Little suffers from shock treatment

For it was thanks to the advantage played after Little had been hacked down on the right flank that the Clarets got their second goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

And after reeling from the shock a late challenge, Little was further stunned by news of the goalscorer.

"I didn't see what happened with the second goal because I'd taken a knock and was on the floor," the 27-year-old admitted.

"From the reaction of the crowd I thought the referee hadn't blown for a foul but I was sure it was a late challenge because my ankle was hurting.

"Then the roar went up and I thought, 'oh wll, we must have scored'. I was in shock becase someone told me it was Westy who'd scored, so it was a good job the referee played on."

But now the Clarets wide man, who is suspended for next Saturday's FA Cup tie at Grimsby after being booked at Gillingham, is hoping to shake off an injury in time for this afternoon's game at Brighton.

"After that knock I took another straight away but I hope I'll be all right," he said. "There are a few people injured and carrying knocks, and we've got a few suspensions lurking but hopefully, after a bit of treatment, we'll get down there and kick on.

"Brighton's a long way to go but it makes it worthwhile with a good result. They'll be trying to do the double over us."

But Little won't be planning on doing his hero Steve Coppell any favours.

"We do owe them one. We didn't play well against them in the first game of the season, we had a man sent off straight after half-time, which didn't help, so we've got a score to settle," he said.

"Both sides have changed since then. They've gone one way and we've climbed the table. But it will still be a tough game.

"They have turned the corner a bit in recent weeks since Steve Coppell took over as manager.

"I know him from my days at Crystal Palace and so does the gaffer. They'll be up for it, they'll be organised and it will be a tough game for us."

But the long journey will be made all the more pleasant after Burnley buried their Wolves hoodoo, ending a run of 11 meetings without a win.

"It's about time we did do something against Wolves," he said. "They are a bit of a bogey team for us and that is at the back of your mind a little bit.

"We've never seemed to get the breaks against them either but we played well and we got the bit of luck that you need against the good sides with West's deflected goal.

"It was a tough game for us but the main thing was we won. When Robbie (Blake) went through towards the end of the first half it would have been nice to make it 3-0 and give us a big cushion because we knew they would come at us in the second half.

"We were just hoping they wouldn't get one back but as always we do make things a bit tough for ourselves. But we held on well and it was a great win for us, especially after what's been happening over the last couple of weeks, conceding a lot of goals and two bad defeats.

"We've felt we haven't been playing too badly in the games we've lost. We've been good on the ball but when you've conceded the amount of goals we have it always makes it difficult, but we played a lot better on Boxing Day. We were a lot tighter and a lot more solid.

"Against Gillingham we felt we were the better side then suddenly we were 2-1 down just before half-time. Then, out of nowhere, it was 3-1 and it's hard to dominate games and put teams on the back foot when you're conceding so many goals. It wasn't as if they were good goals.

"A lot of them have been our own doing because we haven't defended well enough but we've seen over the last couple of months when we do defend well and we keep the score down or keep clean sheets we win matches. We've beaten Coventry, Norwich and Nottingham Forest as well, who are a good side, and now we've beaten Wolves who are also going well.

"We know when we get it right at the back and when we do look solid we're always in with a great chance with the players we have."