THERE'S a well-worn saying that every day's a school day.

And it's one that Owen Coyle will verify having just benefited from a valuable lesson about his Burnley players.

Since taking charge a month ago, he has seen them outclass, outpass and outscore the likes of Watford, Charlton and Wolves.

At Portman Road on Saturday, he witnessed a performance in which they outbattled Ipswich Town.

The Tractor Boys have an enviable home record, having won 19 out of 24 home games this calendar year. And few would have backed against them extending that when Burnley were left to play half of the game with 10 men.

John Spicer became the third Clarets player in two games to be shown a red card, for his reckless two-footed tackle on Jonathan Walters in first-half stoppage time.

Chris McCann and Joey Gudjonsson began the first of their three and four-match suspensions respectively this weekend, after they were sent off in the home defeat to Preston North End. The absence of the midfield trio has left Burnley short on options in that department for the hectic Christmas period, as Alan Mahon was also ruled out with a hamstring problem and is doubtful for the Boxing Day clash with Sheffield Wednesday.

Spicer's dismissal proved to be the turning point in the game, but not in the way that Ipswich would have predicted.

Burnley were brave in adversity, and buoyed by the return of captain and central defender Steven Caldwell after a two-month injury lay-off, they frustrated and stifled their opponents.

Allied to two excellent saves from Gabor Kiraly, and an all-round commanding performance from the Hungarian goalkeeper, Town soon ran out of ideas and were restricted to long range half chances.

Coyle loves his sides to entertain. But he had no complaints about the lack of attacking possession his players enjoyed in a solid second half.

"Ipswich have a remarkable home record and I think they showed within the game the reason they've got that," said Coyle. "I thought they had a couple of very good opportunities in the first half and Gabor Kiraly's had a couple of good saves. Equally, I thought we were dangerous on the counter attack, but obviously going down to 10 men I've got nothing but praise for the way we went about it.

"I think the players showed the spirit, and obviously we're trying to develop that. But I don't think the second half was about us being particularly pretty and passing and moving the ball, it was more about character and I think we learned an awful lot about the Burnley team today.

"Ipswich have got a host of talented players, but I felt everybody stood shoulder to shoulder and really restricted them to a few goalscoring opportunities in the second half."

Ipswich's best chances came in the first half, before their numerical advantage was activated. And had it not been for Kiraly's brilliant save, they would have been 1-0 up inside the opening two minutes.

Jon Harley would have expected to have his hands full with Barry Haynes, and was unfortunate to slip as the right winger jockeyed inside and clipped the ball to the far post, where an unmarked Alan Lee guided a header towards the bottom corner.

But Kiraly timed his dive to perfection, and plucked the ball out of harm's way with his outstretched left hand.

Haynes then picked out Pablo Counago inside the area, but Caldwell had immediately settled into his first game since the end of October and stood up to the tricky Spaniard well to make the block.

Burnley recovered from those early scares to show signs of the flowing movement that has contributed to them becoming such a formidable force on the road in recent games, and when Kyle Lafferty got on the end of Wade Elliott's right-wing delivery, it looked as if he might conjure a carbon copy of the goal that broke the deadlock against Preston the week before. But the Northern Ireland international couldn't steer his towering header on target.

Burnley were back on the defensive, and when the danger was only half-cleared, the Clarets breathed a sigh of relief as midfielder Tommy Miller's rasping long-range drive cannoned off the crossbar. Moments later, they gave an indication of the resilience that was to serve them so well after the break. Ipswich were awarded a free kick 25 yards out for David Unsworth impeding Counago, Miller struck the wall and had his follow-up shot blocked by James O'Connor inside the box.

Burnley broke, and Andy Gray slid an inviting ball into the box from the right, but strike partner Robbie Blake couldn't reach it quickly enough to test the goalkeeper.

Ipswich were forced into a change midway through the half with Sito Castro complaining of double vision, and as a result of Fabian Wilnis' introduction at right back, David Wright was switched to left back, where he was cruelly exposed by an sublime one-two between Blake and Elliott. The duo combined brilliantly at a short corner, Elliott returned the pass with an exquisite backheel that Blake burst onto to get into the box, but missed an opportunity as he pumped it scared instead of cutting it back to one of a handful of team-mates that were queuing up for him.

Counago, meanwhile, was building up to providing another test for Kiraly. And thankfully the former Crystal Palace stopper was more than up to the challenge as he somehow managed to tip away his looping header.

Perhaps as a result of Ipswich's frustrations at being thwarted in their attempts at goal, the game began to bubble under the surface and Blake and marker Alex Bruce were at loggerheads after both appeared to react in the aftermath of a touchline tackle.

Lee then pushed Coyle in the chest after the Clarets were penalised for a foul throw.

Boiling point was soon reached, as almost every outfield player swarmed around Walters and Spicer after that tackle in the centre circle.

Referee Phil Dowd had no need of the video replays, which showed Spicer had gone in dangerously with two feet, and walked the midfielder towards the tunnel before showing him a red card seconds before the break.

Burnley emerged for the re-start in valiant mood, and although Ipswich peppered the goalmouth with crosses and long-range shots, they never did enough to get the better of a determined backline.

Counago had a left-foot shot blocked by Graham Alexander, Unsworth got his head in the way of numerous deliveries into the area, Jon Harley was tenacious at left back and Caldwell was in unbeatable form.

"The sending off affected us more than it affected them," said Ipswich boss Jim Magilton.

"They were resilient. There's an art in defending and they showed real character to get a result for their team."