THE leaves were cascading from the trees and the harvest had long since been safely gathered in by the time Burnley's points tally reached double figures last season.

It took the Clarets 11 games stretching into October for them to garner those 10 points.

And that left them languishing in 20th place in Division Two at the time.

Almost a year on, and the Clarets reached the same total before folk had packed their deckchairs and headed for the beach for the Summer Bank Holiday.

One thing that hasn't changed, however, is that Andy Payton is still scoring goals.

He notched his seventh of the season at Maine Road when Burnley did finally emerge from single figures in the darks days of the last campaign.

And Saturday's winner against Stoke was his third this time around and represented a goal-a-game record in League matches that he's started before this afternoon's clash at Bristol Rovers.

Payton kicked-off the season on the bench at Wycombe Wanderers. But on each of the subsequent Saturdays he has started and scored and Burnley have won.

Home or away, the striker is indispensable.

A week on from bagging the only goal of the game at Oldham, he again broke the deadlock to maintain Burnley's share of the Second Division lead and extend their unbeaten League run to 15 matches.

The Clarets were beginning to look as though they would have to settle for a share of the points in a game almost completely bereft of goal-scoring chances when Payton was given a glimpse of goal 15 minutes from time.

That was all it took as he collected a flick-on from Graham Branch, held off Phil Robinson and steered an angled shot into the only area of the goal that was out of the reach of former Burnley loan keeper Gavin Ward.

Payton is a master of his craft and with his job done, Burnley held out for another valuable victory.

They caused some palpations in the crowd en route to doing so by sitting right back and inviting Stoke onto them.

But Stan Ternent's men do have some steel about them these days and, despite some intense pressure from the visitors, they always managed to get in a telling tackle or header to reduce goalkeeper Paul Crichton's workload to a minimum.

Nevertheless, referee Terry Heilbron's final whistle was still welcomed with some relief and if it's this nerve-wracking watching in August, I dread to think what state some of the Clarets fans might be come April or May.

Three single-goal wins on the bounce have created the tension but they have also shown that Burnley appear to be heading firmly in the right direction.

Everyone imagined Ternent's side would be much harder to beat this season and so it's proving.

Even without the central defensive partnership of Steve Davis and Chris Brass that was so formidable at the end of last season, Burnley have kept successive clean sheets in the League.

Gordon Armstrong has been another constant factor, however, and the under-rated captain, who is more effective than pretty, had another fine game against Stoke, who threatened little despite shading the first half.

Armstrong had already made one potentially goal-saving tackle on Paul Connor when Dean West should have put Burnley in front but headed wide of a gaping goal at full stretch following execllent work by Payton.

And it took an equally good challenge from Paul Smith to stop Chris Short before Crichton made his only save of the game, tipping over Anders Jacobsen's header from one of a flurry of Stoke corner's. Connor screwed another chance across the face of goal as Burnley, missing the marauding Andy Cooke, lost the plot after a bright start in which the classy Paul Cook, who was impressive throughout, was a constant factor.

But the pendulum swung back Burnley's way after the break as they re-established their grip on the game.

Mitchell Thomas powered in a header which Ward athletically turned over the top and the Clarets added to their attacking threat when Glen Little, whose creative skills were missed, came on and added some potency to the right flank.

Chances still proved elusive, however, as Payton drilled the ball into the side-netting from a half-decent opening and then failed to get in a clean strike after Cook's mis-hit shot fell at his feet.

However, the striker's instincts are never dulled and when the next opportunity came his way he duly delivered.

And while his goal failed to hand complete control to the Clarets, they will settle for 1-0 wins until the cows come home if it keeps them at the top of the table when it matters.

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