It is what I think Burnley is all about

Last updated : 25 March 2006 By Tony Scholes

“If you play like that you don't deserve to be in the play-offs, it's as simple and straightforward as that,” said Worthington after watching his side go down to a 2-0 defeat against a confident Burnley side.


“There are three things we've got to do,” he added. “We've got to take our chances; we've got to pass the ball better and we've got to have that consistency. That's been our Achilles heel this season. We get two or three good performances and then you get one of these thrown in.

“For the first fifteen or twenty minutes I thought we started very, very well. We had three or four great chances and you've got to take one of those. We've not taken them and sure enough the first real attack that they've had they've gone and scored a goal.

“I thought their second goal knocked the stuffing out of the players a bit and our passing was very, very slack. We've shown our mettle against Sheffield United and Leeds and then we've thrown in one of these. It's very disappointing and I'll be looking for a big response at home to Leicester next Saturday.”

Six defeats, five of them without a goal, no wonder it was a happier Steve Cotterill who spoke after the 2-0 victory. “We're delighted with the win,” he said. “We felt that in the first ten or fifteen minutes we got that bit of luck that has perhaps deserted us in recent weeks. They hit the bar and we had good defending for the other one, but having said that, we caused our own downfall.

“I've spoken to Michael Duff about that because if he had put two of those balls into the stand, it might not have been pretty but it would have demoralised the centre forwards rather than encourage them. He had done that, they wouldn't have had those chances because they came from ourselves.

“Other than that though, over the ninety minutes, we deserved it and I am really pleased for all of the players.”

He then spoke about the lead up to the game. “We had a couple of meetings this week, chaired by Dave Kevan, and he wanted to do a couple of things with the players. What he did was excellent and I think he deserves a lot of credit going towards this, but so do the players because they had to be brutally honest in it and they were. That coincided with a really good team ethic and a couple of very good goals and a nice clean sheet too.”

He spoke his new recruits, starting with goalscorer Andy Gray. “Andy's first touch is excellent and what he has produced tonight you will see from him time and time again,” he said. “He's different to Ade so the set up for us has to be completely different, but I thought Andy was excellent with ten other good players with him plus the substitutes.

“He will get the headlines which he'll be delighted about, but we are pleased with everyone because it has been a long time and it has ben really tough on everyone at the club.

“Phil Bardsley's contribution shouldn't be overlooked either. He's come and fitted in with the lads because he's so humble and he's taking stick off other players already.”

Latest signing Alan Mahon was named on the bench but when asked how close he was to starting, Steve said, “Very close, but we go on a lot about honesty in our dressing room, so having picked the team yesterday and done all the set plays to come in and kick one of them in the teeth and tell them they are not playing is not what our dressing room is about.”

He also had praise for the fans and added, “The supporters tonight were just different class too, and it was just nice to go into the dressing room at the end and see smiling faces on the players as well as the fans. It is what I think Burnley is all about, with the players and crowd all as one, ant that's the only way we've got to be here.”

Steve ended by dedicating the game to Tom Smith, the young fan who died recently. “More than anything else that win was for him and there was no better night than with the Sky cameras here. It was for him and his family and we've waited to long to dedicate it to him.”