Brentford 2 Burnley 3 - Pete Oliver's match verdict

PERHAPS Brentford supremo Ron Noades will change his opinion of Paul Crichton after the Clarets keeper made a clutch of outstanding saves to inspire his side to another crucial victory.

Crichton was in magnificent form as he preserved Burnley's second half-lead to keep Stan Ternent's men in with a chance of automatic promotion with just two games to go.

And that apparently came as something of a surprise to Noades.

"I didn't think their goalkeeper was particularly good. But he made some good saves to keep us out," said the Bees' owner-cum-manager.

It's hard to imagine what evidence Noades based his theory on, unless he was taken in by Paul Evans' wonder-goal at Turf Moor last October which would have beaten most goalkeepers.

And Crichton certainly got his revenge on Evans with two stops, the second of which was a cracker, to deny the diminutive midfielder with dynamite in his boots.

Burnley boss Stan Ternent conceded that his number one was busier than he would have liked, but was naturally less surprised than Noades, his former chairman at Crystal Palace, about Crichton's ability.

"He had a really super game against Millwall as well. Crichts is capable of that," said Ternent, whose side took six points over the Easter weekend to now trail second-placed Wigan only on goal difference.

And Noades' judgement was further called into question when he summed up the impact of Ian Wright, another of his former Selhurst Park employees. "I don't think he made much of a difference. He got a goal but after half-time for the first 10 or 15 minutes the game was quite dead and we were quite happy," Noades added.

Indeed Brentford did hold the lead from the 43rd to the 60th-minute, at which point Wright hit a post and the ball rebounded for John Mullin to equalise.

Three minutes later a clinical finish from Wright made it 2-1 and the former England man had done his job after replacing Andy Payton at half-time.

"Payts is carrying a little bit of an injury and he just looked a little off colour. I felt it was the right thing to do and it turned out well for us in the end," Ternent explained.

Another well-taken goal from Mullin 14 minutes from time finally gave the Clarets some welcome breathing space after the drama of Saturday's win over Millwall.

Burnley, being Burnley, did concede again in the final minute just to keep everyone interested. But Scott Marshall's strike was too late to be of any consequence and the Clarets march on thanks to an eighth away win and a fifth win in their last six games.

Remarkably they aren't yet even guaranteed a play-off place. But two wins against Cambridge and Scunthorpe and a dropped point anywhere for Wigan and Gillingham will take Ternent's men straight up. It's been that sort of season. This was another must-win game in a long line of such fixtures and Burnley looked to be suffering no ill-effects from their energy-sapping weekend win, despite the loss from the starting line-up of Paul Cook to injury and Ronnie Jepson, who was a touch under the weather. Glen Little and Lenny Johnrose were more than adequate replacements and Burnley could have gone ahead when Payton showed good awareness to intercept a back-header from Ijah Anderson but couldn't locate the target with goalkeeper Andy Woodman stranded.

Andy Cooke glanced a header wide following another patient build-up after half-an-hour but Burnley's grip on the game was then relaxed when Lloyd Owusu escaped the attentions of the impressive Graham Branch for the only time to latch onto a ball over the top from Evans and lift a shot over Crichton, whose hand on the ball wasn't quite enough to keep it out of the net.

However, Burnley have been no strangers to falling behind this season and they responded again thanks to an incisive run from Mullin.

When he fed the ball to Wright, the substitute slid a shot against the post and Mullin was in the right place to tuck away the loose ball and level the scores.

Sensing that he had the beating of the Bees' defence, Wright urged the Clarets' back players to play the ball up early and the response couldn't have been more dramatic.

Ian Cox drilled the ball forward from just inside his own half and when Cooke flicked on, Wright breezed past Darren Powell and, with only Woodman to beat, drilled a left foot shot low and hard into the net.

Burnley were back in business and Crichton made sure it stayed that way. After getting the luck of the bounce when Scott Partridge hit the post, the Burnley keeper made a reflex stop from Marshall, palmed away an Evans free-kick and then reacted superbly to a swerving shot that he saw late to get down to his left and thwart Evans again.

Crichton displayed an air of invincibility but Mullin's second goal was still a welcome sight for the travelling supporters.

Collecting a fine pass from Johnrose, Mullin strode into the box and ignored the options to his right to curl a lovely right footer beyond Woodman and into the far corner to claim his sixth goal of the season.

Crichton then made his best save of the match when tipping an Andy Scott effort onto the bar. And by the time Marshall did finally find a way through, Burnley had the points in the bag and their eyes on a bigger prize.

Picture: Ian Wright slots home Burnley's second to put his side in the lead.