Burnley's fans, players and reporters may be moaning about the long trips to Gillingham and Brighton either side of Christmas but one player is looking forward to a bit of sleep.

Clarets striker Gareth Taylor celebrated the birth of his second son, Finlay, on December 11 and he admitted: "It does mean a few sleepless nights.

"I am probably the only member of the team looking forward to having a couple of overnight stops. At least I will be able to get my head down for a bit."

Travel details

THE away trips will be coming thick and fast for Clarets fans in the next couple of weeks.

They will be heading for Brighton and Sheffield United in the league followed by another trip across the Pennines for the FA Cup tie against Grimsby Town on January 4.

For details of trips run by Burnley Football Supporters Club call Fraser Eagle on 01254 231100 (days) or Yvonne Hudson on 01282 696947 (evenings).

For trips with Rossendale Clarets call Bev on 01706 224924, to go with Shooters Arms Clarets call Paul on 01282 698485 or 07788 105165.

Wild weddings

THERE must have been concerns at Turf Moor that the festive spirit would run dry on Saturday.

Not only was the match sponsor "Rocky and Jean Mills' Wedding Day", the man of the match sponsor was "Andrew Morris' Stag Do".

Mind you, another drain on the bars' alcohol levels may have been the amount of people wanting to drown their sorrows after the game!

Ticket switch

CLARETS fans planning a first ever trip to Brighton's Withdean Stadium are being reminded that they must change their ticket for next Saturday's trip if they bought it more than a week ago.

The reason is that 450 tickets of the allocation for the game against the Seagulls on December 28 were stolen.

The club has been told by Albion that the tickets were taken from the Brighton sorting office at the end of last week.

There are fears that this will cause complications when the teams meet as Brighton, on Police advice, will not reprint the tickets in the same colour as the stolen tickets and legitimate tickets cannot be identified.

As a result Brighton have reprinted all 700 tickets on a different coloured ticket stock and delivered them to the Burnley ticket office .

Tickets which have already been purchased by Burnley fans need to be returned to the ticket office before the day of the game so that the old ticket, which will not be valid, can be swapped for the new ticket.

All tickets must be returned by fans as there will be no entry through the turnstiles on the day of the match using the old tickets.

Both clubs are apologising for any inconvenience caused, but it has not been their fault.