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Burnley 2 Barnsley 1, Saturday 20
January 2001
Report by Cozzo
In the end it was close, and if it hadn't have
been for an excellent last minute save from NTG it could have been only a point. Yet at
one point it looked like we were going to cruise to a victory. Two minutes after Morgan
had been sent off, early in the second half, Payton put the Clarets two nil to the good at
the second attempt, and for five or ten minutes Burnley threatened to overwhelm a
shell-shocked Barnsley defence. Then a speculative long range shot finds the top corner of
the net, and suddenly it's all hands to the pump and panic stations, resulting in Rankin
being clean through in the last minute of an extraordinary four minutes of added time that
the referee had conjured up from nowhere, as we only had one trainer on the pitch.
It was certainly fingernails for tea at the Turf
as the Clarets sat further and further back and invited ten man Barnsley to attack at
will. When we did get the ball clear it came straight back, and when the final whistle
eventually went it was greeted with a huge cheer. Normal service was resumed, as the
Clarets were below par for periods of the game and the opposition manager claimed they
'should have got something from the game'.
The Clarets had lined up with NTG, the Holy
Trinity, Weller right and Branch left, with Cook as the holding player in midfield,
Johnrose on the left and Ball, strangely enough, as the most forward of the three behind
Moore and Payton. Barnsley had started the match the brighter and made a couple of early
chances, which were either screwed wide or well saved by NTG, who was in fine form.
Burnley, meanwhile, were struggling to put any sort of a move together. Cook, unusually
for him, didn't seem to want the ball, and the front two were starved of decent service,
and spent too much time challenging for headers against much larger opponents. When they
did get the ball to feet, Moore and Payton linked well and caused problems, without any
real end result.
Stan quickly changed the formation and pushed
Branch forward, as we seemed to move to a 3-4-3 formation to try to get more of a foothold
in the game. A corner gained on the left wing as the Clarets attacked the Jimmy Mc end led
to Cook dinking a quick one in towards the near post as all the big guns lined up at the
far post. It just cleared a couple of players, and there was Johnrose stooping to head the
ball powerfully into the top left hand corner of the net past a startled (and rather
podgy) Miller in the Barnsley goal. Half way through the first half, and I don't think he
had made a save before having to pick the ball out of the net.
The goal lifted the team, and they began to look
more threatening, as Branch used his pace to good effect. On one occasion he picked the
ball up on the halfway line, put the ball past two defenders and simply took off after it,
leaving the defenders trailing behind him. The only question is why doesn't he do that
more often? With that kind of pace he doesn't always need the tricky skills. It may be
kick and rush, but if you are faster than the defence it's very effective. Unfortunately,
Branchy had his running shoes on and had left his crossing boots somewhere else, as he
wasted three or four excellent opportunities in the game with a poor final ball - one in
particular in the first half after a lovely reverse ball from Payton.
The good news was that Payton was looking back
to his sharpest. It was just a shame that we struggled to get the ball to him on occasions
and then often failed to support from midfield, as the forwards were left to create for
themselves, which, to be fair, they generally did to good effect.
1-0 at half time was fortunate but no one was
complaining. Hardly any half-time scores as so many games had been called off, so full
credit to Burnley for their foresight in getting the undersoil heating in place and, after
the recent Norwich match deluge, reacting by getting the new covers.
If only Railtrack and Virgin could react so
promptly to problems with cancellations!
The second half started well, and Burnley seemed
to have grown in confidence with the goal. Barnsley still looked dangerous on the attack,
with Shipperley and Rankin a real handful for Cox and Thomas. Davis was picking up the
bits and pieces and NTG was looking calm and relaxed, although he does have a problem
organising his wall at free kicks. Then, just over ten minutes in, and a ball breaks down
the middle of the Barnsley defence and Moore looks like he is through. A clash with the
defender and Moore goes down. The linesman gives a free kick, leaving the referee with
little option but to send Morgan off. It was at the far end from us, but we were directly
behind it and I thought it harsh to say the least, and having seen it on video still think
so, but that was the break that Stan said we hadn't been getting recently. (Remember the
Hendry tackle in the Bolton match that he should have been sent off for?)
Two minutes later Payton scores on his 400th
league appearance, and we all settle back for the comfortable win. Unfortunately, so did
the players. Little had come on, but struggled to get the ball and into the game, apart
from a couple of promising runs. Late substitutions of Mullin and Armstrong for Payton and
Branch brought the usual boos, despite the fact that they were both knackered and Payton
is still being nursed back into full action after injury problems and limited games
recently. Stan does know what he is doing, so why do people insist on questioning his
every decision? Not only is he better qualified, he also has a lot more information to go
on. Leave him to it, and although he'll make the odd wrong decision, it won't be many!
Not a great game, nor a vintage performance, but
most importantly three points and looking upwards again at the play-off places rather than
over our shoulders at Palace and Barnsley themselves. Four more wins should do it and
hopefully by the end of February we'll be fairly close to safety. We have achieved as much
as we could possibly have hoped for in this first part of the season (apart from a win in
THAT game) and in the near twenty years or so that I have been watching Burnley this is
the best team we have had. Long may it continue.
Team:
Michopoulos, Thomas, Davis, Cox, Branch (Little 69), Weller, Cook (Armstrong 84),
Johnrose, Ball, Payton (Mullin 81), Moore. Subs not used: Crichton and Mellon.
Scorers:
Johnrose (23), Payton (61) / Haywood (77).
Attendance:
15,380.
Referee: C H
Webster of County Durham.
London Clarets Man
of the Match: Nik Michopoulos.
The away game
