Thorne cuts Clarets as leaders seal the points

THIS was a tale of two strikeforces as Stoke maintained their position at the top of the table and Burnley continued to pay the price for their personnel problems.

The promotion pacesetters fielded a near-£1 million front line of Kyle Lightbourne and Peter Thorne who proved their pedigree with a goal apiece.

While on the other side of the coin Burnley were without a senior front man to their name with Andy Cooke suspended and leading scorer Andy Payton added to an unenviable unavailable list because of "personal problems."

The upshot was a makeshift pairing of Glen Little and Phil Eastwood which gave way in the second half to a change of partner for Little with Bradley Maylett and Kevin Henderson attempting to fill the breach.

Given such a paucity of resources, goals were always likely to be priceless for the injury-hit Clarets who are badly missing old heads like Gordon Armstrong, Peter Swan and Ronnie Jepson.

And the point was harshly made when only the half-time break separated a glorious chance for Eastwood and Stoke's opening goal.

City's second 16 minutes later merely confirmed the inevitable as even the heroics of Little were unlikely to bridge a two-goal gap.

Pushed into an unfamiliar central striking role, Little tormented the Stoke defence with his sleight of foot and at times carried the Clarets' attack single-handed.

Port Vale manager John Rudge, who recently failed in a bid for the player, was due to watch him again last night and the Sunderland coaching pair of Adrian Heath and Bobby Saxton were also in the crowd. And although they would have doubtless liked to have seen Little play in his recognised wide position, the trio can't fail to have been impressed.

Their clubs may be wasting their time in taking the matter any further, however, as Stan Ternent has made it clear he doesn't wish to sell.

The Burnley boss is not of a mind to part with his best players and this performance, although ultimately fruitless, reinforced the view that Little is indispensable to the Clarets.

It was a pity that Eastwood, normally such an assured finisher who again showed plenty of promise, failed to make it two goals in two starts to reflect a decent first-half performance from Burnley who answered Ternent's call to show their true colours after Saturday's debacle at Preston.

And even after the task was pushed beyond them, Burnley didn't throw in the towel as they had done at Deepdale.

Stoke had just too much strength, experience and know-how but credibility was at least restored, collectively and as a team, by Ternent's men.

Chris Brass, Rune Vindheim and Brian Reid in particular exhorcised the ghosts of Deepdale with more impressive performances.

And as well as Little, Mark Ford stamped his mark on the game before tiring towards the end of his first starting appearance since the opening day of the season when he broke an ankle.

Ford won some thumping tackles in the first half and prompted Burnley to a points verdict before the break with his no-nonsense approach in the centre of midfield.

One crunching challenge allowed Eastwood to set Little away and the stand-in front man breezed past the last defender to fire in an angled drive which Carl Muggleton beat away. Often coming to pick the ball up from a deeper position Little was invariably left with several green shirts to pass.

But more often than not he managed it and a scintillating run from half-way ended up with another shot from a tight position which flew across the face of goal.

Stoke's main threat had come from crosses from the right wing but when Burnley lost possession in a more central position Lightbourne looked a certain scorer until Reid snuffed out the danger with a telling block.

It had been fairly nip-and-tuck but Burnley should have stolen the advantage in first-half stoppage time.

Ford was the instigator and after a neat one-two with Little, Eastwood was left with only Muggleton to beat from 10 yards out.

But the young striker fluffed his effort and there was to be no second bite at the cherry as two minutes after the re-start Burnley were caught out again as they had been at Preston.

This time they could claim a lack of fortune, however, as Graham Kavanagh's mis-hit shot carried no threat until it landed at the feet of Lightbourne who beat Gavin Ward from 12 yards.

Kavanagh was starting to dictate and he created Stoke's second with rather more purpose.

Following a measured build-up he crossed perfectly for Thorne to connect with a text-book header which nearly burst the net.

Typically the response was led by Little who straight from the kick-off weaved his way through the entire Stoke side before falling at the final hurdle.

And having ridden out Stoke's purple patch Burnley at least finished with a flourish as Kevin Henderson capped his best burst of senior action this season with a skidding shot which Muggleton turned away at full stretch.

Their lack of firepower was ultimately Burnley's undoing though as they didn't have the ammunition to hurt a Stoke side which eventually won with a bit to spare.

Ternent badly needs to have his big guns back in action to stop the Clarets' slide which has seen them lose three of their last four games.

And an FA Cup tonic on Saturday would be the perfect way to start.

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