Fit and
Working Again
Burnley 4 Hartlepool 1
Report by Becko
After the consecutive home defeats by Gillingham
and Man City in February-March 1999, this was the mouth-watering type of game we were
looking forward to… and the crowd. Oh, and at 1-0 down at half time, the type of
scoreline we could expect, and of course a resounding jeering for a lacklustre showing in
the first 45 minutes.
Fortunately, we are not in the third division,
but for the opening half we played as if we were. Three days earlier we'd battled and
fought out way to a spirited home victory over Wimbledon. None of those qualities were
evident at 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday night. How quickly the fortunes of football teams change,
and even more quickly the confidence of supporters. To say that the Clarets were poor is
an understatement. Hartlepool played the better passing game and were well worth their
lead at the break. The fact that Tommy Miller's tame shot took a wicked deflection into
the opposite corner to Crichton shouldn't detract from the fact that they deserved to be
in front. I believe if Phil Gray and Andy Cook were still playing now they wouldn't score
- not that the service to them was up to much, but neither troubled Pool's keeper. 3-5-2
was the system, but for once it didn't work.
This, however, was the classic game of two
halves. Stan has a number of options both positionally and tactically. Branch and Payton
replaced Gray and Cooke at half time. A few minutes later John Mullin took over from Paul
Cook. The formation was changed to 4-4-2, Little on the left, Mullin on the right, Thomas
left back, Weller right back, Ball and Briscoe in the centre. It worked: we could have had
double figures. Payton had already missed two goal chances before John Mullin was upended
in the box. Payton made no mistake.
Glen Little has obviously taken on board my
concerns over his left foot and practised kicking with it. On numerous occasions in the
second half he went down the left flank and caused problems, no more so than in the 68th
minute, 4 minutes after the equaliser, when a superb turn on the wing and run to the bye
line was followed by a sublime cross right onto the head of Payton. Now he doesn't need to
be asked twice to bury those chances. A superb goal.
We yearned for more. Steve Davis had a hatful of
chances. He really is a big threat from set pieces and should get us 6 to 10 goals this
season. It seemed that every corner (and we had 13) was met powerfully by the captain. One
was cleared off the line. The goalkeeper saved one, excellently I might add, and spilled a
couple more, and several were off target. Just when we thought he'd saved it for Wolves on
Saturday a half volley from the edge of the area gave Holland no chance. 3-1 became 4-1
three minutes later when Payts got his deserved hat-trick; a touch of offside maybe, a
mishit shot, probably a flattering scoreline. Well, you can be the judge of that.
Hartlepool may feel aggrieved after their first
half showing but this was the type of game we've lost to similar scorelines in the past
and said we didn't deserve to lose, we had the majority of play, if we'd got a
second… etc. Maybe, and I don't want to tempt fate, luck's shining on us at the
moment. Let's make the most of it now before it deserts us for another twenty years.
Team (3-5-2 /
4-4-2): Crichton, Thomas, Cox, Davis, Weller, Briscoe, Cook (Mullin
59), Ball, Little, Cooke (Payton 46), Gray (Branch 46). Subs not used: Armstrong
and Heywood.
Scorers: Payton
(pen 63, 69, 90), Davis (87) / Miller (37).
Attendance:
3,319.
London Clarets Man
of the Match: Andy Payton.
The away leg
