Kevin Blackwell and Sam Ellis sent out a team to play long ball football that was no match for the Clarets in the end but the 
“I’m embarrassed by what I saw there tonight,” said Blackwell, Neil Warnock’s former number two at Sheffield United.
“We showed contempt tonight for a team coming to
“I knew after three minutes that the game was not being played at the tempo I wanted it played and we did everything we could have done bar score the goals for Burnley. We let them get their breath and shape back after the goal.
“It was garbage, absolute rubbish and the frustrating thing is I know we are ten times better than that but at the moment if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
“I will not defend the players after an inept performance like that because I think I owe it to the fans to say the real things and not hide behind bullshit.
“We were poor and I apologise to the fans. We have been magnificent this year but tonight we got what we deserved because anybody who thinks they can pull on a shirt and have the right to go out on a pitch and win the game is sadly mistaken. I apologise to the fans and have to say I am sorry for them.”
After being outplayed by the Clarets they were booed off by a set of fans never known for fair play and Blackwell added, “I can’t blame the fans for booing because if I had been in their shoes I would have booed us off. The team I put out was good enough to beat
Incredibly he then concluded, “The only positive tonight is that if you look at the youngsters you know they will come through in the end but they are making mistakes whilst they are learning. When you ask youngsters to do a man’s job they are going to make mistakes at the same time and there is very little you can do.”
I’m not sure Blackwell knew just who was playing if he really thought it was a matter of youngsters making mistakes. Six of his starting line up were over the age of 30 with almost 2,500 league appearances between them.
Add to that the vastly experienced Wright,
It looks as though
Steve Cotterill dedicated the win to the fantastic
“It was a great win for us and I thought it was deserved too. We knew it was going to be a tough away game against a good side but we put in the performance we expected from them.
“I thought we thoroughly deserved the three points and we could have scored more in the second half.”
Was he confident? “Funnily enough I said to Dave Kevan just before the game that I fancied us and you probably think I’m stark raving bonkers but I still did after their goal.
“There was a steely resolve about the lads today and we looked okay before the game too, so I thought we might get a good performance and we kept that determination.
“We went out there and said we needed to win the first header, which we didn’t and we were behind. But we kept that determination after their goal and the really pleasing thing for me was that we kept the ball.
“To come to a great club like
And of the fans, “I thought the fans were terrific tonight and I’d like to thank them. I’m glad that we could send them home happy.”
On his loan players he said, “James O’Connor worked his socks off and we need that if we don’t have Richard Chaplow.
“I phoned Harry Redknapp after the game and said we had to play Richard Duffy on the left wing, he said we could play him in goal if we liked. I told him, ‘Don’t say that, we might have to yet.’
Finally John McGreal who collected even more injuries. “John came into the game with a shoulder and neck injury, then he picked up a knee injury and then he got an ankle injury. He must have run over a cat on the way in, so we’ll have to be careful with him and get him padded up on the coach.”