Burnley 2 Sunderland 0

Belated notes and photographs from Burnley's convincing 2-0 victory over Sunderland at Turf Moor on 23 August, with a few thoughts on the ground and menu improvements.

This wa say first visit to Turf Moor since the ground reconfiguration, with away supporters switched to the North end of the Cricket Field Stand, with exclusive use of the ginnel running past the cricket club from Belvedere Road. From my perspective this elongates my walk into the ground considerably, as I now need to walk around the entire ground to get to my turnstile which is next to where visiting supporters now queue in to the Cricket Field. I don't mind too much though, pretty much means I'll pick up a Starbucks on the way in rather than buy awful coffee in the ground.

After the 541 dalliance with wing backs at Tottenham, Parker reverted to 451 this time out - with Sonne dropping to the bench and Lesley Ugochukwu replacing Josh Laurent in CM. Scott Parker wore a suit again, which did not bode well given what happened the last time he did not where his captain stripes cardigan..

There was also the strange appearance of mashed potato, gravy and peas on menu to report on. Love it, but seriously weird - suspect these are supposed to be ordered with the new Haffners pies, though I'd forgotten that Clayton Park were for the dust.

There was a celebration for the late great Willlie Irvine ahead of kick-off, with a minute's applause before the whistle.

The game had the same pattern as the two meetings between the sides last season, with Sunderland looking to use pace and physicality to bully on the counter, but to less effect. Hannibal also managed to avoid stamping on anybody's testicles today.

Burnley looked to have scored first. Lyle Foster, so ineffective for large parts of last season, stealing the ball in the 19th, and putting it into the top right corner in front of the cricket field. The goal was disallowed for a push in the build-up.

Jaidon Anthony had a good opportunity to put Burnley ahead in the last minute of the first half. Hannibal played a sweet ball over to left post from open play, but Anthony could only head narrowly wide.

Burnley moved ahead immediately at the start of the second half. Josh Cullen picked up a flick across to left of D, sliding it inside right post. Despite another VAR check the goal stood. 1-0.

Then the lights went out for Sunderland. Not on the pitch, the actual lights, every attempt to get concourse and floodlighting on concurrently failed. Eventually play continued without, viewers around the world having to put up with a slightly dimmer view.

Jaidon Anthony scored the second in the 87th minute, running in behind after period of pressure, rounding keeping and slotting the ball back across into roof of net to remove any significant jeopardy from the game.

I thought this was an excellent performance against a side that we really struggled against last season, that has invested heavily, and that started the season well - for me we looked on a different level, with the result well deserved.

Attendance: 21,285