Burnley 2 Bristol City 3 - Tony Dewhurst reports

A ROSEGROVE dental practice sponsored this Division Two tale of murder, mystery and suspense.

The menacing figure of Joe Jordan provided a blast of ice cold steel.

While unforgiving number 10 Shaun Goater drilled a painful hole through the Clarets decaying defence.

But charity simply began at home as Burnley gifted all three goals to Big Joe and his men.

That's THE real reason why the Clarets lost this see-saw battle of wills.

And for the Turf Moor fans that proved about as much fun as five minutes strapped in a dentist's chair - without anaesthetic!

Nine games into the new campaign, Burnley are blowing decidedly hot and cold.

Four league wins, four defeats and a draw.

The Clarets have veered from the excellent to the indifferent since the big kick-off on August 17.

Of course, it is early days yet. Burnley need time to take stock

It will be Christmas before we can sort the wheat from the chaff.

But consistency continues to elude Burnley as they bid to stamp their authority on Division Two.

A three game unbeaten league sequence perished against Bristol City when the home fans had expected so much more from their side.

So what went wrong?

Defensively Burnley were lacklustre.

A week ago they had toiled long and hard to grind out a 0-0 draw at Chesterfield and there sound defensive play was their hallmark. Yet, against Bristol, the Clarets appeared strangely vulnerable every time the visitors mounted an attack.

Marking was slack-if not sloppy-and striker Shaun Goater took full advantage-scoring with two powerful strikes.

Burnley's final ball left a lot to be desired too, while the service to the striking partnership of Kurt Nogan and Paul Barnes was hit and miss.

What made this defeat more galling was that Bristol were there for the taking.

They were ordinary opposition.

Dejected manager Adrian Heath had no qualms about the result.

He slammed Burnley's performance as "awful" and could not hide his deep frustration with events.

"Our decision making and choice of pass, at times, was awful," he conceded.

"You can't really expect to give three goals away and expect to win a game.

"The lads at the back were panicking and playing long, straight hopeful balls down the field. I can't justify why we played them." Yet, there were mitigating circumstances for Burnley.

The Turf Moor chief was presented with major injury problems, throwing his pre-match plans into chaos. He lost Vince Overson in training on Friday.

Big Vince was pencilled at the heart of the Clarets defence. News of his fresh injury was kept firmly under wraps for fear of alerting Bristol City.

He spent the afternoon commentating for Hospital Radio when he surely would have relished the battle with Goater and Co.

There was even worse news as David Eyres was ruled out on Saturday morning with a bad dose of flu.

That left Chris Vinnicombe to wear the number three shirt when all he had expected was an hour at left-back in the B team against Everton!

It was Vinnicombe's first competitive action since March and exactly seven months to the day since breaking his ankle at Wycombe Wanderers.

In the circumstances he performed exceptionally well.

Youngsters Paul Weller and Paul Smith gave the midfield department an inexperienced look though the pair gave assured performances, prompted by Nigel Gleghorn. The Clarets, though, have obviously missed the abrasive presence of Gerry Harrison and the figure of Damian Matthew.

Yet the nature of Bristol's opening goal left question marks over Burnley's back-line.

The dangerous Brian Tinnion provided the ammunition for the Bermudan international Goater, signed from Rotherham over the summer.

His finish was slick. He chested the ball down and unleashed a rasping volley, which cannoned off Marlon Beresford's post and into the net.

Beresford was called on minutes later, saving low to deny winger Gregory Goodridge.

Paul Barnes showed why he is such a dangerous customer, forcing Stuart Naylor into a dramatic one-handed save after cutting in from the tightest of angles.

But Burnley were level on the stroke of half-time.

A Louis Carey foul on Paul Smith created the opening.

Weller floated in a slick free-kick and there was Gleghorn to guide home his header.

That sparked Burnley into life and 10 minutes into the second period they nosed in front.

Gleghorn and Weller set the tone, both going close, but it was Weller who set up the strike.

The young midfielder's shot was denied by the foot of the post.

The re-bound was fed back to him by Paul Barnes. And this time he made no mistake, launching an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner.

Burnley were bang on course for victory.

Yet, quite unexpectedly, they went off the boil as Bristol wrestled command of the contest.

The arrival of Martin Kuhl was a factor in that. He replaced Goodridge and all of a sudden Bristol began to tick.

Goater was denied by Beresford, but the Clarets goalkeeper had no chance of denying the striker a second time when he headed in Darren Barnard's centre from six yards out.

The marking was non-existent and it was a gift for the dangerous Bristol striker.

Nogan was then instrumental in setting up a golden opportunity for Weller with Burnley trying to repair the damage.

Nogan skipped wide of two challenges and Weller, with the goal at his mercy, saw his shot smash against the cross-bar. Paul Barnes bravely bundled the ball home but that was ruled out for an illegal challenge.

That proved costly for Burnley as Bristol grabbed the points with 10 minutes left.

The home defence was at sixes and sevens as Bristol swung in only their third corner of the contest.

The Clarets failed to pick up Shaun Taylor in time and he hacked the ball home from close range.

It was enough to hand Joe Jordan a managerial lifeline and sentence Burnley to their second league defeat of the season at Turf Moor.

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