Capital result, if not
performance
Barnet 0 Burnley 1, 31 October 1999
John McPartlin
These days I have little opportunity to see
Burnley, so it was fortunate for me that, whereas in previous years the FA Cup first round
ties have always been between local sides, this year it was broadened in range, with the
pleasant result that if I could not go to Burnley, in being drawn at Barnet, they were
coming to me. If Wetherspoon's had been able to include Pendle Witch among the choice in
their Halloween ale festival that was on over the weekend it would not have been more
appropriate.
Maybe it was a foretaste of what was to come,
but I was surprised that it had not been made an all ticket affair like the last occasion.
Such had been the crowd that night that on police advice that the safest place is inside
the ground, the gates had been opened to allow everyone in, although controversial
chairman Stan Flashman still released turnstile figures afterwards to show that the ground
was only just over half full. That was the start of a whole litany of problems that nearly
saw the club lose its league place. They survived that crisis, but now Barnet face the
prospect of non league football again because they cannot bring their ground up to meet
league requirements, and no other alternative can be found. That would be a pity, for
while not a footballing town in the way of Burnley, they go back a long way and have
always been a good cup team. In recent seasons I have not only see them beat, but also
outplay both Wolves and Man City, against neither of whom our own performances have been
anything to write home about, so to speak.
In advance the game seemed to offer all the
ingredients of a good cup tie: small club live on TV eager to show that it is worth
saving, notorious sloping pitch that levels teams down, crowd close to the pitch, team
from a higher division... but somehow, for me at any rate, the game when it came around
almost seemed like a non-event. Burnley have so recovered from the goal avalanches of last
year that they now have a rock solid defence, and they took such control of the game that
as a spectacle there was little to get excited over. There was only ever going to be one
goal in it, and when it did come it was a good one. It could be pointed out that Burnley
also had a goal disallowed and hit the bar twice, which is quite true, but that would have
given the scoreline a flattering look.
Defence is now Burnley's strength, yet it was
pleasing to see them turn out with four rather than five at the back, which was the
reason, I feel, why they had left Millwall with only one instead of three points a few
weeks earlier. I have also been reading some of the praise that Mitchell Thomas has been
receiving, and it is easy to see why - he is big and athletic, and he reads the game well
so that he anticipates and cuts out attacks before they become threatening, though in the
two London games I have yet to see him make a tackle; it was his being out of position and
getting easily turned on the right of the halfway line that gave the home side their best
scoring opportunity of the afternoon.
They came and got the right result, and with the
pressures in today's game that is all-important. Stan thanked his players off at the
entrance to the tunnel with a congratulatory "well done" for each of them. It
was a job well done, but for the sake of the committed supporter who goes to all the
games, I just hope that Burnley are keeping the entertaining stuff for the home displays.
Team:
Crichton, West, Smith (Armstrong 46), Davis, Thomas, Mellon, Cook, Mullin, Little (Jepson
75), Payton (Lee 75), Cooke. Subs not used: Brass and Weller.
London Clarets Man of
the Match: (1) Crichton, (2) Little.
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