As Burnley reflect on a 13th-placed finish in the Championship, SUZANNE GELDARD takes a look back at the highs and lows of the campaign in her review of the season. In part one, she looks at the Clarets’ form at Turf Moor and how that ultimately cost the club any hope of promotion to the top flight...

BOOK-ENDING the season with two home draws perhaps explains why Burnley failed to break into the top half let alone the top six of the Championship.

They weren’t bad. Far from it.

As manager Eddie Howe has noted numerous times this season, the Clarets have looked capable of conquering in most games, or at least turning defeats into draws.

But they were never quite good enough to see the job through and live up to summer expectations.

Uncharacteristically for Burn-ley, they suffered a constant struggle on the home front, and it was to be their biggest downfall; their Achilles’ heel.

They didn’t start how they meant to go on.

They would have hoped for vast improvements on their under-whelming opening day draw against Watford.

It was accepted there would be a period of adjustment after Chris Eagles and Tyrone Mears, who had been at the heart of Howe’s pre-season preparations, were bought by Bolton Wanderers just two weeks before the Cham-pionship campaign began.

And fans were certainly encouraged by fit-again Charlie Austin and summer signing Keith Treacy coming off the bench in the second half to salvage a point against the Hornets on day one.

Austin kicked on.

But Treacy never hit a sustained period of form, leading to huge frustration for Howe, who had put faith in the Republic of Ireland international winger to pluck him from Preston.

Frustration grew also at the wait for a Turf Moor triumph.

Burton and Barnet had been beaten in the Carling Cup, with Jay Rodriguez scoring a career first hat-trick, and four in total, in a 6-3 first league win.

But it wasn’t until September 27 – two months into the campaign – that the Clarets picked up three points at home.

Ultimately, it proved worth the wait, as Rodriguez scored his first league goals, with new captain Chris McCann, Ross Wallace and Austin all getting in on the act in a 5-1 thrashing of Nottingham Forest.

They were brought back down to earth by Reading, losing 1-0, before Howe labelled their 3-1 win over Blackpool as one of the performances of the season.

But the good work from derby day was undone in the next game by Leeds, who came back from behind to win 2-1 in the last minute.

That defeat left them on the brink of the bottom three.

After a turning point at Hull City, when Burnley won at home invariably they won well – 4-0 over Ipswich, 3-0 over Doncaster Rovers on Boxing Day.

They ground out a good 1-0 win to do the double over Hull City on New Year’s Eve.

But after flirting with the play-offs, inconsistencies – specifically at Turf Moor – meant they could never commit to the top six.

There was no shame in a home draw with West Ham, despite letting a two-goal lead slip. A four point return from Sam Allardyce’s side overall was not to be sniffed at.

But they failed to back it up by dropping points against Derby, Peterborough, Millwall, Crystal Palace, Birmingham City, Coventry and Bristol City.

Only two home wins have been celebrated this calendar year, often making for a tense atmosphere, and a Catch 22 situation.

Fans voice their displeasure, players become fearful.

It is no coincidence that the travelling supporters have seen the best of the Clarets this season.

Tomorrow: Part Two Clarets’ perfect 10 – away form gave some reason for optimism about future