David Edgar popped up in the 90th minute to score an equaliser against Cardiff City at Turf Moor on Saturday to earn Burnley a vital point in their battle against relegation. The1-1 draw in the end could be enough to keep Burnley up with their superior goal difference also being effectively worth an extra point. It was also a very satisfying point for the visitors. Cardiff had already been promoted but the draw ensured the red Bluebirds were now also officially Champions. That oft used expression ‘game of two halves` could certainly be applied to this match as far as the Clarets performance was concerned. We were completely outplayed in the first half and were lucky to go into the break only 1-0 down. Cardiff got their noses in front thanks to a 27th minute goal by Conway and were playing like Champions-to-be against a lacklustre Burnley side who simply failed to create any meaningful chances. Dyche had to do something for the start of the second half and decided on a double substitution sacrificing both wingers. Wallace and Stanislas made way for Paterson and Edgar and the change of tactics worked. Burnley came more into the game and began to exert some pressure at long last. Defeat though looked to be on the cards until Edgar`s 90th minute equaliser gave the Clarets a lifeline in their battle against the drop. The point leaves the Clarets in 15th spot on 55 points with two games to play. Burnley could however still be caught especially if they lose both games away to Wolves next Saturday and then at home against Ipswich the following Saturday in the last game of the season. Bristol City are already going down but the three clubs above them all have 51 points including Wolves who we play next Saturday on our bogey ground, Molineux. In fact only six points separate Barnsley in second from bottom spot and Ipswich in 14th. One of those clubs is Blackburn and they suffered a heavy defeat away to Watford on Saturday going down 4-0. They play their game in hand away to Millwall on Tuesday night with confidence now low. Rovers are two points ahead of the Clarets in 20th spot and will go above us if they beat the Lions. Come on Millwall!! Anything could happen but it would now be a tragedy if the Clarets fail to reach safety being four points clear and effectively now needing just two points from the last two games to survive. Burnley have a vastly superior goal difference over all the clubs below them apart from Blackpool. We have a minus one deficit whereas the goal difference of the clubs below ranges from minus eight to minus twenty two (except Blackpool on minus two). Four points off the drop zone and still not safe with two games to play not to mention only two wins in sixteen games is simply not good enough and there are now many fans who are not convinced at all about Sean Dyche and there are already rumbles about wanting a change. The football let`s face it has not been great this season and in the main we have not been entertained especially at home. The truth is quite simply that we are on a downward slide and have been since relegation from the Premier League. Would I have Owen Coyle back tomorrow? You bet I would
Team Sheet
Dyche made three changes to the team that lost 1-0 away to Leeds last Tuesday night. Two of those were forced changes. Ben Mee once again was suffering from injury after being substituted in the 45th minute by Lafferty in the midweek game at Elland Road. He remained sidelined with hamstring strain so Lafferty once again deputised at left back. Fulham due to an injury crisis also recalled Alex Kacaniklic from his loan spell at Turf Moor on Thursday so there was a return to the starting eleven for Junior Stanislas with Keith Treacy also being named on the bench. With Austin out for the rest of the season following the removal of his appendix it was always going to be a question of who would partner Sam Vokes up front assuming we opted for 4-4-2 against Cardiff. This time it was Danny Ings who got the nod over Martin Paterson. Our line-up then was as follows:
Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Long, Lafferty, Wallace, McCann, Marney, Stanislas, Ings, Vokes
Subs : Jensen, O’Neill, Edgar ,Bartley, Stock, Treacy ,Paterson
Full Match Report
Controversial referee, Stuart Atwell making his first appearance at Turf Moor got the game underway on a nice, warm spring day in Burnley, You could see straight away why Cardiff had already been promoted. Burnley were given the danger signs as early as the second minute when Gestede let rip with a volley from distance that dipped a little too late. In the 17th minute Burnley nearly went behind after giving Conway far too much room. Cutting in from the left, he attempted a cross which took a deflection. Grant though once again came to the rescue getting a palm to the ball and tipping it over the bar. The lively Kim Bo-Kyung also saw his shot from distance fly just wide of target as Cardiff began to turn the screw. The South Korean though then tried his acting skills after diving blatantly in the box to try and win a penalty after getting the better of Stansislas and robbing him of possession. The referee was having none of it but there was no booking for Kim Bo-Kyung although he was to pick up a yellow card later in the second half for unsporting behaviour! It was all Cardiff now with Burnley under continual pressure and it was no surprise in the 27th minute when the visitors finally got their noses in front. Kim Bo-Kyung was again in the forefront of the action, this time threading a ball to Conway. Conway touched the ball forward whilst setting himself up to shoot before curling the ball past Grant from 20 yards out to give Cardiff a 1-0 lead. Any hope that Burnley would respond and start to engineer some forward play soon evaporated and it is difficult to remember any meaningful attack by the Clarets at all in the first half. Stanislas had one half-chance but fired wide in a dismal half for the Clarets. Indeed Cardiff nearly made it 2-0 with four minutes of the first half remaining and once again Conway and Kim were involved. This time Conway latched onto to Kim`s cut back unleash a curling shot that flew over the angle from eighteen yards out. Burnley had been given a lesson in how to play football and something would now have to change if we were to stand any chance of equalising in the second half.
Whatever Dyche said in the dressing room at half-time seemed to work aided by two substitutions and a change of tactics. The wing play was non-existent in the first half so Dyche decided to take both wingers off. Wallace and Stanislas made way for Paterson and Edgar for the restart resulting in a change of formation. Edgar played in front of the back four to tighten up the defensive cover and we moved to a three line attack with Ings and Paterson playing just wide of Vokes. Burnley having looked clueless in the first half now started at long last to take the game to the visitors and began to look a lot livelier. Almost straight from the kick-off in the second half, Paterson turned on the edge of the box to fire a shot towards goal. It was high enough for Vokes to attempt a header but it flew over the crossbar. Still at long last there was something for Clarets fans to cheer about and some of the hope returned. We were now having far more possession than we did in the first half but Cardiff`s defence, the joint best in the Championship were a tough nut to crack. Just five minutes to go, Marshall pulled off a great save to deny Ings whose shot looked to be heading towards target until the keeper intervened. It looked like we were now going to be well and truly in a relegation scrap as the final minute of normal time approached and four minutes of added time were announced. However, Trippier in the 90th minute got in a long throw only to pick up the ball again after it was headed back to him. Charging forward he then put over a peach of a cross to find Edgar who powered in to head the ball downwards into the back of the net! What relief, it felt like we had won the game so vital that point could prove to be! So bring on the Wolves and let`s get at least another point; one that could be enough to ensure our Championship survival next Saturday. Wolves, in the relegation zone, third from bottom will be going for victory in their attempt to also avoid the drop, they are currently one of the clubs on 51 points, just four behind the Clarets. What a scrap this could turn out to be, just a pity it`s at Molinuex. We have only won two of the last six at Molineux and after the Neil Grewcock goal and 1-0 win there in 1986, it would be over 20 years before we would taste success again. Still somewaht of a bogey ground but I would be delighted with a draw. That would mean another club would finish below us no matter what happened in the final game of the season and depending how the other games go we could be safe after all the results are in next Saturday. I certainly don`t want to go into the final game of the season at home to Ipswich needing a win!
Match Stats
Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Long, Lafferty, Wallace (Paterson – 46), McCann, Marney (Treacy – 83), Stanislas (Edgar – 46), Ings, Vokes
Subs Not Used: Jensen, O’Neill, Bartley, Stock
Goal: Edgar 90
Booked: Yellow Cards for Trippier (39) and Marney (75)
Cardiff City: Marshall, McNaughton, Taylor, Turner, Barnett, Conway, Kim Bo-Kyung, Noone (Bellamy – 66), Gunnarsson, Mutch (Cowie – 74), Gestede
Subs Not Used: Lewis, Nugent, Whittingham, Lappin, Mason
Goal: Conway 27
Booked: Yellow Card for Kim Bo-Kyung (82)
Possession: 44% Burnley, 56% Cardiff City (Source: BBC Sport)
Ref: Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)
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In a word PHEW!!What a vital point that could prove to be. Yes 8C8 it certainly did feel like a win but let’s be honest we could struggle next season. This squad is not good enough and I thought it would have been at the start of the season. So I was wrong and VR was right!!!
Hope that point is enough because cannot see us getting anything next week at Wolves. I worry for next season and BFC need to sort this mess out from top to bottom.
Coyle back? Sorry, but never in a million years. Could never be trusted again and if you are prepared to accept that sort of individual, then football loses all what it stands for, for me. Dyche needs a Summer to get the right players he wants and then let’s see how he does. The jury is out for me with him. I’m never happy about any manager who bleats that the world is against him, so he needs to shut up and sort it out, or move on. Perhaps worse than going into the Ipswitch match needing a win would be a draw. We simply are psyched out playing at home at the moment, which seems to be a plight suffered by a number of clubs who have come down from the Premiership and has higher than realistic expectations levied on them by home fans. A jittery game from Wolves on Saturday, hopefully. Need so considered tactics from Dyche and I need tom be convinced he can do that. One word about Wallace on Saturday. Embarrassment! And he is one who we have signed up, FFS. [Edited by turfmanphil]
Thank you, thank you, thank you David Edgar. It would take a remarkable sequence of events for us to go down now. But this has been a remarkable season in an always remarkable division. So we can’t count our (or anybody else’s chickens) yet. (Rovers haven’t won away in 7 and now have 2 games away and one at home against point-needy Palace. I’d rather be in our shoes than theirs at this point.) As for next season, I count myself as amongst those who are worried. But I don’t imagine for a second that all such worriers are Clarets. For example, I think I heard somewhere that Birmingham have 19 players out of contract at the end of this season. Which illustrates that many, and probably most, clubs are looking to cut wages. To which I say “Hooray!” It’s almost as hard to defend footballers’ wages and agents’ fees as it it to defend bankers’ bonuses and Google’s contribution to the UK tax coffers. Expect many players and fans to think that grass can be greener and wage packets higher elsewhere. But don’t expect too much actual evidence to support that. Yes, Burnley will continue to have to live off less than clubs in bigger population and TV areas. But what’s new about that? And, yes, there’ll be arguments at Board level. But what’s new about that? At Burnley or anywhere else? So, up the Clarets! Hang on this season! And have no more fear than anyone else in a perennially competitive division next year!
Another interesting thing I learned this w/e. Neither club in the top 2 C’ship spots has a scorer with 10 goals. Moreover, they both seem to play by setting out every game, home and away, with a fairly defensive formation, packing midfield and then, not so much going for it in the last 10, or counter-attacking on the break, but gambling they’ll make less mistakes than other teams. How many have Cardiff won 1-0. Did I hear 19? Has the gung-ho era gone? Playing 4-4-2 against Cardiff on Saturday just meant having 2 isolated strikers instead of the usual one, with Cardiff always having more men ready to pick off anything but the very best of first touches or lay-offs. Is 4-4-2 dead? I agree that Sean D has not proved himself yet. But do we really need to be paying 2 managers before giving the one in situ a chance to build his own squad? MM’s comments about heightened expectations resulting in lower achievements deserves careful consideration.
Don’t think the coffee is strong enough to smell in certain parts of the country but the Flood thing, the poor football and a sequence of mediocre managers just adds to the apathy and anger amongst fans and anyone who tries to argue we have not been in steady decline since Coyle left only has to see the falling gates/lost revenue and feel the lack of atmosphere at the Turf these days to know that something is amiss! There is no direction and we are drifting towards League One next season at this rate unless something changes which of course it wont! Someone behind me at the Cardiff game, said Dyche had destroyed the attacking flair in the squad and would prefer the days of Howe back rather than watch the dross now presented. Personally I don’t think we have ever recovered from the loss of Eagles, Cork, Elliott etc and we certainly have never recovered from the loss of Coyle. Forgive and forget, take him back? Yes 100%
I said we needed a hero last week and by did David Edgar fit that role, It was he that fed Tripps ot wide, then when it comes in the second time he scores the mother of all vital goals. possibly the most important goal since Wades Wembley wonder goal.
For that reason he should have pipped Danny for M.O.M award. (Pato not for me)
COYLE back TMP So he can stab us in the back again? NEVER
Why would he do that? Doesn’t mean to say when you sin once you will again and everybody deserves a second chance? All I know is I haven’t seen such exciting football at this level since he was in charge, nothing comes remotely close and to be honest most of the last three seasons have been utter dross with no passion, no excitement and no motivation
I don’t drink coffee! Obviously unhappy fans are a concern. But didn’t those same fans want defence strengthening both in the final days of Eddie and in the final days of Owen? As for ‘the Flood thing’, Arse’s biggest (or certainly very big at 30% shareholding) shareholder is now officially the world’s richest man. WTFGO there??? But… But, Arse are looking at least as good as Spurs and Chelski for next season’s Champions League. And the Joint Chair method is working well at WHU. I have a lot of sympathy with Brendan for feeling unhappy. He’s had a hell of a lot to deal with for the last 3 years. And he’s been in the glare of Bfc publicity for things like not sorting out compo before giving Owen permission to speak with Gartside, and for appointing Brian Laws without consulting with CEO Fletch (who wanted Dowie). But if he hasn’t got a proposal, or can’t actually fund what he wants to do, what is it that we actually feel he can do at the moment? Besides, the disagreement is hardly new, as is pointed out in the books by Flood himself, Thomas and Fletcher particularly. Am I allowed to predict that this one too shall pass despite its somewhat LET-heightened profile? Finally I’ll just observe how Owen still (STILL – crikey) polarises the fanbase. I’m a rule nothing out kinda guy, but I want a gaffer who brings us together like a solid defensive wall, not one who drives us apart in a blaze of promises. I’d also like a fanbase that doesn’t bay for blood when things don’t work out first time, but I probably won’t get that either. Excuse me while I sigh. Anyway, do you think Owen would come back? And if he and Brendan were both back, how much money have they actually got to spend? About two cups of coffee’s worth? Make mine a pint pre-Wolves, tmp!