James Tarkowski's secret 400-mile trip for family emergency before heroics vs Watford

Before the audacious heist came James Tarkowski's secret mercy dash as Burnley's great escape gathered irresistible momentum.

The night before a dramatic win which made the Clarets favourites to cheat the hangman, defensive rock Tarkowski had left the team hotel and raced home to Manchester after a health scare involving his young daughter. When she was given the all-clear overnight, Tarkowski made a last-minute dash through the Bank Holiday weekend traffic back to Hertfordshire to link up with his team-mates in the nick of time.

At first, his rush back to the relegation front line seemed ill-fated as his early own goal left Burnley staring back into the abyss. And for three-quarters of a buttock-clenchingly poor contest, they were as blunt as your rusty garden shears until Jack Cork and Josh Brownhill's goals in the last seven minutes sparked wild celebrations in the No-Nay-Never chorus line.

If rookie boss Michael Jackson can make it 13 points from five games against Aston Villa next weekend, it will be the greatest Jackson Five since Tito, Jermaine, Jackie and Marlon put the band together in Motown.

Jackson later revealed Tarkowski had bust a gut to play his part as pathetic Watford finally arrived at the gates of doom. Although family comes first, Tarkowski's compassionate leave could have left Burnley's surge towards survival on the hard shoulder, but Jackson said: “James had a problem on Friday night with his little girl.

“He had to go back up to Manchester, where he lives, because he was really worried. Fortunately everything is fine, there isn’t a problem. And then he’s rung me up this morning saying, 'I'm ready to go, I want to play.' A car picked him up, drove him straight down, put him on the bus at the