THE first half was an endurance test even for the most fervent amongst us, writes Alan Houghton who sits in the Lower North Stand.

Neither team looked like scoring was high on their priority list.

There were a couple of weak, misdirected headers from new defender Dawson, whilst at the other end Mears did well to head wide when Adam Bogdan failed to come for a ball in his six-yard box.

Somebody needs to tell the young keeper that, despite his youth, he needs to be in control of his area.

The inevitable happened in the 55th minute – Burnley scored.

But this prompted Dougie Freedman into action with a double substitution, greeted by a loud chorus of boos, not at the outgoing or incoming players but rather at who was not taken off... Chris Eagles.

The guy is going through a bad spell and needs a break. The crowd are on his back and the harder he tries, the worse it gets.

The substitutions paid off within minutes as we suddenly had more presence up front.

Ngog glanced a header to Chung-Yong Lee who put in a great cross for Craig Davies to twist like a contortionist and head/shoulder the ball home.

We looked like a different team, the one the fans have been waiting for all season.

Super Kev joined the fray and we started winning the ball up front. He knocked the ball inside for Spearing to hit a left-foot drive, superbly turned past Grant by a lively Ngog.

We comfortably saw the game out with some good work around their corner flags.

It was a welcome win which, hopefully, will be the catalyst for a good run.

We’ve got extra players from the transfer window and players coming back from injury.

On to Nottingham next week to see if we can get back-to-back wins for the first time in ages.

What is frustrating is that if Burnley are regarded as serious play-off contenders, then this season has been a lost opportunity for us to bounce back.

And it is even harder to understand why we have ended up at the wrong end of the Championship.