Wigan 0 Burnley 0
Dire Uriah under fire
The statistics said...
We gained a hard-fought point away at the JJB Stadium. Despite the conditions (very wet, and a poor pitch) and the lack of goals, the game was an entertaining one.
Both sides had chances to win the match. Wigan had a goal disallowed in the first half, and Robbie Blake spurned a golden opportunity early in the second. However, both keepers were in excellent form, and a draw was surely a fair result.
Wigan's line-up included ex-Bristol Rovers forwards Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington, with fans' favourite Andy Liddell having to settle for a place on the bench (although he saw the last twenty minutes of action). In goal was ex-Bastard John Filan, who received a hot reception from the travelling supporters.
For Burnley, all three new loan signings were in the squad. Neil Wood played the whole ninety minutes, putting in a very good performance. Bradley Orr saw a bit of the action, replacing Glen Little in the 88th minute, whilst Paul Rachubka was a non-playing sub.
The main talking point of the day was the referee, Uriah Rennie, who made several contentious decisions.
Our survey said...
:
I thought we were well worth a point in a hard, compelling game. Camara had his best game yet for the Club, and the whole of the back four were strong when they needed to be. Jensen made some good saves - perhaps having another keeper in the squad has finally woken him up.
Wigan had the best of the pressure, but we had the best chance of the game when the otherwise excellent Blake seemed not to make his mind up when through on goal from Ian Moore's excellent pass.
The only real downside of the day was that, due to Virgin Trains, we were forced to travel via Manchester on Midland Mainline, which made for a very long journey. Virgin Trains are a disgrace, and I'm sick of having to tolerate this disgrace to the country.
Indeed, if Richard Branson is fit to run a railway, I am Puff The Magic Dragon.
Heads:
My first Burnley game this season, and I was surprisingly impressed. The Clarets were better than a team lying towards the bottom of the table. Mr Blake had a perfect opportunity to win the game.
Editor's note: Mr Turner is a Woking fan, but is also a London Claret. Indeed, he has been to more Burnley games than many 'full-time' Burnley supporters!
Hozzo:
Off, off, off! My preferred matches (Droylsden, Flixton and Salford City) were all postponed, so I had to make do with watching Burnley and slum it at the JJB Stadium.
I sat in the home end - luckily, I didn't have much to shout about! A good point for the Clarets. Next week is a must-win game.
Editor's note: Mr H must be very placid - the rest of us were jumping around all over the place at some of Mr Rennie's decisions! And what's all this non-league nonsense?
Dermot:
A good, competitive game, with some good football played by both sides. Not too many chances for either side, but one good chance did fall to Blake, which on another day he would have put away.
The game was spoiled by the referee, with what seemed from the stand to be some diabolical decisions - mainly in favour of Wigan.
The treatment of the away fans by the stewards was also diabolical.
Michael:
An absorbing contest between two teams evenly matched on the day. The pitch was very heavy, and made it quite difficult.
I thought the defence coped very well with Roberts and Ellington, and indeed the defence played quite well as a whole. If they carry on like this, we should be able to gather the points to see us to safety - assuming our forwards can score the goals.
Muddy Paddy:
A strong performance, especially in defence, where the back four coped admirably with Roberts and Ellington.
A draw was a fair result, but we could have nicked it if Blake had taken the best chance of the game. Never mind - he can't score every week.
Urea Rennie [sic] is piss-awful, and if I see him again I hope it's at the Turf, as he seems to like home crowds.
Editor's note: why "Muddy Paddy"? Well, our esteemed Travel Secretary managed to fall down a very muddy bank en route to the game. Below you can see the damage to his clothing. He was not amused, though it has to be said that everyone else was!
Pauline:
An excellent performance - should give them confidence for next Saturday. We didn't have a bad player, and Mark McGregor and The Beast were outstanding. Much as I like Branchy, I think McGregor is a good candidate for captain next season. And Wood played well, too.
Uriah Rennie was crap, though he didn't get much help from the assistants. Nowadays, the assistants don't seem to make any decisions. They just copy the ref. The one below us did nothing but run around and grin stupidly.
Nice to see a feature on Paul Cook (my all-time favourite Claret) in the programme. Cheered me up after the hard slog getting to the game. Should be a mandatory feature in every programme - almost as enjoyable as eating chocolate whilst reading a new PC magazine. What do you mean, I'm weird?
Pic of the day: Paddy spotted in the home end
The fat blue one is obviously 'Patrick', but who's his friend?
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 views of the Burnley FC London Supporters' Club.
