BURNLEY were unable to repeat their Selhurst Park heroics of last season as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.

The Clarets won their first away game of 2016/17 at this venue last season, doing so at the 18th attempt.

Away days have improved this season with four wins already in the bag, but Sean Dyche’s side found it much tougher going in south London on this occasion.

Palace started the brighter of the two sides and it was a pattern that would continue for most of the first half.

Bakary Sako was causing the Clarets plenty of problems with his direct running, movement and pace, and in the first 10 minutes he saw a shot blocked by James Tarkowski.

It was Sako who made the difference midway through the first half. He picked the ball up wide on the left from Christian Benteke’s crossfield ball but Phil Bardsley backed off the winger, allowing him to run into the area and he unleashed a low left-footed shot from eight yards which Nick Pope could only get a leg to and divert into the net.

Palace were piling on the pressure and but for a miraculous Ben Mee clearance they would have had a second minutes later. Charlie Taylor’s header back to Pope was weak, allowing Wilfried Zaha to nip in and play the ball across goal only for Mee to divert it away from almost under his own bar as James McArthur steamed in to try and apply the finishing touch. From the resulting Luka Milivojevic corner Benteke arrowed a header a yard over the bar.

Burnley had struggled to create openings in the first half, with Sam Vokes glancing a header a couple of foot wide from a Johann Berg Gudmundsson cross before Ashley Barnes’ dipping half-volley from the edge of the area was tipped over by Wayne Hennessey their best sights of goal.

The Clarets had two narrow escapes just before the break, with Benteke flicking a Patrick Van Aanholt shot goalwards only for Pope to fling out a hand and claim it, before Sako fired a brilliant volley from Timothy Fosu-Mensah’s cross narrowly wide of the far post.

Although the second half brought no immediate changes for the Clarets they did find improvement. Seven minutes after the break Barnes headed a Gudmundsson cross narrowly wide and moments later Vokes showed good movement to run across James Tomkins and glance a near-post header from Steven Defour’s cross into the side-netting.

Palace’s threat had been reduced in the second half, with Taylor blocking Zaha’s backpost volley and Benteke glancing Sako’s cross wide as Taylor again applied the pressure.

Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, on for his Clarets debut with just under half an hour to go, looked bright but while Burnley were playing further up the pitch clear chances were hard to come by until Tarkowski’s long ball down field with six minutes to go evaded the Palace defence and saw Barnes through on goal, only for Hennessey to deny him for the second time in the game and seal victory for the hosts.