AFTER a break for international action September began with Burnley opening their account at Turf Moor.

Crystal Palace were the visitors and the Eagles were rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, pointless and goalless under Frank de Boer.

It took Burnley just three minutes to take the lead in front of the Sky Sports cameras, Chris Wood pouncing on a weak backpass from Lee Chung-Yong to score his first Turf Moor goal, but the game was remembered for the shoulder injury which forced skipper Tom Heaton off.

The England goalkeeper had just claimed a high ball when he landed awkwardly and immediately signalled to the bench. The sight of Heaton, Burnley’s Mr Reliable, lying prone on the grass on the edge of his six-yard box was enough for Turf Moor to take part in a collective head in hands moment. What now?

Step forward Nick Pope. If only we’d known then what we know now. The Premier League debutant looked nervy as he replaced the stricken Heaton. He made a crucial save from Christian Benteke in the second half and has barely put a foot wrong since.

With Sean Dyche confirming Heaton had suffered a dislocated shoulder and would face a lengthy spell on the sidelines there was much debate over the credentials of Pope. Would he sink or swim?

And his first Premier League start would come at Anfield as Burnley’s daunting away trips in the early weeks of the season continued.

But the Clarets were making light of the fixture list. Scott Arfield put Dyche’s side ahead on Merseyside and although Mohamed Salah equalised within three minutes it was another sig nificant point on the board.

It was certainly proving easier to follow the Clarets on the road this season than a year ago. Arfield’s smart finish from 15 yards had sparked pandemonium behind the goal at the Anfield Road End and Burnley stood firm in the second half, with Pope making confidence boosting saves from Dominic Solanke and Trent Alexander-Arnold late on to suggest he might just be able to fill the hole left by Heaton.

Not that Dyche was taking any chances and former Manchester United man Anders Lindegaard arrived on a deal until the end of the season during September to bring the senior goalkeeping group back up to three, alongside Pope and Adam Legzdins.

The reward for knocking Rovers out of the Carabao Cup was a second round tie at Turf Moor with Leeds United. Reward is probably the wrong word for Charlie Taylor and Chris Wood, who were jeered throughout by the away fans after their decision to swap the Championship for the Premier League in the summer in a show of ambition that was derided as greed by those from Yorkshire.

For 80 minutes the reaction to Taylor and substitute Wood was the only story in town, with the action on the pitch entirely forgettable. Then all hell broke loose.

Hadi Sacko put the visitors ahead with 10 minutes to go before Wood equalised from the spot after 89 minutes, keeping his nerve to silence those critics in the away end.

There was still time for two more goals though. Pablo Hernandez scored a penalty for Leeds as James Tarkowski was penalised for a pull but Robbie Brady buried a fine 20-yard free-kick six minutes into injury time to send us to extra time.

There were no more goals and it went to penalties, the first ABBA shootout at Turf Moor, but it was Leeds who progressed, the Clarets out of a cup competition early once again. Mamma Mia.

But it was the league that was grabbing all our attention and a goalless draw with Huddersfield at Turf Moor maintained Burnley’s encouraging start come the end of the month.

It was certainly no classic and goals were proving hard to come by at Turf Moor, although the opposition were finding it just as difficult to score against the Clarets.

The Terriers themselves had made a bright start to the season and the point left Burnley sitting ninth in the top flight, a more than respectable effort at this stage of the campaign.