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Dyche`s First Defeat in the One that Got Away!

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Sean Dyche tasted his first defeat as Burnley gaffer after going down 2-1 to bottom club Ipswich at Portman Road yesterday. His promising start in the two home games against Wolves and Leeds with maximum points achieved could not be maintained in his first away game in charge. The result gives Ipswich their first win at home this season and once again confirms that Portman Road is one of the worst grounds to go to for the Clarets with no win there now since January 1970!

Ipswich opened the scoring in the second half with a controversial goal by Daryll Murphy in the 51st minute. Burnley looked to have rescued a point when they equalised in the 80th minute thanks to a well-taken goal by Sam Vokes; his first for the club since joining in the summer. The Clarets could not hold on though and with three minutes to go, Ipswich got the lead back thanks to a DJ Campbell goal to hold on for a rare victory at Portman Road; their first since March.

In many ways, we deserved to get something from this game; at least a draw considering we had nearly 60 % of the possession and completely dominated the first half. In the end though Ipswich manager, Mick McCarthy, in his first game in charge on home soil won the battle of the new managers and engineered a victory for the home side which led to Sean Dyche describing the defeat as ‘the one that got away`. In his post-match interview the Burnley gaffer commented :

“We are a work in progress, but there were some real positives from that performance and there have been in general to the way the players are reacting.

“The effort levels are outstanding, so there was ways we can improve and the players are trying to do that.

“Today was a nearly game for us and you could argue it`s the one that got away because we got our pocket picked.”

The defeat spoilt Burnley`s chances of stealing a march on the sixth placed club and local foes, Blackburn Rovers. Just one point behind before this game, a win could have seen the Clarets above Rovers and in the play-offs positions. The loss means that Burnley drop three places down the table to 13th spot with 23 points from now 16 games. Burnley are now four points behind the new sixth placed club, Huddersfield and two points behind Rovers in 7th after the local rivals could only muster a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham.

Team Sheet

Dyche was forced into one change to the starting eleven that lined-up against Leeds United at Turf Moor in midweek. Ben Mee left the pitch with a foot injury in that game and was not fit enough to play against Ipswich. Lafferty was the man to replace him at left-back with Joseph Mills having to be content with a place on the bench. The line-up then was as follows:

Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Lafferty, Stock, Wallace, Marney, McCann, Paterson, Austin

Subs: Jensen. Mills, Edgar, Bartley, Stanislas, Ings, Vokes

Full Match Report

East Yorkshire referee, Mark Brown got the game underway on a fairly cold, drizzly day in Ipswich. Burnley looked high on confidence at the start of this game and instantly began to put a nervous Ipswich under pressure. The Clarets passing game was a joy to watch and they soon began to dominate possession but without making it count. Ipswich though did not look like a club struggling against relegation and they sent two warning shots across our bows in the first half with Grant having to deny DJ Campbell twice. The first was a pretty regular save after just five minutes but on the half-hour mark Grant pulled a great save out of the bag after DJ Campbell latched onto a Wellens pull-back to volley on target. Diving low to his left, Grant managed to push the ball round the post to produce a reflex save of the highest calibre.

Our best chance to open the scoring came from a Paterson attempt. Latching onto a header flicked on by Marney, he ran towards goal but with the keeper advancing the tight angle was enough to prevent him scoring. Burnley had the better of the first half on balance but simply could not make the possession count.

The Clarets came out for the second-half without making any changes to the line-up and within five minutes they were a goal behind in controversial circumstances. A Carlos Edwards cross took a deflection and with Murphy seemingly backing into Grant and knocking him over for a foul before heading home, the Burnley players were up in arms when the referee awarded a goal. A furious Grant and his team mates chased towards the referee in protest, so much so in fact that Brown consulted with his assistant. Clarets fans can only assume that neither official actually saw the incident so the goal stood!

That goal took the stuffing out of Burnley and we never looked as assured in the game after that with Ipswich`s confidence now growing and looking likely to double their lead. Ross Wallace will miss the next game too after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season before being replaced by Dyche in the 65th minute as part of a double substitution. Both Wallace and Stock came off to be replaced by Stanislas and Bartley in an effort to freshen things up and liven-up the midfield. Burnley once again began to pile on the pressure but the Ipswich defence frustratingly kept them at bay with Austin in particular looking an isolated figure alone up front. Although Ipswich now began to rest on their laurels, Burnley simply could not get the breakthrough they needed and with fifteen minutes to go it looked like we were heading for our first defeat under Dyche. Dyche played one last roll of the dice by shoring up our attack and bringing on Vokes for Marney in the 76th minute. It worked too! Four minutes later we were level! A superb cross by Stanislas was met by Vokes and his glancing header flew into the roof of the net courtesy of a deflection by Danny Higginbotham. We now looked assured of a point but Ipswich had other ideas and with just three minutes of the game remaining they got their noses in front again. Once again, not for the first time this season Burnley were caught out on the break. Edwards cross was met by Campbell and he steered the ball back across Grant to score with the outside of his foot and send Clarets fans on the long journey back home from deepest Suffolk once again miserable and empty handed.

Match Stats

Ipswich Town: Henderson, Cresswell, Chambers, Higginbotham, Smith, Edwards, N’daw, Wellens (Emmanuel-Thomas – 79 ), Reo-Coker,Campbell (Bilel – 89 ), Murphy

Subs Not Used: Loach, Hewitt, Drury, Chopra, Scotland

Goals: Murphy 51, Campbell 87

Booked: Yellow Card for Reo-Coker

Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Lafferty, Wallace (Stanislas – 65),McCann, Marney (Vokes – 76 ), Stock (Bartley – 65), Paterson, Austin

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Edgar, Mills, Ings

Goal: Vokes 80

Booked: Yellow Cards for Wallace and Paterson

Possession: 41% Ipswich, 59% Burnley (Source: BBC Sport)

Ref: Mark Brown (East Yorkshire)

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4 comments

  • turfmanphil says:

    Good to see Vokes get his first goal this season! Just a pity it wasn’t enough! Another miserable, disappointing time at Portman Road as the bogey ground effect continues

  • RickersTwickers says:

    Think you have summed things up very well here TMP and I saw the game as you did by the looks of things. I wasn’t sure about the first goal but having seen it on the telly I think Grant made a bit of a meal of matters. There was a similar incident at the end of the first period, which the ref gave, and perhaps that was fresh in the memory of both the ‘keeper and the ref. I thought we started the game particularly strongly and Stock was in control of matters from an early stage. That said, we didn’t create many chances and I always feel you have to take advantage of your dominance at this level. So many teams are on an equal footing and as most have positive spells during a game failure to score during these often costs dearly. It was my first sight of Dyche’s team and I am very disappointed with losing a late goal – particularly because my boss is an Ipswich fan and I know he is waiting for me at work tomorrow.

  • turfmanphil says:

    Standing at Peterborough station waiting for my connection back home to Huntingdon last night, there was a noisy bunch of Palace fans celebrating still being top of league after beating Posh! Damn it beaten by McCarthy and now Holloway taking the glory! Come on Dyche, finish above both by end of season and let’s get up before all the parachute money runs out!

  • WelshClaret says:

    Oh well, can’t win them all . Dyche is quite open about the fact that plenty of work needs to be done before the team becomes the finished article. There will be other defeats, but as long as we keep moving in the right direction with team spirit and performances, we should remain there or thereabouts and ready to pounce when everything comes together. UTC

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