Last-gasp Barnes pounces to ground Eagles
SUBSTITUTE Ashley Barnes scored four minutes into injury-time to grab another last-ditch three points for Burnley in a five-goal thriller.
The visitors had hauled back from an early twogoal deficit through Christian Benteke’s 82nd minute penalty, only for Barnes – an 85th minute replacement for Jeff Hendrick – to smash in the winner at the death.
It completed the second straight Turf Moor late show from Sean Dyche’s side after Scott Arfield struck a llast minute winner against Everton a fortnight ago.
Palace’s fourth straight defeat had looked increasingly likely after Sam Vokes and Johann BergGudmu ndss on fired the Clarets into a 2-0 lead inside the first quarter of an hour.
But Connor Wickham reduced the deficit with his first touch after replacing Jason Puncheon on the hour mark, then Bent eke looked to have sealed the Eagles’ revival before Barnes intervened in spectacular fashion.
Burnley had grabbed the lead with less than two minutes on the clock when Matthew Lowton broke directly from a Palace corner and swung in a cross for Gudmundsson, whose ball back into the box was eventually tapped home from close range by the predatory Vokes.
Palace responded well, but all of their pressing came at a price as they left themselves open to the counter- attack, and it was a weakness Burnley exposed again in the 14th minute.
Gudmundsson drove a shot from 25 yards which squirmed beneath hapless goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and bounced into the net.
If the visitors were shell- shocked to find themselves 2- 0 down they hardly showed it, with Andros Townsend next to blaze a clear chance over the bar from a Joel Ward corner.
But they remained vulnerable at the other end, with Mandanda saving well from Hendrick after fine work from Scott Arfield in the box.
Benteke missed two golden chances in the dying minutes of the first half, and Pardew’s halftime team talk did not seem to have counted for much when the Clarets made the brighter start to the second half.
Vokes was at the centre of most of their forays forward, his effort from a tight angle saved twice by Mandanda as Hendrick rushed in to assist, then blazing another effort wide from eight yards. Pardew had no choice but to act, and he did so with a double substitution which paid off spectacularly just before the hour mark, as Wickham slammed his first goal of the season into the roof of the net from a Yohan Cabaye cross.
After surviving a spell of Burnley pressure, Palace grabbed their equaliser in the 82nd minute when Lowton handled a Townsend ball into the box, and Benteke stepped up to hit the equaliser past Heaton – only for Barnes to dash their hopes at the death.