4-3 Again This Time to Burnley!

In a remarkable game against Bristol City at Ashton Gate last night, another 4-3 score line was achieved for the second successive away game. Thankfully though this time Burnley took all the spoils and came away with all three points giving caretaker manager, Terry Pashley a 100% record to date after his second game in charge. There were some parallels to the previous away game at Palace before the international break with Burnley once again taking a two goal lead and being pegged back. This time though with the score at 3-3, it was the Clarets who had the last laugh scoring the winner in the fifth minute of added time. It was also a record breaking night for Charlie Austin who scored in his eighth consecutive game; a feat not achieved by any Burnley player since Ray Pointer in the 1958-59 season! In fact he didn`t score just one but two goals after also converting a penalty. The victory sees the Clarets now in 14th spot with 17 points from 12 games, remarkably just three points away from sixth placed club, Huddersfield. In the space of four days and two games later the Clarets have gone from a possible relegation battle to now being a play-offs contender and they did it without Eddie Howe under a caretaker manager! Well done Pash!!

Terry Pashley looked set to name an unchanged starting eleven last night until Ross Wallace pulled up in the warm-up and had to be replaced by Martin Paterson. Danny Ings now fully recovered from his torn cartilage ordeal made a welcome return to the bench and our eighteen was as follows:

Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Stanislas, McCann, Marney, Stock, Paterson, Austin

Subs: Jensen, Edgar, O’Neill, Mills, Stewart, Ings, Vokes

Surrey referee, Lee Collins got the game underway. Charlie Austin looked isolated in the first few minutes of the game but soon made amends scoring with virtually his first touch in the 9th minute. Chris McCann split the City defence with a pass to leave Austin with a clear run on goal. With Robins keeper, Heaton advancing, Austin steered the ball around him before side footing home past covering defender Liam Fontaine.

Burnley though have struggled this season to keep leads and just eight minutes later, City had equalised. Duff was penalised for a dubious foul on Steven Davies 25 yards from goal and was even more angered by the decision when Davies took the free kick himself and thumped it past Lee Grant to level the scores.

The rest of the first half was a battle for supremacy with both sides getting few but limited chances. Most of Bristol City`s came from the threatening presence of Steven Davies who had countless shooting attempts with his left foot. Fontane spurned a chance to put the home side in front ten minutes from the interval blasting the ball over from a free kick but basically the Clarets were managing to contain the Robins attack without creating many chances of their own. Junior Stanislas`s attempt from a free kick saw the ball fly just over the bar and he then scuffed another chance wide of target, Our best chance to get our noses in front again came in first half stoppage time from a Stanislas corner. Shackell met the cross forcing Heaton to dive to his right and save. 1-1 then at half-time!

Pash must have done his stuff at the break because Burnley came out in even more positive mood determined to get the lead back and just before the hour mark, two goals in quick succession by the Clarets looked to have signed, sealed and delivered three points! Dean Marney flying free down the right side put over a deep cross for McCann. Mark Wilson`s arm though got in the way of his header and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Charlie Austin was not going to miss from twelve yards out sending Heaton the wrong way to put the Clarets 2-1 up scoring his 18th goal of the season and his 14th in eight games. The home fans had hardly got over that shock when a minute later their team was 3-1 down.

This time Austin was playmaker after putting McCann in the clear to cross from the left. Paterson this time latched onto the cross and on the edge of the penalty area thumped a right footed low deflected shot into the bottom corner of the net. How many times though are we going to lose two goal leads this season? Bristol City were certainly not going to give up and somehow crawled their way back to level the scores at 3-3

The Robins had hardly mounted an attack in the second half but were given a lifeline when another controversial decision against Duff gave the home side a penalty in the 77th minute. This time the referee decided that Duff had pushed Robins defender, McManus and Baldock made no mistake from the spot shooting home past Grant. Now the home side were playing with renewed hope and vigor and it looked to have paid off when the Robins equalised in the last minute of normal time. A free kick by Adomah hit the bar and it fell kindly for substitute Anderson to follow up and level the scores.

Deep into added time though; Burnley got the last laugh securing all three points. With just seconds remaining and in the fifth minute of added time, Trippier took a free kick swinging the ball over to the far post for McCann to loop a header back over Heaton into the far corner and make the final score 4-3 to the Clarets!! Phew what an exciting last 20 minutes and thank god we came out on top for a change!

Match Stats

Bristol City: Heaton, Foster, Wilson, Fontaine (Carey – 55), McManus, Bryan (Anderson – 64), Skuse, Morris, Adomah, Baldock, Davies (Taylor – 64)

Subs Not Used: Gerken, Wilson, Pitman

Goals: Davies 17, Baldock 77 (pen) , Anderson 90

Booked: 0

Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Mee, Stanislas (Stewart – 87), McCann, Marney, Stock, Paterson (Ings – 78), Austin (Vokes – 90)

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Edgar, O’Neill, Mills

Goals: Austin 9 and 58 (pen), Paterson 59 ,McCann 90+5

Booked: Yellow Cards for Duff, Mee, McCann and Stock

Possession: 50% Bristol City, 50% Burnley (Source: BBC Sport)

Ref: Lee Collins (Surrey)