City's dark secret
Burnley 0 Manchester City 1, 24
August 1999
THJ
Quite a pleasant evening, not much hassle, no crush, opportunity to try out several
seats in the JM Stand, no problems queuing for half-time pie, no problems getting out of
the car park.
To be honest, I almost didn't go, but Tim was desperate to buy a new Burnley Shirt with
his birthday money, so first stop was the ticket office for concessionary tickets (what an
awful word that is, as if it's a big effort to allow some fans in cheaply). The queue was
full of discontented punters annoyed at having to buy tickets for a match that was um...
er... not well supported.
Got tickets, and made our way to the shirt counter. Immediately got involved in a row.
A young dad was berating Andrew Watson about the children's tickets. By now it was 7.43
and the queue was still fifty strong. People had turned up expecting to pay at the door.
Andrew was clearly embarrassed and making conciliatory noises to no avail. Then the ticket
office manager turned up, more weak excuses. In the end, inconclusive result and unhappy
customers. Something needs to be done. I'm sure we paid at the door to see Everton.
We got to our seats at 7.48 to find a sparsely populated TM: no more than 3,000 fans
with at least half from City (memories of the 80's flooded back).
"Dad, it’s so quiet that you can hear the players shouting!" You could.
Hardly a sound from the Burnley folk all night, just a ripple of polite applause now and
then and an occasional frustrated 'Come on Burnley'.
The game was not bad. A below-strength City played comfortably, a team defending a five
goal lead. Burnley beavered away all night and gave a good account of themselves, coming
away with a bit of pride salvaged.
Starting line-up. Crichton, Thomas, Armstrong, Cowan, with Mark Robertson at rightback.
Midfield of Mellon, Brass and Johnrose. Branch, Lee and Little up front. (although Little
and Branch did drop back for a defensive 4-5-1 at times). The play was a bit low key with
neither team really going for it, although the game was surprisingly niggly with a lot of
pulling and late challenges. To be fair, Burnley had most of the play and created most of
the goal attempts, particularly in a flurry at the end.
West came on for Mellon in the second half and did well in midfield, Jepson on for Lee
and Grant for Branch. This latter formation did really well in the last twenty minutes and
there was a period of close midfield passing possession by Burnley that brought back happy
memories of days long gone.
A few thoughts...
Crichton had a good game. He is gaining confidence and took some difficult crosses
well. One good save from a deflection.
Mitchell Thomas continues well, although he was tiring at the end. He got most of the
aerial stuff; a pity that his mistake led to the City goal. He missed a high ball from the
right, couldn't get to the City forward and a Paytonesque lob from the edge of the area
crept in.
Robertson did well against Kennedy.
Branch had a better game, moved and tackled a bit, but still looks lost.
Lee can shift, but got nowhere in the air against Vaughan.
Little still looks under par and is definitely not the player that ran teams ragged a
short while ago.
All in all, a creditable performance by Burnley, nothing to be ashamed off and a good
learning experience, even if only to see how the City wingers and midfielders create space
and support one another.
Oh, yes, what was City's dark secret? Well, they were wearing BURNLEY pale blue away
shorts. I could see the clearly see the Burnley crest and the Super League logo through my
trusty binoculars. Had they turned up without shorts? Wow, now there's a thought! Did
Burnley loan them a spare set, or did Joe Royle quickly nip in to the shop for sixteen
pairs of pale blue assorted sizes? Perhaps we shall never know.
Team: Crichton, Robertson, Cowan, Mellon (West, 50),
Thomas, Armstrong, Little, Brass, Lee (Jepson 60), Johnrose, Branch (Grant 68). Subs
not used: Payton, Smith.
The away leg
