LUTON confirmed their status as Burnley's bogey side as manager Lennie Lawrence made it three wins in four trips to Turf Moor as the Hatters' boss.

Lawrence's side went into last night's game on the back of four straight defeats and a dismal weekend performance at Wrexham. But they shrugged of that indifferent spell to collect a deserved 2-0 victory.

And Lawrence admitted that his side is inspired by playing Burnley in their own back yard.

"This place somehow seems to bring the best out of us. The players were really up for it and they responded very well to Saturday's defeat. It was a great performance.

"When we go away to the smaller grounds we don't do that well. But when we come to big clubs and big crowds like this the players are definitely lifted by it.

"This was one of those occasions," said Lawrence.

The Town boss admitted that his had ridden their luck at times, notably in the second half when former Luton skipper Steve Davis rattled the crossbar from 35 yards with a piledriver that beat Ben Roberts and bounced down onto the line. "But we defended with resilience and counter-attacked well," he added.

Burnley's defending was less impressive but Lawrence believes the Clarets are still definite top-six material and not out of the automatic promotion race.

"They've only got to get the first goal and you're in for a long afternoon," claimed the former Middlesbrough boss.

"They haven't got the most demanding run-in and they've still got a chance. I think it will go right to the last few games.

"Stan's a good manager and he's bought well. They have still got a chance of automatic and they're certainties for the play-offs."

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