Today saw us return to our usual train
for a home match – the 8.20 from Euston to Preston – a decision greeted with a
mixture of relief and trepidation. Relief, because we didn’t have to get up at some
unearthly hour to catch the 7.20, and trepidation because we had an hour’s less
leeway if Virgin-on-the-ridiculous managed another cock-up. The scheduled time of arrival
was 11:48 (still over ½ an hour later than pre-Hatfield), but since when has Virgin
adhered to schedules? They’re usually redundant as soon as the train leaves Euston
and, in some cases, even before.
Well, you could imagine our surprise then, when we
pulled into Preston at 11:33 – a full 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Yes, you read
that right, ahead of schedule. OK, so Virgin build a lot of
‘catch-up’ time into their timetable but, who knows, there may be a little light
at the end of the tunnel yet. The timings of the trains allowed us to spend a little time
in Preston, where we sampled the offerings of a local hostelry before making our way to
Burnley.
By way of a change, we thought we’d actually get
to the game early, watch the team warm up and, even hear the line-ups before kick-off.
Burnley had exactly the same starting line-up that had played so well against Wimbledon,
but there was still no sign of Cox and Thomas only made the bench. Stan was allowing the
players to keep their shirts after two impressive back-to-back wins had seen us muscle our
way back into the play-off picture. Whilst on paper, West, Smith and Armstrong may not
seem an ideal defensive trio to partner Davis, they were playing very well and worthy of
Stan’s faith. Indeed, there are several factors in our improved performances. Paul
Weller is excelling in central midfield after moving from right-wing back, Ian Moore has
found the back of the net and appears much more confident, and Gareth Taylor gives us a
target man who can win the ball in the air and hold it up.
The teams lined up as follows:
Almost straight from the kick-off,
Burnley set their stall out to prevent West Brom having any time on the ball. Weller went
in hard on Hoult and Ball made a crunching tackle on Lyttle. The Clarets were clearly up
for it and keen to show the previous two results were no fluke.
One aspect of the recent performances has been the
link-up play between Little, Weller and West and their ability to create space for one
another. Today was no different and Little, in particular, was finding plenty of space to
work his magic.
The first fifteen minutes saw plenty of action without
any real threat on either goal, but the referee was showing a worrying tendency not to
give decisions. I’m all for allowing the game to flow, but this man, a certain C Foy
(who?), was playing advantages that weren’t and not giving free-kicks that clearly
were. This couldn’t have been more clearly demonstrated than by what happened next.
Ian Moore picked the ball up about 35 yards from goal
and ran at the West Brom defence at pace. He glided past several challenges and found
himself free in the area with only the keeper to beat and, as he was about to shoot,
Lyttle crudely brought him down. An obvious penalty? Not according to Mr Foy.
After about 20 minutes, Burnley seemed to step up a
gear. A Cook cross found Taylor on the edge of the area, where a flick or even a dummy
would have allowed the ball to run to Little, who was unmarked on the right of the penalty
area. Unfortunately, Taylor could do neither and lost possession. Shortly after, Little
played West in down the right flank where a good cross could have picked out Taylor or
Moore but, unfortunately, he only succeeded in finding a West Brom defender. Moore then
produced a superb, cheeky flick as he attempted to bring a Cook cross under control.
Unfortunately, the ball had too much pace on it and ran through to the keeper.
Moore and Taylor were both working hard and closing
down defenders, forcing a couple of errors and some rushed clearances much to the pleasure
of the Clarets faithful.
On 33 minutes, Little cut in off the right wing and
left a couple of defenders in his wake. When well placed at the edge of the area, he tried
to pick out Moore, when it could have been more productive to take the ball on himself.
Anyway, Moore looked surprised to receive the pass and, consequently, lost possession.
Burnley were winning several key battles. Weller was
playing Ruel Fox out of the game, Little was constantly teasing and tormenting his
opposite number, and Taylor’s aerial power combined with Moore’s pace were
proving a real handful for the West Brom defence. We needed the goal that our dominance
deserved, but it was West Brom who nearly took an undeserved lead just before half time.
Little, in a defensive area, attempted a cross-field ball, which hit the referee and fell
into the path of Lee Hughes. Taking the ball into the penalty area, Hughes shot from about
16 yards out but Michopoulos was equal to it, producing a terrific one-handed save low to
his left.
Just before half time, the increasingly frustrated Fox
was booked for catching Weller in the face with his hand, as the Burnley man challenged
for the ball.
Half time: Burnley 0 West Brom 0.
The second half couldn’t have started any better
with Burnley taking the lead in the 46th minute. Little received the ball on
the right flank and, as had frequently been the case, cut inside and ran towards the edge
of the area. A superb one-two with Weller allowed Little to take the ball into the penalty
area and calmly slot a left foot shot past Hoult.
Now West Brom would have to come out of their shell and
try to get something out of the game.
On 49 minutes, Hughes found himself in a good position
on the left of the penalty area but a good tackle from Davis made sure his progress ended
there.
The dangerous Jason Roberts then entered the fray with
Mitchell Thomas coming on 4 minutes later to counter the threat. Memories of their classic
battles last season immediately sprang to mind.
On the hour mark, Burnley had a scare when Lee Hughes
hit the outside of a post with a curling left foot shot, although Michopoulos looked to
have it covered.
Burnley then had a great chance to add a second. A
flowing move began with Taylor winning the ball from a clearance and laying it off to
Moore on the right wing. Moore took the ball on and produced a pinpoint cross-field pass
to find Cook on the edge of the area in acres of space. Cook brought the ball under
control, looked up and shot low and hard to Hoult’s left. It looked a goal all the
way as it beat Hoult’s despairing dive, but went a fraction the wrong side of the
post. This was to be Cook’s last contribution, as he was immediately substituted for
Briscoe.
Burnley were now defending deeper and deeper, as is
quite often the case when 1-0 up, but West Brom didn’t look as though they had much
to offer up front.
On 73 minutes, Taylor almost scored for the Clarets
when a through ball from the edge of the area was tantalisingly out of reach, allowing
Hoult to race out of his goal and smother the ball.
Davis then scythed down Roberts close to the touchline
but the referee, true to form, waved play on when it was clearly a free kick and possibly
a booking as well. Maybe he’d lost his whistle. Who knows?
West Brom were now resorting to long-range efforts,
which were well wide with Clement the biggest culprit.
On 80 minutes Mullin came on for Little, followed a few
minutes later by Sigurdsson, who replaced Butler.
The unthinkable then happened when the largely
anonymous Bob Taylor equalised for West Brom.
The move started when a through ball intended for Jason
Roberts was cleared by Michopoulos, who appeared to be fouled by a raised foot from the
ex-Bristol Rovers striker. The loose ball fell to Fox, who floated over a cross into the
penalty area, finding Taylor unmarked eight yards out. It has to be said, the header he
produced was top quality and gave Michopoulos no chance.
The last few minutes of the game passed in a blur and
the referee found his whistle to call full time.
Although it’s a tremendous achievement to be in
the play-off picture at this stage of our first season back in Division 1, I can’t
help but feel that this was an opportunity spurned, especially as other results went
largely in our favour. We simply didn’t create enough clear-cut chances that our
build-up play warranted. I don’t want to sound like a killjoy because we did play
very well and it seems we are building up a head of steam at the end of this season in the
same way as in the previous two. It just means that we now need to win at Norwich to keep
the momentum going. Difficult, but not impossible.
Anyway, the walk back to Manchester Road station seemed
a lot further than usual and my mood was not helped by the driving rain that is synonymous
with Burnley.
