ANY fears Burnley had about their ability to cope without top scorer Andre Gray for a month were laid to rest at Turf Moor last night as the Clarets produced a dominant display against in-form Watford.

This was the first chance to see how Burnley would line-up shorn of their main man in front of goal, and boss Sean Dyche decided to stick with the three-man midfield that he had used in the defeat at Leicester City last weekend.

For 45 minutes that game plan worked well against the Champions, until Burnley were the authors of their own downfall. but this time they put it together for a full game.

The victory over Dyche’s former club might not attract the headlines that the win over Liverpool did, but it was easily Burnley’s most complete performance of the season so far.

They pressed with energy and passed with invention, and when it became clear they had a dominance from set-pieces they made sure they capitalised on it.

Before the season Dyche attracted headlines of his own for his view on the unfair press British managers get compared to their foreign counterparts, but he certainly won the tactical battle against Walter Mazzarri.

Watford lined up with their now customary back three, but between them had only Sam Vokes to mark, giving the Clarets the numerical advantage in midfield which allowed the hosts to take an early control of the game, and it was one they never relinquished.

There has been a legitimate concern in Burnley’s opening Premier League salvo’s about where the goals will come from, but they now have five different goalscorers in the top flight this season, and all five have scored their first Premier League goals in the process.

It might have been the same shape as nine days previous but some of the personnel had swapped, with Jeff Hendrick playing in the advanced role, and Steven Defour tucking in alongside Dean Marney, and it seemed to benefit Burnley having the magnificent Defour at the heart of the game.

From one half cleared corner George Boyd lashed a close-range shot high towards goal which Heurelho Gomes tipped over, and from the next corner Defour produced a deft touch to sidestep Valon Behrami, but his 18-yard shot was blocked.

The Clarets were continuing to knock on the door, and Vokes glanced a header wide from a Matt Lowton cross before Johann Berg Gudmundsson cut in from the right and sent a low, left-footed shot narrowly wide.

The pressure finally told before the break and it was no surprise it came from a set-piece. Defour’s back-post delivery found Hendrick and his downward header somehow evaded a couple of Watford defenders and Gomes before nestling in the back of the net.

Tom Heaton was a bystander for most of the first half but he was called into action in added time to hold on to Odion Ighalo’s glancing header, which was only the second time in the first 45 minutes that a Watford player had touched the ball in Burnley’s box.

The Hornets looked a more threatening outfit early in the second period and Heaton had to be down smartly to save Troy Deeney’s thunderbolt.

But that mini resurgence was quickly ended as the Clarets again made the most of a set-piece.

Boyd won the corner when his cross-shot was blocked by Sebastian Prodl, and Defour’s first effort was cleared back to him, but his second delivery was pin-point for Michael Keane to head past Gomes.

While Vokes was proving to be a battering ram up front Defour was oozing class in the middle, and his rasping drive, after another delicate first touch, forced Gomes into a smart save.

If Burnley were expecting a response from the Hornets it never arrived, and the Clarets should have made it three, but Boyd overhit a square ball that would have left Hendrick with a tap-in.