It was an afternoon of firsts at Turf Moor, as Dean Bowditch and James O'Connor opened their accounts for Burnley with goals in the first half to seal victory for the Clarets against Watford in the Championship before a late goal sealed things.

After a flowing first half performance from Burnley, the Clarets had to show their defensive strength in the second period as the visitors hit back strongly with a bright display. However, a goal in the last minute settled the nerves for Burnley and the three points were well deserved in the end.

The Clarets started well and Ade Akinbiyi came closest to opening the scoring in the early stages, when he curled a shot from the left hand side of the area. It looked destined for the far corner, but keeper Richard Lee did well to get a hand to it before catching it on his line.

Frank Sinclair was unfortunate to see his curling cross from the right palmed away by Lee in the 17th minute, after he received a pass back from Dean Bowditch on the touchline. Bizarrely though, when the ball ran out of play on the far side the officials awarded the throw-in to the visitors.

The Clarets didn't have to wait too long though and they had the lead after 20 minutes when Mo Camara lobbed a ball over the defence and into the area. Bowditch was onto it in a flash and made no mistake by firing a low left footer into the bottom corner to register his first goal for the Clarets.

Burnley had the ball in the net again shortly before the half hour mark, but unfortunately Camara's superb left foot finish after a flowing team move was ruled out due to an offside flag.

At the other end, Brian Jensen was almost caught out when Hameur Bouazza flashed a dipping shot from 25 yards which had the Dane scrambling across his line, but it went just wide of the post as Watford looked to find a way back into the game.

It wasn't to be though as Burnley were the next team to find the net just two minutes before the break. A long throw-in from Camara on the left was headed out as far as James O'Connor, who fired an unstoppable low shot from the edge of the area into the bottom corner to net on his 'second' debut for the Clarets and like Bowditch before him, score his first for Burnley and hand them a two goal lead at half time.

Watford started the second half well and looked intent on clawing their way back into the game. On two occasions, crosses into the middle caused confusion in the Burnley area and the visitors were perhaps unfortunate not to have had men on the end of them. Jack Smith then tried his luck with a 20 yard shot which went just over the bar.

It was certainly their best spell of the game and when Chris Eagles delivered a fine centre from the right, Ashley Young looked favourite to score. However, a typically brave and well timed block from John McGreal spurned his effort and the Clarets managed to clear.

Young then saw an opportunist shot from 25 yards go narrowly wide after somewhat fortunately finding a way to beat both Gary Cahill and Sinclair.

The same player then had another opportunity when Bruce Dyer broke from a Burnley corner and played him in on the right. Young got into the area but struck his shot straight at Jensen who made a comfortable catch.

McGreal then had to hack the ball clear from within the six yard box, when Young's curling cross from the right wasn't cleared with both Bouazza and Dyer lurking with intent.

Jensen was then tested by Eagles as Watford continued their pursuit of a goal, leaving the Clarets to fight for scraps of the play up front.

Both Bowditch and Akinbiyi were working hard up front for Burnley, but with Watford now enjoying the better of the midfield it was tough for them to get any change out of the Hornets back line.

The goal that Watford had been threatening arrived with just less than 15 minutes of the game remaining, when a corner from substitute Anthony McNamee on the right was headed firmly home by his fellow sub Dominic Blizzard. They had both been introduced to the game a matter of seconds prior to this in a triple change by Adrian Boothroyd.

Burnley responded with a change in formation themselves and both Tony Grant and Michael Duff were introduced in the 81st minute as the Clarets looked to take a more solid look.

It seemed to work too, as Lee had to make a tremendous save to deny Micah Hyde a goal against his former club after he struck a great shot at goal when set up by Akinbiyi on the right hand side of the area.

The points were sealed in the last minute though, when Akinbiyi robbed Jermaine Darlington of the ball on the right and broke into the box. He unselfishly squared the ball across to substitute Jean Louis Valois, who had the simple task of side footing into the goal from eight yards only moments after being introduced.

Burnley: Jensen, Camara, McGreal, Sinclair, O'Connor, Oster (Valois, 88) Branch (Duff, 81) Hyde, Akinbiyi, Bowditch (Grant, 81) Cahill. Subs not used: Coyne, Roche.

Watford: Lee, Gunnarsson (Blizzard, 73) Cox, Dyer, Mahon, Chambers, Smith (Darlington, 73) Bouazza, Young, DeMerit, Eagles (McNamee, 73) Subs not used: Chamberlain, Doyley.

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