In the immediate aftermath of a dizzying second half at Bramall Lane in which the Clarets had all three points, threw them away, got them back and them carelessly tossed them away again, a bitterly disappointed Brian Laws said: “If we want to march on in this division, then we have got to come away from home and finish games off.

“We lacked organisation and leadership,” lamented Laws.

And one would be hard pushed to do anything but concur with such an assessment, except perhaps to go that bit further and add that Burnley need to be more lethal when presented with opportunities.

There is a perfectly arguable case that the Clarets should have taken nine points from their last three away fixtures.

At Selhurst Park, Burnley bludgeoned Crystal Palace in the second half, yet came away with just a point.

At Millwall, Burnley got their noses in front only to go down to ten men and come away with only a share of the spoils.

On Saturday, the Clarets were all set to come away from Bramhall Lane with a maximum return but for some Kamikaze defending.

One can only imagine the sleepless nights the manager must have going over away games in his mind’s eye and reflecting on what might have been.

On the one hand, at least Brian Laws’ men are getting themselves in positions to win games. On the other, they are yet to record an away Championship win in six attempts.

The knock-on effect of this is that it loads increasing pressure onto the home form and the margin for error at Turf Moor is reduced.

The Clarets will be looking for a return to home comforts with back to back games against Barnsley and Reading on Saturday.

Barnsley’s form away from Oakwell is not impressive and if Burnley can get on top early on there’s no reason not to expect a win.

Reading have made steady progress under the stewardship of Brian Mc Dermott and they may prove a tougher nut to crack.

However, a return of six points from the two games would embed the Clarets firmly in the top six, which is exactly where they should be aiming for.