Nogan's revenge [part 4]
Burnley 0 Preston 1, 13th March
1999
Jo Tomlinson
We
were undoubtedly better. We remain however, in serious trouble.
We had incurred the wrath of an elderly
gentleman as we parked in front of a derelict factory which said 'No Parking'. He was not
happy and said he was going to ring up the security guards who would wheel clamp us by the
end of the game. We decided to risk it...
As I got to the ground, a little before 1pm, the
first thing that struck me was how low the crowd was. In particular the Burnley contingent
was noticeably down. A combination of five and six nil stuffings, Mother's day, Sky TV and
a Sunday game had obviously kept the hordes away (approx 11,500). Preston almost filled
the Cricket field stand, almost, but not quite (but this certainly didn't warrant a chorus
of 'Couldn't sell all your tickets, you couldn't sell all your tickets!’).
Eyres got clapped, Nogan got booed. No change
there then.
There is no doubt that Burnley were better
today. The first half performance, if dull, saw a side that at least had some attempts on
goal and in parts looked the better side against a lethargic Preston, who didn't look
promotion material to me. Sadly only having Payton up front left the Clarets struggling to
look anything but only half convincing up front, and one can't help but think that if we
had had a convincing strike force today, things might well have been different. Branch was
incredibly lazy in my view. He jogged half heartedly up the wing and failed to get himself
forward on a number of important occasions. The others, however, looked up for the game
whilst Preston, who had clearly thought it would be a walk in the park, were found merely
strolling.
Half time came and I have never seen such an
abomination of bad taste before as dogs dressed up in pink lace and other naff outfits
paraded around Turf Moor to the sound of the Spice girls. Was I having a bad dream? I
pinched myself to see if I was dreaming. It was still 0-0 at half time and there were dogs
being marched around the ground as if it were a bad taste version of Crufts? No, I was not
dreaming but very much awake
The second half was underway. Preston came out a
bit brighter, but then we were ok to, actually managing to string a few passes together,
and definitely going forward on goal. And then it came: the Goal of the month, scored of
course by yours truly, the one and only, newly married Nogan. And boy, what a goal. Much
as I despise the guy (and I really do loathe the cocky git - sorry) this goal was pure
class, as good as any you will see on MOTD. It was utterly superb, and didn’t he know
it? He did his little dance in front of the Cricket field stand and lapped it up. 'There's
only one Kurt Nogan, there's only one Kurt Nogan, one Kuurrtt Noooooogan' the Preston fans
sang in delight. Well, it had to happen didn't it?
After that, Preston were spurred on and were
much better at closing us down. Chris Brass, although not having a brill game, gritted his
teeth and chased after Nogan on a number of occasions. We had a few chances on goal, one
cleared off the line, another which narrowly missed (at which point I jumped up and
started cheering loudly and had to swiftly sit down again as I realised it had in fact
gone wide) and others too, but it just wasn't going to happen. What a shame, because we
really deserved something out of this game I thought. Our corners were crap, totally
predictable and lacking in innovation. Stan lit a cigarette. Tut tut Stan, but after the
week you've had, we can hardly blame you.
Anyone familiar with the Fast Show will know the
sketch of Jesse's Fashion Tips. I looked at Sam today and had a smile to myself:
"This season, I shall be mostly wearing joggy bottoms tucked into my socks."
Shame about the result, but the performance was
undoubtedly better. Trouble is, that's another three points lost and we are in serious
trouble. We are in relegation position with teams like Macclesfield who have been stranded
all season suddenly only just behind us with games in hand, Notts County on a little run
and Oldham beating Man City?
Left the ground feeling miserable that we didn't
get anything and are in desperate need of points and goals, but curiously cheered that we
can at least still play football. It was a long day (the over exuberant and enthusiastic
Harry decided that Mother's day should begin at 6.15am - what happened to a mother's day
lie in).
At least we didn't get clamped when we arrived
back to the car.
Stay up the Clarets. PLEASE?
Team:
Crichton, Pickering, Cowan, Mellon, Davis, Brass, Little, Armstrong (Eastwood 73), Cook,
Payton, Branch. SNU: Williamson, Ford
The away game and a previous home game
