The final match of Season 2006/7 is upon us as the Clarets face Coventry at the Turf this Sunday. Fans need to remember not only the Sunday fixture but also the early kick-off time of 1pm.
Both sides will have nothing to play for but pride although the home team will be hoping to finish on a high with three points,ensuring we finish the season on 60 points with a positive goal difference. The highest we could finish will be 14th if the two East Anglian clubs, Ipswich and Norwich fail to get enough points in their final matches. 60 points would equal our best post-Digital season in 2004/5 when we finished 13th but with a better goal difference.
This would be some comfort to the Clarets fans in this topsy-turvy season that has seen two promotion runs of form between August and November 2006 and during April 2007 but with that awful 19 match winless run in between that saw the club toy with the relegation zone.
Coventry have had a poor season by their standards and could only finish as high as 17th. They are currently 18th on 53 points.
Team Talk
The only player who definitely wont feature for the Clarets in this match is James O’Connor. Chris McCann is also doubtful with an ankle injury.
It is expected that Joey Gudjonsson will therefore play in midfield with the line-up similar to the one that was narrowly defeated by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in our last match.
Jensen, Duff, Thomas, Caldwell, Harley, Elliott, Gudjonsson, Djemba-Djemba, Jones, McVeigh, Gray.
Subs – Coyne, Coughlan, Spicer, Akinbiyi, Garreth O’Connor (or Branch or Mahon)
The gaffer might be tempted to name Branch on the bench and give him a run out in his final League match for the club and possibly even Alan Mahon.
Burnley Team News:
James O’Connor is still recovering from that head-injury he sustained against WBA two matches ago and will not be considered for the final match of the season.
Chris McCann is a doubt for Burnley after limping out of the defeat at Sunderland with an ankle injury.
The gaffer had this to say about the injury situation
‘Chris McCann took a bit of a knock last week he has done some light training with the physio and we are waiting to see how he is for the weekend.We don’t want to go into the summer with any injuries. If Chris isn’t there or round about there then I think we will pick Joey Gudjonsson again, he did very well last week. That’s the only ones I see at the moment who are injured.’
Player to watch: Joey Gudjonsson
The midfielder showed some significant encouraging signs of what he can do against Sunderland and if he can consolidate this perfformance against Coventry it will auger well for 2007/8.
Coventry Team News:
Ian Dowie has a number of first-team injury and suspension problems.
Coventry have even drafted academy youngster Lee Hildreth into their squad.
Colin Hawkins is also doubtful with a leg problem. Defender,Ben Turner begins a four-match ban.
Player to watch: Lee Hildreth
If he plays always good to see what the youth can do in the first team!
Last Time We Met!
We last played Coventry away at the Ricoh back in December in a fairly unremarkable match that saw the Clarets lose 1-0. The Clarets will be hoping to repeat the result the last time we played them a Turf Moor back in August 2005. That day we tonked them 4-0!
Match Prediction:
Lets finish the season on a high and get that 60 points and positive goal difference. After that record-breaking awful 19 winless run between December-March that will be some achievement.
Clarets 2-0 Coventry
Next Match:
Well that’s it for 2006-7 and the close season is upon us. The Clarets will be on a pre-season tour in the Summer and intend to play two pre-season games in the Salzburg region of Austria on Tuesday, July 31 and Saturday, August 4. They have also so far announced one pre-season friendly against Middlesbrough on Saturday 21st July (kick-off at 3pm)
