Ashley Barnes and Andre Gray were on target as Burnley claimed a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, writes DYLAN APPOLIS.

Sam Allardyce made two changes to the Palace side that started in their 1-0 defeat against Tottenham during the week, with Damien Delaney and Patrick van Aanholt coming into the starting line-up to replace Mamadou Sakho and Jeffrey Schlupp.

Meanwhile, Sean Dyche made four alterations to the team that featured in their last outing, with Ben Mee, Joey Barton, Robbie Brady and Andre Gray made way for James Tarkowski, Ashley Westwood, Scott Arfield and Sam Vokes respectively.

The Clarets got off to a bright start and broke the deadlock as early as the seventh minute when Stephen Ward whipped a low cross into the box to find Ashley Barnes, who was left completely unmarked and mde no mistake, firing Wayne Hennessey from close-range.

Wilfred Zaha had a chance to level the match eight minutes later when the winger made his way through the disjointed Burnley back line to latch on to a pass from Christian Benteke, but as soon as he took on Tom Heaton, the linesman’s flagged him for offside.

Burnley nearly doubled their lead in the 29th minute when Matthew Lowton picked out Sam Vokes, but the striker’s glancing header flew just over the top of the crossbar after leaving Hennessey rooted to the spot.

Patrick van Aanholt had a chance to draw Palace level in the 34th minute when the fullback unleashed a strike from inside the box, but it failed to trouble Heaton.

The Clarets came close in the 38th minute as Stephen Ward whipped a ball into the box to pick out Vokes in front of goal, however Hennesey produced a fine save to deny the striker.

Palace came out a better side in the second half as Milivojevic unleashed a thumping shot from 30 yards out, but Heaton got down well to stop the effort from finding the back of the net.

Palace nearly found the equaliser in the 64th minute when Jason Puncheon found Troy Delaney from the corner, who unleashed a volleyed strike that Heaton tipped over the top of the crossbar.

Vokes made his way in the Palace penalty area in the 73rd minute before he tried to go one-on-one with Hennessey, but Martin Kelly darted back and did well to dispossess the striker at the vital moment.

However, Andre Gary sealed the win with five minutes to play after George Boyd played Gray through on goal before he fired a low shot under Hennessey, as his side walked away with all three points.

Image: Premier League website