THERE may be just over a week to go before Christmas Day, but referee Lee Mason has already been far too frivolous with his cards for Burnley's liking.

Red ones, brandished to Chris McCann and Joey Gudjonsson, will have a massive impact on an already depleted Clarets squad over the hectic festive period. If an impending appeal for Gudjonsson is unsuccessful, the midfielders have both played their last games of 2007.

They are dilemmas that manager Owen Coyle faces for fixtures yet to come.

The present - his first Burnley v Preston derby - it seems, could have been dictated by the ghosts of North End fixtures past.

Preston's new manager Alan Irvine has taken on the daunting task of dragging the Lilywhites out of the Championship relegation zone.

A brave move for someone in his first managerial post.

And it hasn't taken him long to realise that when you're down there, decisions rarely go your way.

After having a goal disallowed for a contentious offside ruling and penalty appeals reduced to a free-kick outside the box in 1-0 defeats to Wolves and Blackpool respectively, the men responsible for those misjudgments have since apologised to Irvine.

It remains to be seen whether counterpart Coyle will discover if sorry is the hardest word for referee Lee Mason.

For the Bolton official cost the Clarets the chance to sting their rivals as early as the second minute when he failed to spot that Kyle Lafferty's goalbound effort was kept out on the line by Matt Hill's extended arm.

As it was, Lafferty did eventually draw first blood in this derby clash at Turf Moor - 119 years to the day since the first took place - with an expertly placed header just after the half-hour.

But who knows the damage Burnley could have done by that stage had they had the chance to benefit from an early spot kick?

"If we've got a break, well, we probably deserve one," said Irvine after Preston's first away win since April.

"We've been on the receiving end of a couple of bad decisions and if we've been on the receiving end of one that's gone in our favour then that'll be nice."

That wasn't the only time the Clarets were frustrated by Mason, and instead of rising above it, it slowly ground them down.

Chris Sedgwick picked the perfect time to grab an equaliser, a minute before the break. Preston carried the momentum through to the second half and went ahead through Neil Mellor nine minutes in. But when McCann fired Burnley level it looked as if a repeat of last season's showdown could be on the cards, when Preston came back from a goal down only for Burnley to win 3-2.

McCann's dismissal for a reckless lunge at Sean St Ledger, though, shattered any such hopes.

The drama didn't end there.

For starters, there was the substitution that wasn't, when the fourth official indicated that left winger Simon Whaley was to be replaced by Lewis Neal.

That swap didn't take place, and a minute later Whaley drove in the winner from 25 yards.

"I don't know whether it's my accent or not but there was a bit of confusion in terms of who was coming off. I was actually planning to take Chris Sedgwick off and go with two wingers and try to really stretch Burnley for the remaining part of the game, obviously in an effort to win the game," explained Irvine.

"I was very surprised when I saw Simon Whaley starting to come across, so obviously I was able to stop that, and it was probably just as well!"

The Clarets refused to lie down and allow Preston to make further use of their numerical advantage, which was increased in the last of five minutes of stoppage time, when Gudjonsson was adjudged to have stamped on Mellor, after his attempts to clear the ball when the striker had gone down under Steve Jones' challenge.

Coyle said Gudjonsson had been caught off-balance and accidentally caught Mellor as he tried to step over him. Mason didn't see it that way, and Gudjonsson sank to his knees in disbelief before making his way down the tunnel.

In his post-match assessment, Coyle said, although perhaps inevitable, he didn't want the reports of his first Lancashire derby to centre around the referee.

Despite a second consecutive home defeat to struggling Championship sides, he was pleased with some of the football on offer.

"I don't really want to be talking about referees" he said. "I think we should be talking about the good play and the goals and all the entertainment."

To that end, it was a piece of sublime skill that led to the first taste of controversy on 90 seconds. Wade Elliott, in his 100th Clarets league appearance, was sent away down the right, squared for Robbie Blake, who worked wonders in nutmegging Liam Chilvers then rounding Billy Jones to force Andy Lonergan into a parry. Lafferty seized the loose ball and aimed for an empty net, where Hill turned his shot round the post with a blatant use of his arm. The best Burnley were awarded, though, was a corner. A decision that sent assistant manager Sandy Stewart tearing out of the technical area, arms flailing, in shock and disgust.

The derby fire was stoked.

Few decisions after that went the way of the Clarets, hindering their bids to create momentum.

Preston had been limited to half-chances in their rare attacking attempts, and Gabor Kiraly thwarted Mellor and Paul Gallagher before Burnley went ahead.

Lafferty had conducted heading practise with first team coach Steve Davis and reaped the rewards for his endeavours on 31 minutes, when he looped Wade Elliott's deflected right-wing cross beyond Andy Lonergan and over St Ledger on the line.

Ironically, Burnley had benefited from the referee playing advantage for a foul on McCann in the build-up.

Blake then had options on a burst forward. With Elliott to his left and Mahon to his right, as well as the chance of an attempt of his own. He went left, and Elliott's cross-shot was bundled behind by Hill.

A minute before the break, Andy Gray missed a chance to close down St Ledger, and the defender cut through midfield before setting Mellor free. The striker picked out Sedgwick with a left-wing cross and Kiraly was well beaten.

It proved to be the beginning of the end for Burnley.

Preston went in front when Mellor ran onto a header over the top of the defence. Kiraly did his best to narrow the angle but the former Liverpool striker put his injury nightmare behind him with a goal on his first start since August.

Steve Jones, who had replaced the injured Lafferty, should have done better with a header on the hour. But McCann did drill a low equaliser past Lonergan after running onto Blake's clever backheel from Jon Harley's long pass.

But he turned from hero to villain two minutes later. Substitute Darren Carter's foul on the midfielder was ignored, and in his frustration to retrieve possession, McCann lunged at St Ledger. He got the ball, but in a dangerous manner, and was duly sent off.

Kiraly did well to deny Gallagher, parrying his right-footer into the ground, up onto the underside of the bar then collecting the rebound.

But he was well beaten by Whaley, who was afforded too much time and space from a similar distance.

Burnley were down, but not out, and Gray, David Unsworth from a free kick, and substitute James O'Connor all went close in the closing minutes, but not close enough.