Match Report: Brighton 1-0 Burnley

Brighton boosted their Championship promotion chances as a goal from David Lopez secured a 1-0 victory over Burnley at the AMEX Stadium. Wayne Bridge's cross from the left was flicked on towards the back post by Andrea Orlandi where Lopez volleyed home , with poor marking from the visitors contributing to their problems. The game had begun brightly enough but was short on clearcut chances, although Brighton keeper Tomasz Kuszczak was forced to tip a Junior Stanislas ball over the bar. Orlandi then headed a whipped corner from Vicente over at the other end before the hosts took the lead. Burnley rallied and Jason Shackell twice went close to grabbing an equaliser. His goalbound header was cleared off the line by Albion midfielder Gary Dicker, before Kuszczak pulled off a superb save with the ball heading for the bottom corner from Dicker's second effort. Grant McCann hit a half-volley over in the closing stages and Dean Marney shot wide after Danny Ings crossed from the byline. But Gus Poyet's side held out as they moved back into the play-off places.

Burnley 0-0 Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough's slump continued as they were held to a goalless draw at Burnley but Tony Mowbray's side remain in the play-off places in the Championship. Boro have won just once in the league in 2013 and needed some smart saves from goalkeeper Jason Steele to earn a point at Turf Moor. England Under-21 international Steele saved well from Charlie Austin and Dean Marney in the first half. Substitutes Mustapha Carayol and Curtis Main went close for Boro late on.Burnley, who are now seven points off the top six with a game in hand, saw Steele at full-stretch to turn Austin's first-time effort from the edge of the box behind in a bright start. Marney then saw his near-post header kept out by the alert Steele before Boro finally mounted some pressure after the break. Grant Leadbitter hit a low free-kick wide, Main put a snap-shot wide and Carayol gave Burnley goalkeeper Lee Grant his first serious work of the evening in stoppage time with a swerving, dipping long-range strike that was tipped over. Boro are still in sixth place in the table, but are now just two points ahead of Brighton, who have a game in hand.

Bolton 2-1 Burnley

Craig Davies and David Ngog came off the bench to turn a Lancashire derby on its head and hand Bolton three much-needed points in a 2-1 success against Burnley. Following a goalless first-half of few chances, Burnley looked set to claim local bragging rights from the second time this season following David Edgar's close-range finish in the 55th minute. It prompted Wanderers boss Dougie Freedman to introduce strike pairing Davies and Ngog, initially to howls of derision from the Reebok Stadium faithful who were unhappy to see Marvin Sordell and lively winger Steve De Ridder withdrawn. But the switch proved to be inspired as Davies headed his first goal since joining from Barnsley last month before Ngog sealed the Trotters' maiden league triumph of 2013 nine minutes from time. Freedman's men climb to 16th in the npower Championship table, although they remain three points above the relegation zone, while Burnley slip behind bitter rivals Blackburn into eighth, four points shy of the play-offs. The Clarets made an enterprising start and Bolton had Darren Pratley to thank for keeping the game goalless in the 17th minute. Ross Wallace - fresh from signing a contract extension at Burnley this week - collected Dean Marney's return backheel from a cleverly-worked short corner to drive across the face of goal, but Wales international Pratley hacked clear. Craig Dawson had the two best chances of the half on his Bolton debut. He headed Jay Spearing's outswinging corner narrowly wide at the back post before from another set-piece saw the on-loan defender force the half's only meaningful save from Lee Grant. Given the predominant method of creating chances in the match, it was somewhat inevitable when Burnley went ahead from a 55th minute corner. Wallace hung up a cross to the back post where McCann towered above the Bolton defence to nod back across goal and leave Edgar with a simple nodded finish. Then came Freedman's ill-received changes that would send a sceptical Reebok crowd into raptures. In the 66th minute, Lee Chung-Yong engineered room to swing a ball in from the left and Davies glanced beyond Grant via the underside of the crossbar. An from another corner Kevin Davies - another substitute - made a customary nuisance of himself, and Burnley were unable to fully clear. Spearing drove back towards goal where Ngog stole in front of Burnley full-back Danny Lafferty to turn the ball home.

Burnley 1-0 Crystal Palace

Burnley boss Sean Dyche hailed his side's "excellent" play as they edged past Crystal Palace 1-0 at Turf Moor. Junior Stanislas marked his first start since November by scoring the only goal of the game with a brilliant strike into the top corner from outside the box with nine minutes to go. The Clarets survived a late scare as Lee Grant got down brilliantly to turn the ball away after Jason Shackell had diverted Jonathan Parr's cross towards his own goal and Mile Jedinak hit the crossbar in stoppage time, but Dyche's side held on. He said: "I thought our football was excellent but it was a tight game and we did well to win it. "We asked the players to give a lot in their performances and they did that once again. "I am sure Ian Holloway will argue that Palace should have got something from the game and if you isolate the second half maybe he is right, but over the 90 minutes I think we deserved to win. "We scored a fantastic goal and I am delighted for Junior, but the whole team worked hard for it. "Football is swings and roundabouts and I think we have been hard done by at times but when we apply ourselves then we don't have to worry about silly decisions and we can challenge anyone in the league. "We need to improve our consistency now and see if we can get more wins on the board. If we can do that then who knows where it could take us."

Derby County have sold Jason Shackell to Championship rivals Burnley

Derby County have sold Jason Shackell to Championship rivals Burnley and the Rams are close to signing another central defender.The fee for Shackell is undisclosed but is thought to be in the region of £1.1m. He has signed a four-year deal.The 28-year-old centre-back was ever-present in the back four last season and departs 12 months after arriving in a £750,000 deal from Barnsley. Chief executive Tom Glick said the club were disappointed to see Shackell leave and confirmed that Derby were set to make their own move in the transfer market. "Plans are well under way to not only secure the services of a central defender but also strengthen other areas of the first-team squad." said Glick. Derby turned down four bids for Shackell last month. At the time, Manchester City-bound Glick described him as a top player in the Championship, saying: "So it would take a lot to pry him away from Derby. I expect him to be with us for the start of the season." Shackell made 49 appearances last season and wore the captain's armband in the absence of Shaun Barker. He was also runner-up to Craig Bryson in the fans' player-of-the-year poll. His contribution has been praised by manager Nigel Clough. "Jason has always been 100% professional and a fantastic player to work with," said Clough. "He played every game last season, so it came as no great shock when other clubs started to register their interest in him." Cardiff City and newly-promoted Charlton Athletic also entered the race to sign Shackell. Burnley are his sixth club, as he has also played for Norwich City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Doncaster Rovers. Clough said: "Although I am sad to see Jason leave, we have Jake Buxton, Tom Naylor and Mark O'Brien, who have all proved to be more than capable at performing in the Championship. "We are also actively looking to bring in another central defender and hope to make an announcement in the not too distant future." Derby have indicated all summer that they might cash in on Shackell at the right price if it would help to strengthen the squad.

Nugent returns to Haunt old Club

David Nugent scored against his former club as managerless Leicester ended their away-day hoodoo with a 3-1 victory at Burnley.Leicester were rewarded for their early intent, albeit through an unlikely source. With 20 minutes played Paul Konchesky, a summer signing from Liverpool, appeared on the left flank to seize a loose ball. He glanced up before scooping his shot against Lee Grant's fingertips and into the top corner.Burnley's response was immediate and when Sol Bamba's careless clearance bounced high and onto the head of Ross Wallace, he instinctively nodded the ball over Kasper Schmeichel and into the gaping net.It was former England cap Nugent, impressive throughout the first half, who had the visitors ahead in the 54th minute. Paul Gallagher stormed down the right wing before supplying a pinpoint cross for Nugent to head home gracefully from close range.The provider turned scorer eight minutes later. Referee Geoff Eltringham adjudged Andre Amougou to have body-checked Andy King in the penalty area, with Gallagher on hand to confidently power home the resulting spot-kick.

Match Report: Derby 1 Burnley 2

Charlie Austin struck twice in a 2-1 win to give Burnley their first npower Championship victory of the season and end Derby's 100 per cent start in the league.Burnley took the lead in the 49th minute when Treacy got to the byline and cut the ball back for Austin, who steadied himself with a touch before firing past Frank Fielding from six yards out.Clough's side came close to an equalising goal on two occasions. Ben Davies beat Jensen with a 10-yard shot but the ball was cleared off the line by Ben Mee. Davies was involved again shortly afterwards when his inswinging corner eluded everyone in the box and had to be hacked off the line once more by a Burnley defender.The Clarets then went straight down the other end and Treacy hit the crossbar with a shot from near the penalty spot on the hour.Burnley had not kept a clean sheet in the league for 15 matches and some sloppy defending midway through the second half ensured that was extended to 16 games. Bryson got to the byline after collecting the ball from John Brayford's throw-in and his driven cross was poked home by Robinson from inside the six-yard area.However, the Rams were not level for long. A long-range shot from Wallace was not properly dealt with by Fielding, who could only push the ball back out to Austin and he bagged his second goal off the game.

Burnley set To Sign West Ham Striker

Zavon Hines is set to sign for Championship club Burnley after failing to land the contract he wanted at West Ham, according to reports.The 22-year-old striker has been out of contract at the club since the end of last season and looked certain to leave  some months ago.However at the beginning of last month it looked as if the two parties were edging towards a deal when Hines told his followers on Twitter that he hoped to remain at West Ham and was hopeful of signing a new deal.But despite being involved in the latter stages of the club's pre-season talks fell through, and the former England under-21 is now said to be set to join West Ham's Championship rivals Burnley for a nominal fee.Hines, who was named Young Player of the Year by KUMB.com readers at the end of the 2009/10 season made his first team debut under Alan Curbishley in West Ham's 4-1 Carling Cup defeat of Macclesfield - a game in which he also scored.Having failed to make any further appearances for the first team that season he played 15 times in 2009/10, making his first start for the club in the 1-0 defeat at Wigan in September. However his season ended abruptly in December 2009 when he was forced to endure surgery to fix a long standing knee problem - an injury that kept him out until November the following year.Sporadic appearances under Avram Grant despite being fully fit led  to Hines criticising the manager via his Twitter feed back in May, whilst the arrival of Sam Allardyce gave hope that his career at the Boleyn could be salvaged.

However that hope was short lived and his departure is expected to be confirmed by both clubs shortly.

Southampton capture Fox

Burnley defender Danny Fox has joined Southampton.

The left-back joins the Saints for an undisclosed seven-figure fee after agreeing a four-year deal with the newly promoted Championship club.

Fox's departure from Turf Moor ends an 18-month stay with the Clarets for the Scotland international following his arrival from Celtic at the end of the January, 2010 transfer window.

The former Coventry City and Walsall defender, 25, went on to make 50 League appearances for the Clarets.

Match Report:Burnley 2 - 2 Watford

Substitute Keith Treacy marked his Burnley debut by scoring a late equaliser to deny Sean Dyche a dream start to his Watford reign.Rookie boss Dyche, 40, saw his side race into a 2-0 lead through Craig Forsyth and Mark Yeates.But the Clarets recovered in the final 13 minutes as Charlie Austin pulled a goal back.
And fellow substitute Treacy - a summer signing from Preston - headed an 84th-minute equaliser.Burnley, led by new skipper Chris McCann in the heart of midfield, made a bright and purposeful start.They threatened in the fifth minute when midfielder Dean Marney hit a fierce right-foot shot which sailed just wide from 20 yards before Ross Wallace's effort drew a fine block from Adrian Mariappa.The hosts were firmly in the ascendancy and moments later Jay Rodriguez engineered the space to hit a shot from six yards which missed the target.But the pendulum swung in Watford's favour when Chris Iwelumo, a summer signing from Burnley, tried his luck from 18 yards with a shot that home debutant Ben Mee did well to block.And Watford opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time when Marvin Sordell flighted a right wing cross for Forsyth to head into the bottom corner from six yards.Burnley made a tactical switch at half-time as Martin Paterson was replaced by Austin in a bid to boost the home attack.Yet Watford continued to defend strongly as Austin wasted a decent opening before Forsyth shot wide when well placed.Yeates was denied by a smart stop from home keeper Lee Grant on 54 minutes and his endeavour was rewarded in the 70th minute when he drilled home a right-footed shot from 12 yards.

However, the Clarets responded in the 77th minute when Austin fired home from six yards and, with six minutes remaining, Treacy nodded in a cross from fellow wideman Wallace to level the scores.