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That night at Reading in May 2009 will live with me, and just about every Burnley fan who was there, forever. It was the most fantastic of nights that it's just impossible to forget.
No matter what happens today it won't come close to matching that but it really is time we started putting a run of results together. We've shown ourselves capable of winning games this season but not once have we been able to string two wins together, not even earlier in the season when we enjoyed an unbeaten run of six games that was brought to an end by Reading and that horrible 4-0 defeat on the Turf.
That inconsistency has cost manager Brian Laws his job but we are in a decent position in the league and one that can be a springboard to a successful season just as long as we can see the back of these inconsistent results.
With league leaders QPR to come next in the league we could do with a result here to take into that and at least we've finally found our way to winning an away game.
Reading are certainly much changed since our last league visit there when Steve Coppell was still managing the club. Present manager Brian McDermott is now into his second year in charge and having stepped up from the coaching staff has settled into the job well.
Like us they have struggled at times for consistency but they have at least put an end to the sort of home form that saw their 2008/09 season collapse. They are currently unbeaten at the Madejski since Swansea won there in October but they have drawn four of the six home games played since then. Saturday's defeat at Swansea was their first loss in nine games.
Right now they are in that group just hovering below the play offs and so close is it that their defeat at Swansea on Saturday saw them drop from sixth to eleventh in the table. They are one point behind us, although we've played a game less.
Their goals have been shared around this season with four players having scored four league goals each. They are Simon Church, Ian Harte, Noel Hunt and Jimmy Kebe but they are sit behind leading scorer Shane Long who has netted eight times with four of them coming from the penalty spot.
Long had an excellent game in their win at Turf Moor and is very much the one to watch.
There were no reported injuries for Reading from their defeat at Swansea but manager Brian McDermott is not particularly happy at them having another game so quickly. "The fixture list is ridiculous," he said. "I've never seen anything like it, but we have to live with it, we have strong players."
Jobi McAnuff and Mikele Leigertwood could come back into contention. They were missing on Saturday with illness and a hamstring problem respectively whilst both Noel Hunt and Jem Karacan were rested. Ivar Ingimarsson is also back in training.
They lined up at Swansea: Adam Federici, Andy Griffin, Matt Mills, Alex Pearce, Ian Harte, Jimmy Kebe, Brian Howard, Jay Tabb, Hal Robson-Kanu, Simon Church, Shane Long. Subs: Alex McCarthy, Shaun Cummings, Zurab Khizanishvili, Jem Karacan, Jake Taylor, Noel Hunt, Michail Antonio.
Stuart Gray has confirmed that having rested some players on Saturday for the 4-2 win against Sheffield United he's likely to make more changes today for this game. That could see returns for some of the four players who were left out of the game on Saturday - Andre Bikey, Jack Cork, Ross Wallace and John Guidetti.
With Martin Paterson and Danny Fox still likely to be missing, Gray is expected to select his side from the same 18 players who have been on duty throughout the holiday period who are: Lee Grant, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff, Brian Easton, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney, Chris Eagles, Chris Iwelumo, Jay Rodriguez, Brian Jensen, David Edgar, Andre Bikey, Jack Cork, Ross Wallace, John Guidetti, Steven Thompson.
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Reading were above us in third place with two points more and had made a very impressive start to the season at home. They'd won all four league games at the Madejski and had scored no less than sixteen goals, including six against Sheffield Wednesday, four against both Crystal Palace and Swansea and two against Plymouth. They'd also netted five times in a Carling Cup win against Luton.
Unfortunately we weren't able to maintain the sort of form we'd shown in those previous wins but Reading were nowhere near their best either. Although they recorded a 3-1 win in this game, those three goals were their only on target efforts throughout the entire ninety minutes.
Reading were in front on four minutes with a headed goal from Noel Hunt that he knew nothing about. He was knocked out cold in scoring it and although he carried on for another twenty minutes or so he was clearly suffering and it was later confirmed that he was withdrawn with concussion.
They didn't have another shot on goal in the first half and only threatened to do so once but Stephen Jordan got in a brilliant challenge. We were having most of the play but the passing wasn't crisp enough and we were struggling to create anything ourselves.
It remained 1-0 at half time but not long into the second half they got a very soft goal as elder brother Hunt (Stephen) was somehow left unmarked at the far post to head home.
It was all over soon after when Kevin Doyle got down the left and his cross was met by Shane Long who scored from close range. 3-0 and all three goals scored by Irishmen. And so no surprise when Burnley did pull one back late in the game it came from Chris McCann.
Overall though, performance wise, a disappointing day for both sides, but it was Reading who got the points. There was just time at the end for referee Kevin Friend, who hardly surprisingly had a nightmare, to send off Stephen Jordan.
The teams were;
Reading: Marcus Hahnemann, Liam Rosenior, Andre Bikey, Ivar Ingimarsson, Chris Armstrong (Julian Kelly 65), Jimmy Kebe, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Jem Karacan (Kalifa Cisse 74), Stephen Hunt, Noel Hunt (Shane Long 25), Kevin Doyle. Subs not used: Mikkel Andersen, James Henry.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff (Chris Eagles 56), Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Steven Thompson (Robbie Blake 60), Martin Paterson (Jay Rodriguez 76). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Alan Mahon.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1992/93 | 2 | h | 1-1 | 8,382 | Harper |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 6,398 | . |
1993/94 | 2 | a | 1-2 | 5,855 | Eyres(pen) |
| . | . | h | 0-1 | 11,650 | . |
1994/95 | 1 | a | 0-0 | 8,150 | . |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 9,841 | Parkinson |
1998/99 | 2 | a | 1-1 | 10,080 | Payton |
| . | . | h | 1-1 | 9,366 | Reid |
1999/2000 | 2 | a | 0-0 | 6,149 | . |
| . | . | h | 3-0 | 14,436 | Davis Payton Wright |
2002/03 | 1 | a | 0-3 | 12,009 | . |
| . | . | h | 2-5 | 14,420 | I Moore West |
2003/04 | 1 | h | 3-0 | 9,473 | Blake Chaplow Chadwick |
| . | . | a | 2-2 | 10,543 | I Moore May |
2004/05 | C | a | 0-0 | 15,400 | . |
| . | . | h | 0-0 | 11,392 | . |
2005/06 | C | a | 1-2 | 14,027 | Akinbiyi |
| . | . | h | 0-3 | 12,888 | . |
2006/07 | FAC | a | 2-3 | 11,514 | Akinbiyi G O'Connor |
2008/09 | C | a | 1-3 | 18,621 | McCann |
| . | . | h | 1-0 | 11,538 | Blake |
| . | PO | h | 1-0 | 18,853 | Alexander(p) |
| . | .a | a | 2-0 | 19,909 | Paterson Thompson |
2009/10 | FA | a | 0-1 | 12,910 | . |
2010/11 | C | h | 0-4 | 14,895 | . |