EMERGENCY goalkeeper one minute, enthralling goalscorer the next. Welcome to the wacky world of John Spicer.

The Clarets midfielder ended the last game at Luton wearing the comically oversized shirt and gloves of Brian Jensen.

But given the target to aim at, rather than protect, he returned to his outfield role to settle the tightest of contests and keep Burnley's bandwagon rolling along quite nicely.

"There won't be too many midfield players who have played 50 minutes in goal one game and scored the winner in the next," beamed Steve Cotterill following a hard-fought victory that took the Clarets up into the sixth place - equalling the highest Championship placing reached since the manager took charge.

The difference is the last time they reached these heady heights, with victory at Watford in August 2004, Cotterill's reign was very much in its infancy.

Fifteen months on and almost half way through the season, sixth place is now firm evidence that Burnley is a club on the move.

Cotterill rightly pointed out that Leicester City are a club with a wage bill around double that of his own.

A club whose average gate is double Burnley's, bringing in twice the funding Cotterill has at his disposal.

But also a "bigger" club that Burnley have now earned their first 'double' of the season against.

Yet Leicester are but an example. Study the league table and the likes of Southampton, Norwich and Crystal Palace - all former Premiership sides still picking up whopping seven-figure parachute payments - currently trail in Burnley's wake.

Whether this fantastic feat can be sustained, given the Clarets ever-precarious financial situation, remains to be seen.

But what cannot be called into question is that Cotterill has instilled an indefatigable spirit in the Burnley camp that more than makes up for those missing millions.

The Clarets are picking up victories in every way possible. Thrashing Ipswich 3-0 to get the latest run of seven wins in nine league games underway; beating Wolves and Leicester in their own back yards to build momentum and grinding out unlikely victories against Millwall and Luton when such games were in danger of slipping away.

Here was the middle ground - a game Burnley could have had wrapped up long before City mounted a second half charge that so nearly earned a draw.

Ade Akinbiyi, in particular, will wonder how he did not add to his 12 goals.

A disallowed effort ridiculously chalked off with Burnley firmly in the ascendancy at 1-0 would surely have eased nerves that were jangling the longer the game wore on.

And it's no exaggeration to say Akinbiyi could have easily been celebrating a second successive hat-trick to silence the taunting City fans.

As it was, they had to settle for a gem of a winner from Spicer, who is increasingly looking like a steal at £35,000.

His two goal assists at Luton were confidence boosters alone, but there's nothing like a goal yourself to get the blood coursing through the veins.

And adding to his Carling Cup goal against Barnsley, he answered his manager's midweek call for more of a goalscoring contribution with perfect timing.

Akinbiyi and Garreth O'Connor combined on the left six minutes before the break and when play was switched to the right, Wade Elliott controlled in a flash and rolled the ball back to invite a cross from Michael Duff.

Spicer read the resulting ball perfectly and met the cross with a flex of the neck muscles that took it beyond Rab Douglas's reach and in off the far post.

Prior to the defining moment, Akinbiyi had been denied when the ball was taken off his head at point blank range by defender Patrick McCarthy, while John McGreal fired wide when well positioned at the back post.

Finally, Burnley broke through a resolute City defence that had not conceded in 375 minutes of action.

And within three minutes they did it again, only to see Akinbiyi's magnificent finish from a tight angle count for nothing as referee Matt Messias ruled he had barged McCarthy off the ball in the process.

If anything, it looked to be raw strength that earned Akinbiyi the chance and City breathed a huge sigh of relief at knowing a big break had gone their way.

Sensing an injustice, Akinbiyi probably should have grabbed his goal in the final minute of the half, finding Douglas with a tame downward header.

And proof it was not to be the striker's day came five minutes after the break, when Spicer sent him darting clear with a magnificent ball threaded through the eye of a needle only for Douglas to smother the shot on the 18-yard line.

At the opposite end, debutant Lee Grant was enjoying a relatively quiet debut, but that would not last and in the 55th minute he was equal to Dublin's fierce volley.

The threat of an equaliser grew as De Vries first fired right across goal, then found Grant with another shot on the turn.

And 20 minutes from time the tension was cranked up another few notches as Burnley had another goal disallowed.

Micah Hyde's mis-hit shot was deflected across goal by John McGreal and Keith Lowe was ruled offside as he poked home from close range.

Akinbiyi's rampaging run was denied by a combination of Douglas's glove and the upright as the Clarets sought the two-goal cushion.

But with the clock ticking ever-so-slowly down, Grant earned his clean sheet with two smart saves to deny De Vries and Alan Maybury.

Douglas comically joined the charge twice in stoppage time by racing upfield for corners.

But when sub Stephen Hughes' glanced the second inches wide Burnley had the last laugh.