JOHANN Berg Gudmundsson shone on his return to action for Burnley as he swapped the World Cup for Moss Rose.

It’s only a matter of weeks since the Iceland winger was seen in front of a global audience of millions doing battle for his country against Argentina and Croatia in Russia.

But he showed no signs of a World Cup hangover in the hour he spent terrorising Macclesfield Town’s defence, ending his return to action with a fine goal, while Aaron Lennon also netted as the Clarets beat the National League champions 2-0.

It was a successful night for Burnley, with Sean Dyche again splitting his squad. At Curzon Ashton Robbie Brady came through his first 45 minutes since suffering a serious knee injury in December in the 5-1 win, secured through goals from Ben Mee, Nahki Wells, Jon Walters and a Sam Vokes double.

In Cheshire it was Gudmundsson who was first to test Rhys Taylor with a low, left-footed drive from just inside the area.

Burnley should have had the lead midway through the half when a fine move saw them cut through their League Two opponents.

Jeff Hendrick found space centrally to slide a fine ball between centre back and full back for Phil Bardsley to run onto, but his low cutback had Chris Wood stretching and last season’s top scorer could only hit the post from six yards.

It was Dyche’s side who were looking the more likely and Gudmundsson was continuing to enjoy himself, unleashing a 25-yard drive on his left foot which flew just wide with Taylor at full stretch.

Tom Heaton was called into serious action for the first time just before the half hour stage. Burnley looked to have cleared the danger from a corner but left-back David Fitzpatrick ran onto the loose ball and unleashed a fierce drive from distance, forcing Heaton to dive to his right to push the shot away.

Gudmundsson and Lennon switched wings towards the end of the first half but the Iceland man was still posing a threat, curling a low, left-footed cross between Taylor and his back four, with Wood just unable to reach it, before his inswinging corner was headed over by Kevin Long.

It was Lennon who broke the deadlock 10 minutes before the break when Callum Evans’ loose pass gifted possession to the former England winger, who drove towards goal and skipped past a challenge and onto his right foot before finishing coolly from just inside the area.

Lennon turned creator shortly after, reaching the dead ball line before cutting a low ball back which was dummied by Hendrick and curled over by Jack Cork from 18 yards.

It was all Burnley before the break, Gudmundsson worked his way into the area but was denied by the legs of Taylor. The rebound fell to Wood but his goalbound effort was blocked at close range by Fiacre Kelleher.

Within minutes of the restart Gudmundsson had got the goal his performance had deserved. His 25-yard free-kick wrong-footed Taylor, who had taken a step to his right, and found the corner of the net.

The Clarets were continuing to play with confidence and on the hour mark Hendrick forced a save from Taylor after a fine move involving Wood, Gudmundsson and Lennon.

The game began to wind down after that, with Wood forcing a late save from replacement goalkeeper Louis Gray with a deflected shot.

Burnley: Tom Heaton, Phil Bardsley, Kevin Long, Jimmy Dunne, Charlie Taylor, Johann Berg Gudmundsson (Ali Koiki 60), Jack Cork, Ashley Westwood, Aaron Lennon, Jeff Hendrick, Chris Wood

Subs not used: Adam Legzdins, James Clarke, Josh Benson, Rob Harker