IN an instant the 1,700 Burnley Santas were on their feet. Two touches, then wallop. Sam Vokes’ task of displacing Ashley Barnes will not be easy.

If this was Vokes’ final match on the sidelines before his long-awaited comeback from knee surgery, Barnes could not have picked a better game to deliver what he admitted afterwards was the finest goal of his career.

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“I can assure you Ashley is not here just to supplement the group and support the front two,” Sean Dyche said when he brought Barnes to Turf Moor from Brighton in January for £750,000.

Understandably Barnes had to play second fiddle to the in-form Vokes and Danny Ings until both got injured in the latter stages of last season.

Now, pretty much for the first time, Dyche’s statement could be put to the test.

A few weeks ago it appeared certain that Vokes, watching on from the shadows at White Hart Lane, would stroll back into the Burnley side as soon as he was fully fit.

Lukas Jutkiewicz had toiled gamely but failed to score a competitive goal since arriving from Middlesbrough in the summer, while Marvin Sordell had similarly been unable to make a place in the front line his own.

Barnes had had his moments, but he was not even named on the bench for the game at Arsenal at the start of November.

Three goals in seven games later, and things look different.

Vokes’ record alongside Ings was astonishing last season, but can Sean Dyche now leave Barnes out?

The decision will probably not have to be made against Liverpool on Boxing Day, when it seems likely that Vokes will at best ease his way back from the bench.

But it is a decision that will come soon, and it does not look an easy one.

Christmas seemed to have come early for the Clarets when Barnes’ quickfire control and ferocious shot into the top corner put them back on level terms on Saturday.

It provided the curious sight of rows and rows of Santas dancing with delight, after Burnley had handed out 1,700 hats to fans at the turnstiles as a gesture of thanks for the support provided this season.

The Clarets had survived the hurricane of Harry Kane and his opening goal.

But eight minutes after Barnes’ leveller, Erik Lamela put Spurs back in front. No rabona needed to use his stronger left foot this time, as Burnley allowed him to cut inside and paid the price.

Spurs have seen a few decent wide men over the years – not least Clarets legend Ralph Coates, remembered at half time on Burnley’s first visit to White Hart Lane since his death in 2010.

“He was one of the nicest lads you’d ever meet,” Alan Mullery said in a pitchside interview. “When he turned up at the ground he wore a purple suit, we thought he was going to a pantomime. An awful dresser but a lovely lad.

“When he died it was a terrible shock to all of us.”

Spurs had beaten Burnley 4-1 and 5-0 on the Clarets’ last two visits, but Dyche’s men are made of sterner stuff.

While Tottenham named a team containing 11 nationalities, Burnley’s line-up was British through and through.

Dean Marney, a bulldog of a midfielder, received applause on his return to his old club.

In the end, the Santa army departed disappointed.

But Barnes’ goal will live in the memory for some time to come.