DURING his brief but torrid Turf Moor tenure, Chris Waddle was often moved to comment that "goals change games." As Friday night vividly illustrated, his statement is as true now as it was then.

An already half empty stadium could have had its numbers further reduced by about 8pm, had Norwich taken the many opportunities afforded them in the opening exchanges.

The Canaries were flying for the first 15 minutes. Brian Jensen was stretched, the woodwork was hit and Jon Harley was forced to clear from under his own crossbar as the visitors threatened to run riot and extend Burnley's winless sequence.

But then it happened. On a rare foray behind enemy lines, Graham Branch slid the ball into the Norwich box. And with a skilful turn and deft finish, Andy Gray ended his and Burnley's drought with the Clarets' first Turf Moor goal in seven weeks.

The impact on the game, the teams and the crowd was both instant and amazing. For the remainder of the half, Norwich seemed shell-shocked, rarely crossing the half-way line. By contrast, Burnley played with a new-found zest and confidence.

The atmosphere inside the ground was similarly transformed. For the first 15 minutes, mis-placed passes had been greeted with a collective frustrated sigh and howls of derision. Following the goal, those very same passes were met with roars of encouragement. Football supporters? Fickle?

By the time faithful servant Graham Branch sealed the win late on, Turf Moor had become what it hadn't been for weeks a happy place to be.

Whilst the victory sent us home happy, there were a number of other reasons to be cheerful the capture of Alan Mahon being chief among them.

As the 27 year-old demonstrated during his late cameo, he is a tidy little player who does not give the ball away. Add to that his dead ball abilities and the fact that he grabs the occasional goal, and £200,000 looks a very good bit of business.

Tonight sees the return of Richard Chaplow to Turf Moor, which raises the question of whether his move to the Hawthorns worked out for him.

Unable to break into a poor West Brom team and farmed out to a struggling Championship outfit it can't be what he hoped for when he left the Clarets in January 2005. Here's hoping the boys can add to his misery this evening.