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A game at Palace means an early start and the alarm clock making its customary noise at some unearthly hour. The route this time was disrupted because of some bloke from Rome making a personal appearance in London meaning the longer journey round the M25 and back up through Purley and Croydon.
Still, it was a decent journey for one of our party as £100 dropped out of a one armed bandit during the necessary services stop on the M40. I wasn't complaining, it meant a free round in the pub.
In the end, one M25 accident apart (on the other carriageway with us disrupted because of swan necking), we made good time and were parked up outside the ground just before noon.
It was during lunch that we were alerted to the most recent news on Gary Parkinson, that news of him suffering 'locked in syndrome' had been made public. There I was thinking that getting some points was the most important thing. Sometimes things like this really do put football, and the likes, into some sort of perspective.
Our good wishes remain with the Parkinson's, his wife Debbie his three children, their family and friends and all at Blackpool Football Club.
But football it was and just before we got inside the ground we learned that there was one change from the side that had lost at Middlesbrough with captain Graham Alexander making way for Dean Marney's return and Jack Cork moving into Grezza's holding role.
They've moved us down to the other end of the Arthur Waite Stand this season. The view is just as bad as is the state of the stand, but apparently positioning us at this end saves on police costs.
The first half saw us with a clearer view of our defence and more so of Russian linesman Oleksandr Saliy (or Ukrainian to be accurate). I'd had a prior warning about him and with just a couple of minutes gone he failed to spot the clearest of offsides. It was such a poor decision it was frightening; maybe they just have different rules in his homeland.
We got away with it, and we also got away with it when Palace got clear down our left and failed to take advantage. Oh dear, a difficult afternoon in prospect? It seemed that way.
The early pressure was broken up by an injury and a surprise visitor. Now I've seen Ronnie Corbett (a Palace fan) at Selhurst Park for Burnley games more than once but this visitor was even smaller than the less funny half of The Two Ronnies but a star none the less.
With Ally Beattie on treating our left back an animal suddenly made its way into the six yard box right in front of Brian Jensen, then legged it quickly in the stand on the far side with Palace fans jumping up and down to get away from it.
We used to get dogs on the pitch years ago, but I think this is the first time I've ever seen a fox (small f) on a football pitch and incredible timing to from the cunning visitor with our own Fox (capital F), Danny, the player down injured. God knows what might have run on if our goalkeeper had needed treatment.
I thought we'd just started to get into the game when we were forced into making a change. Ross Wallace had to be replaced because of a tweaked hamstring and the perhaps surprise choice was Jay Rodriguez, a decision that proved to be very much a correct one.
Almost immediately Palace came close and it was Chris Eagles who had got back to get in a block as James Vaughan threatened to set up a chance. 'Eagles, Eagles,' cried the home fans. I have to admit to being surprised at their support for one of our players.
We joined in, but a few minutes later it was just the Burnley supporters chanting it as Eagles (Chris that is) did something that I didn't really think was in his locker. Whatever his strengths and weaknesses are, and that's caused endless debate over the last two years, he's not a player I expect to hit a rocket from 30 yards, but he did, and it absolutely hammered against the Palace bar.
There have been suspicions that Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni got a touch. I'm not so sure he did but given the way he played in this game it wouldn't have surprised me. It was a fantastic effort from Eagles who, having received the ball from Andre Bikey, beat two men to create the space to get the shot in.
That seemed to be the catalyst that we needed and from then until half time we were the better side. Palace had their moments, but they didn't trouble Jensen. Burnley though did create problems for the home side. Eagles had another effort, and this time it was saved by Speroni and both Clarke Carlisle, captain in the absence of Alexander, and Rodriguez tested their defence.
By half time we were much the better side but there was more to come from the Clarets, much more, as we dominated and had one second half spell where we were so much on top it was akin to a siege.
Palace will thank their lucky stars they survived it all and had to thank the woodwork again and more so Argentinean Speroni who quite frankly kept them in it.
There was so much to enthuse about. Eagles was at his belligerent best while down the right hand side the link up between Wade Elliott and Tyrone Mears was causing the home side so many problems. Incredibly, Elliott's performance during the second half has not been recognised anywhere near enough.
It was Elliott who set up Jay Rod, after good work from both Eagles and Iwelumo, with the Palace goalkeeper coming off best and Eagles fired in another powerful shot just over. It looked only a matter of time but somehow they hung on and even broke to create a chance for themselves.
Jensen came off best with a good save, but it was soon down the other end. Steven Thompson, on for Iwelumo, linked up with Mears and the full back, at his best, fired in a low cross that Jay hammered against the underside of the bar.
With about five minutes remaining, and the scores still level at 0-0, I just thought that as much as a point was unjust we just didn't need another disaster as had befallen us at Middlesbrough, but into stoppage time and it nearly came when Neil Danns' shot was pushed onto the post by Jensen.
Had that sneaked in it would have just been ridiculous, thankfully it didn't and we stormed forward again to win two corners before referee James Linington, a referee who really needs to sharpen up on his fitness or he'll continue to get too many decisions wrong, finally brought it all to an end.
A disappointing result maybe, but the reception the Burnley fans gave the players said everything about the way we played.
Chris Eagles, Jay Rodriguez and certainly both full backs Tyrone Mears and Danny Fox. They will all play worse than this and get my vote for the man of the match. That's how well they played. And I can't quite work out how on earth I'm not awarding it to the simply awesome Andre Bikey.
Bikey was one of the two top performers in this game for me but my vote really has to go to Jack Cork who I thought was magnificent from start to finish. What a player he looked on this showing. What an influence he was on this game.
Julian Speroni was the player who got the home man of the match and he was just a factor in us not picking up our first away win, but make no mistake it will come if we can continue to play like this. Without doubt our best performance of the season and something to really build on.
The teams were;
Crystal Palace: Julian Speroni, Alex Marrow, Patrick McCarthy, Claude Davis, Nathaniel Clyne, Owen Garvan, Andy Dorman (Julian Bennett 61), Kieron Cadogan (Wilfried Zaha 45), Neil Danns, Kieran Dlilali (Calvin Andrew 82), James Vaughan. Subs not used: Lewis Price, Stuart O'Keefe, Pablo Counago, Adam Barrett.
Yellow Cards: Alex Marrow, Andy Dorman, Claude Davis.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney, Chris Eagles, Chris Iwelumo (Steven Thompson 70), Ross Wallace (Jay Rodriguez 21). Subs not used: Lee Grant, Michael Duff, Leon Cort, Graham Alexander, Martin Paterson.
Yellow Cards: Tyrone Mears, Wade Elliott, Clarke Carlisle, Danny Fox.
Referee: James Linington (Isle of Wight).
Attendance: 14,451 (including 1,001 Clarets).
Footnotes
This result gave us our first clean sheet away from home since our 1-0 win at Blackpool on 3rd March 2009.
It is our first 0-0 league draw since the home game against Doncaster in 2008/09 and our first away from home since our previous visit to Crystal Palace in August 2008 when they played most of the second half with nine men.