Light Fantastic
Sunderland 1 Burnley 1
Report by John Trippier
This fine game began with the home side kicking towards the away support. Fifteen minutes of sustained Sunderland pressure saw Kyle first blocked by a good tackle from Mo, and then denied by an equally good save from Jensen. The resultant Sunderland corner was well cleared by Burnley; but a midfield interchange by the Black Cats soon resulted in yet another close header from Kyle, as Burnley looked likely to be overwhelmed.
However, they weathered this early storm and began to claw themselves back into the game. Blake provided an appetiser when, in quick succession, he had a shot smartly saved by Poom and then hit the foot of the big Estonian's post. Burnley wrested possession from Sunderland once again, only for Ian Moore to lose the ball by the corner flag. It was now all Burnley. On 20 minutes, a misplaced Sunderland pass enabled Blake to get yet another shot on goal. This was tipped over by Poom, who gobbled up the resultant corner. Over-elaboration by Little then allowed the ball to go out of play, before Chaplow pulled down a poor Sunderland clearance to mount another attack - which again came to nothing. As the game swung from end to end, Little redeemed himself by blocking the home side's attack and putting Chaplow on another forward run. The youngster's pass put Mo on a left wing-charge, and the full-back's cross provided Blake with yet another shooting chance.
A good tackle by the impressive McGregor on 25 minutes and a slick midfield interchange of passes by Burnley produced a 25-yard shot which was easily saved by Poom. Burnley's ascendancy during this period was confirmed by the silence of the home crowd and the mocking "shush" from the away end. It briefly looked like the Burnley supporters might come to rue tempting fate in this way, as Proctor produced a good save by Jensen and then an equally important block by Mo. Once again the play catapulted to the other end of the field, where Blake produced yet another save from Poom, who again easily gathered the corner that followed. However, the increasing monotony of this Blake / Poom double act was suddenly broken on 35 minutes. A sweet interchange between Little and Chaplow led to a shot by Moore, which hit the foot of the Sunderland post yet again.
A rare Sunderland attack was stopped by May's foul on Kyle, and, as the game again swung back to the home end, Poom produced his umpteenth save (from Moore's shot) before Little first fired over the bar and was then dispossessed, enabling Sunderland to mount another ineffectual breakaway. However, on 40 minutes, May failed to intercept a pass from Proctor to Kyle, which was neatly steered into the net by the big striker. As Sunderland attempted to turn the screw, Downing cut in from the left - but his shot was easily saved by Jensen. However, on this day, Burnley appeared to have rediscovered the strength of character once habitually associated with Stan's teams, and refused to capitulate. A great ball from the mercurial Grant found Luke Chadwick, who was fouled by Williams, which led to the second booking of the match. Fred blasted the resultant free kick well over the bar from the edge of the box. Then, Little, Blake, Chaplow and Chadwick all combined before the latter drove the ball into the side netting to end the half on an optimistic note for Burnley.
The half time break enabled me to take in Sunderland's new surroundings at the Stadium of Light. Unlike Roker, which was slightly away from the town centre, this is more centrally located (on the old Wearmouth Colliery site, right by the river). As such it now appears to dominate the town, and is also in view from any point. However, I found it a disappointment when once inside. At the time of writing I don't know the size of the away support, but, assuming it was a couple of thousand out of a total capacity of three thousand, the concourse was extremely cramped. On the other hand, although seated just across the gangway from the home supporters during the first half, I found that nothing remains of the intimidating atmosphere of the Roker end at the old ground. For my money it is the rebuilt old grounds such as the Turf, and, especially, Hillsborough, which retain the best atmospheres, even though, as we know full well, these are not what they were.
To the second half, then. This began with a Sunderland attack and a good save from Jensen. But Burnley, now kicking towards their own supporters, were quickly back on the offensive. A free kick by Blake was well cleared by Sunderland; and then, Little, who had now moved to the left wing, was stopped in his tracks. Proctor played a great ball through to Kyle, which came to nothing; and, after 60 minutes, a corner from Blake was beaten away as the Burnley pressure mounted once again. A superb pass from Little to Blake resulted in another thwarted goal attempt, and this was followed in quick succession by moves involving Mo and Little, Chaplow and West, and Chadwick and Blake before Little's shot glanced off the bar.
Then, as so often happens, Sunderland broke away, for Stewart to produce a clinical finish after a fine save by Jensen; fortunately for the Clarets, this was ruled offside. However, this warning did nothing to dampen the Clarets' attacking instincts. A move between Little and Chaplow ended with an alleged foul on Poom, which was vigorously contested by the Burnley fans, and a weak effort by Little was quickly followed by another great ball from Grant to Moore. Then a good turn from Little fed the same forward yet again. Eventually, on 72 minutes, Moore's persistence was rewarded. Another neat ball from Little was crossed from the right by Weller (on for Chadwick), narrowly missed by the in-rushing Chaplow, and scrambled in by the striker on the far post.
Burnley were now pressing for a winner, and Blake was denied by Poom on two more occasions before being ruled offside on a third. McGregor recovered well from a mistake to put Moore through on the keeper once more, only for the big Estonian to save his side yet again. A skilful move between Blake and Little ended with a misplaced pass from Weller, and then - right on 90 minutes - a great shot by Moore was denied yet again by Poom. As injury time ticked away, Stewart looked certain to win all three points for Sunderland - until Jensen eclipsed his opposite number's heroics by producing a blinding last-minute save to earn Burnley a richly-deserved and valuable point.
To sum up, this turned out to be the thriller reported as such in the papers, although the possible 6-6 scoreline suggested by Stan and others seemed to me to overestimate Sunderland's attacking capacity. It is easy to see why they had only conceded 15 goals before today, but, whilst Burnley's attacking tendencies may have pegged them back, their reliance on breakaway attacks suggests that they do not have the firepower to achieve an immediate return to the 'big time'.
So far as Burnley are concerned, it will not have escaped the attention of those readers who have stuck with me so far how important the contribution of Robbie Blake was to this performance. Apart from his individual duel with Poom, he steadied the side early on and brought them into the game after Sunderland's opening 15 minute surge. Whilst the loss of Taylor is still apparent (see the number of times Poom easily gathered Burnley's corners), this 4-4-1-1 formation, with Blake having the freedom to roam between the halfway line and the opposing penalty area, appears to make the best use of our limited resources. The lack of an 'out and out' striker requires the midfield five to get forward as often as possible, and to produce a high number of shots per goal. This happened against Bradford and Walsall, and again today. Fortunately, it all makes for attacking football - and, hopefully, more pulsating performances like this one.
Burnley: Jensen, Camara, McGregor, May, West (Roche, 73), Chadwick (Weller, 67), Chaplow, Grant, Little, Ian Moore, Blake.
Subs not used: O'Neill, Pilkington.
Bookings: Chaplow.
Sunderland: Poom, Arca, McCartney, Bjorklund, Williams, Downing, Healy, Whitley, Quinn (Thirlwell, 76), Kyle (Tommy Smith, 84), Proctor (Stewart, 76).
Subs not used: Wright, Ingham.
Bookings: Arca, Williams.
Scorers: (Sunderland) Kyle 39 / (Burnley) Ian Moore 72.
Referee: Alan Kaye (Wakefield).
Attendance: 29,852.
Trippo's Man of the Match: Robbie Blake.
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.
