Anyone looked at page 325 of Ceefax lately?
You know, the one that shows the Division 1 league table. There we are, sitting proudly at
the very summit, looking down on the rest of the Nationwide League. OK, so it’s early
days and there are some difficult games coming up, but who cares? I, for one, am enjoying
every second of it and the table doesn’t lie. Seven games played, 18 points in the
bag, 20 goals scored (compare that with 50 for the whole of last season), 11 different
players on the scoresheet and a 4 point cushion. A little more than just a decent start,
wouldn’t you say?
We’d travelled up to Burnley via Manchester and, for once, the train
and bus didn’t let us down (unbelievably, that was a Virgin train). The only thing of
interest on the whole journey was seeing Gordon Armstrong in a bookies in Rawtenstall as
we were waiting for the bus to leave. I wonder what the bet was. Well, it certainly
wasn’t going to be on himself to score. He was suspended after being harshly sent off
against ‘we’re too big for this division’ Man City last month.
The downside of using the Manchester route is that you arrive in Burnley
later than usual and so after a quick pie-and-peas and a few pints of Ram Tam, we were off
to the Turf.
First impressions were of a smallish crowd with Walsall bringing the
expected few hundred. One of the few disappointments of last season was the number of
games that had low away followings and the lack of atmosphere that ensued. This season
doesn’t look like being any different.
Burnley lined up in the now usual 4-4-2 formation:
Michopoulos
West Davis Thomas Gnohere (Arthur)
Little Ball Cook A Moore
I Moore Taylor
Subs: Cennamo, Ellis, Payton, Briscoe,
Mullin
Walsall: Walker, Brightwell, Aranalde, Roper, Barras, Erivelto,
Matias, Gadsby, Simpson, Wrack, Leitao
Subs: Byfield, Garrocho, Tillson, Bennett, Goodman
Cox was still out with tendonitis, but Weller’s absence was
unexpected. It was good to see Thomas back after his abductor muscle problems but he was
sorely short of match practice, with only two reserve games since last season.
The game started brightly with both teams looking intent on attacking play
but it wasn’t until the 8th minute that there was an attempt on goal.
Davis received the ball on the right of midfield about 30 yards from goal and chipped a
cross into the penalty area. The Walsall defence failed to cut it out and the ball fell
invitingly for Cook, who had time to bring the ball under control and shoot.
Unfortunately, Walker managed to save with his legs and the ball went out for a corner.
Up until the 15th minute, the Burnley defence had looked
comfortable and untroubled but a long clearance by Walker caused a bit of a flutter for
the Clarets faithful when Thomas and NTG couldn’t decide whose ball it was. The
latter decided to claim it slightly ahead of the on-rushing Walsall striker, much to
everyone’s relief.
Shortly afterwards, good closing down play by Alan Moore in the Walsall
penalty area forced a defender to clear the ball for a corner. Cook’s floated cross
found Ball about eight yards from goal and his powerful downward header looked goal-bound,
but again, Walker made a good save with his legs. Almost immediately, Arthur earned
another corner, which was half cleared to the edge of the penalty area. Little controlled
the ball, moved it to his right and shot. This time it was too high to trouble the keeper.
It appeared that the Clarets were gaining the upper hand but that
impression soon evaporated as Walsall had their best spell of the game so far.
On 21 minutes, Thomas sold NTG short with a weak back pass, the keeper
only just managing to get there before Leitao, and a minute later, some poor defending
allowed Wrack to find space in the penalty area. Fortunately, his shot was just the wrong
side of NTG’s right upright (or should that be the right side). The defence still
couldn’t get their collective act together and was caught ball watching when a cross
from the right was only just cleared by West at full stretch. Within minutes a wicked,
in-swinging corner forced NTG into a smart save, punching the ball out but only as far as
the 18 yard line. Poor marking allowed a Walsall player to get in a shot and we were
grateful to see the ball fly harmlessly over the bar. Still Burnley were being pegged back
and a delicate chip from about 15 yards by Simpson looked as though it was going to sneak
under the bar, but NTG managed to get his fingertips to the ball and tip it over.
At last, Burnley got back into their stride and some good interplay
between Ian Moore and Taylor resulted in the latter earning a corner. From Cook’s
cross, Taylor found himself unmarked beyond the far post and headed back across goal, but
no player was following up and the ball was easily cleared.
Another Burnley corner was half cleared and Little regained possession
about 25 yards out. Thomas was overlapping down the right wing and Little found him with a
perfectly weighted pass ,from which Thomas delivered a low, teasing cross. Davis was only
inches away from giving the Clarets the lead, but within seconds Taylor did just that. An
almost carbon-copy cross from Thomas found Taylor at the back post; he rose above Barras
and put a firm header past Walker.
The goal seemed to galvanise the Clarets, with Davis and Alan Moore both
having half chances. A chipped cross by Little was brilliantly brought down by Ian Moore
but he didn’t seem to realise how much time he had, and instead of turning and
shooting, he tried to pass the ball and succeeded only in losing possession. A couple of
minutes later, Little played in another cross and this time Taylor controlled the ball
with his chest, made room for himself and produced a firm shot. Walker made a good reflex
parry, but Ian Moore managed to head the ball over Walker towards goal. Again, Walker
produced a brilliant one-handed save from behind his head and tipped the ball over. It
didn’t matter though, as within a minute, it was 2-0. A cross into the box saw Arthur
beat Walker to the ball and his header found Ian Moore, who turned and slotted the ball
into the unguarded net.
Half Time: Burnley 2 Walsall 0
Within five minutes of the restart Walsall pulled a goal back. A ball over
the defence to Wrack caught out Thomas, who had stepped up trying to play the offside
trap. This allowed Wrack the time and space to run forward and fire an unstoppable shot
past NTG. The goal precipitated some ragged defending by Burnley typified by Thomas and
Arthur getting in each other’s way and almost gifting Walsall a goal. Only a couple
of last ditch tackles by the two managed to avert disaster.
The game had now really opened up and it was old-fashioned end-to-end
stuff. On 63 minutes, Stan decided to replace Ian Moore with Briscoe – a decision met
with a chorus of boos. Now we’ve all been caught out questioning the wisdom of Stan
but this did seem a little odd, especially as Moore was looking very sharp. Two minutes
later, the boo-boys must have felt pleased with themselves as Davis managed to turn a
tame-looking cross-cum-shot into his own net to give Walsall an unlikely leveller.
This was only a brief state of affairs, as within three minutes Burnley
had restored their lead. Little picked the ball up about 30 yards from goal and ran at the
Walsall defence before passing to Cook on the left. His away-swinging cross cleared Taylor
and the whole of the Walsall defence and fell to Alan Moore, whose pass was neatly into
the stride of supersub Briscoe. With a striker’s aplomb, he side-footed the ball
firmly into the corner, giving Walker no chance. This wasn’t the end of it, however,
as minutes later Briscoe netted himself his first brace as a professional footballer.
Again, Little was running at the defence from a central position, forcing them onto the
back foot, and when the ball ran loose to Briscoe on the edge of the area, he had time to
curl a left-footed shot past Walker. Stan’s face must have been a picture.
Paul Cook provided the coup de grace ten minutes from the end. A Walsall
defender received the ball and was quickly closed down by Cook, who won the ball and
looked up to see Walker off his line. From fully thirty yards, Cook chipped the ball
goalwards and the back-pedalling keeper didn’t get anywhere near it before it dropped
in the goal to give the Clarets a flattering 5–2 lead.
In the last five minutes, Stan made two more substitutions with Mullin
coming on for Alan Moore and Ellis coming on for Taylor. With his first touch, Ellis
almost scored, but his well-struck shot was into the side netting and that was that.
5–2 to table-topping Burnley, the country’s top scorers.
The result, as last week against Rotherham, was a little flattering, but
overall we deserved the three points. There were good performances from Little, Cook, Ian
Moore, Taylor, Davis and Briscoe but, at times, the defence looked shaky. This is perhaps
due to the fact that Thomas clearly isn’t match fit and Arthur is inexperienced and
not yet used to his team-mates.
Anyway, Birmingham here we come.
Brizza
brace unsaddles Walsall