Steven Thompson came off the bench to earn Burnley a 2-2 draw at home to his former club Cardiff.
Clarets battle back to earn point at home
Steven Thompson came off the bench to earn Burnley a 2-2 draw at home to his former club Cardiff City.
The Clarets were looking to build on Saturday's 3-2 win at Sheffield United and took an early lead through the evergreen Robbie Blake.
But Cardiff turned the game on its head as Jay Bothroyd equalised before Wayne Routledge scored early in the second half, only for Thompson to snatch a point for Burnley 14 minutes from time.
Cardiff started the game brightly and could have gone in front as early as the first minute when Joe Ledley twisted and turned his way through the Burnley defence to launch a thunderous drive straight at keeper Brian Jensen.
Burnley responded and took a surprise lead when Martin Paterson beat Gabor Gyepes to create enough space to blast a shot at Peter Enckelman who could only parry his shot into the welcoming path of Blake, who tapped in from close range.
The lead lasted merely 12 minutes before Bothroyd pounced on the loose ball from Routledge's effort to bring the sides level and end Jensen's impressive run of five consecutive home clean sheets.
Golden opportunity
It was Cardiff who began the second half better and they had the ball in the net two minutes after the break when Bothroyd beat Steven Caldwell to shoot straight at Jensen who again parried this time into the path of Routledge for an easy finish.
Burnley gradually began to find their rhythm and Chris Eagles had a golden opportunity to bring the side's level when he drilled a 20-yard effort straight into the arms of Enckelman.
Thompson replaced Wade Elliott in the 57th minute and was pushed into a three-man attacking line alongside Blake and Paterson.
The substitute made an immediate impact and after great work from Blake who saw his long-range effort punched away by Enckelmen, the ball fell into the path of Thompson who blasted his shot into the top corner of the net.
It was Thompson again who could have secured all three points for Owen Coyle's men late in the game when Eagles again found the big frontman who could only direct his header over the bar as Burnley held on for the point.
