Burnley's potential promotion party was spoiled today as Middlesbrough visited Turf Moor and stole the points thanks to Jacob Buttefield's second-half strike.

The Clarets could have gone up if they had won and Derby County had failed to beat Huddersfield Town.

The opposite happened as Burnley went down and Derby eased past nine-man Huddersfield to close to within eight points of Sean Dyche's side in second.

Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at today's match in Lancashire, where Middlesbrough had Daniel Ayala sent off just before the full-time whistle for two quick bookings.

Match statistics

Burnley
Shots: 27
On target: 8
Possession: 68%
Corners: 14
Fouls: 7

Middlesbrough
Shots: 10
On target: 4
Possession: 32%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 19

Was the result fair?

Not at all. How Burnley didn't score multiple goals is amazing. They deserved at the very least a point and on another day would have easily got all three.

Burnley's performance

Apart from scoring, Burnley did almost everything right. Their only real lull came towards the end of the first half but that's not even when Middlesbrough scored. Sean Dyche will be annoyed at how easily Boro countered and scored but he must know that on another day things would have gone their way.

Middlesbrough's performance

Karanka will of course be delighted to have won a fourth straight game, but he must know that his side got away with it today. As you can see from the stats above, they had just 32% possession and somehow didn't let in any of the 28 attempts on goal.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Dimitrios Konstantopoulos: The clear man of the match is Boro keeper Konstantopoulos, who played an inspired game to keep Burnley out.

Biggest gaffe

Although Burnley might have scored several, you have to say that their finishing wasn't brilliant. Extra shooting practice this week for the Clarets.

Referee performance

Dean Whitestone certainly seemed to give Burnley a hard time today, somehow not pointing for a Burnley penalty when Danny Ings was clearly hauled in the 69th minute.

What next?

Burnley: Burnley could now be promoted next weekend. They travel to seaside Lancashire neighbours Blackpool on Good Friday.

Boro: Karanka's Boro will be after their fifth straight win when they host relegation-threatened Millwall on Saturday.