FA Cup: Burnley 3-1 West Brom

Steven Thompson struck twice as Burnley wrote another glorious chapter into their fairytale campaign by dumping West Brom out of the FA Cup to book a fifth-round trip to Cardiff or Arsenal.

Winger Wade Elliott opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time with a superb 20-yard volley and Thompson rifled in a second seven minutes after the restart at a bitterly cold Turf Moor.

Under-strength Albion were given hope by Gianni Zuiverloon's sweet 60th-minute strike, but in-form Thompson netted again late on for his fourth goal in two games to seal Burnley's fourth Barclays Premier League scalp of the season.

Owen Coyle's impressive Coca-Cola Championship outfit bundled Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal out of the Carling Cup and came agonisingly close to overcoming Tottenham in an epic semi-final encounter.

With one Wembley dream having died, another remains firmly alive after this latest success which left Albion to focus solely on their grim fight to avoid relegation.

This was the 41st game of Burnley's marathon season but they were never going to be overawed by a Baggies side who stand just eight league places above them.

And visiting boss Tony Mowbray's team selection said everything about where the world's oldest knockout cup competition lies on his list of priorities.

The former Hibernian manager, whose men lie bottom of the Premier League and face a crunch home clash against Newcastle on Saturday, made six changes to the side which drew at Hull last weekend.

After seeing Albion's line-up, the Clarets fans who braved the freezing temperatures were warmed by the prospect of a possible trip to the Emirates Stadium in the next round.

In the 12th minute, Robbie Blake's low strike from distance was palmed around a post for a corner by Scott Carson before Roman Bednar cleverly engineered the space to drive a cross-shot hopelessly off target.

The Baggies continued to produce passages of play in keeping with their reputation as football purists, but Burnley's defence held firm.

Blake's trickery with the ball emerged as Burnley's most potent attacking threat and he twice crafted the space to curl right-footed shots just wide of Carson's goal.

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Albion, so typically, kept the ball alive at every opportunity around their opponents' penalty area without ever really threatening to score and Burnley were not much more menacing at the other end.

The visitors were dealt a blow in the 36th minute when on-loan Arsenal striker Jay Simpson, who had looked lively, picked up a knock and was replaced by Chris Brunt.

However, Albion carved Burnley open four minutes before the interval when Marc-Antoine Fortune beat the offside trap and laid the ball back to Bednar, whose vicious, rising strike from 14 yards was diverted for a corner by Brian Jensen.

Albion defender Ryan Donk then saw his far-post header smartly saved by Jensen before Burnley went ahead.

A long punt upfield from Jensen was headed up into the air by an Albion defender and Elliott was on hand to strike a superb volley into the far left-hand corner from 20 yards out.

Bednar headed weakly wide when well placed within two minutes of the restart and Burnley soon capitalised by doubling their advantage in the 52nd minute.

Christian Kalvenes crossed dangerously from the left flank and although Martin Paterson's far-post header was blocked by a Baggies defender, Thompson lashed in the loose ball right-footed from six yards out.

Yet the visitors responded impressively and when Zuiverloon was given space on the right side of the Burnley penalty area, he expertly drilled a fine low shot past Jensen and into the bottom corner.

A third goal should have arrived for Burnley in the 70th minute when Blake's long-range free-kick was parried weakly by Carson.

The ball fell straight into the path of the lurking Paterson but he was not sharp enough and the chance of a simple tap-in was spurned.

Albion pushed hard for an equaliser but their few hundred fans in a crowd of just 6,635 were left disappointed as Burnley added a third when Blake's brilliance saw him cross low from the right to give Thompson the easiest of tap-ins.

( Mirror )