MANCHESTER CITY'S expensively assembled squad cost a fortune and it was a first half hat-trick from a Costa Rican that ended the Clarets' unbeaten run at ten games.

As for Burnley, they were left to count the cost of Glen Little's penalty miss.

Next summer Paulo Wanchope will be playing in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea and if his side continues to produce displays like Saturday's he will then be starting next season in the Premiership.

How the Clarets respond to this heavy defeat will decide whether they will be going up with them but the precedent is a positive one.

Stan Ternent's side's last defeat was a 3-0 mauling at Wolves, another promotion rival, and that was followed by the run that took them back to the top of the table.

At Molineux Burnley played their worst football of the season to trail by 3-0 at half-time.

Against City they were one goal worse off and yet had played many times better. In fact, despite the scoreline, they played some of their best football for several games.

But the key moment had come in the 12th minute when having won a penalty they missed the chance to get back on terms having gone behind inside 100 seconds.

"The penalty had a big bearing on the game," said Ternent as he reflected on Glen Little's weak effort that was saved by City's ex-Clitheroe keeper Carlo Nash.

Alan Moore had been brought down by Gerard Wiekens and Little, successful against Gillingham and Stockport, looked to make it a hat-trick. He missed and Burnley never had a better chance to get back into the game.

That does not mean they did not still threaten. In fact Nash had to produce a number of fine saves in both halves to keep the visitors out before finally being beaten at his near post by Ian Moore when his side had a four goal cushion.

"It was a bit of a chastening experience today," said Ternent. "We gave ourselves a mountain to climb by conceding an early goal. They took their chances well and the chances we created, we didn't.

"There are 192 square feet to hit in the goal and we only managed it once."

Wanchope certainly had no such problems from the moment he slid the ball into the net to convert Shaun Goater's cross from the left.

Normally it is the rest of the team feeding the Goat so that he can score but he was also the provider for City's third goal from Eyal Berkovic.

That 38th minute strike came between the second and third parts of the Wanchope hat-trick, both partly down to the former City midfielder Tony Grant. Twice he lost the ball in the middle of the park and twice Premiership class made Burnley pay the full price.

First Ali Benarbia picked up the loose ball and sent the leggy striker galloping forward and he converted with a touch of class. Then, on the stroke of half time, Grant was again punished as Berkovic found Wanchope on the left edge of the area and he drove the shot low past Nik Michopoulos.

The Greek keeper did not have a sniff with any of the goals. They may be in the first division but City's first half finishing was right out of the top drawer.

Even Kevin Keegan admitted to being bemused by the half time scoreline as the City boss confessed to seeing his side outplayed at times and that is why it was hard on Grant that his mistakes were so severely punished.

He was at the heart of several free flowing moves from the Clarets that showed why they had started the match four points clear at the top of the table.

The problem was they lacked the cutting edge that City so clearly had and although chances came, they went almost as quickly.

Even before Little's miss from the spot Ian Moore had seen a tame shot at the keeper comfortably saved and a minute later Gareth Taylor lifted a shot over the bar from close range after Wiekens had failed to clear a free kick.

When Alan Moore miskicked to set up Kevin Ball and his shot was spectacularly saved by Nash it meant the Clarets had created four great chances in the space of seven minutes without finding one of those unprotected square feet that Ternent talked about.

But the fact that they are not on a level playing field was illustrated for the umpteenth time this season when the second half saw changes to both side's strike force.

As Keegan replaced Goater with Darren Huckerby, a player who has been involved in several million pound moves, Ternent was forced to rely on the promise of an untried Greek youngster, Dimitri Papadopoulos, and the experience of a player released by Rochdale in the summer, Tony Ellis.

It is no wonder that another striker is top of Ternent's shopping list for the January sales having already made an enquiry to Stockport about the availability of Finnish international Shefki Kuqi.

More phone calls are likely to be made in the next few days and weeks as Ternent plans his campaign for the final 20 games of the season. The Clarets knew they would be top for New Year, no matter what happened at City, and they will just have to take defeat on the chin, dust themselves down and prepare to put things right against Bradford City tomorrow.

RESULT:

MAN CITY...5 Scorers: Wanchope 2, 28, 45, Berkovic 38, Huckerby 90

BURNLEY...1 Scorer: I Moore 61

Attendance...34,250