THREE weeks ago Burnley were being written off as one of the worst Premier League teams of all time.

Now they have already surpassed some of the standards they set in their previous top flight campaign five years ago with the season not even a third of the way to completion.

It’s amazing what a couple of victories can do for a side.

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From questions about their suitability to compete at this level, the Clarets have now secured more points on the road than they did in the whole of 2009/10 season, as well as keeping more clean sheets than in that entire campaign.

Five years ago Burnley started their Premier League adventure with a trip to the Britannia Stadium, and a 2-0 defeat. Only one player, Michael Duff, remains at the club from that season, and on Saturday they proved they are made of sterner stuff than the team that conceded 82 goals in 38 games on their way back to the Championship.

This second successive league victory was secured thanks to two goals from Danny Ings, but he was the first to acknowledge that most of the plaudits have to go to the back four for a simply heroic resistance as the Potters poured forward in the second half.

Four years ago Ings was playing in the Conference South for Dorchester Town. On Saturday he was the match winner in front of 27,000 people and his manager was fielding questions about whether he was ready for a call-up to the full England side.

It has been some rise for last season’s top scorer, who now has five goals in his last five starts for club and country.

In truth his task in the opening 13 minutes at the Britannia Stadium was simple. Both goals were easy tap-ins, although the second owed a lot to some clever movement to find space between Ryan Shawcross and Geoff Cameron.

It was what came after that quickfire double that inspired the Clarets to three points, as Stoke laid siege to their goal in the second half.

While the 2,400 travelling fans behind Tom Heaton wished the ball away, the defence, and in particular the outstanding Jason Shackell and Stephen Ward, repelled everything that the Potters could throw at them, winning header after header.

The final stats will show Stoke had 14 corners to Burnley’s none, and amassed 25 shots to the visitors' five, but one-sided stats don’t always tell the true story, and if you defend as courageously and as brilliantly as the Clarets did in the second half, then sometimes you deserve to take the three points back up the M6.

Certainly the start couldn’t have been scripted any better.

On 12 minutes Ashley Barnes controlled a pass on the left hand side of the area, worked a yard to put in a low cross and Asmir Begovic spilt the ball under pressure from Kightly, with Ings tapping home.

Less than two minutes later Barnes quickly produced a delicious flick to release Kightly, who slipped past Shawcross on the left and picked out Ings, who again had the simplest of finishes.

The same three players had been involved in both goals, and it must have been particularly satisfying for Kightly, who played 26 games for Stoke two seasons ago. He scored in his first appearance and his last appearance for the club, and on his first return to the Britannia he looked keen to prove a point.

The home fans were stunned to see their side 2-0 down inside a quarter of an hour, and if they were looking for someone to take their anger out on they had just the man in Martin Atkinson.

This was the first time Atkinson had been to the Britannia Stadium since he sent off two players and sent Mark Hughes to the stands in a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle last Boxing Day.

Stoke were so angry with Atkinson’s display that day that chairman Peter Coates labelled him a ‘disgrace’ and demanded an apology. Clearly their fans hadn’t forgotten that performance, and he became a convenient scapegoat here as howls of derision hailed down from the stands at his every decision, seemingly regardless of whether it was right or wrong.

On 32 minutes Stoke had something other than anger over the referee to cling on to. They had been building up a head of steam when the goal arrived, with Heaton earlier called in to action to save well from Victor Moses.

Recycled possession from a corner saw Bojan float in a cross from deep on the right-hand side, and Jonathan Walters' diving header found the back of the net.

The second half started in the same fashion as the first one ended, with more Potters pressure on the Clarets goal.

Another delightful cross from Bojan saw Mame Biram Diouf leap with Heaton and the former Blackburn Rovers loanee glanced a header inches wide of the far post.

But despite the constant pressure the back four were managing to protect Heaton, who did do well to hold on to two low shots from Charlie Adam.

Heaton had been booked for time wasting as early as the 70th minute, and it was no surprise to see five minutes added.

During that time Begovic came up for a Stoke corner as they searched for an equaliser, and although he got his head to the ball it sailed a couple of feet over the crossbar.

With that went Stoke’s last throw of the dice, and the final whistle brought scenes of jubilation in the away end, with only a second win in 25 Premier League away games.