By Tim Hodges
Burnley 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 3
The Albion overcame Burnley at Turf Moor this afternoon with two goals from seemingly rejuvenated striker Craig Mackail-Smith.
Mackail-Smith opened the scoring on 18 minutes after good work from Andrew Crofts and Liam Bridcutt, who combined well.
The ball fell to Gordon Greer who steered the ball into Mackail-Smith’s path. The striker flashed the ball past Lee Grant to put the Albion 1-0 in front.
Albion were in the ascendancy and had the upper hand for the remainder of the half.
Towards the end of the first period Crofts was replaced by Will Buckley, who made his first appearance of the season.
As the second half began so Albion stepped up the pressure. Kazenga LuaLua went close after beating at least three Clarets defenders.
Then almost disaster for Albion as Junior Stanislas’s cross was diverted into his own net by a wrongfooted Gordon Greer.
Burnley must have felt some sort of impetus as minutes later Tomas Kuszczak made a stunning one-handed save to deny Dean Marney.
Then from an over-hit corner, Bruno Saltor chipped the ball back into the Burnley penalty area where Mackail-Smith hit an exquisite overhead kick to put Albion back in front at 2-1.
Burnley looked deflated and even introduced former Seagulls loan signing Sam Vokes with a few minutes to go.
But this was all in vein as new Albion signing Andrea Orlandi, who had only recently replaced LuaLua, whipped in a corner and Greer restored some personal parity.
Albion’s captain scored with a rare header in the opposition area to put Albion 3-1 up and the result beyond doubt with just a few minutes remaining.
