Back on track
Crewe 1 Burnley 2
Report by Pauline Pratley
Crewe away came at the end of a terrible week for me, the low point of which had been the late postponement of the (already once postponed) Bradford home fixture. It wasn’t the actual postponement that rankled, more the club’s pompous and unsympathetic attitude afterwards. They seem to be so wrapped up in financial services, web pages and all the rest of it that they forget their first priority: the fans, for most of whom the main focus is the game, and without whom there would be no club at all.
In keeping with the week’s general mood, our trip to Crewe was by Virgin. Of course, the train was delayed leaving Euston, but miraculously somehow managed to arrive in Crewe on time (but then again, Virgin does allow a quite outrageous three hours to complete the journey).
Crewe is, of course, a mecca for railway buffs, such as our esteemed Treasurer (who collects used rail tickets "for a friend"), but I like it primarily because the neat ground is close to the station, and the local fans are knowledgeable and friendly.
After the obligatory pub tour, and a nice lunch, we shared a taxi to the ground with some Crewe fans – see, I told you they were friendly! We arrived just in time to hear the teams:
Burnley (4-5-1): Beresford, West, Cox, Ball, Briscoe, Little, Weller, Cook, Armstrong, Alan Moore, Taylor. Subs: Branch, McGregor, Maylett, Blake, Ian Moore.
Crewe: Ince, Wright, Walton, Sodje, Smith, Lunt, Collins, Brammer, Vaughan, Hulse, Ashton. Subs: Jack, Rix, Foster, Bankole, Sorvel.
Arthur was of course suspended, and was replaced in defence by Kevin Ball. Grant was injured, and Stan brought in Armstrong and Cook to shore up the midfield. The under-appreciated Taylor was alone up front. Crewe’s starting line-up included the obligatory million-pound youngster, Dean Ashton, who had scored the final goal against us in last season’s 4-2 "thriller".
During the opening ten minutes it was all Burnley, with Crewe unable to retain any meaningful possession. We passed the ball well (facilitated no doubt by the pitch, which looked in surprisingly good condition), but perhaps didn’t take enough of the opportunities we had to get first-time crosses into the box. Two more under-appreciated players, Armstrong and Cook, perhaps came closest to creating something with a more direct approach, Armstrong playing a super ball to Alan Moore which the latter just failed to capitalise on, and Cookie firing a decent shot across goal from outside the area.
Crewe rallied, however, and almost went ahead in the 11th minute when a ball across goal was missed by Cook, and fortunately by a Crewe player as well. That was followed a couple of minutes later by a free kick in a good position that was completely wasted by last season’s penalty king Shaun Smith, who fired high and wide. Smith compounded his own and Crewe’s frustration when shortly afterwards he took their first corner and put it straight out for a goal kick!
At that point it was difficult to guess what would happen next. We had let our early superiority slip, and I feared that we were about to pay. However, whilst I was still musing about possible scenarios, Weller and Little had linked up to win a corner. Cookie put a great ball in, and Taylor headed it towards goal only to have it cleared off the line. Normally, this would result in a counter-attack and the possibility of a soft goal the other end. Not so – Taylor latched neatly onto the returned ball and his shot (yes, with his foot) was deflected in to give us a 1-0 lead!
A few minutes later – just in case we’d started to relax – Marlon got us back to nail-chewing normality with a headless chicken episode, rushing out of his area for no apparent reason and leaving the goal exposed. Full marks to Coxy, who raced back and covered. Marlon then redeemed himself, making a superb save from a close-range header (which from where I was sitting looked to be already in).
Crewe were still causing us problems, though, and we were allowing their forwards too much room. Hulse especially was looking lively, and should have done better with an off-target shot on the half-hour mark. Stan took off Armstrong – who looked to be struggling, hopefully nothing serious – and brought on Branch, who settled in at left back as Briscoe moved forward to midfield.
During the remainder of the half, we created limited chances. Weller threatened briefly with a distance shot well gathered by Ince, and shortly afterwards the latter’s Marlon-esque charge out of his area gifted us a corner, but we couldn’t capitalise on it. Little gave us a cameo moment when he beat two defenders near the by-line and put a beautiful ball across goal – but there was no-one on the end of it.
As half time approached, Paul commented that there was no movement up front. We all wondered if and how Stan would change things for the second half.
Well, Stan chose not to make any changes during the break. Gradi however took off Ashton (who had been rather disappointing given his supposed price tag), and brought on the ever-dangerous Rodney Jack.
The half progressed with both sides moving well, but creating nothing meaningful in front of goal. Entertainment was provided in the form of Sodje-baiting (anyone who went to the abysmal defeat at Macclesfield in 1998 will know why!). Little threatened briefly with a good cross just out of Taylor’s range and then a good shot well saved by Ince, and West also forced Ince into a good save.
I was starting to think about what to have for dinner when suddenly – seemingly out of nothing – Alan Moore hit a stunning left-foot shot from outside the area, which flew past the startled Ince into the net. Arms, legs and notepad went flying as we all jumped out of our seats! Thoughtfully, we even included Sodje in the celebrations, inviting him to tell us the score. For some reason though he just flashed one finger in our direction – probably deserving of a yellow card had the officials seen it.
It would be great to say that we then ripped Crewe apart and the match ended 6-0. But of course, this is Burnley we’re talking about, so that was never going to happen. Neither did we throw it away, but we came pretty close. Crewe never gave up, and barely five minutes had elapsed when Hulse headed in from close range to make it 2-1. We tried to slow things down and regain control, but Crewe retained the upper hand, despite half-chances for Little and Taylor.
With around 20 minutes to go, we almost did allow Crewe to equalise. A good ball in from a corner ended up hitting the post; the ball came out to Jack, whose shot from a central position shaved the bar as (fortunately) it flew just over. We desperately needed someone to keep the ball up the other end of the pitch. Shortly afterwards, Stan took off Little and brought on Ian Moore. This seemed to help, as although Crewe continued to attack, we did now have another outlet. Moore gave his usual 100%, and managed to influence the game enough to relieve the pressure on our back line.
In the final stages, the match could have gone either way. An excellent long-range shot from Vaughan could have found the net, except for good defending from Cookie. Shortly afterwards, Cookie and Taylor combined to win us a corner, from which Coxy’s header was cleared off the line. Despite both teams’ best efforts, though, neither side could break through again, and Alan Moore’s stunner was to remain the winning goal.
In summary, I thought that both teams played well, and a draw perhaps wouldn’t have been an unreasonable result. However, the fact that we held out to win should give the team some confidence as we approach the last dozen games. Don’t book that late April / early May holiday just yet!
Team: Beresford, West, Cox, Ball, Briscoe, Little (I Moore 73), Weller, Cook, Armstrong (Branch 32), A Moore, Taylor. Subs not used: Blake, Maylett, McGregor.
Scorers:
Taylor (20), Alan Moore (58) / Hulse (63).
Attendance:
6,458.
Referee:
Mr P Rejer (Leamington Spa).
Pauline’s Man of the Match:
Kevin Ball.
The home game
and this
match last season
"As with all articles on the site, the views expressed in the match reports section are those of the individual contributor, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club."
