Bring me sunshine
Coventry City 4 Burnley 0
Report by Eddie Lea
Sunshine and Coventry. Two words that don't often appear in the same sentence. Sunshine and Marbella? Well, now you're talking. A tale of two cities - or one city and one Spanish resort.
The Burnley messageboards had spent all week debating the rights or wrongs of the squad having a few days' R&R on the Costa Blanca, and whatever the conclusions, we were all expecting the squad to look like they meant business today. The early spring climate in the Midlands, a tad cooler than Spain, had produced two inches of snow the day before; but a rapid thaw saw the pitch at Highfield Road looking in excellent nick. Even with a blustery wind, the perfectly clear blue skies full of vapour trails seemed to auger well.
The question of who would fill the left-back berth vacated by the unavailable Camara and / or Branch was answered by Alan Moore, with Paul Weller in front of him on left midfield. West, May and McGregor accompanied Moore at the back, and Grant, Chappers and Little joined Weller in a supposed four-man midfield, with Blake and Ian Moore up front. I think it was meant to be 4-4-2, but I could be wrong. In any case, subsequent events make the supposed formation irrelevant.
The opening exchanges hinted at a dull match, lacking any real interest, with two sets of soporific fans; yes, it was just like being in church. And then it all started. With a little over ten minutes gone, McSheffrey skinned West down the Coventry left and swung the ball in to the near post. Joachim, moving like greased lightning, left McGregor flat-footed and gleefully walloped home. Oh dear. I began to get the feeling then that something was rotten in the state of Denmark, but it was temporarily postponed for the next few minutes as we created two half-chances, one of which saw Weller attempting to score with his right when everyone in the ground knew it had to be with the left to stand any chance; of course, he missed.
Then, in the space of five minutes on the half hour, we imploded. Alan Moore, who had for some time been showing an alarming lack of positional sense, went AWOL, leaving acres of space in our left-back area. Joachim, picking the ball up in centre field, had time for a cigar and a pint before pinging the ball out to his right wing. The cross duly came in virtually unchallenged, The Beast had one of his 'shall I / shan't I come for the ball' moments, and there was McSheffrey to head home for 2-0. Mutterings of discontent were beginning to swell from the travelling Clarets even before a punt from the Coventry half set Joachim off on a chase. There didn't appear to be a huge danger - until we realised it was David May who had to get there first. Now, my mother-in-law would give May a run for his money; he didn't stand a chance, and despite a good ten-yard start, Joachim left him for dead. The Beast advanced and Joachim decided to go round him. Inevitably, he went down. Some around me felt he dived, but I didn't; it was one of those episodes you can actually see unravelling before it happens. Jensen was then shown a yellow card, which was strange, as it could (should?) have been a red. Anyway, penalty, and 3-0 - with ten minutes still to go before half time.
Time for serious discontent. Quite a few people had had enough by this time, and made for the exits (or at the least, a very early pie and Bovril). Things didn't get any better; in fact, they got a whole lot worse. It was by now blatantly obvious that the players wearing the beloved Claret & Blue couldn't give a monkey's. Tackles were half-hearted, there was no urgency, and their body language spoke volumes. No-one wanted to put their foot in, and we weren't even winning second balls. It was shocking to witness. Half time duly arrived, and large numbers of fans roundly booed the team from the field.
It would have been reasonable to expect them to come out for the second half fired up, or at least looking like they cared and gave a damn. But they didn't. They were even worse than in the first half - and believe me, that took some doing. The Coventry players had realised that this was an afternoon when anyone could get on the scoresheet, and duly poured all over and through our apology for a defence. How they didn't double the scoreline is beyond me, with Jensen making three fine saves and the woodwork making another. May was booked before being substituted, trudging off at a pace slightly quicker than he had managed all afternoon. Likewise Alan Moore - just before Coventry added a fourth, Konjic heading home after a near miss hadn't been properly cleared. This signified a mass walkout, to the glee of the jeering opposition supporters. Townsend came on for West, but by now, everyone had given up the ghost. At the final whistle, there couldn't have been more than a few hundred of the Claret faithful left. The players were left in no doubt as to how people felt, and most of them couldn't be bothered to come over and clap. Neither could I.
I've seen some crap football, and crap footballers in Burnley shirts, over the years, but if there has been a worse performance than this, then I can't remember it. Particularly alarming, and unforgivable in my book, was the abject surrender and spineless, gutless attitude of the players. Clueless, useless, and nearly every other adjective in the dictionary with "less" on the end could be applied. Someone should take responsibility for this dross, because fans won't stand for a repeat. This is not how you go about selling season tickets. This was not a "throw one in" job. It was desperate stuff, and you had to be there to appreciate just how bad it was. Ternent, his backroom staff and all the players should be asking themselves some searching questions. The two Moores, Blake and Little are bleeding our club dry financially, and today they contributed the square root of bugger all. The bloke in front of me spent the entire match after the penalty calling Joachim a cheat. Well, IMHO the only cheats out there today were employed by Burnley Football Club. We are now locked in a fight for our very survival, and with players behaving like that I'm not optimistic. In fact, I'm very, very worried. Man of the Match? Do me a favour.
Burnley: Jensen, West (Townsend, 80), May (Wood, 59), McGregor, Weller, Little, Grant, Chaplow, Alan Moore (Scott, 77), Blake, Ian Moore.
Subs not used: Abbey, Chadwick.
Referee: Anthony Bates (Stoke-on-Trent).
Attendance: 12,953.
Eddie's Man of the Match: See above.
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.
