CHRIS Waddle is facing a pitch battle in his bid to keep Burnley clear of the Second Division drop zone.

A 1-1 draw at home to fellow strugglers Brentford on Saturday saw the Clarets slip to fifth from bottom of the table.

And Waddle admitted he is becoming increasingly concerned about the state of the Turf Moor pitch which did nothing to help his side break down a desperately dour but dogged Brentford defence.

"The biggest problem for us at the moment is the pitch," said the Burnley player-manager.

"I think if we had played them a couple of months ago when the pitch was in a better shape it would have helped our cause.

"We do like to play but at the minute the pitch is not really doing any favours for us. It suits teams who play less football."

Brentford, who started with a 5-2-3 formation but regularly left just Robert Taylor up front, certainly fell into that category.

But their limited approach looked to be paying dividends when Taylor scored with a deflected shot to give them the lead shortly after half-time. Burnley struggled to break the Bees down and were grateful for Glen Little's first ever League goal to stop the visitors recording their first away success of the season. The Clarets were poor but there's no doubt that the playing surface, uneven and bare in many areas, hindered their attempts to string much together.

Waddle added: "It cuts up with within five or 10 minutes. It's bobbling, people are under-hitting it, over-hitting it and it's difficult. "It was not a classic. I think everybody in the whole ground was frustrated.

"They will go away probably thinking it's a good point but we have a game in hand on them and the results have gone our way apart from Plymouth so all was not lost." Doubtless the Turf Moor ground staff will be putting in plenty of work before tomorrow night's visit of Wrexham.

But there's a limit to what short-term repairs can be done and so the two sides will have to overcome similar problems.

However, Waddle does not expect to have to tackle such a negative approach from a Wrexham side which needs to win to stay in touch with the play-off places after losing 3-1 at Chesterfield on Saturday.

"They play 4-4-2 and play good football so that will suit us, no doubt about that.

"But these teams who look to get the ball forward early and spoil are difficult to play against," added the Burnley boss,who may have to reckon without Damian Matthew against the Welshmen. The midfield man pulled a calf muscle and was replaced 10 minutes from the end of Saturday's game and is struggling to be fit for tomorrow.

Brentford ended Burnley's run of seven straight home wins but for Londoner Little at least it was a red letter day.

He explained: "It was my first league goal and my mum and dad were up for the game.

"It was the first time they have seen me start a game for Burnley so hopefully they will come every week."

Little added: "We have been creating quite a few chances lately but on Saturday we didn't play as well as we have been doing.

"It was out of the blue really that I got my chance. Andy Payton put a lovely ball through to me and I just managed to dink it over the keeper."

The Clarets junior teams shared mixed fortunes on Saturday. The A team slipped to a 3-1 defeat at Gawthorpe against Blackburn Rovers A but the B team recorded a fine 4-1away win against Morecambe A.

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