Shoot!
Rochdale 1 Burnley 0
Becko
I’ve now seen four of Burnley’s
pre-season fixtures, of which three have been 1-0 defeats – and therein lies the
problem. I predict we will be a hard team to beat but won’t score a lot.
With over 75% of possession in the first half
when Stan played the favoured 3-5-2 formation and the strongest possible line up, we
shouldn’t have gone into half time scoreless. Only a header by Davis (again) which
hit the woodwork and a run into the box by John Mullin, which ended with a weak shot at
the keeper, were all we could muster in 45 minutes. It’s a simple fact that we
won’t score if we don’t shoot. That sums it up in a nutshell.
The second half saw ten substitutes by Burnley.
Guess who played 90 minutes? Why not play Mawson for half an hour or so? He played the
next day at Accrington, but so too did Lee, Oakes, West, Harrison and Smith, and they all
featured in the second period at Spotland.
Rochdale’s goal came after Kevin Ball
– who had another good battling game in midfield – had cleared off the line only
for Simon Davies to volley home. Apparently Davis, released by Manchester Utd, scored in a
European game six years ago for them against Galatasary. Anyway, he had a shot and we
didn’t - until the last minute. Then Alan Lee, right in front of goal, contrived to
firstly miss the ball, then tap it goalbound from three feet, and a defender cleared it.
And there we are. 0-0 at Bolton? Or at least
part of that scoreline? We’ll see.
Team: Crichton,
Weller (West), Cox (Harrison), Davis (Armstrong), Brass (Jepson), Briscoe (Smith), Mullin
(Oakes), Ball (Mellon), Cook (Johnrose), Cooke (Lee), Gray (Branch).
