Brentford 2 Burnley 0: Dan Black's verdict as Burnley's ballad becomes even more downbeat!

The 1968 track - the band’s first on their Apple record label - contains the line ‘take a sad song and make it better’, which precedes the guidance ‘don’t carry the world upon your shoulders’.

Both of those snippets from the long-standing number one hit, while embraced by last season’s Championship play-off winners, might seem a little bit far-fetched for Burnley in their current plight.

The visitors certainly had the opportunities to rework the lyrics of their downbeat ballad but, as has so often been the case this season, they failed to hit the high notes in front of goal.

Only Norwich City have managed fewer Premier League goals than the Clarets this term, with the playlist from the corresponding fixture against Thomas Frank’s side seemingly on pause.

They’ve scored two or more goals in a game in just two of 17 games since - against Crystal Palace and Brighton - and have failed to find the net in nine of those.

Before Brentford's German head coach had toasted their triumph with a slice of pepperoni pizza, Dyche had said: "I said to the players afterwards, 'the hardest thing in football is scoring goals'. That's why strikers go for so much money and that's why they're paid so much money.

"On the other hand you've got to have the freedom to go and score a goal and I believe we're getting in the right places and we're creating chances. It does take a focus and freedom to find that balance to go and finish a move and we didn't quite find that again.

"That's a challenge going forward, but three games ago we were finding that. We were coming through games like that and certainly not losing. That's two out of three where we didn't feel or look in trouble and we should've dealt with it."

Maxwel Cornet - whose clinical form had promised to build to a crescendo - hasn’t been able to add to the six goals the Ivorian had clocked up prior to leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations.

Wout Weghorst’s chances have continued to dry up as the Dutchman, who has been starved of service, struggles to add to his finish against the Seagulls at the AMEX.

And the remainder of the choir haven’t been able to harmonise when delivering their lines, with either goals or assists.

Aaron Lennon has a couple, Josh Brownhill broke his duck, but that’s hardly the kind of conviction that’ll lead to the preservation of the club’s Premier

League status, which has thus far spanned six successive campaigns.

Cornet pulled one shot wide of the post in the first half before Dwight McNeil headed horribly wide from Ashley Westwood’s cross.

Burnley’s leading scorer should have made David Raya work harder after the break when tamely firing the ball against the goalkeeper’s legs when intuitively stepping across Ethan Pinnock to take control of Rico Henry’s under hit back pass.

Jay Rodriguez’s hellishly-hit howitzer might not have registered on ‘xG’ ratings, with his effort more audacious than clear-cut, but it deserved so much more than a meeting with the woodwork.

"We've had a chance with Maxwel [Cornet] going through in the first half, Dwight McNeil had a clean header in front of goal, we've had a one-v-one, we've hit the bar from distance with a great strike and we don't capitalise on those moments," said Dyche.

"In the Premier League you don't get lots of them. We're finding better quality moments, but you've got to take them."

The truth of the matter is, the away side ended the 90 minutes with just one shot on target, just as they had done against Chelsea beforehand.

They say familiarity breeds contempt, and that became apparent when a frustrated fanbase let their feelings be known in the aftermath, as the dust still settled.

The post-mortem has been opened, and any questions of Dyche's management and methods might just be knee-jerk, but the away side were deprived of invention, almost one-dimensional at times as they failed to vary their play, predictably pumping the ball long and often into the channels, with minimal economy.

"We are showing that we have (enough)," Dyche continued. "The hardest challenge of all is putting it in the net.

"Statistically we are about where we should be, we have years of stats on how we create chances and the quality of chances. We have different players with Wout and Maxwel.

"We are finding different kinds of chances but it is not that easy, sometimes you can suggest why are you not playing like Man City! You find the best way you can to create chances and score goals."

This, however, isn't the first time they've fallen short against the teams in and around them this term. The Clarets have been left 'singing a song of six points' when drawing up a separate mini league for the bottom six sides.

Burnley have beaten Brentford and taken points from home games against Leeds United, Norwich City and Watford, while losing the remaining three.

That's a damning indictment of their failures so far this season and, perhaps, what will cost them their place at the top table.

In comparison, 13 of Brentford's 30-point return have come against the clubs currently buried in the bottom five, the Whites have accrued 12 points, Everton and the Canaries are on 10, the Hornets seven, with Burnley at the foot of the pecking order.

"Over the season the margins have been tight and there have been some when we have come away from our performance," said Dyche. "I always feel we have enough, we have been down this road before. But you can throw all the words you want at it, but the reality is you have to go and do it."

As it was, Toney's late cameo, and Nathan Collins' dismissal, Burnley's first in 120 Premier League games, inflicted a sinking feeling, similar to that in 2015 when Jamie Vardy punished Matty Taylor's missed penalty.

For all the disappointment, though, they're still in contention, and an improvement in result patterns will have to change with games against rivals Everton (h), Norwich City (a) and Watford (a) still to play.