Scott Parker and CJ Egan-Riley were sent off after the final whistle as Burnley missed the chance to move above Leeds in the Championship promotion race, held to a 1-1 draw by play-off chasing West Brom.

Egan-Riley appeared to kick William Lankshear as Gavin Ward was blowing the final whistle, sparking ugly scenes as several players clashed, with Clarets boss Parker then also shown red for his protests.

It came as a sign of Burnley’s frustration. John Swift’s fine free-kick 20 minutes in saw their run of seven consecutive home clean sheets come to an end and, although Zian Flemming quickly punished a bad mistake from West Brom goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith, this was a result which cost them a chance to go top.

Instead, a 15th draw of the season could prove very costly in the chase for automatic promotion as they missed the chance to go above both Leeds and Sheffield United.

The draw extended the Baggies’ unbeaten run to five as they remained inside the top six.

Former Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray had described this match as a “free hit” away to a side still unbeaten at Turf Moor and his players took a positive approach as they pressed Burnley deep into their own half early on. And it paid off in the 20th minute when they became the first visiting team to score there since Watford on December 21, and only the fifth all season.

After Grady Diangana fluffed a chance to shoot, Swift won a free-kick off Josh Brownhill on the edge of the box and picked himself up to hit a superb strike over the wall and beyond the reach of a flat-footed James Trafford.

Turf Moor demanded a response and got one three minutes later with the help of a clanger from Wildsmith.

Lucas Pires’ curling shot from the edge of the area looked routine for the Baggies keeper, but he inexplicably dropped it at the feet of Flemming, who gratefully poked in his 10th of the season.

Burnley were fired up, going close again when Marcus Edwards pulled the ball back to Egan-Riley, but the defender’s low driven shot was already edging narrowly wide before Isaac Price made sure.

West Brom threatened again when Adam Armstrong ran on to Diangana’s pass, but he could not get enough power on his shot to test Trafford and Burnley remained on top, with Ousmane Diakite doing well to block a powerful strike from Hannibal Mejbri before Flemming poked wide from a Pires cross.

There was a lively start to the second half. Trafford played Burnley into trouble when his short pass was cut out, but Price sent a shot narrowly over before the hosts went to the other end where Jaidon Anthony saw his shot bounce off the top of the bar.

But that frantic minute stood in isolation for much of the second half as both sides struggled to find openings until the last 10 minutes.

West Brom substitute Mikey Johnston then rattled the crossbar in the 80th minute with a shot that deflected off Maxime Esteve.

At the other end, Callum Styles did brilliantly to beat Marcus Edwards to a Pires cross that was begging to be tapped in at the far post before emotions spilled over at the end.