AFTER bringing in £6million the day before, it would have been worth a penny for Brentford owner Matthew Benham’s thoughts.

Last year the Bees were creating a buzz in the Championship as the unlikely team pushing for back-to-back promotions and a place in the Premier League, with Mark Warburton at the helm and Frank McParland a crucial part of his backroom team overseeing recruitment.

But mid-season Benham made the baffling decision to dispense with them at the end of that campaign, regardless of the outcome.

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Despite the disruption, they still went on to finish in the play-offs.

Fast forward to Saturday and it looked as though those decisions had already started to come back to bite him, with McParland now in the Clarets camp, and with him Andre Gray.

Gray was Brentford’s top scorer with 18 in his first Championship season. He is now Burnley’s new record buy, 12 months after he was plucked from Luton Town for about a tenth of his current price.

McParland has been a factor in his last two moves, with Gray gaining approval from former boss Warburton of his union with Sean Dyche.

The Burnley boss last week noted that at the start of their promotion season they only had Sam Vokes and Danny Ings as recognised strikers, following the sale of Charlie Austin to QPR on the eve of that successful campaign.

There is no shortage of ammunition now.

Gray has taken the Clarets’ complement of strikers up to eight.

Half of them had time on the pitch on Saturday, while the 24-year-old watched new club against old from the Bob Lord Stand.

Lukas Jutkiewicz was restored to the front two, alongside Rouwen Hennings on his full debut and first appearance at Turf Moor.

Sam Vokes came off the bench, and later Marvin Sordell.

All four of them had chances. But in the end the goal came from elsewhere.

Central defender Michael Keane, climbing high at the far post to thump in David Jones’ corner, is now Burnley’s early top scorer with two, adding to similar set piece success in the home draw with Birmingham City the weekend before.

And after going in front for the first time this season, the Clarets progressed to earn their first clean sheet and subsequently their first win at the fourth Championship attempt.

“There were a bit of nerves in the stadium in the first half and you understand why,” said Dyche.

“The expectation changes and everyone wants that first win, including ourselves.

“We had to get our first win, it was important. It’s important to get wins at home as well.

“They (the players) get it, they get the question marks after coming down, losing some big and important players. They’re thinking ‘can we become the next big players, can we get that first win?’ All of those things.

“But they’re still human beings, and they’re good human beings.

“Overall I thought we deserved it. When you look at the chance count I don’t think they had a lot really.”

There were just a couple of scares for Burnley, from former Blackburn man Alan Judge’s free kick after Tendayi Darikwa’s wayward header put Michael Duff in trouble. Tom Heaton did well to push the ball to his left, and was alert quickly to stop Lasse Vibe’s low strike from the edge of the box at the second attempt after the ball spun out of his grasp.

There had been earlier opportunities for Michael Kightly, cutting in from the left after receiving Duff’s long pass, and before that Jutkiewicz, after stealing the ball from a masked James Tarkowski on the edge of the defender’s own box.

If Jutkiewicz had been in any way unsettled by suggestions that he would have been part of the deal to bring Henri Lansbury to Turf Moor before the midfielder’s u-turn, he did not show it.

The 26-year-old brimmed with energy and oozed effort, holding the ball up and holding his own against some robust marking.

Hennings was less involved, but needs time to grow into the English game.

There was another chance for Vibe, with Heaton saving well, before Burnley took the lead.

With a bit more composure Scott Arfield could have doubled the advantage soon after. The midfielder almost had too long to think about the shot and he cleared the bar.

Arfield was nearer the target in the second half, after goalkeeper David Button strayed off his line, but a slight deflection took the ball wide.

Vokes replaced Hennings just before the hour, and should have scored soon after. Darikwa’s throw-in was smartly dummied by Kightly and dropped for Vokes, who looked certain to make the net bulge, but instead fired his right foot shot over from 12 yards.

Sordell was introduced in the last 10 minutes, and also went close.

Burnley have fallen foul of fine margins before, but not this time. They ground out the result they needed to get off the mark.

And for all their wealth of strikers, Dyche was just glad of the decisive goal.