TAKE away the nature of the goals conceded and Burnley played quite well against West Ham United on Saturday.

But I’m afraid to say the same old cliches still apply.

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It was certainly ‘a game of two halves’ with Burnley taking the first and the Hammers the second, and ‘when you are on top you have to score, or you pay the price’, as the adage goes.

That is a rule of engagement once the Premier League level is reached.

Burnley didn’t, and were duly punished with three headed goals.

If that level of misunderstanding is allowed to continue we will have to go back to the days when we had to score four goals to win 4-3 – and we know that is a non-starter in this league.

A collective responsibility needs to ensure that we get back our early season solidity.

Besides that, it was a decent performance.

As a guest of co-chairman John Banaszkiewicz, I was suited and booted for his annual works outing extravaganza, which transports a party of his employees from his London-based company to the party capital of the north.

All right, that might be stretching it a bit far, but make no mistake the same old faces revisit a packed number of Hammerton Street bars and clubs each year to enjoy the town’s vibrant night life to the early hours.

Before that there was an X Factor-style competition held at the former Keirby Hotel which now forms accommodation for the UCFB students.

With the first prize a weekend for two in Amsterdam, there was no way I was going to miss out.

However, even with co-chairman John and ‘Windows’ Jeff Brown on the panel, I still didn’t make the final cut with my exquisite rendition of Dr Hook’s Sylvia’s Mother track.

The winners were an Irish duo who I swear were ringers!

The forthcoming Everton game taking place at Turf Moor on Sunday now takes on a little more significance where we could do with that X Factor.

First of all we don’t want to be the only team going into November winless and with the gap between ourselves and the pack that we are chasing opening up, it’s imperative that we don’t get cast adrift.

Or as Blackadder might put it, lose to the Toffees and we will be in the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck to a sticky bun.