WELL we’re sitting proudly back at the top of the Championship after a hard-fought but ultimately deserved victory against Barnsley on Saturday.

It wasn’t a vintage performance by any stretch of the imagination.

But neither was it a performance worthy of some of the moans and groans that were present for much of the 90 minutes.

I’m really not sure what the problem is but the lack of atmosphere at Turf Moor is staggering at times.

Every misplaced pass is being seized upon by certain sections of the crowd and it is becoming such an issue that Sean Dyche has felt the need to mention it twice already this week, albeit in a jokey way.

He and the players know how important the Turf Moor crowd is when our backs are against the wall and I think at times they probably want just a little bit more out of some of the fans.

We’ve had a testing few weeks and probably haven’t picked up as many points as any of us would have liked – but we’re still top of the league!

Every team in this league will drop points so it will come down to who drops the least.

We started well on Saturday and had a couple of early efforts but were then forced to sit back and soak up pressure.

In Paddy McCourt they had someone who could run the game and he was a constant source of frustration in the first half.

In the second half, Michael Kightly snatched the all-important goal and it was a cracker, the winger cutting in before unleashing a curling effort beyond Jack Butland.

It was no less than we deserved and with results going our way elsewhere, it was a strike that sent us back to the summit.

Next week’s game doesn’t get much bigger – Leicester City away in front of the TV cameras.

The Foxes are in a dip of their own and now is the time to take advantage and put some daylight between us.

I’m sure we’ll have a big away following making the journey to Leicester.

And those travelling supporters can hopefully roar us on to another victory (and edge us closer to that Christmas number one!)