BURNLEY'S last three opponents for next season were confirmed at the weekend as the domestic season finally came to an end, three weeks after the Clarets finished their campaign - and the journeys are going to be long!

There was joy on Saturday for Stoke City as the Potteries club beat Brentford in the second division play-off final, two first half goals enough to secure a return to Division One for the first time in four years.

Ipswich Town and Norwich City will be considerably less delighted to be facing a trip to Turf Moor next season.

Mind you, Clarets fans will not be too excited at the prospect of the long and boring drives to Carrow Road and Portman Road.

The Suffolk side dropped back to the first division two years after promotion via the play-offs when they were hammered 5-0 at Anfield on the final day of the Premier League season.

The misery of their fans looked like being compounded when their East Anglian rivals Norwich City took the lead in the first minute of extra time against Birmingham City in the first division play-off final.

The talismanic Iwan Roberts headed the Canaries into the lead but a header from Geoff Horsfield at the other end set-up a penalty shoot-out.

The Blues had a poor recent record in such situations but they kept their nerve better on this occasion with teenage midfielder and lifelong fan Darren Carter getting the crucial goal after Phil Mulryne had seen his shot saved and Daryl Sutch pulled his shot wide.

Norwich, who only deprived the Clarets of a play-off spot in the last 15 minutes of the regular season, ended up fewer than 20 minutes from the Premier League themselves.

But it will now be manager Nigel Worthington's task to help his players bounce back from the disappointment of Millennium Stadium defeat and mount another promotion campaign next season.

The 23 rivals for the Clarets next season are: Bradford City, Brighton and Hove Albion, Coventry City, Crystal Palace, Derby County, Gillingham, Grimsby Town, Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Millwall, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, Preston North End, Reading, Rotherham United, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, Walsall, Watford, Wimbledon, Wolverhampton Wanderers.