Burnley ended their pre-season campaign with a first defeat after a topsy-turvy encounter with Stoke City at Huddersfield's Galpharm Stadium.

A trademark Graham Alexander penalty put the Clarets level midway through the second half after Tuncay had opened the scoring for the Premier League side.

But almost immediately, Michael Tonge bagged what turned out to be the winner with a long range drive.

Nevertheless, Clarets boss Brian Laws will have been delighted with his side's efforts, as they competed well against strong and resilient Premier League opponents notorious for giving little away.

Burnley opted to start with Steven Thompson up front, supported from wide areas by Wallace and fit-again Martin Paterson.

Andre Bikey and Michael Duff got the nod at centre back, behind a three man central midfield of Dean Marney, Wade Elliott and anchorman skipper Graham Alexander.

And it was Elliott and Marney who combined as early as the fifth minute, following a bright start by the Clarets.

Elliott got to the right by-line and his fizzed cross was met by Marney, whose first time effort cannoned off a Stoke defender and to safety.

But Stoke soon found their attacking edge and following a break instigated by Tuncay, Liam Lawrence almost caught Brian Jensen cold with an audacious angled chip from just inside the box that pinged against the face of the crossbar.

In the 12th minute, another sweet piece of football from Stoke saw Rory Delap break forward and find Lawrence with a dinked cross, right wing cross - but the resulting header was straight at Jensen.

Stoke suffered two setbacks before the half hour mark though, with Glenn Whelan and long-throw expert Rory Delap both making way.

There was little else to get excited about until the half hour mark, when Paterson and Mears combined well down the right and the latter's magnificent cross forced a desperate headed clearance for a corner.

That lifted the Clarets and they enjoyed lengthy spells of possession as the half wore on, albeit without carving out any clear cut openings before the half time whistle blew.

Laws made two changes at the break; Leon Cort replacing Michael Duff and new signing Lee Grant bounding on for his second debut for the club.

But the ex-Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his net with only his second touch in the 52nd minute!

Lawrence found room on the right and cut back on his left foot to deliver a peach of a far post cross fro Tuncay to rise unchallenged and head home.

Tonge whistled a long-range effort just wide minutes later as the Potters sought to double their advantage.

It took the Clarets while to get back into their stride, but on the hour mark referee Peter Quinn had a touch call when the industrious Wade Elliott scampered into the box and appeared to be clipped by Abdouleye Faye.

However, after a long hard look the man in the middle waved play on.

A few minutes later, the Clarets made a triple substitution. Wallace, who took a knock, made way for Chris Eagles, while Chris Iwelumo and Jay Rodriguez replaced strike duo Thompson and Paterson.

And almost immediately, the trick worked.

Fox's deep corner found Iwelumo, whose shirt was being grabbed by Robert Huth. This time the referee did point to the spot and, as usual, Graham Alexander stepped up to make no mistake from the spot.

That lifted the Clarets fans in a sparse crowd of just 1,435. But the roars had barely escaped the throats before Stoke regained the lead.

Tonge, who tried his luck earlier in the half, this time got his angles just right to beat Grant with a rising drive from the corner of the box.

City almost added a third from a defensive mistake from Andre Bikey in the 75th minute, as the Cameroon defender left his back pass to Grant well short and was relieved to see the last mean deny Danny Pugh with a smart block.

And the Clarets almost capitalised immediately as Eagles danced his way across the 18-yard line, only to see his shot deflected wide.

And from the resulting whipped corner from Fox, Iwelumo distracted Asmir Begovic at his near post and Bikey somehow headed over from point-blank range.

That was Bikey's last action, as he made way for Clarke Carlisle as one half of a double substitution - David Edgar also on for Dean Marney.

And Burnley gave it one last effort to salvage something from their afternoon's hard graft.

Rodriguez epitomised that with seven minutes remaining, robbing Andy Wilkinson of possession and drilling his shot just wide as he cut in from the left.

And the striker, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Thursday, was close again with another confident strike in the dying moments.

Burnley: Jensen (Grant 46), Fox, Duff (Cort 46), Bikey (Carlisle 81), Mears, Alexander, Marney (Edgar 81), Elliott, Wallace (Eagles 64), Paterson (Rodriguez 64), Thompson (Iwelumo 64).
Subs: Harvey, McDonald, Eckersley, Easton, Fletcher

Stoke: Begovic, Huth (Wilkinson 71), Higginbotham, Whelan (Pugh 17), Shawcross, Faye, Lawrence, Whitehead, Sidibe, Tuncay, Delap (Tonge 26)
Subs: Fuller, Collins, Sorensen

Att: 1,435