NOW is not the time to lose the winning habit but Burnley have misplaced the key to success and are locked in relegation trouble, writes PETE OLIVER.

Four points from the last four games is the Clarets' sorry return which has undermined much of the good work they did in gaining 12 from the previous 15.

It all looked so good when Preston were beaten at Deepdale at the start of the month to seemingly end the away-day hoodoo and the goals were flyng in.

But, with the creativity disappearing along with the points and only a solitary home draw against Brentford in the league since, Burnley are back at the crossroads.

To add insult to the injury of a 13th away defeat on Saturday, one of their relegation rivals were allowed to steal a march in the scramble for safety.

Carlisle's victory means that even a home win against Blackpool tomorrow night will leave Chris Waddle's side stuck in the relegation zone, unless they can score five times.

Doubly frustrating for the Clarets is that Carlisle should have been restricted to a point.

Then at least the status quo would have been maintained, as far as the Cumbrians were concerned, and Burnley would have climbed above Plymouth on goals scored.

Carlisle seemed to be squandering their best chances to snatch the win until Mark Winstanley's slip nine minutes from time ultimately gave Allan Smart the opportunity to head home the decisive goal.

That made it back-to-back wins for United who have brought themselves back from the brink.

Burnley could do with a similar response to inject some fresh life into their struggle.

They are not without hope, though, as in each of their three recent defeats there have been stages when the balance of the game has swung their way.

Against Wrexham and again at Brunton Park it looked as though an Andy Cooke goal would be the platform for bigger and better things.

But the momentum doesn't last and when confidence has taken a knock you can't keep coming back. Burnley have conceded the first goal in each of their last six league games.

Waddle tried several permutations in his bid to get back to winning ways. He started with a 5-3-2 line-up with Paul Weller justifying his recall at left-back and pushing into midfield at every opportunity but still not able to provide the attacking width on the left that looks to be lacking.

Mark Ford was also back in the side but Burnley are missing Damian Matthew and Chris Brass was soon pulled in from the right side to bolster the middle and keep tabs on deep lying forward Nick Wright.

Waddle's other throw of the dice came at half-time as he looked to claw back Carlisle's 1-0 lead by introducing Kevin Henderson up front and switching towards a 3-4-3 formation.

And the ploy looked to be working when Cooke headed home his 16th goal of the season five minutes after the re-start.

A third away success of the campaign looked highly likely at that point but, despite a couple of opportunities created by the ever-dangerous Glen Little, the second goal wouldn't come.

And having survived that rocky patch Carlisle rallied to finally find a way past Marlon Beresford.

It was another patchy performance from Burnley who are unable to sustain their better spells for long enough at the moment.

They again started brightly and Graham Anthony had to clear off the line from the impressive Brass following a corner helped on by Winstanley.

But it was Carlisle who drew first blood through their own prolific striker, Ian Stevens, who managed to hold off Neil Moore and head Wright's hanging cross into the net from close range for his 15th of the season.

Weller justified his selection with the first of a couple of pieces of top-class defending with a timely tackle to stop Wright in his stride before Burnley launched a couple of incisive raids of their own down the productive right flank.

Well-found by Andy Payton, the ever-willing Brass sent over a measured cross which had Cooke's name all over it until Tony Caig took it off his forehead with a perfectly timed punch.

And Payton then got to the by-line only for his pull-back to again frustrate Cooke as it hit a Carlisle defender. However, the most clear-cut opening fell to the hosts only for Smart, perhaps in a state of shock that he had actually managed to stay on-side on a day when the assistant referees raised their flags an amazing 23 times, to panic and fluff his shot when clean through.

Waddle doubtless issued a forceful reminder of what was at stake and asked his players to raise their game and the standard of a scrappy affair symptomatic of two below-par teams during the half-time interval.

And he could not have hoped for a better response with Moore heading on Winstanley's free-kick for Cooke to beat Caig with a diving header.

Carlisle were flagging but Smart got them back on course with a volley which Beresford spectacularly saved and Burnley weren't the same force again.

Stevens scooped one over the top when he should have scored and the Carlisle striker then failed to convert a chance at the far post which required Brass to clear with Beresford beaten.

That might have ensured the stalemate until Winstanley tried to shepherd the ball out of play and was collared by Stevens.

With the Burnley defence back-pedalling, Anthony's cross picked out Wright and, although Beresford made an excellent stop to keep out his header, Smart nodded in the follow-up.

In a last-ditch bid to repair the damage Waddle threw on Steve Blatherwick and Jamie Hoyland but, despite playing with five up front, the charge of the light brigade couldn't save the day.

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