Dogs go to the Clarets
Burnley 3 Colchester 1, 5th April
1999
Firmo
Odd
game, this.
Of course, it didn't compare to the 4-0
hammering we handed out at their place last Autumn. But since then, Colchester have got
tougher, while we've gone backwards. On the strength of this match, a recovery of sorts is
underway, and this is probably a fixture we can look forward to playing again next season.
(Both sides should have enough to avoid the
drop, and so the good blokes from Colchester we met on the train up had better start
practising now if they want to keep up with our drinking speed next time.)
While we didn't start well, we at least looked a
better attacking force than we had at Notts County two days before. The team was
unchanged, meaning we again started with five at the back and a spare defender on the
bench, just in case. Little once more played uncomfortably up front in support of Payton,
so I suppose you could just about argue that we played 5-3-2, but with only one proper
striker, in my book it still amounts to 5-4-1.
Although we looked the better side, Colchester
scored with their first real shot of the game. For once, it was a fairly blameless goal.
Sure, the defence could have reacted quicker to a cleared corner, but it was still a good
finish from long range that curled into the top corner of the net.
Of course, there was a time, and a time not so
long ago, when this would have been cue for a collapse. Colchester would have grabbed a
couple more and we could have all gone down the pub early. As it is, we steadied ourselves
and got on with the business of playing the game. The defence rallied reasonably well,
although the limit of Colchester’s ambitions appeared to be to protect their lead,
and they had, if anything, less inclination to threaten our goal than even Notts County
had had on the Saturday.
By half time we'd had several attempts on goal,
although unfortunately most of these had fallen to Johnrose, who was pushing up and
hitting the right positions, but couldn't get a shot on target. Payton, as our one true
attacker, was again closely marked, and on one of the few times he managed to break free,
he couldn't produce a shot.
Half time brought the most hideous abomination
to disgrace Turf Moor since the days when Alan Harper trod the sacred Turf. Previous home
games against Preston and Macclesfield had seen the lamented appearance of the Swankypants
Canine Display Team. Against Preston they had been merely content to ponce about in the
Claret and Blue to some pop tune (not fit to wear the colours? so what's new?), while
Macclesfield saw them make the spectacularly ill timed gesture towards militarism that was
the tasteless dogs of war (dogs parading around wearing coats covered in military insignia
led by saluting girls, with the last dog in combat fatigues as though camouflaged). This
time, however, they surpassed all previous boundaries of common sense and normality with
the spectacle known as 'Dog Swan Lake'. Such was its billing, in any case. It amounted to
a bunch of dogs being led around the pitch all dressed in white, apparently to resemble
swans, although bizarrely, they looked more like sheep. Perhaps the only Swan they
resembled was Peter. One was dressed in grey, and its handler carried a banner which, with
sledgehammer subtlety, pointed out that this was an 'ugly duckling.' To reinforce the
point, the tune of that name was playing, although one struggled to hear it over the boos
of an embarrassed and incredulous crowd.
Honestly, all this happened. It's true. The beer
in the Sparrowhawk might be good but it's not hallucinogenic. All this happened.
Just a thought, but if the theme really was
‘ugly duckling’, shouldn’t all the other dogs have been dressed as ducks?
This is apparently the last of the three visits
this wretched bunch of mongrels will make to our fine club. Let them never come back
again. They are anachronistic, stupid and deeply humiliating. Whoever thought this lame
excuse for fun would make suitable half time 'entertainment' for the masses needs to be
taken outside and shot. Or fed to the dogs.
In the circumstances, the teenage Claret
shuffling around the pitch to advertise our (yet another) new home shirt needn't have
looked as sheepish as he did. After the dogs, everything else looked good.
To the second half. We started with a change in
personnel, Brass giving way to Branch. Brass had sustained a fairly nasty head injury,
which presumably provided the reason for his replacement. Hang on, this had the look of a
tactical substitution about it, with Armstrong dropping in alongside Davis and Branch
pushing up front to allow Little to play wide. It was the right thing to do. I wonder if
we’d have done it if Brass hadn’t been injured?
The game hinged on the sending off. It was a
piece of gross foolishness on the part of the lavishly monikered Tresor Lua-Lua,
Colchester’s Zairian (?) striker. Fouled by Cook for a free kick and with the referee
in close attendance, he kicked out in retaliation. The crowd set to work ensuring it would
be a red. After annoying Saturday’s referee sufficiently to make him book Payton,
this was our chance to make amends. As we howled for a sending off, the ever poor Cain of
Bootle went to consult the far side linesman, who had of course been stood much further
away than the ref himself. We watched their conversation closely. We knew it would be a
red card or nothing. He returned, produced the red, and Lua-Lua was off to play with the
other Teletubbies in an early bath. It was stupid and inexplicable, especially as
Colchester still had to take the free kick he’d won, and from a Burnley point of
view, of course fantastic. Some of the crowd chose to point out to the presumably
Francophone player that he wasn’t playing any more, but that was a distraction. Now
we had to roar to make sure this golden chance wasn’t wasted.
Every cliché about ten men was almost instantly
disproved. From now on, only one team was in it. Colchester had lost their single attacker
and concentrated on defending in depth. We took heart from our numerical superiority and
responded almost instantly. In our next attack, Pickering slammed in a shot which was
blocked but not held, and Johnrose, arriving late, couldn’t miss the empty net.
We knew we really ought to win. It didn’t
stop us making hard work of it, though. With Cook enjoying another fitful game in midfield
and Mellon again playing with boots of lead, the bulk of our attacks came down the wings.
We put plenty of balls into the box, but couldn’t find a finish. Cowan and Pickering
were pushing up strongly, assisted by the complete absence of any Colchester threat.
Branch, switching between wide left and central, was enjoying easily his best game,
faster, more direct, more interested in giving the ball to other Burnley players as
opposed to trying to play it through the opposition every time. On the other flank, Little
worked hard and made runs, but simply wasn’t given the ball enough. Why is it that
Mellon will seemingly do anything other than give Little the ball? What is going on there?
Time and again Little hit the space only for Mellon to dally and either play it wide to
the left or lose it. On the few rare occasions Little got the ball, it met with steadily
more ironic cheers. I can think of no other side in this position who would seek to
marginalise their most creative player, firstly by playing him out of position, then by
starving him of possession. Mellon is a competent journeyman lower division midfielder,
solid if somewhat lacking in flair. He does not have talent in the same quantity as
Little. His job should simply be to get the ball and give it to someone more likely to
create a chance. Even waddle eventually realised this. Why doesn’t this happen?
No one will be happier to see Little kept out of
the game than the opposition.
Ternent take note: the last two goals came after
we’d introduced a second natural striker to the fray. Jepson came on for the last
fifteen, replacing Pickering, who departed to well deserved applause. With Branch and
Little now wide, I guess this left us playing something like 3-5-2, with Armstrong
covering defensively. It’s a sign of how little Colchester attacked that this
makeshift combination was never tested. Davis must have grown bored from having so little
to do. It was also a sign of how clearly all knew that this was the game, more than any
other, that we needed to take three points from. Ternent was prepared to shelve his
usually well ingrained defensive instincts to chase that win against ten men.
For all that, when the decisive goal came, it
had less to do with tactics and formations than a blinding piece of individual skill.
Payton received the ball in the box from Jepson's nod with his back to goal. As ever, he
was being closely watched. His options seemed limited, but in an instant he turned on the
spot and shot in one flowing movement, sweeping the ball into the net. It was a lovely
goal from a man who combines real skill with an unceasing appetite for hard work.
Having a second man in the box for their
defenders to worry about can’t have harmed us. Two strikers are harder to mark than
one. It sets their defenders more problems, affords them fewer opportunities to relax. If
less players surrounded Payton now it was because they also had Jepson to pick up. Our
semi-retired sub actually did little to suggest he might score himself, but simply by
bringing his considerable presence into their penalty area he made us harder to defend
against.
The winning goal having been scored, Colchester
made some lame late attempt to push up while we concentrated on playing keep ball. We did
this reasonably well. Little showed himself well able to run the ball into corners. Jepson
did it less successfully. It would have been a crime to have thrown this win away. We
tried to tick the minutes off, but the lengthy stoppage for Brass’s injury in the
first half meant we’d started the second half late. I’m told it was the
day’s last result. It wasn’t that we feared the might of Colchester’s
attack, but were worried as only Clarets can be because we hadn’t shot ourselves in
any feet yet and we wanted confirmation of the vital win.
Andy Payton supplied it. He headed home a great
cross from Branch to make it twenty goals for the season. In this (more often than not)
crappy team, scoring twenty goals is little short of miraculous. With his never ending
commitment to the cause, allied with a keen eye for goal, Payton could leave tomorrow with
his reputation as a hero of the Clarets secured.
The game ended almost immediately afterwards.
With other results going our way, winning this game put us in the higher of the two groups
into which the bottom of the division has now divided. There is just a little chink of
daylight between the bottom clubs and ourselves, a gap which cannot be spanned in a single
fixture. While it may be too soon to mistake this for the light at the end of the tunnel,
it’s a start. We should have won the game more easily than we did, but we kept an
unbeaten run going. The main thing we did here was not plunging ourselves into the serious
trouble that would have been brought about by a defeat. Yet again, we set ourselves the
task of coming from behind, and we do not yet know if we are capable of holding a lead. At
Oldham we may find out if we are capable of winning two games in a row. But slowly,
quietly, we may be doing just enough to stop around this division for another year.
Team:
Crichton, Pickering (Jepson 75), Cowan, Mellon, Davis, Brass (Branch 46), Little,
Armstrong, Cook (Reid 88), Payton, Johnrose.
Links - Tim Quelch's report plus the away game
