He had a head like a television today

Last updated : 06 October 2002 By Tony Scholes

There is no doubt that the fortunes of the two clubs are somewhat different right now as the Clarets continue their unbeaten run whilst Wednesday’s poor start to the season goes on.

That was very much reflected in the views of the two managers and Terry Yorath was certainly less than pleased with his own teams’s performance,

"We got off to a slow start, we didn’t win any tackles in the middle of the field, nor any headers, and we allowed them to dominate us. We went to sleep in midfield when they took a quick free kick and they got off to a flier with the early goal. You’ve got to say it was a great cross but to go down so early in the game, here at Hillsborough, it didn’t help matters at all.

"After conceding two more goals we had enough chances to force our way back into the match. The vital one was the one that Gerald (Sibon) put over the crossbar. It came quickly after we got our goal back. We’ve missed so many chances this season, and haven’t scored goals after dominating games. We’ve tried Knight with Shefki (Kuqi), Owusu with Shefki and Gerald has played up there. But we still have problems and Shefki Kuqi had a head like a television today.

"One of the main barriers to a revival was goalkeeper Marlon Beresford. Sometimes it happens like that, when a player goes back to his old club and plays out of his skin. The one from Gerald’s shot towards the top corner was a great save, the one from Shefki in the left hand corner was another good save, and there were others. On another the day the one that squirmed under his body may have crossed the line.

"We’ve got to be strong mentally, and show a lot of character, but at the moment we look fragile. We keep telling the players they have got to believe in what they’re doing. They showed they do have belief by making all those chances in the second half. But the table doesn’t lie."

Stan though was a happy man as he saw his injury hit Clarets record another win. He did seem to forget about Matthew O’Neill (a recent sub at Derby) with his claim on how many players he had available to him.

"We took our chances and did very well in the first period of the second half. They were all good goals and we created a lot of chances and today we took them. It was an open and entertaining match, we expected them to come at us and that’s what happened. But we matched them.

"Gareth Taylor gave a superb performance of centre-forward play today, Robbie Blake with the ball at his feet is always jinking and causing problems whilst we have Ian Moore or Dimitri Papadopoulos with electric pace. I only ha d 16 fit players today though.

"I think that’s only the skipper’s second or third match back. He will get better and the thing with Branchy is at Turf Moor, they’re onto him straight away and don’t give him a chance, but he’s a good player.

"Marlon Beresford is as good as anything at this level and I will sit down with him and the Chairman early next week and I hope to get him on a long term contract for this and next season."

Yorath’s woes deepen

Brian Doogan (Sunday Times)

Terry Yorath keeps issuing a defiant message, but it is out of duty, not conviction. Sheffield Wednesday will be £23m in debt at the end of this season and perhaps on the brink of oblivion.

Goals from Gareth Taylor, Glen Little and Ian Moore deepened the crisis at Hillsborough. "Things certainly don’t seem to be going our way, but we have to fight through and eventually we will turn the corner," said Yorath. But they may be headed down a dark alley before the corner comes.

Burnley, who started the season with four consecutive defeats but are fast climbing, began as if they were the home team, claiming the lead when Taylor headed past Kevin Pressman from Graham Branch’s cross. It was almost 50 minutes before they added a second when Little outwitted the Wednesday defence and found the bottom corner with his sweet strike from a narrow angle. Moore’s superb finish on the hour seemed to have buried the hosts.

Donnelly came off the bench to reduce the deficit before Burnley keeper Marlon Beresford, whose contract ran out yesterday, produced a succession of saves to justify a new deal this week. The week ahead could be crucial for Wednesday, too.