Sam Vokes scored a late winner as Burnley climbed up to third in the Championship with a 2-1 victory over Rotherham United at the New York Stadium this evening.
It took the Clarets less than nine minutes to break the deadlock as George Boyd poked the ball through to Andre Gray, who kept composure under pressure from Lee Camp to slot home his second goal for the club since joining from Brentford in the summer.
Despite the early breakthrough, Rotherham enjoyed long spells of possession but struggled to cause problems for the visiting defence.
The story was different at the other end of the pitch as Vokes threatened to double the Burnley lead in spectacular fashion when he rattled the crossbar with his long-range strike.
Rotherham eventually threatened to hit back before the interval when a long ball was flicked on for Matt Derbyshire, who turned on the edge of the box before seeing his low strike pushed to safety by Tom Heaton.
Joey Barton, making his first start for the visitors, made a crucial contribution in his own box when Tony Andreu looked set to slot home from a cross before the midfielder's touch denied him the goal.
The home side asked more questions of Burnley as the match progressed, but Sean Dyche's side looked comfortable with the slender advantage for much of the match.
However, Burnley's hopes of a comfortable finish were dashed in spectacular fashion when Grant Ward capitalised on space to pick out the top corner with a strike from 25 yards.
Just as it appeared that Rotherham would be the side putting the pressure on in the closing stages, Burnley restored their lead six minutes later as a ball was flicked into the path of Scott Arfield, whose effort was saved by Camp before falling to Vokes as the Welsh striker reacted quickest to tap in.
Callum Mulvihill
