No relegation fears here

It was made better by the fact that both strikers scored and if the celebrations that followed Ade Akinbiyi's goal were less than subdued then the one that followed Andy Gray's was a reminder of Gifton's hat trick against Barnsley earlier in the season.

It might have all been different if a Dion Dublin shot had gone in rather than hitting the woodwork, but Norwich can have no complaints over the result, Burnley were by far the better side and I don't think 3-0 flattered us.

Steve Cotterill was forced into making his first change in five games with Paul McVeigh unavailable and, as expected, Akinbiyi came back in to partner Gray. Apart from that it was the same team that had played at Leeds on Saturday with Kyle Lafferty taking McVeigh's place on the bench. For Norwich's Darren Huckerby the warm up was enough. He managed that OK but didn't emerge with the team despite having been named in the line up.

There was an end of season feel to it before kick off, but we did still need points to ensure there would be no late problems at the bottom end of the table. I think most had accepted that safety had been guaranteed and the game attracted the smallest Turf Moor attendance since we played Reading in 2003, we won that night 3-0.

Norwich had the first opportunity but it came from a free kick on the left hand side that wasn't. Referee Martin Atkinson had a sound enough game but he got this one wrong. The free kick was hit into the box and Dion Dublin volleyed the ball against the woodwork. It was an early scare for the Clarets but they soon got over that and took control of the game.

We were playing some good stuff but moves were too often breaking down because of poor final balls, and surprisingly Wade Elliott was a culprit. He had the beating of the Norwich defence down our right but missed out on a few opportunities with disappointing balls into the box.

We continued to attack them down that right hand side and eventually it led to us taking the lead but this time Elliott wasn't involved. Eric Djemba-Djemba, again in good form, found Michael Duff who hit the ball into the box from deep. It found Ade who headed into the corner past a helpless Tony Warner. It was a similar goal to the one he got against Palace but I thought this was a better header. Palace and Leicester, both former clubs, and we thought it was only us who constantly conceded goals against former players.
We had other chances, Eric put a shot wide following a free kick, James O'Connor fired hopelessly over the bar when he really should have been testing the goalkeeper, and there were countless occasions when the ball just wouldn't drop in the box for us.

If we'd been three up at that point it wouldn't have flattered us, but then Norwich should probably have got themselves back into the game. The ball fell to Chris Martin but his shot only threatened those sat in the Jimmy McIlroy Stand, and almost those in the upper tier.

Half time came with the Clarets a goal up, it really should have been more, and we were then treated to Paul Cook coming on to make the half time draw looking decidedly more like Tommy Cummings than Paul Cook. You can tell the difference, Tommy has more hair.

You sensed that we just needed that second goal to ensure the points were ours and we thought we'd got it in the opening minutes of the second half when Ade beat Dublin to the ball but couldn't quite get control to turn a shot past Warner.

Burnley continued to push forward and then we had one of those moments that have become all too common in Burnley games, we appeal for a penalty and the referee turns it down. This time it was for a trip on Gray. He looked convinced, I wasn't so sure and referee Atkinson did what all referees do now and waved it away - so that's 65 games now without a penalty.

We continued to have the advantage and twice Warner had to make saves although the Norwich keeper seemed to be spending more time having a continuous run in with some Burnley supporters sat in the lower tier of the Jimmy McIlroy Stand. At one point there was the sight of a somewhat large Burnley fan speaking to stewards about the incident.

Norwich introduced their gymnastics champion Robert Earnshaw and almost immediately Brian Jensen had to get down to save from Martin after the Welsh international had played him in. That was at the expense of a corner and Jensen did even better from the flag kick as he tipped over a header from Dublin. Given he'd had precious little to do made it for me an even better save.

That was it from Norwich, and finally in the last few minutes we were able to give the game a more meaningful score as we added two more goals. The first of them lit up Turf Moor for no reason other than Gray finally got his first goal since returning from injury.

James O'Connor tried a shot from outside the box that came back off the post, with Warner possibly getting a touch on it. The ball came out for Gray who gleefully put it into the empty net. It was the moment Gray had been waiting for and as he celebrated in the corner between the Bob Lord and the Jimmy Mac he was joined by all his team mates, including Jensen who had almost broken the land speed record to get there.

The fans, as one, chanted his name, the only thing spoiling the moment being he hideous goal music. I'm sure the fool turned up the volume as the crowd drowned it out, when will we ever learn. Steve Cotterill had said the goal was on its way, he'd said he hoped it would bring the house down when it finally happened, and it did.

We knew we'd won it then and as the subs came on we even got a third. This time it was Jon Harley down the left. Chris McCann, just on, ducked under it and that allowed Wade Elliott to take the ball with his right foot and hit it right into the bottom corner to Warner's right.

That was it, Championship football at Turf Moor was guaranteed for an eighth successive season and means Barry Kilby's Premiership Pledge is still on. We've finally found out how to score goals again at home, and coupled with the fact that we've conceded just four goals in nine home games it has given us three successive home wins for the first time since December 2005.

Incredibly, despite all the recent relegation fears, we've now collected as many points as we did last season, and with three games to go. No matter what happens now we are going to end the season a long way from those relegation places that only two weeks ago was a place we feared we might be heading.

Hopefully we've learned from that, we are at least ending the season as we started it with some good results. We've got to take that into next season and ensure next time round there is no poor run as there have been in each of the last two seasons.

Man of the Match - it is getting all too predictable but again I thought Eric Djemba-Djemba was the outstanding player on the pitch. He's finally, given the chance, proving to be an exceptional loan signing. If only we could keep him for next season.

It's not next season yet, but at least for now we can all relax somewhat. We'll be going to West Ham next season and not Hartlepool.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Eric Djemba-Djemba, James O'Connor, Steve Jones (Chris McCann 85), Andy Gray (John Spicer 90), Ade Akinbiyi (Kyle Lafferty 77). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Graham Coughlan.

Norwich: Tony Warner, Andy Hughes, Jason Shackell, Dion Dublin (Billy Smart 87), Adam Drury, Lee Croft, Michael Spillane, Dickson Etuhu, Robert Eagle (Robert Earnshaw 72), Chris Martin, Kris Renton. Subs not used: Paul Gallacher, Andrew Cave-Brown, Patrick Bexfield.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (Leeds).

Attendance: 9,681.