Nugent endured a miserable time at Portsmouth after his �6m move from Preston

By Mike Henson

On-loan striker David Nugent climbed off the bench to score a second-half double that extends Burnley's winning run at Turf Moor to nine games.

The hosts had been ahead through Graham Alexander's spot-kick after Anton Ferdinand's foul on Wade Elliott.

Steve Bruce's men pulled level through a cool Darren Bent finish, but Nugent met Elliott's cross with a powerful header to restore the lead.

The 24-year-old then curled home from just inside the box to wrap up the win.

Seven successive clean sheets had been the backbone of Burnley's home form but the pace of Bent and Fraizer Campbell, preferred to Kenwyne Jones, soon hinted at the frailties that have seen them concede nine in the last three games away from Turf Moor.

606: DEBATE Well played Burnley, the second goal was superb and really worked as a team Gilmour56

Campbell had a dangerous cross palmed away by Brian Jensen before losing his bearings when presented with a brief sight of goal and allowing Chris McCann to dive in and clear.

Steven Fletcher's solid but stray long-range strike had been the hosts' only attempt at goal before Alexander's pass sent Elliott hurtling down the right channel.

Centre-back Anton Ferdinand seemed to have effectively tracked the run, but then rashly clattered in and Alexander drove the resulting spot-kick straight down the middle.

Poor decision-making at the heart of the home defence almost threw away the advantage as Clarke Carlisle and Andre Bikey got in each other's way under a high ball, but a rushed finish from the unmarked Bent trailed weakly into Brian Jensen's legs.

With the speed of the opposition front two, Burnley's offside trap always felt less than watertight.

Bikey was fortunate that the referee called a halt to a Sunderland attack as Campbell dispossessed him and burst towards goal, before it eventually sprung by a neat ball from Andy Reid.

Darren Bent scored his fifth league goal of the season

With Clarke Carlisle failing to keep pace with his team-mates' advance, Bent delayed his run expertly to exploit the centre-back's lack of alertness, latch on to Reid's pass and slip the ball past Jensen.

Burnley came close to an immediate response as substitute Joey Gudjonsson, on after Chris McCann twisted his knee in a challenge with Michael Turner, flicked on Blake's corner, but none of his colleagues could get a touch as the ball crossed the face of the goal.

The second half started with optimistic shouts for a penalty for a handball against Stephen Fletcher, before Jensen had to be alert to repel a forceful shot from Campbell as Bent's dummy bought his strike partner some space in the box.

Elliott sidestepped Kieran Richardson before shooting over at the other end but his next contribution was more telling.

An inviting cross picked out Nugent who buried a muscular header beyond Craig Gordon to restore the lead.

It was a sweet moment for the forward who turned down a move to Sunderland before agreeing a switch to Portsmouth in 2007, but then scored only three league goals in two years on the south coast.

The introduction of Jones just after the hour failed to sharpen the visitors' cutting edge, and a Lorik Cana header which drifted on to the roof of the net was as close as they came to shutting the gap.

Nugent, who made his Burnley debut from the bench against Liverpool last week, looked instilled with confidence as he scored a fine second.

Tyrone Mears' pass found Nugent with Turner and Cana at his back, but the former Preston man nonchalantly turned and and stroked the ball into the top corner.

Deserved yellow cards for frustrated challenges from Phil Bardsley and Richardson capped a dismal second half from Steve Bruce's side.

Burnley boss Owen Coyle:

"I have always believed in David's ability and that he is a top-class player.

"He has a bit of a stop-start time at Portsmouth and we are trying to give him his confidence back.

"David has come up trumps today with two terrific finishes and has benefitted from the hard work from the players who were on before he came on.

"He is a terrific acquisition for the club and I am delighted to have him."

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce:

"In the first half I was absolutely delighted with our performance.

"There was a complete contrast in our display in the second half and that has been our Achilles heel that we are yet to perform for the whole 90 minutes this season.

"We play well for chunks of games but not for the whole match.

"In the second half we got nowhere near how we played before the interval and we have got to put that right.

"We huffed and puffed after the break but did not play with the same energy we did in the first half."

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