Joan brings you the first half:
We arrived at the Turf just before 2.30pm. The players were already coming out to start their warm-up. Not too many Burnley fans were in their seats yet; quite a good following from Coventry. There was already a sense of anticipation. What would be in store for us today? Would the Clarets continue where they left off on Wednesday? Then there was a cheer from the Longside, followed by an announcement: the draw for the next round of the "worth-a-bit-more" Cup - Burnley had been drawn at home to Manchester United! No problem!!! As more people came in, the news had spread and the talk was all about Man U.
Time to settle down and concentrate on today's opponents. The teams were announced - big cheers for our heroes, not so welcoming for a certain Coventry on-loan player.
BURNLEY's starting line-up was as follows: West, Steve Davis, Little, Taylor, Grant, Branch, Weller, Briscoe, Beresford, Gnohere, Blake.
From the kick off, Burnley played with confidence, passing the ball around well and looking good. Coventry attacked and won a corner, but a low cross was collected by Beresford. Glen Little got through and his shot hit the side netting.
Coventry got a free kick, hit it into the box and won a corner. Beresford collected and Burnley got a free kick for a foul on Beresford. The ball went to Taylor and, guess what, he was deemed to have fouled his marker! I'm not biased!
Burnley put together some good accurate passes with Little, Weller and Blake, and got a great pass forward to Briscoe, but the referee's assistant put his flag up for offside. Shame, it looked good from where we were sitting, but then it always does!
Little lost the ball, and Coventry attacked again. Beresford made a super save from a fierce shot. Burnley had the ball, but Briscoe was offside again.
Blake got the ball on the edge of the box, turned and shots wide: Burnley continued to attack and looked dangerous. Glen Little won a penalty after he had his feet removed. Blake confidently walked up to take it and SCORED!
BURNLEY 1 Coventry 0
A Coventry attack was stopped by a good tackle from West. Then Taylor was given offside. Coventry had another shot and Beresford spilled it. Branch made a brilliant tackle, but then let the ball run out of play.
Glen Little was finding loads of space in the middle, but some of his passes could have been better. McAllister was playing well, receiving long passes, but our defence stayed solid. Davis put a long ball over but it was just too long for Blake.
Little was tripped again just outside the box by the Coventry no. 7, Partridge. The free kick almost went in, then came out to Gnohere who shot at the goalkeeper. Coventry kept attacking. No. 15 (Safri) was giving the defence problems every time he got the ball.
No. 9 (Hignett) got the usual barracking from the Burnley fans and was getting wound up in front of the Longside. Then he tripped Little and gave away a free kick. From this the ball came back out to Tony Grant in front of the box; he ran straight through several players and SCORED!! His first goal for Burnley.
BURNLEY 2 Coventry 0
Coventry continued to attack, and after a desperate shot by Hignett high over the bar, shouts of "you'll always be a B******" rang out.
After 40 minutes Hignett was booked for another foul and reacted, so a yellow card became a RED. It's a long, lonely walk from one end of the pitch to an early bath, but he was helped off by the Burnley faithful with singing of "where's your B****** gone?" Shame.
The rest of the half finished with Briscoe getting through but hitting the ball at the goalkeeper, Taylor caught offside again and Beresford making another good save.
Half time: BURNLEY 2 Coventry 0
Barbara takes over for the second half:
The second half got underway with Burnley kicking off. Coventry made two changes, bringing on Chippo and McSheffrey. It soon became quite evident that we had also changed our tactics, and from the word go were defending strongly. Gnohere gave away a free kick on the edge of the area and McAllister stepped up to take it. This was worrying, as he had played an excellent manager's role on the field all afternoon, and had been accurate and incisive with every free kick. However this time, thankfully, the ball sailed over all the Coventry heads and was taken up to the other end by West and Little.
As the second half progressed we seemed to be second to the ball in the majority of tackles, and after a nervous scramble in the goal mouth, Marlon collected the ball. Suddenly there was a Burnley substitution. No-one could believe it - Blake, who had been inspirational, was taken off, and Papadopoulos took his place. I have enjoyed watching Dimi this season, and believe that he deserves first team football, especially after his last-gasp goal at Ipswich, but this appeared to be a pointless substitution. However, Stan must have had his reasons, what do I know? Most people around me felt the same way, though, and Robbie Blake himself was not too happy.
Further slick passing between Little, Weller and Taylor unfortunately came to nothing, and once again the ball found its way into the Burnley penalty area, where Branch tackled clumsily and gave away a penalty. Up stepped McAllister and placed the ball firmly on the spot. Somehow one felt this was not going to be one of Marlon's spectacular penalty saves. Quite correct: the score was now 2-1.
BURNLEY 2 Coventry 1
Several runs up the field resulted in Papadopoulos bursting into the Coventry area, but unfortunately he whipped the ball over the crossbar.
One disappointing observation during the match was the drop in form of Arthur Gnohere. He was also below par at Preston, and continued today to be second to the ball. Maybe he is carrying an injury and the loss of form will be short-lived.
Just as we were hanging onto our narrow 2-1 margin, the ball travelled into the Coventry penalty area. Neat crosses by Taylor, Little and Weller suddenly resulted in the ball flying into the back of the net. From where I was sitting it appeared as if Taylor had controlled the ball superbly and whipped it into the goal. Apparently it had taken a neat deflection, but who cares - the two goal cushion was once again restored, and 3-1 sounded much better.
BURNLEY 3 Coventry 1
Two further substitutions were made, Maylett for Little and Ian Moore for Taylor, but by now the result was in little doubt. It had been a great week for the Clarets, and today, three points were very welcome. Twenty-five points - halfway to safety!
Subs not used: Cook, Alan Moore.
Coventry: Debec, Caldwell (McSheffrey, 45), Konjic, Davenport, Gordon, Pipe, Safri (Eustace, 79), McAllister, Partridge, Hignett (sent off, 38!), Mills (Chippo, 45).
Subs not used: Montgomery, Shaw.
Scorers: Burnley: Blake 15 (pen), Grant 35, Davenport 86 (og) / Coventry: McAllister 66 (pen).
Attendance: 13,470.
Referee: M J Jones (Chester).
