Burnley head coach Scott Parker was left "disappointed" with officials after Jaidon Anthony saw his goal ruled out in their goalless draw with West Brom on Thursday. 

The Clarets are now without a win in their last four Championship games, while also failing to score in their last three fixtures in the division. 

Anthony, however, thought he had put Burnley ahead in the 59th minute when he headed Lucas Pires' delivery to the back post beyond Alex Palmer. 

But referee Tom Nield felt the Burnley winger had pushed Callum Styles in an attempt to reach the ball, thus disallowing the goal, much to the frustration of Parker. 

"I've watched it back again - it's a goal. It's a valid goal and disappointing the ref has decided to give that decision," Parker told Sky Sports.

"There's a little hand but nothing to influence the player too much.

"Overall we looked very good, good value. At this present moment the chances are not going in (but) overall today the attacking threat was more positive.

"I am really encouraged by that. It's a young team, in a process."

Anthony also gave his version of events at full-time, echoing the comments made my his manager. 

"Yeah frustrating, at the time I didn’t think it was a foul. The defender didn’t seem to complain either," Anthony added. 

"I want to score more, I don’t really get too many headers, it felt good going in, I turned around and it was a heartbreaking moment to see it ruled out.

"We haven’t created enough in the past games, but today I felt like we had chances."

Carlos Corberan, unsurprisingly, shared a different view of the incident. 

"From my point of view from the bench it was a foul," the West Brom boss said. "In general as a team we were good in the first half and we created some opportunities.

"In the second half they were better than us until the last third of it. They were more compact than us and we struggled to create chances."

West Brom have now drawn their last six games in the Championship, with Thursday's stalemate their third straight draw without a goal at the Hawthorns. 

And the Baggies struggled again to find that clinical edge in the final third, registering just one shot on target from the 11 efforts they managed against Burnley. 

Despite the result, West Brom moved up to fifth in the table, while Burnley remained in fourth, but the Clarets are now four points behind the automatic promotion places. 

Burnley climbed into top spot in the Championship after defeating Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Hillsborough to sit two points ahead of second-placed Sunderland.

The Clarets extended their unbeaten run to seven matches under Scott Parker with goals either side of half-time.

Jaidon Anthony got Burnley off the mark after 37 minutes when he seized on a loose ball in the box to fire into the bottom left corner and open his account for the visitors after signing in August.

Burnley’s leading goalscorer, Joshua Brownhill, secured the three points on 50 minutes, rifling home a volley from the centre of the box.

The Clarets will keep their spot at the top if Sunderland fail to win at Hull City on Sunday.

West Brom scuppered their chance to move level on points with the current league leaders after conceding a 92nd-minute equaliser to draw 1-1 away at Oxford United.

Instead, they now sit fifth, level on points with sixth-placed Blackburn Rovers who beat Swansea City 1-0 to move into the play-off spots.  

Elsewhere, Cardiff City secured a much-needed win in style, defeating Plymouth Argyle 5-0 to move off of the bottom spot, while Portsmouth won 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers.

Luton Town recorded a satisfying 3-0 derby victory against Watford, who had engaged in some pre-match teasing on social media and duly got their comeuppance.

Preston North End and Bristol City also recorded wins, while Norwich City were held to a draw by Stoke City to prevent them moving into the play-off spots. Millwall and Derby County also cancelled each other out in a midtable clash.

Patrick Bamford’s moment of brilliance lit up Leeds’ smooth FA Cup passage as they eased to a 3-0 win at Peterborough.

The forward was handed only his second start of the campaign as boss Daniel Farke rang the changes.

And Bamford responded by delivering a stunning strike shortly after half-time to double an advantage provided by Ethan Ampadu’s first goal in Leeds colours.

Captain Ampadu then sealed the win late on as his sudden taste for scoring continued.

The goalscorers were two of only five survivors from the Sky Bet Championship success against Birmingham on New Year’s Day as Farke shuffled his pack, but it did not hamper Leeds as they had three clear chances in the opening seven minutes.

Two Bamford headers – one wide from a corner and one clawed away by Posh goalkeeper Fynn Talley – sandwiched the best opportunity of all as Talley recovered to save from Archie Gray after picking out the Leeds man with an attempted pass.

League One top-scorers Peterborough began to trouble the visitors, with Ricky-Jade Jones stretching to steer an Ephron Mason-Clark cross wide before Hector Kyprianou failed to direct a header on target from Jadel Katongo’s cross.

It was no surprise when the deadlock was broken in the 34th minute, although few could have predicted Ampadu would be the scorer as he opened his Leeds account by firing past Talley after a Jaidon Anthony free-kick was chested down by Bamford.

The breakthrough was not without controversy as Posh players complained the set piece was taken before referee Sam Allison had blown his whistle, but the goal stood with Josh Knight booked for his protests.

Kyprianou then scuffed an effort wide in a goalmouth scramble as Peterborough looked to rapidly respond before Allison was again the centre of attention four minutes before the break – taking no action when Wilfried Gnonto tumbled under a Knight challenge in the box.

The Italian winger was staggered not to see a spot-kick awarded which would have led to a dismissal for Knight, while Posh felt Allison should have issued a second yellow card to Gnonto, who had been booked moments earlier for kicking the ball away.

The player count and scoreline remained unchanged going into the second half, but it did not remain that way for long thanks to the brilliance of Bamford as he brought down a long Ampadu pass on his chest before turning and unleashing a stunning volley into the top corner from 25 yards.

It was undoubtedly one of the finest goals in his 115-strong collection and ensured Leeds’ stranglehold on the clash was strengthened.

Anthony was denied a third goal on the hour by a smart Talley stop while Posh rarely looked like joining then non-League Sutton and fellow lower-league sides Newport and Crawley in claiming the scalp of Leeds in this competition in recent years.

The hosts’ fate was sealed when Ampadu rose to head in substitute Dan James’ corner in the 90th minute.

Talented Bournemouth winger Jaidon Anthony insists he is in no hurry to decide his future with both international teams England and Jamaica being options at this point.

In truth the 22-year-old winger might not be a major consideration for either country at this point, having not secured much time on the pitch in the English Premier League (EPL).

In total the player has made only 12 appearances but has shown plenty of ability with the 3 goals he has scored so far.  At Bournemouth, Antony is teammates with Jamaica international Jamal Lowe who has already attempted to sell the young player on representing the Caribbean team.  At this point in time, however, he insists he is not yet ready to consider it.

“My mum and my dad are both from Jamaica as well. I have got good heritage from there,” Anthony told the Beautiful Game Podcast.

“It would be an honour to represent either.  One of my team-mates, Jamal Lowe, plays for Jamaica. He’s always saying you need to come!

“I have only been playing professional football for two years. I don’t want to rush any decisions. We will see what happens.”

I’m ready now – Whisper