I got a few strange looks from my staff

Last updated : 06 November 2006 By Tony Scholes
Magilton saw his side beaten for the first time in four games but felt they deserved at least a point after holding the Clarets until the first minute of stoppage time. “I feel sorry for the lads because we did enough over the ninety minutes to have got something out of the game,” he said afterwards.

“We started the game well, we controlled possession for long periods and we could have been heard in the first half. But you cannot give players free headers three or four yards from goal at this level, in fact at any level, and we paid a big price for that one moment of slackness.

“It doesn't matter whether it is the first minute or the last minute, you cannot switch off and this is not the first time this has happened this season. We have spoken about how important it is to keep our concentration for the whole game. It is something we have to put right because we are getting punished for it and that will continue to happen until we learn our lessons.

“They worked really hard at the end of what has been a testing week for us with three games and two long trips, but I was pleased with our fitness, and Gary Roberts [on loan from Accrington Stanley] did well on his full debut. There were positives to come out of the game, but that one lapse in concentration cost us.”

Clarets' boss Steve Cotterill was happy to focus the attention on teenager Chris McCann after this latest victory. It was something of a surprise when Chris was selected to play at the back, a decision the manager had made earlier in the week.

“I thought Chris was immaculate today,” Cotterill said of the youngster. “The only time I have seen him play centre half was when we played a practice game against the youth team just after I came to Burnley. He marked Robbie Blake and Ian Moore that day and was excellent and I just thought putting him in there today would save me putting a right back to centre half, a right winger to right back and a substitute on the right wing.

“I got a few strange looks from my staff at the time but I thought he could do it and I thought that minimalising the number of changes would help us. I' decided to do it on the way back from Luton. I thought he could do it and lo and behold he didn't let me or himself down.”

Wayne Thomas was on the bench but not able to play the full game. “He's worked incredibly hard to get close to the bench today,” the manager revealed. “He shouldn't really have been there but he said he might be able to give us ten or twenty minutes if he was needed. That was excellent, it is what I would expect from my captain, and to see him come in this morning and train was a pleasant surprise.”

Onto the game and he didn't quite see it the same way as his Ipswich counterpart Magilton. “I'm delighted we got that winning goal and if they had scored it would have been on the break because most of the possession was down their end. We were the team in the second half looking to win the game and force the issue.

“They are all big wins and the longer you are up there the bigger the wins become. We are delighted to have 31 points on the board at this time of the season, it has been a great week for us with nine points from three games. We're on a nice little run.

“It's also got rid of the Saturday/Tuesday effect for a while now and that gives the lads time to have a breather mentally, they won't be getting one physically.”