Vaulting horse strikes again
Burnley 1 Reading 1, 13th February 1999
Igor Wowk
On a misty but relatively
warm Winter's day, with the sun straining to burst through the cloud cover, wisps of
silver mist decorating Deerplay like cotton wool, and fortified by a giant helping of spud
pie, peas and a few pints of Premier, in the company of a couple of fellow battled scarred
SMC veterans who had to endure a seven year posting behind enemy lines, the Clarets took
the field thus:
Crichton, Moore, Davis, Reid, Pickering, Mellon,
Armstrong, Johnrose, Morgan, Cooke, Branch.
Subs Payton (45 for Moore) Maylett ( 65 for Branch)
Robertson (85 for Pickering)
Once again there was mystification re Stan’s team
selection, which was clarified once the match started as Moore played centre back despite
wearing number seven. Contrary to the rumour propagated in the LET, Morgan was spared the
chop and strangely Payton was the fall guy for the arrival of Lenny Johnrose. However
Payton has not been on top form recently and there were rumours abounding of a training
ground bust up with Cooke.
Even more interesting were the players not included in
the fourteen. Notably Ford, Swan and Brass, as well as Eastwood and Henderson, considering
there was a vacancy at centre forward. Re the latter two, possibly their Turf Moor goose
is cooked and I think that Henderson can feel especially hard done by. Myself, I cannot
follow the logic of benching Henderson for the entire game following the Lincoln match
when he scored his first goal and then banishing him into the wilderness entirely, but
there we have it. I guess Easty has had his chances and not really grabbed them fully, the
arrivals of Johnrose and Branch will effectively necessitate a move for first team
football and clearly Swan has had his song sung, with the same two capable of backing up
the centre forward spot.
As regards Brass, maybe he will get his chance with the
suspension of Moore, I hope so, as we all know that on his day Chris is a quality player,
however under Ternent those days are now a distant memory.
Ford is now clearly not rated and behind Robertson in
the pecking order so I would anticipate a fairly swift departure, as the lad really needs
a fresh start.
The long rambling intro. has been crafted to avoid
talking too much about the game, which, for the first forty five minutes, as far as
Burnley was concerned, was as turgid as it can get. I can remember only one really clear
chance very early doors, when Cooke had the ball planted on his head six yards out but to
the left of goal, but directed his effort straight at Howie (Reading Keeper). After this
the game descended into a dis-jointed, incoherent performance by the Clarets characterised
by percentage play, and mis-placed passes with for my money only Davis, Crichton, Reid,
Pickering and Cooke looking the part.
However one has to note that yet again that Stan,
playing three at the back, hardly threw caution to the wind by naming two wing backs who
are essentially defenders, although given Pickering’s suicidal header back to
Crichton, one wonders about the defensive qualities of our Albert.
The ball seemed to fall short and fell straight to an
opposing forward who was perhaps temporarily stunned that an opponent would be considerate
enough to give him the ball in the penalty box, hesitating long enough for the Clarets to
take advantage and get enough bodies in the way.
However he was surpassed in his defensive ineptitude by
a long way by Moore who was having a daymare in the three man defence. Unfortunately Neil
had the kind of afternoon when he probably wished he had been already suspended as he
repeatedly gave the ball away, got caught in possession and made few telling
interceptions. However against two very short attackers, knowing that Reading play the
ball around, one wonders why Moore had been selected at all.
Fortunately for all concerned Stan had the wit to drag
him off at half time. However at least he got in a position to make a few mistakes, which
is more than can be said for Mellon. If there is reincarnation surely Micky will come back
as a member of the Drifters, and sing "Saturday Night at the Movies" as this
seems to be the essence of his game. In the first half Micky resembled Adey Randall on
mogadon.
However he did try a Phoenix from the Flames job, but
his shot barely carried through to Howie.
By contrast Armstrong was all endeavour, scuttling
about but his distribution is frequently lamentable for a midfielder and when he is at a
loss what to do with the ball, which is often, he hoofs it out to an imaginary Glen Little
wide on the right, which seems to be his trademark ball. Among a certain section of the
crowd Armstrong seems to be the new Parky, and there are certain aspects of his game which
draw a strong resemblance, especially his knack of picking out an opponent no matter how
difficult it may sometimes look. Basically, the lad looks past it as a midfield player.
Meanwhile Reading were having the lion’s share of
the play bossing the midfield and but for the fact that they were fielding a reserve
centre forward yet to score this season and the very out of sorts Thorpe, the opposition
might have put the game beyond the Clarets in the first half. The Hoops must have been
kicking themselves at half time for not taking advantage.
The second half was a different story with the hopeless
Moore replaced by Payton, Branch moved out as a wide man and an orthodox four man defence
took shape. If this boy had been meant to play in the middle, he would surely have been
called Trunk. This immediately resulted in concerted pressure on the Reading goal with
shots headers, penalty box incidents all at the right end of the pitch, and above all,
entertainment. I even noticed that there were some other BFC supporters in the stadium, as
in the first half the crowd had been lulled into complete silence, apart from muttering
and occasionally moaning aloud.
Unfortunately, Howie was playing a blinder in the
Reading goal and made a sharp save low to his right to prevent Reid scoring with a well
nutted downward header. Most of the danger seemed to be flowing from the well directed
promptings of Payton, with both Johnrose getting well forward, and Mellon finding their
bearings.
Completely against the run of play and from a simple
long punt upfield Reading scored.
Davis was left one on one with Thorpe on the edge of
his box when Caskey got up in support from midfield and went past his own forward
completely unmarked, effectively leaving Davis two on one. BFC midfielders, please note.
Thorpe played him in & with a bit of nifty footwork Caskey shimmied the defence and
slotted home across the face of the goal into the far side from a fairly acute angle.
More Burnley pressure followed and Stan lopped off
Branch for Maylett. Brad turned in yet another superb cameo effort for a lad his age and
also managed to get in the shot of the game, when he got ahead of a defender to a high
looping nothing ball to direct a well hit shot across the goalie only for him to dig the
ball out Banks-from-Pele style, plunging to his right. A fantastic save and a great
passage of play. In short, the boy Maylett IMVHO has definitely got huge potential. He was
put clean through late on but was a bit wide of the goal and Howie came off his line like
Linford Christie’s lunch box to smother Maylett’s attempted chip.
All looked lost until the final minute when Reid got
the ball from a corner on the left hand side of the box but seemed to be having trouble
controlling the ball and for once the Reading defence hesitated, whereupon he rifled it in
to complete an escape that was on balance perhaps justified.
This was definitely a point gained as despite the
Clarets dominating the half, Reading looked dangerous on the break with Thorpe missing
another sitter to match the one in the first half that you felt a couple of years ago he
might well have buried. Overall despite salvaging a point there was an air of
disappointment and even some boos for the players, as they went off, which had also arisen
during the course of the game during a period of Reading keep-ball. With new signings and
Stan fielding "his team" expectations are now up and they were firmly dashed by
the first half performance especially and the very unpopular dumping of Payton rubbed salt
into some wounds.
On the positive side I thought Crichton had a fine
game, with Pickering looking bright in the first half. Benching Payton seemed to have
awoken Andy from his recent torpor, and as ever Cooke grafted hard, plus avoided getting
booked. He seems to be getting the balance right.
Johnrose looked OK, and it was heartening to see a
midfielder get forward and go past the forwards. Personally I would like to see him teamed
up with Robertson and Mellon with Armstrong moved into defence to effectuate the removal
of Morgan, who looks every inch a Div Three player. Johnrose looked OK, he is aggressive,
and knows where the goal is, which is just as well as any ex-Rovers player will soon
become just that if they fall below the required standard. However the most outstanding
player by a mile was Davis. Playing up front for the last ten minutes, Steve looks as if
he could play any position on the park, as he has more brain cells than the rest of the
team put together. Indeed if cloning is introduced, Steve should put his name forward,
with eleven Davis’s BFC would walk this Division.
On the negative side Burnley seem to have a knack of
making the other side look better than they are and often assist them in setting up
chances. Basically the oppo. don’t need to play well to stand a chance, the big
difference is their ability to take them.
In short they are not really imposing their game on
their opponents yet, they are way too sloppy as Ruud might say.
Next week's encounter will be a really tough game and
with Laurie Sanchez in charge of Wycombe, no prisoners will be taken. The after match
reports from Preston could have been given by Kate Adie, as it seems Sanchez has quickly
imposed his own style of play, i.e. if it moves, kick it. I wonder if we might see Vinnie
Jones surface in this corner of Bucks?
Anyway, its their best chance ever to get a win at this
venue, and the Clarets still need another five victories from somewhere, and there’s
only eight away matches left.
With only two wins in the last eleven games, and teams
like Colchester and Oldham improving, the Clarets are beginning to cut things a bit too
fine for my liking.
Team: Crichton, Moore (Payton 45), Davis, Reid, Pickering (Robertson
85), Mellon, Armstrong, Johnrose, Morgan, Cooke, Branch (Maylett 65).
Links
- The away game and more from the
away game
