ADRIAN Heath faces a potential keeper crisis as Burnley battle to climb clear of the Second Division's drop zone.

Marlon Beresford had to pull out of last night's goalless draw with Bournemouth through a back injury.

And the situation worsened when his replacement Wayne Russell was dramatically sent off, following a foul on Bournemouth striker Steve Jones.

Russell will now face an automatic one-match suspension, starting in a fortnight's time.

"It's Sod's Law," said the Burnley boss, whose two home games since taking charge have both finished goalless.

"Before the transfer deadline you have two keepers, then one goes down with a back injury and the other gets himself sent off. It's a precarious situation.

"We have a lot of games coming up and it's an important period for us. We could do with everyone fit and available.

"Hopefully, Marlon will be right in a week or so."

Heath would have given anything for a goal last night and Burnley should have had one in a first half they dominated.

"It was a good first half and when you are in a position where things haven't been going well, you need to take your chances to give you some breathing space," he said.

"You could sense the anxiety in the stadium and if we had scored it would have helped everybody.

"I thought we played quite well in the first half and we had six or seven efforts at goal. "Their keeper made a couple of good saves but, to be fair to them, they played better in the second half.

"When you play against teams who want to defend, you must take your chances when they come your way."

The manager had mixed feelings about the sending-off incident. He reckoned Russell might have been fouled before the penalty drama unfolded.

"In the modern game, I thought it was a foul on the keeper," he said about the initial challenge by Bournemouth striker Steve Jones on Russell.

"If that sort of thing had happened from a corner you could bet your bottom dollar it would have been a free kick for a foul. I'm not saying it should be a foul but in today's game it usually is.

"But they missed the penalty and maybe that's the little bit of luck that will turn it round for us."

With Beresford injured, Burnley didn't have a keeper on the bench but Heath revealed that David Eyres, who took over the jersey, after the dismissal, was recognised as the stand-by man.

Though, to be honest, Bournemouth never really tested him.

"He has always said in the past that he would go in goal if needed," said Heath.

"And he did well for us when he had to and made good decisions.

"It sometimes takes something like that, a bad decision or a bad tackle to get everyone going again and Kurt had a chance to win it late on."

Burnley Reserves are at home to Rotherham tonight (Wednesday, April 3).

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