Football is a cruel, cruel game and the Clarets bore the full brunt of that cruelty on Saturday.

Until the third minute of stoppage time, it was all going swimmingly – apart from perhaps being lucky not to concede a penalty or two – and we looked odds-on for only our second away point of the campaign.

Heck, David Nugent could have stolen all three points but for a decent save by Chris Kirkland a couple of seconds earlier.

Then it happened.

The luck that has deserted us all season decided to take the quick way out of town again as Hugo Rodallega broke the hearts of the travelling faithful with a powerful header past Brian Jensen.

You could see the pain on boss Brian Laws’ face and he must wonder when the big man above is going to cut him some slack.

For all his perceived team selection faults in previous games, I thought the gaffer got it spot on at the DW Stadium.

Playing with three strikers, in the form of Nugent, the returning Steven Fletcher and the busy Martin Paterson, was a positive move and but for poor finishing – and the crossbar – the Clarets would have taken all three points.

Defensively, until the goal, we looked very solid and both Michael Duff and Leon Cort looked formidable against a busy, if not overly testing, Wigan attack.

The switch to wingers later in the game was a good move and Robbie Blake again showed odd bits of movement and guile that illustrates how important he is to the side.

All the talk at the back end of last week was of Barry Kilby’s plan to axe Laws but thankfully it was just a lazy piece of tabloid journalism in a very unscrupulous rag.

To get rid of a manager at this stage of the season would be plain stupid and that is one think Barry isn’t.

Saturday’s game was another marked improvement on recent performances and if we can string together a few performances of that ilk then we give ourselves a fighting, if unlikely, chance of staying up.

Laws said after the game that if we were to go down then we would go down fighting and that is all any of us could ask.

We knew this season was going to be tough and when you are up against teams who recklessly splash the cash to preserve top flight status, it becomes even more difficult.

But the Burnley model suits me and if we are plying our trade in the Championship next season, we will be doing so in a very healthy financial position.

And there aren’t many clubs that can say that.

It’s still not over though and there are still plenty of points to play for, starting next week.

Our neighbours from down the M65 pay us a little visit on Sunday and it presents the gaffer with the perfect opportunity to get the doubting masses on his side.

What price would you get for Laws to suddenly be elevated to hero status if we manage to put one over Sam Allardyce’s side.

It may be a cruel game but it’s also a funny old one too and I for one have a feeling the Clarets - and Laws - will have the last laugh next week.