IT took Burnley's players eight hours to get down to Brighton on Friday afternoon for their first trip to the Withdean Stadium.

But it took them just 60 seconds to toss away two points and a first away win for more than two months.

And after being floored by Steve Sidwell's double sucker punch, it is a safe bet that the journey home felt like even longer.

Baffled boss Stan Ternent admitted he could not believe his eyes as Brighton scored in the 88th and 89th minutes as he explained: "I felt that we were comfortable.

"There were four or five minutes left and some unknown reason we started defending miles too deep. Their midfielder got the ball, stepped inside and whacked it in.

"The second one was a catalogue of errors after a lot of good performances.

"We should have won the game!"

That is an understatement and the fact that the home fans had clearly given up the ghost showed they knew the game was up.

But, as at Bradford, Burnley shot themselves in the foot and think how different the table would look this evening if Burnley had those four points on their total. The fact was that Brighton did not look as if they would score if they had played until next Christmas.

Sidwell himself had missed a great chance in the second minute but, despite a number of efforts from a variety of angles, Marlon Beresford was enjoying a quiet afternoon in the Burnley goal, never seriously extended.

As full time approached the Clarets were in such control, with a 2-0 lead, that players and fans will have been looking forward to a relaxed journey home.

But the wheels came off and every mile will have been a painful one.

Ternent was not looking for excuses for the late collapse but he did concede: "We had a tough match with Wolves, we had one day off when we travelled down and that was an eight hour journey.

"The M6 and the M25 were like car parks and so we didn't get down here till late. It was a nice long trip for us so I would like to thank the Football League for that."

There is no doubt that the preparation was far from ideal and as soon as the fixture list came out it was clear the trip to Brighton so soon after a tussle with Wolves would test Burnley's resolve.

That test was even greater given the fact that Ternent still has a major injury crisis, could not add any of his walking wounded to the squad and so named the same side that had done so well against Wolves.

But for almost 90 minutes they passed the test with flying colours in a game that was far from pretty

After the early scare they began to take control and produced most of the best passing moves.

Gareth Taylor, Robbie Blake and Glen Little all forced good saves from Michel Kuipers in the Seagulls' goal, a player struggling with a thigh strain and unable to kick the ball properly.

The fact that he was patched up and put out by Steve Coppell illustrates how important he is to the side and even when he was beaten, it was at the second attempt on both occasions.

Little got the opener a minute before the break, a great time to score. Paul Weller, whose midfield partnership with the impressive Tony Grant is blossoming, kept the ball in the box as Brighton failed to clear an attack.

Blake got involved and the ball broke to Little who netted his fourth goal of the season after seeing his first effort saved.

Little then turned to provider for what looked like being the killer second goal although Ternent might claim an assist.

In the 70th minute he replaced Alan Moore with Ian Moore and his impact could not have been any more dramatic.

Little's cross to the far post saw Moore's first touch with his head force a save by Kuipers at his near post. But, like Little before him, he made no mistake with the rebound.

"Ian Moore can do that and for a manager, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't," said Ternent.

Four of Moore's five goals have come away from home and it was his first for two months. He has spent more time on the bench than on the field since then and there was no hiding his delight at ending his famine.

One of his goals had secured the last away win, ironically again at a ground they visited for the first time, Leicester's Walkers Stadium. When he found the net anything other than three points was unthinkable to most, although probably not Clarets fans. A 2-0 lead is never comfortable and Wolves had threatened a late comeback on Boxing Day.

But Brighton had not scored two in a game for more than a month and so to ask them to come back should have been too much. It wasn't.

By the time those dramatic late goals went in, the running track that surrounds the pitch was full of departing fans. Like a 400 metre hurdler, the Clarets had negotiated the course in style until they hit the final obstacle.

It is a failing they can ill afford again if they are to keep alive hopes of finishing in the top six.

BRIGHTON 2

Sidwell 88, 89

BURNLEY 2

Little 44, I Moore 71

Attendance: 6,502