We always lose to Wolves. True, most things pass, eventually. Civilisations live and
die, empires rise and fall, continents drift, but some things remain. When Burnley play Wolves, only one team wins,
and it ain’t the one in Claret. That's the way it is, and I guess we just have to be philosophical about it. Somewhere
it is written, and there doesn't seem to be much we can do to change it.
Given that, I found it hard to build up any anticipation about this match. I couldn't understand why people were
letting themselves get excited. Sure, it was a big game and there was going to be a large crowd, but we were going to
get beat. Somehow losing in front of a big crowd is particularly disappointing. Okay, so the much hyped Gascoigne would
play - but look at how he played at Sheffield United. And on top of this, even if wasn't Wolves, Burnley generally cock
up big games at Turf Moor. Get us in front of a big home crowd playing a good side with something at stake, and the
chances are we'll blow it. Can it be just a coincidence that any success we've achieved, certainly in my time
supporting Burnley, has come away from home?
And so it came to pass, and the run went on. For the second game running we shipped three goals, and as it
happened, Gascoigne was once more a liability. The season's six points duly went the way of the promotion-chasing
side - again. No one can say we haven't played our part in the promotion race this season. KKMC, West Brom and now
Wolves can all thank us for a generous helping of half a dozen points.
Given this, perhaps we can conclude we're not as good as we thought we were. If we've lost to the best three
sides in the division home and away, it could be that our current position among a clutch of interchangeable play-off
contenders is a fair one. Certainly, I felt that on the balance of the half of the match I saw, Wolves were, all in
all, a better team than us. This is difficult to say, but can it be the case that sometimes the other side win
because they're better? Oh, but that's hard to admit.
It isn’t easy for me to judge, because of course I only saw the first half of the game. I acknowledge that this does
not make for a good match report. But nevertheless, rules are rules, and as one of the architects of the Three Goal
Rule, it would have been hypocritical not to apply it. And so, when the third Wolves goal hit the back of the net, me
and my brother debated what to do, decided to hang on until half time, and then left.
But I admit to doubts even then. It was with some reluctance that I gave up my seat. I may have to revisit, refine
and reformulate this rule, which saw me leave Turf Moor early for only the second time. Normally, it's a fitting response
to an abject performance, but here, we hadn't played that badly - poorly, certainly, but not appallingly - and we
were definitely unlucky to be trailing by three.
It all started so well, when we took an early lead. Only referee Barry Knight didn't seem to think so. Gascoigne's
free kick looped into the box saw Gareth Taylor and Wolves' keeper Oakes going for the same ball. Taylor did well to
get there first, and as he rose and headed towards goal Oakes fell. It was in. Then we realised that Knight had decided
not to give it, presumably for an alleged foul on Oakes. If there was a foul, he was the only person to see it. None of
the Wolves players appealed, and the excellent away following didn't seem to be shouting about it either. Knight
can't have been anywhere near it - after fussing about with the placing of the wall he'd run backwards towards the middle,
away from the action as the kick was taken - but somehow he’d seen a foul. I suppose if you're a goalkeeper and you
know you've been beaten, it's always worth going down when the attacker's near you.
It was an injustice, and how we paid for it. Within moments,
Wolves were down the other end, and had scored. They broke and Sturridge looked offside when the ball was played forward -
but he scored, and it was given. 1-0 to the referee.
Of course we blame the ref. But the team had let the injustice get to them, hadn't they? They were still simmering,
while Wolves were concentrating. And offside or not, they had a lot of space down our left hand side. As well as this,
the goal showed off two of Wolves' main attributes. Firstly, they are fit and fast, and therefore able to break
quickly. Secondly, Dean Sturridge is a great player at this level, an excellent finisher, and proof that you can
still get a bargain.
He could have had a second sooner than he did. As at Bramall Lane, and not for the first time here, Gascoigne
was caught on the ball, and again he was easily dispossessed. Wolves tore forward, and Sturridge's shot was on target,
but for great work by West, who found exactly the right spot and was there to block on the line. We were living
dangerously. We needed to settle down.
But we didn't. It all got a bit heated now. West was taken out, in an act which went unpunished, and was then
carded shortly after for what the referee thought was retaliation, although it didn't look that bad to me.
This provoked a spell of mass histrionics from the rust-coloured lot, with one Wolves player having to be held back
by his team mates. Barry Knight did not deign to take an interest in this, however. Mitchell Thomas seemed to be
preoccupied with battling Nathan Blake, and we all know that Blake has a few unpleasant tricks up his sleeve.
There were some bad tempers out on the pitch, and more than a few around me in the stand. Suddenly I realised
I was surrounded by tossers. Big games, eh? For the blokes behind me, it was obvious who was at fault for our turn
towards misfortune - Gareth Taylor. I always find the Taylor haters, it seems. Thus Gareth's inability to get
onto a Gascoigne cross was down to his 'laziness'. The fact that he would have needed a pogo stick to get up that
high, such was the poor quality of the ball, was nothing to do with it. Meanwhile, the people in front of me were
more interesting in gesturing at the away supporters. I wonder why people do this. When we're winning away from home,
I always find it amusing when the disgruntled natives start venting their futile fury. And, just to seal the
experience, the guy to my left was shouting about the 'niggers' in the Wolves team. Oops, sorry, I forgot. Racism
officially doesn't exist at Turf Moor any more. I must have imagined it, Andrew.
If we'd been fortunate to stop a second earlier, when it finally came it was unlucky. By way of a deflection it
found its way to Sturridge, who had an easy enough job to score from close range. But again, this had come after the
set-to by the touchline and West's undeserved card. Where we still fixated on the injustice of it all when Wolves
broke? Was our concentration what it should have been? And why were all the attacks coming down our left side? That’s
not something you can blame the ref for.
Now we were struggling. Injustice there may have been, but we weren't doing ourselves any favours. Wolves were on
top now, and they were aided by our sluggish midfield. Weller looks like he's carrying an injury, while Alan Moore was
typically ineffectual. Gascoigne remained a problem. He produced one stirring run, where he took on and beat a couple
of men before getting in a shot from the edge of the box. For a moment it was as if he had remembered how to turn on
the magic, even though it was hard to imagine the shot going in. Then he settled back into the routine of dwelling on
the ball and being caught napping. It's terribly sad to see a legend reduced to this, but Gascoigne's arrival has not
given us the boost we expected. If anything, it's disrupted us, and made the midfield less effective.
Third goal duly came when Wolves broke from midfield, and in the absence of a challenge, were allowed to run on and
score. Quite a few people shot out of their seats, but we stayed and discussed our options. It was hard to see
Burnley coming back at this stage. As well as our own failings, Wolves looked pretty ominous now. They're not a bad side
when things are going their way. True, they're brittle when things are going against them, but we’ve never managed to
make that count for us. It has to be said, their finishing was ruthless. They took their chances, and that's more
than we've been doing recently.
So we hung on to half time, paused for a few minutes to watch a brilliant match between a bunch of kids, who were
kicking a plastic bottle about the concourse with utter unconcern for anything else, and then it was off to try to
find a pub that wasn't participating in the godawful blues festival.
Obviously, we missed a stirring comeback. For the second time, after the match people were telling me we'd played much
better in the second half against Wolves. Clearly this is good, although I tend to get a bit reductionist about these
things: how many points do you get for playing better and still losing? The league table will show only that we lost,
and that's what it's all about now.
Clearly, you need to go elsewhere to find out more about the half, but our readers are in the main an intelligent
bunch, so you should know where to look. For the record, Stan showed again that he does not shirk the hard decisions
by taking off Gascoigne at half time, bringing on Little. Remember him dropping Ian Wright at Wrexham? He also
brought Ian Moore on for Taylor, which must have delighted the bloke behind us. It quickly worked when Moore scored.
We heard the roar as we walked towards the town centre, which sowed the first seeds of doubt. David Johnson went on to
score a second near the end, which doubtless caused a few tense and gung ho final minutes. In between Alan Moore was sent
off for violent conduct. Opinion was mixed on this one. From the people I talked to, some didn't see it, some didn't see
much wrong with it, and some said he definitely had to go. He made contact with Gunnar Halle, and Knight produced a
straight red. Given the way that Moore's been playing lately, a suspension isn't necessarily a bad thing.
As you know, it wasn't to be. From the first half we'd left ourselves with too much to do, and of course we were
up against the irrefutable logic that we always lose to Wolves.
There’s no shame in losing by one goal to a side which may well be playing in the premier league next season, but
for once, the other results didn't go our way. While we remained fourth, everyone else edged closer. The gap that we
enjoyed for a long time has now, eventually, gone. From being top to expecting to be in the play-offs, we are now one
of a group hoping to finish somewhere between fourth and sixth. The reason for that isn't this game. It's not beating
Bradford when we were 1-0 up at home, and going to Sheffield Utd and playing so badly - that's why we're facing the
real prospect of not making the play-offs.
This season I have seen something short of 90 minutes’ action against Wolves, in two games that have cost the
best part of forty quid to get into. Our designated match reporters left both games before half time. Sorry about that,
but it turns out we’re allergic to Wolves.
Scorers: Moore (46), Johnson (85) / Sturridge (8, 26), Cameron (44).
Crowd: 21,823.
Referee: Barry 'Shite' Knight of Orpington. (Anyone live round there?)
Firmo's Man of the First Half: Dean West.
Hate To Say I Told You So