JUST when Andre Bikey looked to have found a cure for Burnley’s travel sickness, there was a Kink in their armour.

Tarmo Kink, to be precise.

The crafty Estonian twice fired unstoppable strikes past Brian Jensen after his 75th minute introduction from the bench – the second a dubiously awarded free kick – to inflict back-to-back away defeats on the Clarets.

Not only that, but their poor away league run has now extended to one win in 25.

Nineteen of those were played in the Premier League, and resulted in 17 defeats. Manager, Brian Laws will, of course, only be concerned with this season, not last.

But if they have hopes of getting back into the top flight at the first attempt then improving results away from Turf Moor will be key to that.

Laws has already solved one problem.

Their inability to score from a corner last season was an Achilles heel. They proved they have turned a corner in that regard when Bikey towered high in the six-yard box to head in captain Graham Alexander’s pinpoint delivery.

But after Chris Eagles, Jack Cork and derby matchwinner Jay Rodriguez came off the bench to inspire Burnley against Preston, they got a taste of their own medicine at the Riverside Stadium last night as substitute Kink hit two in the last 15 minutes to ease the pressure on boss Gordon Strachan.

Laws believes it’s not how you start but how you finish. Yet it was the manner in which they finished against Preston that inspired his starting 11 last night.

Eagles and Cork had done enough to impress the manager to get the nod ahead of Martin Paterson and Dean Marney after inspiring a turnaround that had gone unseen by Middlesbrough’s scouts, who left Turf Moor 10 minutes before the end on Saturday.

They returned to Teesside with a document detailing the defensive frailties, cruelly exposed on the North End counter, that had led to Burnley conceding three goals to their rivals and had to wait for television footage of Chris Iwelumo completing his hat-trick and supersub Rodriguez grabbing an unlikely winner.

It was their eye-witness account which mattered early on though, as Leroy Lita got into space down the right and was allowed to cross, unchallenged, to find an unmarked Scott McDonald around six yards out, but to Burnley’s relief the striker couldn’t keep his shot down.

The Australian brought a good save from Brian Jensen, who got enough on the ball to steer it wide of his left hand post when Boro again caught the Clarets out on the break.

By the 23rd minute, Burnley were grateful that leading scorer McDonald had forgotten his shooting boots.

They backed off as Justin Hoyte raided from right back to the edge of their box, where he fed McDonald to his right. When Danny Fox shaped to block an anticipated shot, McDonald moved the ball onto his left foot, but blazed well over.

You could sense why Boro had only scored twice in the league beforehand.

The first shot on target came from an unlikely source in Bikey, who benefited from Wallace’s delivery when the interchanging wide man found himself on the right, but Steele bundled it round the post.

Burnley came to life as half-time approached and Eagles had a shot from the edge of the box charged down, Wallace put the rebound back into the dangerzone, but it just missed the top of Iwelumo’s head.

Clarke Carlisle stood up to Lita’s strength in stoppage time and did enough to stop the former Reading striker hitting the target.

But Boro should have been in the lead early in the second half when the defender missed a tackle on McDonald, the striker sprinted through and crossed for O’Neill, whose first-time shot was well saved by Jensen, who recovered quickly to block the follow-up.

As was the case against Nottingham Forest and Leicester City in the opening two home games, Burnley made their opponents pay for their profligacy when Bikey rose high in a packed six-yard box to head in Alexander’s left wing corner.

Laws used the breakthrough to give Iwelumo a rest, with the summer signing nursing a hamstring injury, and brought on Steven Thompson.

The Scot developed a knack of getting goals from the bench in the latter part of last season, and Burnley needed a repeat when Boro substitute Kink equalised within four minutes of his introduction.

The Clarets failed to close down when McDonald played a square ball to the Estonian, who picked his moment to fire a low shot beyond Jensen’s despairing dive.

Lita’s dive led to the winner.

The England Under 21 international went down cheaply under pressure from Elliott, and the referee fooled into awarding a free kick. Kink clinched it from 25 yards.

Click on the link below to read the match report from the Middlesbrough perspective from the Northern Echo.