The Return of the King
Sheffield United 1 Burnley 0
Report by Cozzo
At the Burnley Supporters' Groups meeting last week, I put forward a suggestion. I said that the air of doom and gloom around the Club, in which every message coming from the Club was more bad news, was not helping anybody. So, why don't we start saying positive things, and perhaps we'll develop a more positive outlook? Not just with regard to the team, but the Club, the support, and anything else you might care to mention connected with Burnley Football Club.
So, here goes. With a team full of injury and illness victims (not a very positive start!), the Clarets played one of the top teams in the Division, competed well, and only lost due to a defensive mix-up and a slice of bad luck.
To be honest, it was a poor game in which there was little to choose between two very lacklustre sides. The positives from Burnley were the performance from Arthur, who is returning to somewhere near his best; a much better game from Branchy, before he limped off in the second half; the return from injury of Mark McGregor and Lee Roche; and the continuing emergence of Richard Chaplow.
At last we have a midfield player who is willing to get ahead of the forwards and get into the box. Of the four chances we had, three fell (or almost fell) to him. Here is, without doubt, the best prospect since Trevor Steven; we must remember that he still has a lot to learn and can't win games on his own, but his work rate and effort are an example to all.
Also, a mention for Tony Grant, who is playing well alongside Chappy. Unfortunately some blinkered Clarets can now only see the mistakes he makes. For example, after a good piece of play he failed to find Chadwick on the right with a long ball. The groans and shouts were unwarranted, as time and again in the first half, he, Chaplow and Farrelly got their feet in and made tackles to break up attacks. It wasn't pretty, but after recent maulings at Bramall Lane it was nice to have a fairly uneventful half.
The Clarets had lined up without flu victims Little and Blake (although the latter did make the bench), and replaced them with Farrelly and Chadwick (who was only a sub last week). Facey and Chadwick were clearly unfit, and Ian Moore had one of his games where he failed to make much impression at all. This meant that although the Clarets restricted Sheff U to only a couple of chances and some long-range shots, they failed to make any headway going forwards and the opposition goal was largely untroubled.
Then, just as the fourth official informed us we were moving into added time, a harmless-looking free kick from Sheff U was lobbed up to the edge of the box and Branch was beaten in the air. It could have been because he had not long been back after receiving treatment for a kick on the ankle. However, there still didn't appear to be much danger as West shepherded the ball back and Jensen ambled off his line.
West decided that Jensen wasn't going to get there before the Blades forward, and decided to clear the ball back down the pitch with his left foot. Unfortunately, Arthur did what he had been doing all game, which was get in the way of it, and a horrible double ricochet left Tonge with the easiest of tap-ins into an open goal with Jensen stranded.
Personally, I would blame the keeper, as he was too slow off his line. West did what any good defender does, which is "if in doubt, put it out". Perhaps he should have put it out for a corner or a throw-in instead of trying to clear it downfield, but he defended positively and was unlucky.
That still left time for the best Burnley chance of the half. A good move down the right led to a cross, which Chaplow had to reach for, and his header just cleared the bar. So out of nothing we were one-nil down at half time.
Things livened up in the second half, but that wasn't difficult given the dire offerings of the first half. The Blades had a couple of good chances, and Jensen made one very smart save down to his right.
Meanwhile Burnley huffed and puffed, but lacked the creativity of Blake and Little and failed to show much threat. Ian Moore, one-on-one 25 yards from goal, never looked like getting past his man, and then in a 50-50 challenge with the keeper just outside the box he failed to show enough bottle. That little extra commitment, a touch past the keeper, and it would have been a definite red card. Instead, it bounced out to Chadwick, whose chip from 30 yards was easily cleared off the line. McGregor replaced Branch, Blake replaced Chadwick and Roche replaced Facey, but all to no avail.
The game became more stretched, and Sheff U could and should have finished the game off. But with only a few seconds remaining, Camara broke free down the left and whipped in a tantalising low cross, which Chappy, sliding in at the near post, just failed to connect with. It was not to be.
Sky gave the result as a 2-2 draw on the classifieds. If only. We do need a win at Derby now, but there were some positives to take from the game - because, let's face it, we never win at Bramall Lane.
As for Man of the Match, Chaplow was once again excellent, but the clue is in the title - and Arthur gets the nod for me. He pushed, shoved and fought every inch of the way, and certainly seems to have his head in the right place since his return from QPR. Now, if we could just get David May fit to play alongside him, we might even keep a clean sheet.
As a quiz (in case we have another boring half like Saturday, or maybe on your way to a game), see what words you can make from NEIL WARNOCK if you remove the name COLIN. I'm off on holiday, so Sheff Utd at home is my next game. By then, Colin may have been appointed as the new Leeds manager. They probably just about deserve each other.
Burnley: Jensen, West, Gnohere, Camara, Branch (McGregor, 48), Farrelly, Chadwick (Blake, 59), Chaplow, Grant, Facey (Roche, 66), Ian Moore.
Subs not used: O'Neill, Pilkington.
Scorers: (Sheffield United) Tonge 45.
Referee: G Cain (Bootle).
Attendance: 20,967.
Cozzo's Man of the Match: King Arthur.
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.
