For a man selected on the strength of statistics, the numbers are just not adding up for Brian Laws. When Burnley sought a successor to Owen Coyle two months ago, they turned to the accountants Deloitte for guidance and were advised he was the most proficient manager in the Championship.
The evidence rated success relative to budget and placed Laws as the No1 performer in English football's second tier in 2006-09. On this evidence, he will soon get the opportunity to build upon that reputation.
Lady Luck rammed her size-nine stiletto into his backside on numerous occasions against their relegation rivals Wolves but Laws's personal record in his last 20 games this season, starting pre-sack at Sheffield Wednesday, includes just one victory and 16 defeats. And a glance at the remaining Premier League fixtures does not bode well. With such a woeful away record, home matches are crucial but impetus on their own patch is draining away (they have been victorious once since defeating Hull on Halloween), and the top-four hopefuls Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham are all in town before the season's end.
So, the visit of a Wolves team who had fired blanks in seven of their previous 10 league encounters, and the home derby with Blackburn a fortnight yesterday, appeared the most obvious source of much-needed points.
But calamitous defending conspired to sink Burnley, just as it had against Portsmouth last month. Wolves score so few goals that Matthew Jarvis was forced to double-take when Tyrone Mears and the goalkeeper Brian Jensen gift-wrapped the mother of all chances in the 26th minute.
Mears's back-header lacked weight and, as Jarvis nicked the ball past Jensen, already booked and no doubt wary of making contact with his opponent, time seemed to stand still. Yet there was enough of it for Jarvis to get on all fours and head the ball over the line, should he have so wished.
"There seemed to be complete silence so I was worried I might have been offside," Jarvis said. "A few people asked me whether I thought about getting down on my hands and knees and I suppose I could have done. The thought did flash through my mind, but it was all a bit surreal, so I thought I had better just put it in and make sure it was going to count."
Jensen, lucky to be on the field after goring Kevin Doyle with a late challenge outside the area early on, was beaten again 70 seconds after the interval when another huge slice of fortune saw Adlène Guedioura's pulled effort, which was flying well wide, cruelly change its course after clipping Clarke Carlisle's heel.
By that stage, Burnley had already lost Danny Fox, who was taken to hospital with a suspected fractured rib, and struck the goal frame through David Nugent's acrobatic volley.
Laws's response was immediate and revealing. His decision to sacrifice Chris Eagles's invention on the left flank was greeted with a cacophony which reverberated through Turf Moor's rafters.
Robbie Blake, Eagles's replacement thudded a left-foot shot from an acute angle against the base of the post and Burnley screamed in vain for a penalty for handball after Christophe Berra blocked a Martin Paterson centre, before the substitute Steven Thompson nodded in to maintain his side's sequence of scoring in each of their 15 home Premier League matches.
But failure to salvage a draw despite sustained late pressure has left Burnley three points short of Wolves, and safety, with eight games remaining.
"We are just delighted because the season will go right to the wire," said Jarvis. "We have not set ourselves a points target but if we can win another two or three we will be nearly there. This has given us more belief we can do that."
Burnley, ninth in November are, like Phil Brown's Hull last season, struggling to arrest that downward momentum. "It's difficult picking yourself up week after week," said Thompson. "Everyone is trying to be super-positive but it is hard to take."
