Chairman Barry Kilby is proposing that Ingleby will be given a seat on the board after the America-based businessman paid £500,000 for 2,500 shares under the club's recently completed rights issue.

Any further boardroom changes at this stage will depend on whether Frank Teasdale is prepared to work alongside Ingleby, who was critical of the former chairman during his failed takeover bid.

Accrington Clarets hold their monthly meeting at the Queen's Hotel in Accrington tonight, start 8pm.

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