ADRIAN Heath was rarely associated with failure in a spendid career as a professional footballer which has now spanned three decades.

From when he first strode on to the Victoria Ground in 1979 wearing the famous red and white stripes of Stoke City, he was a sure-fire winner.

A self-confident, assured, larger than life character, he was a classic soccer success story.

He wore his badge with pride and honour and tasted the vagaries of 1980s soccer life at the high table with Everton, Aston Villa, Espanol and Manchester City.

You name them, he's won it. Championship, European and FA Cup winners' silverware.

But five games into his managerial tenure at Turf Moor, I doubt if anything in his past could have prepared him for what he witnessed in the final quarter of an hour at the Manor Ground.

A shameful tale of abject defensive surrender from Burnley which was, frankly, embarrassing in the extreme.

What he did witness will, I have no doubt, strengthen his deep and unstinting resolve for change at Turf Moor before the credits roll again next August. And, if that means some current squad members never wearing the claret and blue again, then so be it.

Because Burnley simply cannot go on defending like this and hope to make any marked progress as a football club.

This was Burnley's heaviest league defeat of the campaign. It also marked Oxford's biggest win since they thrashed a hapless Dorchester Town 9-1 in the FA Cup last November.

Now that is food for thought.

Heath's pained expression told the story of the 90 minutes when he emerged from the visitors' dressing room.

Clearly shellshocked after conducting what must have been a sombre and detailed autopsy, the player-manager delivered his thoughts carefully and succinctly.

"It's hard to find words to justify or explain what happened in the last quarter of the game," he observed.

"We just collapsed in the last 13 minutes. Our defending was nowhere near good enough. It was terrible marking."

Indeed, Burnley simply imploded in the final quarter of an hour. They conceded FOUR goals in 780 seconds and substitute Paul Moody grabbed an improbable hat-trick in just 13 crazy, mad-cap minutes!

Moody's boots did the talking on 77, 80 and 90 - and Burnley were left flat on the canvas with a bloody nose.

And we have to face a stark reality today. Burnley are edging ever closer towards the bottom four.

And, while they SHOULD harvest enough points from their final 11 fixtures to avoid locking horns with the dead men of Hull, Brighton, Carlisle and York, games need to be won - and won quickly.

The Division Two table paints a bleak picture for the Clarets tonight.

Languishing in 18th place - their worst league placing for four years -they remain just SEVEN points above the dreaded drop zone.

And with several of their rivals-in-distress in action tomorrow, their predicament could become even bleaker.

Who would have predicted that scenario eight months ago when Burnley were tagged as the Second Division title favourites. It hardly seems possible.

So, at what point do you begin to analyse and edit what went wrong at Oxford?

Burnley, amazingly, were still in the hunt for a point at 4.30 pm.

Oxford were hanging onto a slender one goal lead. What the Clarets fans saw in the last 13 minutes was a total and utter collapse of defensive shape, method and commitment.

Oxford had edged in front just before half-time. And again real questions had to be asked about Burnley's defending from a set-piece situation.

Oxford won a fortuitous free-kick after David Eyres was rather harshly adjudged to have brought down Joey Beauchamp, who appeared to take a dive. He swung the free-kick high over the Burnley wall. The biggest man on the park - six foot three inches defender Matt Elliott - stood completely unmarked at the back stick.

He headed across the face of the goal - and with a name like Aldridge you don't miss a toe poke over the line from a yard out. Burnley, not for the first time this season, had fallen behind to a sucker punch. Oxford's agile goalkeeper Phil Whitehead earned his corn a minute before half-time. He produced a brilliant save to deny Andy Cooke, diving smartly to his left to parry Cooke's effort wide of the target.

Cooke, though, was sacrificed for young Paul Smith on the hour and, all of a sudden, Burnley began to dictate.

Twice David Eyres was denied by the safe hands of Whitehead. First, his bending shot was tipped wide before a double reaction save kept Oxford's lead intact.

But the real carnage unfolded in the final 13minutes.

Burnley were again punished for not clearing their ranks in time as the unmarked Moody hit the goal trail.

The striker clinically tapped home Beauchamp's centre with the outside of his foot after ghosting in at the far post.

Then Aldridge picked a hole in Burnley's gaping defence, launching a beautiful diagonal ball to the feet of the now rampant figure of Moody.

He saw his opportunity, firing an unstoppable 25-yarder into the roof of the net.

It got even worse for the Clarets four minutes later as Beauchamp stroked a goal home from close range after Moody's shot was beaten out.

Oxford's fifth summed up the despair in Burnley's performance.

Substitute Mark Angel ran 50 yards unhindered before Moody claimed his quick-fire hat trick, converting the simplest of opportunities in front of an unguarded goal.

The only crumb of consolation for the long-suffering fans that the Clarets have not got a game until next Saturday.

At least that gives Adrian Heath a chance to bring some new faces to Turf Moor before transfer deadline day.

And after this defensive shambles the message is simple: Jimmy Willis - come on down.

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