Clarets change their tune
Burnley 2 Wrexham 1, 31st October 1998
Jez Wilson
The fact that the Clarets now take
the field to Chumbawumba’s ‘Tubthumping’ says more than a little about the
transition that has taken place on the field over the last twelve months.
This was a gritty, no frills performance where
the Clarets ground out a win thanks to a couple of splendid moments from Glen Little
combined with the expert finishing of Andy Payton.
Despite not playing all that well and tamely
surrendering the lead the Clarets to paraphrase the lyrics of said tune ‘got knocked
down and got back up again’.
Wrexham’s problems are obvious, despite
creating several promising openings they lacked a player with the confidence to convert
their chances, unlike the predatory Payton at the other end.
That being said, Ward had a very good game. His
handling in general and on crosses in particular, was sound, he also made a couple of
decent stops, his best moment was a clean take diving at the feet of Ridler (I think). And
although Brass was obviously feeling his way back into things somewhat he made an
excellent saving tackle when covering for Scott. Reid was his usual calm, solid and
dependable self and Maylett had a couple of bright moments on the right flank.
Despite all these good things we never looked at
all comfortable and at 2-1 gave Wrexham plenty of hope that they might level the scores.
Even though we packed midfield (Payton playing as a lone striker) we seemed to be bypassed
in this area far too often, leaving Morgan and Scott exposed to attackers running at them
with the ball under control and at feet.
I don’t think we will get off so lightly
against Preston and Stoke if we fall into the same trap although at least we can expect a
battling performance if nothing else, which is more than can be said for the same time
twelve months ago, when an entirely different team (with the exception of Brass?) took the
field to Van Halen’s insipid ‘Jump.’
Team: Ward,
Scott, Morgan, Vindheim (Maylett 49) (Eastwood 84), Heywood, Reid, Little, Brass,
Armstrong, Payton, O'Kane. SNU: Carr-Lawton.
