WHEN Burnley were on the receiving end of a 4-0 defeat at the Cardiff City Stadium in October 2012, Sean Dyche was sat in the stands as he contemplated taking over the reins at Turf Moor.

With Eddie Howe heading back to Bournemouth Dyche had emerged as the leading candidate to become the new Burnley boss, and thankfully he wasn't put off in seeing the Bluebirds run riot in the Championship fixture.

"The reality was that’s the challenge, we had a feeling of where it was at, what we needed to do and then take it on," Dyche said of watching the Clarets in that defeat.

"I’d seen them before that, I knew about the side and the build-up to when Eddie left, the results and what was going on.

"It’s not defined by one game you look at it, it's more about the pathway from that moment onwards."

The pathway has proved to be a relatively smooth one, with Dyche transforming Burnley from Championship also-rans to the seventh best team in the country last season.

"It’s a strange one," Dyche said of the time that has passed since he was on the verge of being appointed as Burnley boss.

"On the one hand it seems very, very short time ago, then with all we’ve achieved down the years it seems a long time ago because of what we’ve done since.

"It’s often the case, seasons go and you wonder where they are, it’s only when you reflect on them when you realise what has gone on since from that moment."

Dyche has been back to Cardiff once with Burnley, when the Clarets fought back from 2-0 down with five minutes to go to earn a 2-2 draw in the 2015/16 Championship side.

That comeback stands as the high point of Burnley's trips to the Welsh capital in recent seasons, with the Clarets failing to win any of their last 11 trips there.

While Dyche appears to have ended many hoodoos since taking over at Turf Moor, he joked that the club seemed to have plenty to lay to rest when he arrived.

"When I got here this club had about 57 clubs we’d had a bad run at. Every club we seemed to play at was like that," Dyche joked.

"That seems normal in these parts. I don’t think the story is that relevant. I don't know how the club had all these bad runs. Ipswich, Cardiff, Bristol City, Blackburn, Wolves, how many do you want?"

Sunday's trip certainly hands Burnley a chance of getting their first win in Cardiff since April 1, 2000, with Neil Warnock's side without a win in the Premier League so far since their promotion from the Championship last season.

That promotion was unexpected for the Bluebirds, just like Burnley's first under Dyche was in 2013/14, and the Turf boss can see some similarities between the teams.

"The unexpected promotion yes, they're a different sort of team and club, but it was definitely unexpected and they've done a brilliant job," he said.

"They'd had a few challenges the season before, they had to steady everything, so it was similar in that way. Neil and his staff had a first season to balance things, changed a few things, got it operating how they wanted it too then had a fantastic season to get promoted, so that's a similar situation."