Dennis Wise, the Leeds United manager, came up with a variety of excuses for a defeat that returned his team to the bottom three of the Coca-Cola Championship as Burnley’s promotion prospects were revived after three successive defeats.

The dismissal of Hayden Foxe, the Leeds defender, and poor timekeeping by the referee, Phil Dowd, were the primary complaints of Wise, but the reality was that Leeds got all they deserved as the optimism created by Saturday’s win away to Plymouth Argyle was swiftly swept away.

Burnley appeared the more likely winners before the departure of Foxe, who was booked for a foul on the excellent Steve Jones in the first half and guaranteed his exit by deliberately handling the ball in the 51st minute.

“It was the turning point,” Wise said. “Foxe deserved a yellow card for the second offence, but was very unlucky when he got the first. My players seemed to get booked, but not theirs.” It was an unconvincing argument and goals from Gifton Noel-Williams and Andy Gray swiftly capitalised on Foxe’s absence.

The Leeds defence failed to clear a left-wing cross in the 67th minute and Noel- Williams drilled in a low shot. Then Gray, who later went to hospital for an X-ray on an ankle injury, finished in similar decisive style one minute later after more uncertain Leeds defending.

The visiting side were flattered by an excellent 87th-minute goal from David Healy, a substitute who collected a pass from Stephen Crainey before cutting in to score with style from 20 yards. It was their first genuine threat of the game.

“We nearly got back into it,” Wise said. “We were putting them under pressure and looked like scoring a goal, then the officials added on only four minutes [of stoppage time]. It was unbelievable.”

Steve Cotterill, the Burnley manager, was equally concerned about the added time. “They signalled four minutes and Leeds got a free kick on the edge of the area when my watch showed 5 mins 29 secs. I might not have been too happy if it had gone in.”

A late equaliser for Leeds would have been harsh on Cotterill, who said: “We did enough to win it, without a shadow of a doubt. The sending-off was arguably a turning point, but we caused enough damage to go on and win the game.”

Burnley (4-4-2): D Coyne — W Thomas, M Duff, J McGreal, J Harley — W Elliott (sub: K Lafferty, 88min), M Hyde (sub: C McCann, 62), J O’Connor, S Jones — G Noel-Williams, A Gray (sub: A Mahon, 85). Substitutes not used: B Jensen, S Foster. Booked: Hyde.

Leeds United (4-4-2): G Stack — H Foxe, U Ehiogu, M Heath, S Crainey — J Douglas, S Derry, I Westlake, E Lewis (sub: G Horsfield, 72) — I Moore (sub: D Healy, 72), R Blake (sub: T Kandol, 55). Substitutes not used: A Warner, S Carole. Booked: Foxe, Westlake. Sent off: Foxe.

Referee: P Dowd.