DISTRESS SIGNALS; Under-fire Brown faces bonfire of the vanities.

Byline: MIKE WALTERS

BURNLEY 2

HULL CITY 0

BURNLEY: Jensen 6, Mears 7, Carlisle 7, Caldwell 6, Jordan 6, Alexander 8, Bikey 7, Eagles 7 (Guerrero, 84), Elliott 7, Blake 7 (McDonald 73), Fletcher 5 (Nugent 78). Goals: Alexander 20 pen, 77

HULL: Duke 6, McShane 4 (Mendy 59, 6), Zayatte 6, Gardner 5, Dawson 5, Geovanni 7, Olofinjana 6, Marney 6, Hunt 6 (Barmby 72), Venegoor of Hesselink 5 (Altidore 59, 5), Ghilas 7.

REFEREE: Mike Jones ATTENDANCE: 20,298

BONFIRE night is coming, and Phil Brown has only one game left to set the world alight and save his job.

Returning chairman Adam Pearson takes office for a second term at the KC & the Sunshine Band stadium this morning and could end Brown's reign as manager at the strike of a match.

And if Pearson is after a bonfire of the vanities, then from Captain Scarlet headsets to karaoke and mahogany tans, Brown's his man.

Pearson will wait until after next weekend's home game with Stoke before lighting the pyre, but anything less than a win and Brown will be toast - even if the Tigers can barely afford a penny for the fall-guy.

With a pounds 23million black hole in their budget and a crippling wage bill approaching pounds 40m a year, Hull are the latest club dicing with crash and burn - and Brown, a messiah by the Humber 12 months ago, is the latest manager to discover he is not fireproof.

With Pearson and majority shareholder Russell Bartlett in the audience, fortune deserted Brown in spades at Turf Moor, where ref Mike Jones - the twit who allowed Darren Bent's 'beachball' winner to stand at Sunderland two weeks earlier - had another shocker.

Gunpowder clot Jones awarded Burnley a phantom penalty, scrubbed out Geovanni's brilliant free-kick 'equaliser' for negligible jostling in the wall and then sent off the Brazilian for a collision more trifling than trifle itself.

But one hard-luck story cannot camouflage the harsh facts. Since Brown convened that infamous halftime team talk on the pitch at Manchester City on Boxing Day, and his players had to take it sitting down, Hull have won just three and lost 20 of their last 30 League games.

They look nailed-on to go down and Pearson, who gave Brown two games to prove he can inspire a revival, probably gathered sufficient intelligence at Burnley to cock the firing pin after one. Don't cry for Brown. As the man who led Hull from car boot sales to Harrods after a century of playing second fiddle in a rugby league stronghold, his place in the Tigers' history is secure for ever.

He has presided over famous wins at the Emirates, White Hart Lane and Wembley. And after he allegedly talked a prospective 'jumper' off the Humber Bridge, there's probably a job for life at the Samaritans.

Asked if he had been given any assurances about his future, Brown said: "I spoke long and hard with Adam on Thursday and Friday, and hopefully that will continue on Sunday, Monday and beyond. There will be extended meetings with Adam and Russell in the next 48 hours - and I'm confident I'll be involved in those meetings.

"I have very happy memories of working with Adam because he brought me back into the game after eight months in the wilderness. He gave me the opportunity to manage at this level, so I've nothing but thanks for him."

Even if the quality was patchy, Hull's application sustained Brown's prematch claim that his players were "one million per cent" behind him - although defender Paul McShane's hissy-fit when substituted, kicking and hurling water bottles in a petulant strop, momentarily suggested otherwise.

And Brown enjoyed the generous testimony of Clarets boss Owen Coyle, working his own miracle at Burnley, who observed: "It's not fair that Phil's job is being called into question, but it's not a fair world and as managers we all know the nature of the beast.

We all know that when you take a club places it's never been before, the expectations are raised and people forget where you've come from - they just want to know why you aren't winning games.

"Hull had never been at the heights they are now until Brownie came along, and that's lost on some people. I would suggest he's a better manager now than when he took them into the Premier League, so why the need for change?

"I know he's a pal of mine and he was my captain when we were at Bolton, but change isn't always a good thing, and if Hull need stability then Phil's the right man to supply it."

For the record, Burnley deserved their fifth home win as Graham Alexander, 38, took his remarkable conversion rate from the spot to 68 out of 73 penalties in his career before drilling home the clincher from 20 yards.

Alexander said: "Goals from open play are collectors' items for me these days, but I'll take them. We believe we're good enough to get enough points to stay in this division."

CAPTION(S):

TALKS Bartlett & Pearson at match SHOVE AFFAIR Geovanni scores with a free-kick screamer - disallowed when ref Jones sees pushing in the wall. Hull players can't believe it and surround the ref... who then books Geovanni for dissent