BURNLEY suffered their first home defeat of the season, as Middlesbrough continued their unbeaten start to the 2011/12 campaign.

The Clarets trailed the first half to Nicky Bailey's 10th minute opener.

The former Charlton midfielder's shot appeared to find the bottom corner in slow motion as the home side switched off following an injury to Brian Easton.

The left back went down clutching his head after trying to clear the ball out of the box.

But play continued and Bailey's mis-hit volley bobbled past Brian Jensen.

The Clarets had started well from the kick-off but struggled to get back into the game after that as Boro got men behind the ball to protect their early lead.

And there was more of the same in the second half when Joe Bennett turned in the rebound when Jensen parried Scott McDonald's initial shot.

David Edgar went close from a couple of corners and Chris McCann brought a good save from Carl Ikeme after being set up by new signing Junior Stanislas, who looked to make an instant impact after making his debut from the bench seven minutes into the second half.