Burnley
2 Crystal Palace 3, Saturday 9th August 2003
Normal service is resumed
The statistics said...
We lost 2-3 at home to
Palace. The Eagles went ahead in the 6th minute: Lee Roche fouled Dougie
Freedman in the area, and Freedman duly despatched the spot kick.
We then
equalised in the 11th minute. Palace midfielder Wayne Routledge
was judged to have brought down Luke Chadwick;
the referee sent Routledge off and initially awarded Burnley a penalty,
but
after
consultation
with
the linesman this was changed to a free kick just outside the
area. Robbie Blake's well-struck shot
beat Palace
keeper
Matt Clarke to make the score 1-1.
In the 19th minute, Burnley
were ahead as Roche atoned for his earlier error by scoring his first senior
goal, a splendid 20-yard shot which gave Clarke
no chance.
Our lead didn't last long,
though, and shortly after the half-hour mark, Freedman was able
to breach our defence and score his second.
Freedman then
got his hat trick in the 67th minute, after an error from Brian Jensen left him with an easy
header.
Shortly
afterwards, the Eagles' Shaun Derry was sent off for a second bookable offence,
but even against nine men, the Clarets (missing both the injured Gareth Taylor
and the suspended Ian Moore) couldn't break through.
Our survey said...
Cozzo:
We played well at times, but gave away three stupid goals. Palace kicked us all
day. Luke Chadwick looked very good.
Dermot:
We started well, but conceded an early goal. When we went a goal ahead, we let
them equalise, and then were awful trying to beat nine men.
John:
At quarter to three they'd already sold out of programmes. Not a good start to
the season, but the Manchester United reserves look good! What is Branch
doing at centre half? New keeper wanted.
Simon:
How sad. Bring back Big Vince!
Paddy:
A very disappointing performance. After going 2-1 ahead against ten men, it
appeared that we were set for a win. But the expected defensive frailties
came to the fore, and handed Palace two cheap goals and victory on a plate.
Even against nine men, we were devoid of any ideas. Gareth Taylor was sorely
missed (thanks, Duberry - how's the cheekbone?). His return cannot be soon
enough.
The only plus point was
Luke Chadwick's good performance, although talking to Palace fans after the
game, they seemed to think that all he had done all afternoon was dive.
Kevin:
It was far too hot to play football. We played for 45 minutes, and then melted
away.
After conceding a clumsy
penalty, we fought back to lead only to throw the game away with two sloppy
defensive errors. We need more players, we need Taylor and Ian Moore back,
and we need the back four sorting out.
Playing Branch as a centre
back was a bit of fun when it didn't matter last season, but now it is nonsense.
He's not captain material, either. Also... when Jensen dives, the whole stadium
shakes when he lands!
Eric:
I will not condemn the team on this first match, although again it was a very
disappointing start. The second half performance was awful. They seemed shell-shocked
after Palace's third goal, and couldn't pull themselves together.
I look forward to the return
of Gareth Taylor and Ian Moore. Perhaps Branchy is not the man to be in charge
at the heart of the defence.
Woody:
As depressing as it can get. The new players - with the exception of Chadwick
- were shite. Roche was slow and ponderous; Camara was shocking; and Jensen
was everybody's worst nightmare.
Having said that, Branch
and Gnohere in particular were absolutely shocking. Anybody who thinks that
Branch is a centre half must be out of their mind, and Gnohere needs to grow
up and accept his responsibilities big-time. With this defence, we will go
DOWN.
In attack, we obviously
missed Taylor and Ian Moore, but in the second half we lacked any direction.
The truth is, though, that Chadwick looked good, and when fully fit will
be a tremendous player. Going forward, Stan has a real task moulding Little,
Chadwick, Ian Moore, Taylor and Blake into the unit that will score more
goals than the defence concedes.
Pic of the day
Eric may emit a strange
quasi-religious glow, but even his saintly presence couldn't give
us a win.
As with all articles on the site, the views expressed in the vox pop section are those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club.
