Stockport County 1 Burnley 0 - Tony Dewhurst's big match verdict

ADRIAN Heath has faced some turbulent and difficult moments since taking the Turf Moor manager's chair 13 months ago-but, none more so than this devastating defeat to old adversaries Stockport County.

I've witnessed Heath on the churning, frothing rollercoaster of football emotions over the past year.

The towering highs of Brentford and Walsall, the disabling lows of York and Shrewsbury. Yet I've never seen the Burnley manager as dejected and emotionally drained as he walked into a congested post-match press conference at Edgeley Park.

An unexpected aberration in the dying minutes of this blood and thunder derby could have cost Burnley the chance of First Division football next season.

Sadly, it was Burnley's only moment of slack defending - and Stockport made them pay.

Goalkeeper Wayne Russell could not control Jim Gannon's long ball on the edge of his danger area. It broke free to Mutch who hammered his shot home in front of the unguarded net.

And Heath could not hide his anger and displeasure as he began a gruesome post-mortem. It was a difficult pill to swallow for Heath who had seen Burnley match the automatic promotion hopefuls in a game when both defences came out on top - until the Clarets let it slip through their fingers with four minutes left.

Realistically, Burnley now need THREE wins from their last four games to give themselves even a fighting chance of reaching the play-offs.

But even that may not be enough. Remember Chesterfield missed out by a point last season after hauling in 72.

That is a demanding schedule after decisive wins for Watford, Crewe and Walsall and Heath knows that another reverse at Wycombe tomorrow could all but conclude the Clarets' ambitions.

"For the whole 90 minutes I never thought Stockport were going to score and then we handed it to them on a plate," raged Heath.

"It was a desperate goal to give way. A poor goal to concede and I can't defend what happened in any shape or form.

"We shot ourselves in the foot and to defend like that was just not good enough.

"It was an injustice and I was really angry that we did not get anything out of the game that we dominated for so long.

"But, we can only blame ourselves, because it was a terrible mistake from our point of view. "It was nothing that they did. We just made the problem for ourselves and I was very disappointed with that aspect.

"I can't for the life of me think what we were doing. We couldn't have played much better against a side who've lost just a handful of games at home this season - but instead we threw it away."

So was this wounding defeat the moment when Burnley's play-off aspirations suffered a mortal blow?

Watford - who visit Turf Moor on the final day of the season - now appear to hold the trump card.

Watford go to Stockport tonight knowing that a win would put them six points clear of the Clarets and in pole position.

"We just have to go to Wycombe and try and get a result down there," added Heath.

"It will be a desperately difficult match for us but we now know what we have to do."

But Burnley will be kicking themselves after enjoying more than their fair share of possession and carving out at least two genuine match-winning opportunities.

Twice Burnley had the Stockport defence on the run. First, Paul Barnes squeezed a shot inches wide of the post after a splendid ball from Steve Thompson. Then, Paul Smith was denied by Paul Jones as the Clarets turned up the heat.

And how referee Ian Cruikshanks refused Burnley's appeal for a 70th minute penalty, I'll never know.

It was as clear-cut a spot kick as I've seen all season. David Eyres sent Gary Parkinson galloping into the Stockport penalty box.

Parkinson had a free view on goal and, as he broke clear, Kevin Cooper hauled his feet from under him.

There were furious protests from the Burnley players, but the man in black was having none of it. Todd returned to the centre circle grinning from ear to ear, and unpunished.

Heath had changed his tactics and sacrificed Andy Cooke as David Eyres returned to the team after a six-week injury absence.

Eyres was handed a roving role, just behind Paul Barnes, with Paul Weller supporting on the right. It handed Burnley width to operate, yet the chances that Stockport did create, with old hand Gordon Cowans at the heart of events, were handled efficiently by goalkeeper Wayne Russell.

He made two outstanding saves from Kevin Cooper and a highly effective rearguard action from the Clarets back line looked to have given Burnley a point.

Chris Brass was outstanding again, marshalling the dangerous Alun Armstrong and a late tackle on Keiron Durkan was the best defensive challenge of the whole game.

Yet all that great work evaporated in the final minutes as Andy Mutch punctured a major hole in Burnley's play-off ambitions.

With four games left, Burnley have left themselves little room to manoeuvre. They just can't afford to step on another banana skin at Wycombe tomorrow.

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