21st Century Boys
Burnley 3 Oldham 0, 22 January 2000
Whitto
After almost a month without a home game
Burnley got the new century at Turf Moor of to a good start with an easy win over hapless
Oldham.
Manager Ternent replaced the suspended Little
with Graham Branch in a side otherwise unchanged from the previous week's match at
Saltergate.
Oldham made their intentions plain from the
start by packing the midfield and hoping to stifle the Clarets supply line of Cook and
Mellon. For a short time this ploy appeared to be working as the midfield became more and
more congested, the Clarets having no outlet on the wing except Branch, who was being
forced to drop deeper and deeper to cover for the inadequacies of both Burnley full backs.
At this point it is only fair to say that Dean West is not worth a place in the starting
line up. He is slow, often caught out of position, even by mediocre players, and as an
attacking force he is a true liability, with moves usually breaking down when he sends yet
another cross soaring into the stand.
Oldham rarely threatened in the first half.
Content to sit back and allow Burnley to come at them, they had few alarms until the
Clarets won a free kick on the left. Paul Cook curled the cross over with pace, Andy Cooke
rose twelve yards out and his classic flick header found the top corner of the Latics' net
after 24 minutes. Cooke this season has had his critics; you cannot doubt the lad's
ability or his commitment to the Clarets, but he has not been scoring regularly enough to
warrant a first team place. Strikers are judged on goals scored and he just has not been
producing the goods lately, so it was good to see him finally get his first league goal
since November 6th.
The game headed serenely toward half time with
neither side taking too many risks, Burnley unwilling to throw away their lead and Oldham
content to go in just one behind.
The game continued much in the same vein at the
start of the second half, Burnley well in control but not looking particularly likely to
score again; this worryingly has been the case too often this season, as the Clarets have
found themselves pegged back by a poorer side due to the lack of a killer instinct.
Fortunately, Oldham were never likely to get on the score sheet, the first of only two
decent chances coming when a shot was deflected by an Oldham head and appeared to be
looping into the net, forcing Crichton to make a splendid save. Rattled by this, Burnley
upped the tempo and the introduction of Mullin for Mellon was to prove the catalyst for
the three points. Soon after the substitution a melee in midfield found the ball
deflecting off the ever improving Johnrose and into the path of both Cooke and Payton
bearing down on goal. The ball fell kindly for the Clarets' leading scorer and, although
he looked to have taken it just too far, he managed to poke it under the body of the
advancing Kelly for his fiftieth goal in Claret and Blue in just 96 appearances.
It was pretty easy now for Burnley . The Latics
had lost heart and their motley collection of about 2,000 fans had stopped
chim-chimmineying and sat down to eat their pies. The contest was over after 80 minutes
when Mullin broke through the middle with both Payton and Cooke either side. He passed out
to the right, where Cooke advanced into the box and played the ball across the six yard
box, where Payton turned the defender and allowed Kelly to commit himself before dinking
the ball over him into the back of the net.
Ternent used the three goal margin to give Paul
Smith a run out. He replaced Graham Branch, who had given the Oldham defence a few
problems.
Oldham had one last chance in injury time but
Crichton again produced an excellent block and Davis cleared the danger.
So, a thoroughly deserved three points for the
Clarets, who hardly moved out of second gear against the division's form team with Branch,
Johnrose, Payton and Cook – who at one time appeared to be the fifth man in a five
man defence - enjoying good performances in front of the division's biggest crowd of the
day of 12,391.
There’s still work to be done away from
home, but the form at Turf Moor bodes well for the future.
Team: Crichton,
West, Branch (Smith), Armstrong, Thomas, Davis, Mellon (Mullin), Cook (Jepson), Johnrose,
Cooke, Payton. Subs not used: Swan and Weller.
London Clarets Man
of the Match: (1) Mitchell Thomas, (2) Andy Cooke.
Links
- The away game
and this game last season
