Burnley Underachieve Again at Turf!

The Clarets continue to struggle at home after once again failing to secure all three points against a side battling to avoid relegation. This time Barnsley were the visitors; a club perilously close to the drop zone although to be fair to them there have been significant improvements since the arrival of new gaffer, David Flitcroft. The Tykes had won eight out of twelve games before their visit to Turf Moor and had impressively beaten a number of high-flying teams on the road including Hull City in the FA Cup and Middlesbrough in the Championship. Their recent form though had slumped a little with two defeats on the bounce. Burnley in 11th spot ahead of this clash had still not given up all hope of reaching the play-offs so both sides had all to play for but sadly it was Barnsley who seemed to be more up for this game over the 90 minutes particularly impressing in the second-half and putting the Clarets under significant pressure. It all started brightly for the Clarets too with a well-worked goal in the 9th minute after Charlie Austin latched onto a Lafferty cross to cleverly clip the ball home from close range and notch up his 26th goal of the season. Burnley though just capitulated after that and just couldn`t seem to find the energy or will to increase the lead. The Tykes renown for late goals sensed they could still be in with a chance of snatching three vital points from the game and in the second-half, Barnsley seemed to dominate possession. It was no surprise when they equalised in the 84th minute and to be honest if anybody was going to get the winner it looked like it would be Barnsley with Burnley creating few chances. The score remained 1-1 although it might have been different had two poor refereeing decisions in the second-half gone the Clarets way? Former Burnley defender, Stephen Foster, already on a yellow card clearly brought down Martin Paterson but escaped the referee`s attention when he should have walked. There was also a clear penalty that should have been given when Austin was fouled by Martin Crainie who appeared to clip the striker`s legs. The referee had simply not kept up with the pace of the game and probably unsighted failed to give anything. Let`s be honest though this was a poor, under par performance by the Clarets and we should not be giving excuses! This was the same starting eleven that did so well against Charlton at ‘The Valley` only last Saturday to win their first game in seven attempts. You would have thought that win would have lifted spirits but once again Burnley failed to deliver on home soil and you have to go back to the middle of January now for our last win at Turf Moor when we beat Palace 1-0. The disappointing draw saw the Clarets remain in 11th spot with 48 points from 36 games and that still means they are eight points behind sixth-placed club Brighton having also played a game more. The only good news was that Bolton got a late goal to beat Blackburn at the Reebok so we are now three points ahead of Rovers having played the same number of games.

Team Sheet

Only McCann from the five on the injured list made it against Barnsley and he had to be content with a place on the bench with Sean Dyche deciding to name the same starting eleven that lined up away to Charlton last Saturday. In summary then this was the eighteen: Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Long, Lafferty, Stanislas, Bartley, Edgar, Kacaniklic, Paterson, Austin

Subs: Jensen, Mills, Stock, Treacy, McCann, Vokes, Ings.

Kacaniklic, was making his home debut and Burnley lined up 4:4:2 although at times it was more 4-4-1-1 with Austin playing off Paterson. Edgar too was inclined to play the holding midfield role.

Full Match Report

East Yorkshire referee, Carl Boyeson got the game underway on a fairly cold night in Burnley with two keen teams ready to do battle and three points vital to keep Burnley`s play-offs hopes alive with Barnsley needing them to move further away from the drop zone. It was Burnley though who struck first and the Clarets were 1-0 up after just nine minutes. Lafferty was already a threat but his cross in the 9th minute was sheer perfection and found Austin who had run towards the near post. The striker still had some work to do but he got his knee to the ball and the touch was good enough to see the ball cross the line via the shoulder of David Perkins and put the Clarets 1-0 up. This was the first goal on home soil in three games (actually 224 minutes) but now they had to capitalise on their early advantage and that would not prove so easy with Barnsley coming back at them strongly. The Tykes game back at the shell-shocked Clarets with a vengeance and at one point in the first-half they notched up a cumulative 60% possession! Now we really had a battle on our hands! Burnley huffed and puffed but apart from a series of crosses from the impressive Trippier which came to nothing, Burnley fans had little to cheer about. Marlon Harewood was strongly claiming a penalty after Lafferty seemed to block his close-range effort with his arm and in the final minute of the half, Lee Grant had to come to the rescue following a foul by Bartley after tripping Chris Dagnell. The resulting free-kick saw the ball floated over into the penalty area where a dangerous looking header from Etuhu was well-saved by the former Rams and Owls keeper to keep the Clarets 1-0 up at half-time.

Burnley were edgy right from the restart and the Tykes continued to exert the pressure. The Tykes were well on top to be honest with the Clarets back-four battling hard to avoid conceding a goal. A ball flicked on by O`Grady behind the defence looked to have given Dagnell the perfect chance to get Barnsley on equal terms but somehow the former Rockdale and Scunthorpe striker lobbed the ball wide under pressure from Grant. Burnley somehow needed to relieve the pressure and they thought they might have succeeded when Foster, already on a yellow card, clearly tugged Paterson back as he charged towards goal. The referee though did not spot the blatant foul and the former Burnley defender lived another day after avoiding being sent off. Dyche was clearly unhappy with the Clarets being under the cosh and in the 52rd minute made a double substitution to try and stem the flow and create some chances at the opposite end. On came McCann and Ings replacing Edgar and Stanislas. Kacaniklic also switched flanks in an effort to see if that would prove more fruitful! To be honest none of the changes made much impact and Burnley continued to struggle with Barnsley continuing to dominate proceedings. The Clarets just lacked sparkle somehow and found it difficult to create any meaningful chances. After 66 minutes, Dyche brought on Vokes who replaced Paterson but still there was little effect. Vokes though did manage to break away after latching onto a clearance from Bartley before laying off the ball to Austin with an inch-perfect pass as he ran into the penalty area. Austin looked certain to score after getting away from Martin Crainie but the defender then seemed to clip the legs of Austin in the box. Penalty claims though were to no avail with Boyeson it would seem failing to see the incident. Austin was given another chance moments later following a McCann cross. This time though he miscued his effort whilst trying to shoot on the turn. Foster in front of goal, who was lucky to still be on the pitch then got in the way of an Austin header at the far post following a cross from Trippier. Barnsley though had kept up relentless pressure on the Burnley goal and they fully deserved their equaliser with six minutes of play remaining. Cywka picking up a pass from Perkins managed to swivel and chip a curling ball into the top corner of the net from 20 yards out. The Tykes now sensed they could win the game in the last few minutes but Burnley defended stoutly to deny them victory but in the end this was still a disappointing draw that failed to inspire any confidence.

Match Stats

Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Long, Lafferty, Stanislas (Ings-53), Bartley, Edgar (McCann-53), Kacaniklic, Paterson (Vokes-66), Austin

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Mills, Stock, Treacy

Goals: Austin (9)

Booked: Yellow Card for Bartley (45)

Barnsley: Steele, Foster, Wiseman, Cranie, Kennedy, Perkins, Mellis, Dagnall (Scotland-55), Harewood (Cywka-46), Etuhu (O’Brien-78), O’Grady

Subs Not Used: Lidakevicius, Hassell, Delap, Tunnicliffe

Goals: Cywka (84)

Booked: Yellow Cards for Foster (32) and Mellis (63

)Possession: 50% Burnley, 50% Barnsley (Source: BBC Sport)

Ref: Carl Boyeson (East Yorkshire)