TURF Moor on an autumnal afternoon sounded like a good place to kick start our season.

Over a superb lunch in the Ribchester Arms with a Burnley friend, we discussed our seasons so far.

The word from the Clarets side was that they hadn’t been playing well but picking up points whereas we had been playing well but not picking up points.

In the ground, they’ve given the visitors' refreshment area a much-needed lick of paint but still haven’t replaced the wooden seats in the David Fishwick stand.

Interestingly Turf Moor is the only football ground where you can get a ‘Bene Bomb’; a shot of Benedictine to go with your pint.

Evidently the Burnley Pals in the First World War discovered Benedictine, liked it so much and brought it back with them. The local Miners Club get through umpteen bottles a week of the stuff.

The team selection brought a few surprises with Jay Spearing in for Mark Davies, Jose Manuel Casado making his debut at left back and Derik becoming the latest volunteer for the right back spot.

The first half was fairly even but Burnley had the better chances.

We seemed to lose our way after Jay Spearing unfortunately went off injured. Ominously, they got better as half time approached.

In the second half, Burnley got on top and, significantly, Andre Gray took their chances when they came.

By comparison we looked lightweight up front despite ending up with Emile Heskey and Gary Madine together. Our biggest threat going forward turned out to be David Wheater.

There wasn’t much between the teams except in the areas that matter – attack and defence.

They looked dangerous when they attacked, we didn’t. Our defence is still very fragile having to cope with mistakes in midfield.

So, what’s going on? We had great expectations at the start of the season and already we’ve fallen on hard times. Perhaps it’s time to ask for more money for some quality up front as that was the difference.