THERE was, perhaps, a whiff of inevitability about Burnley 1 Brighton and Hove Albion 1, even before a ball had been kicked in anger.

With the Seagulls boasting a sixteen-game unbeaten run in the Championship and the Clarets showing a similar robustness having suffered just a single defeat in thirteen league fixtures, the clever money was always going to be on a draw.

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Maybe this was further underlined given the other similarities between the two clubs; both unfashionable names in the modern game, both run by under-rated English managers and both boasting strikers with points to prove – albeit at opposite ends of their playing careers.

It was the 34 year-old Bobby Zamora who was first to make his mark, capitalising on an almost Newcastle-esque lack of attention to detail amongst the Burnley backline to prod the visitors ahead with less than a minute gone.

You sensed at that point – given Brighton’s resilience – that it might just be a long old afternoon.

And so it may have turned out had Michael Keane not been ridiculously fouled at a corner to win a penalty almost immediately after Zamora had scored.

That was the cue for the game’s other main striker to pick up the gauntlet.

And just like with his other eight Burnley goals this season, you never imagined for a second that Andre Gray was going to miss.

After such an explosive start, it was always going to be difficult to maintain the intensity – and so it proved with the game settling down into a pattern which would last for the remainder of the contest.

For Brighton, Chris Houghton’s men favoured the high diagonal hoisted up in the direction of the afore-mentioned Zamora and Tomar Hemed.

The Clarets, meanwhile, were more intent on seeking out Gray by playing the ball into his feet via Boyd, Jones, Barton and Darikwa.

Unfortunately for Gray, he was marshalled well by Albion’s defenders who chose to stand a yard off him rather than going tight, thus negating his favoured tactic of spinning his marker and haring towards goal.

Nor was the former Brentford man helped by the absence of Sam Vokes, his muscular minder, with whom he has begun to establish a rapport in recent weeks.

Neither Rouwen Hennings nor Chris Long offered enough to suggest they are adequate stand-ins for the Welshman.

Not that Gray was totally blunted. Both Arfield and Long might have benefitted from decent assists by the striker late on.

Here’s hoping that the Vokes and Gray axis will be re-established for next Saturday’s trip to Cardiff.