Del-ightful!
The statistics said...
We beat Walsall 3-1 at the Turf. Not only that, but our three goals came courtesy of a Delroy Facey hat-trick! The ideal riposte to all those who doubted that he would ever put the ball in the net - including some of us, unfortunately...
The hat-trick was described by those present as "perfect": one goal with his right foot, one with a header, and one with his left foot. Somewhere in the middle of all that he even found time to head the ball against the post!
Of course, it wasn't all plain sailing, and although Facey's first goal (in the 4th minute) had given us an early lead, the Saddlers equalised via Paul Merson in the 24th. After half time, though, Facey's second and third goals (in the 82nd and 87th minutes) secured all the points for us.
Our survey said...
:
The difference today was that Chaplow and Weller won the midfield. They were excellent. This meant that Blake and Chadwick had the opportunity to create the chances for Facey, who - thankfully - took them. Let's hope he pushes on from this.
In defence, we were dreadful, with Jensen and Branch particularly inept. Branch seemed to be their best forward, showing again that he is no centre-half.
Indeed, if Branch is a centre-half, I am Champion the Wonder Horse.
Paddy:
In the end, a good victory - but for long periods it looked as though we weren't going to get a second goal.
After completely dominating the first twenty minutes, we gave away an all too familiar soft goal, with Jensen impersonating a statue when he should have been coming for the cross. But it was good to see that Facey's confidence visibly grew after his first goal, and his hat-trick was well deserved.
The only low point of the day was discovering that my kebab (purchased from a shall-remain-nameless outlet very close to Leeds station) contained something I'd never have envisaged. No, not a dead mouse, thankfully, but a paperclip. However on reflection, if I'd have eaten said paperclip, it would probably have doubled the nutritional value of the kebab!
Paul:
I thought that in the second half, Chaplow was a revelation.
Roger:
Gold stars to Chaplow and Facey. All the rest were fine, except for Jensen, who was shite.
John H:
Good start. Good finish. Good result. Can we raise 14 players for the next game?!
Dermot:
We started brilliantly, then dipped into our normal phase. Then we upped it again into a performance similar in patches to the one in the second half against Bradford. We played the football and scored the goals, and that won the game.
Editor's note: it was Dermot's fiftieth birthday today! We've decided it should be his birthday every matchday, as obviously that's the key to Delroy finding the net!
Sean:
We played a wide game at first, which I feel is when we are at our most comfortable. Walsall showed little or no promise, and when we fired home the first goal it was just reward for our efforts - despite the fact that we only had the gas down at half pedal.
Then we showed them how bad we could be in terms of inattention, and Walsall capitalised. A phase then followed where Dean West became the “Hunger”, and Luke Chadwick, the other player of promise, slipped around while Facey adopted a more sedate stance.
After the obvious bollockings at half time, we came, we saw, and we capitalised on Walsall's inertia in the face of the new gun: Facey, who they failed to contain, and who polished off the game to “perfection absolute”.
In the end, there was nothing they could do: two ageing wings represented a haphazardly constructed yet somewhat promising shop front, which may in the future produce the goods that could take them to higher places. But not on today's performance against us. The whole Burnley team worked hard for one another, and I am confident of more points than expected in the next five games.
Pauline:
Naturally, I was ill, and missed the game. Apparently Facey scored a hat-trick? So now we've got two players called Facey?
Word of the day
Choke. Paddy nearly did, whilst Delroy quite obviously didn't!
Pic of the day
Small, yet deadly - and it nearly put paid to our Travel Secretary. Imagine the havoc this could have caused. Never mind on the inward journey - what about when leaving?
Editor's note: I think it was actually the paperclip that had the lucky escape...
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.
