At Last! A Win Gets Monkey Off Clarets Back!

It was a long time coming but Burnley have at last managed to achieve a win in the top flight after beating Hull City 1-0 at Turf Moor on Saturday! Until Saturday Clarets fans were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to win this season after 10 league games trying and one Capital One cup defeat. We were the only team in the Premier League and Football League not to have recorded a win but at least we have now got that monkey off our back. The three points have helped narrow the gap but we remain bottom of the league with just seven points from eleven games. QPR managed annoyingly to reap a point at home to high-flying Manchester City and they remain second from bottom but just one point now above the Clarets. Burnley are now also only two points behind third from bottom Leicester and fourth from bottom Crystal Palace so things are looking a little healthier now as we enter the International break.

The game on Saturday was not particularly exciting but the three points meant so much to everybody concerned with the club and certainly lifted spirits after a demoralising last few weeks. In the end a goal by Ashley Barnes in the 50th minute, his first goal of the season was enough to secure all three points for the Clarets against a Hull City side who looked pretty poor on the day and had to play the last 20 minutes with ten men after Curtis Davies went off injured with three Tigers substitutions having already been made. Let`s hope now with a relatively easier spell of games coming up we can consolidate our position, get a few more wins on the board and get out of the relegation zone before Christmas. This is a vital period coming up now for the Clarets with three of the next five games at home and the two away games also looking winnable against Stoke City and fellow strugglers, QPR. Come on you Clarets!

Team Sheet

There was no major surprises in the team selection with Sean Dyche deciding to make just one change to the starting eleven that faced Arsenal at the Emirates in our previous game. Ashley Barnes in his first home league start this season was preferred to Marvin Sordell up front. The eighteen selected was as follows :

Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Ward, Arfield, Marney, Jones, Boyd, Ings, Barnes

Subs: Gilks, Keane, Mee, Chalobah, Kightly, Sordell, Jutkiewicz

Full Match Report

Mark Clattenburg got the game underway on a showery day in Burnley and it was the Clarets who came out of the blocks the quickest. A loose ball led to Danny Ings getting the better of James Chester on the edge of the box but seeing the keeper come of his line quickly he could only put the ball just past the post after shooting on his weaker foot. At the other end a shot by Abel Hernández was dragged off target. In the 9th minute Jason Shackell came to the rescue with a well-timed challenge to block a threatening strike from Sone Aluko and as the 15th minute approached neither team could claim to have the upper hand. The Clarets though gradually began to take control. Burnley`s best chance of scoring so far came in the 21st minute following a corner sweetly floated over by George Boyd. Stephen Ward made contact with his head at the far post and as the ball flew back across goal there was Danny Ings who opened fire with a well-hit acrobatic effort that Harper managed to beat away. A goalmouth scramble followed and ended with Hull`s Robbie Brady clearing the ball off the line. Hull were now on the back foot and at times their defending looked desperate but the Clarets continued to press forward with Ings and Barnes both looking sharp and linking well together up front. With half-time approaching, Ings in his own half spotted the keeper off his line and he tried a long range left footed shot that nearly came off but flew wide of target. Both teams had to be content with a 0-0 deadlock at half-time but it was the Clarets once again who had created most of the chances without reward.

Neither manager made any changes for the start of the second half and within five minutes Burnley finally got their noses front. A Barnes and Ings one-two led to a shot by the former Bournemouth striker being blocked but the ball was picked up by Trippier and he put over an inch-perfect cross to the far post where Barnes rushed in to head home and score his first goal since the automatic promotion clincher at home to Wigan last April. Burnley had taken the lead for the first time in a home game since the season opener against Chelsea and the home fans were now buzzing. The visitors were clearly underperforming forcing Steve Bruce into making some changes and indeed all three Tigers substitutes were now on the pitch before the hour mark had approached. The changes worked for a time and Burnley had to defend stoutly now. In the 73rd minute Hernández turned sharply outside the box but his well-taken left footed shot did not test the keeper. The Clarets looked comfortable now though and never really looked in danger of surrendering their lead. Steve Bruce may well have rued his decision to make all of his three substitutions when Tigers captain, Curtis Davies injured himself and had to leave the pitch forcing Hull to play the last fifteen minutes of the game down to ten men but if anything they played better. The Clarets defence though was still far too strong for the visitors and the game was played out without any further real incident. At long last Burnley fans could celebrate a victory and they did so in style. Let`s hope the momentum is not broken with no game now in two weeks due to the international break but either way we are now off and running so bring on Stoke City at the Britannia in a fortnight.

Match Stats

Burnley: Heaton, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Ward, Arfield (Kightly 55), Marney, Jones, Boyd, Ings, Barnes (Jutkiewicz 75)

Subs not used: Gilks, Keane, Mee, Chalobah, Sordell

Goal: Barnes 50

Bookings: Yellow Cards for Shackell (28), Ward (42), Duff (55), Marney (86), Ings (89) and Jutkiewicz (90 + 3)

Hull City: Harper, Chester (Ben Arfa 59), McShane, Davies, Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone (Ramírez 51), Diamé, Brady, Aluko (Quinn 51), Hernández

Subs not used: Jakupović, Rosenior, Robertson, Meyler

Bookings: Yellow Cards for Chester (7), Hernández (71), Brady and Livermore (90 +2)

Possession: 47% Burnley, 53% Hull City (Source: BBC Sport)

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (County Durham)