THE Joey Barton saga at Rangers this season was, with his much-heralded arrival, spectacular failure to justify the hype, headline-hogging suspension and protracted departure, a bizarre episode long before yesterday.

Yet, his performance in just his second appearance for his new club Burnley in a Barclays Premier League match against Southampton at Turf Moor made the whole sorry affair curiouser still.

The English midfielder is idolised in this corner of Lancashire after helping the Clarets to win the Sky Bet Championship and promotion to the top flight last season. He showed exactly why.

The 34-year-old came off the bench with 17 minutes of regulation time remaining and with the score tied 0-0. It took just six minutes for him to make an impact.

When the home team were awarded a free-kick within shooting range he stepped forward to take it - and promptly stroked a sweet right-foot effort through the defensive wall, beyond opposition goalkeeper Fraser Forster and into the bottom right corner. His strike proved to be decisive.

As referee Paul Tierney brought an end to proceedings the home supporters in the 20,254-strong crowd rose to their feet to chant their returning hero’s name. That was not something he experienced in Scotland.

It was the 24th consecutive league match that Barton has played for Burnley – where was named Supporters’ Player of the Year as well as being included in the PFA Championship Team of the Season last term – without suffering a defeat.

His match-winning display made his abject failure at Rangers all the more perplexing. He is playing at a higher level against a far better standard of opposition and is already performing much better. What went wrong at Ibrox remains a mystery.

Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager whose side now has the third best home record in the English top flight behind Chelsea and Spurs, was unsurprised at the contribution of the man he has re-signed on a short-term contract until the end of the 2016/17 campaign

“You can’t make it up,” said Dyche. “I just said to him: ‘I couldn’t write your story’. It was a sublime finish. He will be telling everyone that anyway.

“We probably had a scratch of luck. As the game went on we were becoming more of a force. We were creating those maybes, those half chances, and I just had that feeling that something was going to drop for us."

Dyche, whose side leapfrogged Southampton and moved into tenth place in the Premier League table, appears able to extract the best out of Barton and appeared optimistic about what he can offer in the future.

“We’ll see what happens," he said. "He has just came on today and he played at Sunderland. He is experienced of course. There is quite obviously a manliness to the way he goes about his performances and there is an assuredness that comes from playing top level football at many clubs over many years.

“For all that he gets a bit of stick at times, he is so used to that it just brushes off him and he just gets on with it and he focuses on his football. I just felt that it was appropriate for him to come back in to us.

“I had no question marks over him before so I didn’t see why I would have any again. So far, he has slotted in nicely again.”

Barton had started the Emirates FA Cup match against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light seven days previously and helped his side earn a 0-0 draw, but, due to his lack of game time in recent months, was named among the substitutes yesterday.

That proved to be an unusual experience for the former Newcastle United, Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers and Marseille player.

“He couldn’t remember the last time he was a sub,” said Dyche. “He was confused by being sub. He said: ‘What do I do? Do I take my boots out with me? Do I wear a t-shirt? Do I wear a warm-up top or what?’ I just said: ‘Oi! You! Get on with it!’ There might have been another word in there. You can imagine the sort of rapport.”

A gaggle of Clarets supporters had gathered outside the players’ entrance at the corner of Turf Moor several hours before kick-off yesterday despite the winter chill in the hope of catching a glimpse of Barton.

“I’ve never seen Joey come in this way once,” grumbled one of them. “He always manages to sneak in and sneak out.” But their idol duly arrived and spent time signing autographs and posing for selfies. It was all he had to do for several hours.

But when Barton replaced Dean Marney in the 73rd minute – to a standing ovation from the home support - it proved worth waiting for. He took his goal superbly and performed confidently during his brief time on the park.

He is facing an imminent ban from the Football Association for allegedly placing 1,260 bets over a period of 10 years and breaking their strict rules on gambling. Nothing is ever simple with a man who has fallen foul of authority throughout his playing days.

But he looks set, with the help of an adoring support, to get his career firmly back on track in familiar surroundings of Burnley and put his disappointing stint at Rangers this season firmly behind him.