Preston North End were beaten 3-0 by Burnley at Turf Moor, with a Nathan Tella hat-trick sealing victory for the Clarets.
The league leaders opened the scoring in the 15th minute, with Tella heading home from six yards, before a quickfire double in the early stages of the second half sealed his treble.
It was a relatively even start to the game, with the hosts enjoying plenty of the ball without really troubling PNE.
But, on 15 minutes, they got themselves in front through Tella, who was able to head home unmarked inside the six-yard box, on the end of a cross from former PNE midfielder Josh Brownhill.
Three minutes later came North End’s first chance of the game which fell for skipper Browne, who was found following good work from Tom Cannon, but his first-time effort was hit into the ground and bounced into the air, landing in the arms of Arijanet Muric.
From that point in the first half, most of the play came for the hosts, with left winger Anass Zaroury at the heart of much of it.
He found Ashley Barnes in the middle shortly after the half-hour mark and the striker headed goalwards, where Freddie Woodman stuck out a strong left hand to keep the hosts’ tally at one.
Morocco international Zaroury then had an opportunity of his own a few minutes on, taking the ball out of the sky and firing goalwards, and again Woodman saved.
Ryan Lowe opted to make a double change at half-time, with Ben Whiteman and Troy Parrott – both returning from knocks – coming on in place of Ryan Ledson and Ben Woodburn.
That seemed to bring a bit of energy to North End as they enjoyed a brighter opening to the half, but when Tella beat Lindsay with a bit of skill in the 55th minute before firing beyond Woodman, momentum swung back to Burnley.
It was only three minutes later that Tella completed his hat-trick when a long ball forward was headed down to the young attacker, who took his time to slam under Woodman.
Tella could well have had a fourth in the 63rd minute as he broke free and had only Woodman to beat, but in trying to find Lyle Foster, the ball was intercepted by Jordan Storey and cleared.
That was about it as far as clear-cut chances were concerned and PNE were beaten 3-0 by their Lancashire rivals.
Burnley line-up: Muric; Roberts, Ekdal (Taylor, 81), Beyer, Maatsen; Cullen, Brownhill (Twine, 81), Gudmundsson (Cork, 73); Tella (Obafemi, 74), Barnes (Foster, 61), Zaroury. Subs not used: Peacock-Farrell, Vitinho.
PNE line-up: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Browne, McCann, Ledson (Whiteman, 45), Woodburn (Parrott, 45), Brady (Fernandez, 68); Delap, Cannon (Onomah, 68). Subs not used: Cornell, Cunningham, Potts.
Attendance: 21,528 (2,247 PNE fans).
Referee: Mr D Bond.