Burnley 1-2 Reading

Norwood had the final saw as he hit the crossbar with a freekick, but Reading had done enough to move up to third in the Championship, which is a position Burnley had occupied at kick-off.

The visitors produced a dazzling display before the break at Turf Moor, blowing their hosts away with goals from Nick Blackman and Lucas Piazon inside the opening 10 minutes.

Tendayi Darikwa pulled one back for the Clarets, who were on a five-match unbeaten streak. But there’s no point in getting too excited about the table in September.

Despite a few late chances, Reading stood firm and ran out 2-1 winners, lifting them above Burnley and into third place, but they could rise into the automatic promotion places with a win this coming Saturday against Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough.

“We started well. It’s a good three points”.

Clarke added: “We started very quickly and on the front foot – it was two moments of quality”.

“We’ve made a lot of changes in the summer and we’ve done a lot of work in a very short space of time and the team looks okay”.

7/5 is a fair price on a home win and the fact that four of these sides’ last six meetings have topped the 2.5 goals mark indicates that backing the same to be the case this weekend is good value at 11/10.

Dyche, who was unhappy with the failure to award a penalty for handball against Michael Hector from a Sam Vokes shopt, said: “It’s unusual for us to start so sloppy, they scored the first from us crossing the ball, a breakaway and a bit of a mix up, and the second was good play from them”.

Kightly had the best chance for Burnley in the first half but his effort was saved well by Reading ‘keeper Bond, with Dyche turning to Barton in the second half bringing him on for his Clarets debut.

“Speaking to my mates, they think it’s a shrewd signing, and I’d agree, he’s got that experience and is a fantastic footballer”.

“They’ve done well with that, but we forged an excellent goal, and to get your right back knocking one in at the back door from a cross from the left is excellent”.

“You can’t give a two-goal head-start to anyone at any level of football”.