BURNLEY'S assistant manager Sam Ellis believes the Clarets have gained the edge in their Worthington Cup clash with Crystal Palace after coming back from the dead at Turf Moor last night.

On paper it may look as though Palace have done the hard work by drawing 2-2 away from home.

But after fighting back from 2-0 down inside the last 25 minutes, Ellis feels the balance of power has shifted Burnley's way ahead of next Tuesday night's return leg at Selhurst Park.

He said: "Coming from 2-0 down we think it's in our favour. The other thing is if you let a two-goal lead slip you're going to say 'heck you should be going home with a lead'.

"That can you put you on the defensive and if it does that we'll go and take advantage.

"We fancy our chances, don't worry about that."

Burnley won 1-0 at Palace in the League the Saturday before last and a repeat would take them into round three.

It won't be straight-forward but Burnley again demonstrated their fighting qualities by rescuing the tie with goals from Andy Cooke and Andy Payton.

The latter came from the spot seven minutes from the end after Palace had missed a penalty of their own thanks to a save from Burnley's debutant keeper Nikolaos Michopoulos.

"We're delighted. Funnily enough we thought we played well throughout the game. There were a couple of slip-ups but they did very well to come back from that," Ellis added.

"We have a good spirit and I think it showed through last night. To come back from that was first-class. "We felt we had a few good chances and we kept going to the end. We're very pleased with the way they did it.

"We enjoyed watching it from the side. We feel we've got good lads and they showed it again last night."

Injuries to Glen Little and Paul Weller and Michopoulos's debut meant Burnley made three changes to the side that drew with Grimsby on Saturday and manager Stan Ternent altered things again after just 33 minutes when he threw on Micky Mellon as the Clarets trailed to Mikael Forssell's 17th-minute goal.

And Mellon was a key figure in an excellent comeback which followed Tommy Black's 46th-minute goal, direct from a quickly-taken free-kick.

He said: "We're very happy. Obviously the tie was sort of looking beyond us because we were 2-0 down but we've got a great bunch of lads here, great character and we fought back well.

"We feel we'll always make chances and last night we made a lot. Andy Cooke and Payts have got themselves a goal so we're very pleased."

Burnley have certainly given themselves everything to play for with a place in the last 32 at stake and Mellon is looking to seize the chance.

He added: "We want to get a big tie but first of all we've got to take care of the away leg down at Crystal Palace.

"But we've put ourselves back in the frame. We feel we're as good as a lot of teams in this division and we'll go down and give it a right good go."

Little missed the meeting with his former club with an injured shoulder but scans have revealed no major damage for the wing-man.

"He's stiff and sore but he's okay," Ellis confirmed.

Meanwhile, Burnley's reserves entertain West Bromwich Albion at Turf Moor tonight (kick-off 7.15) looking to extend their winning start to the season. Admission is free.