Burnley ready to tick at Huish Park

Last updated : 11 January 2014 By Tony Scholes

For those of us who like visiting new grounds, this will be the first for a league game since we visited the Amex Stadium at Brighton in December 2011, and Yeovil will be the newest league club we've visited competitively since we went to Morecambe for a Carling Cup tie in 2010.

I'll be adding it to my list of grounds visited watching Burnley and will be hoping  I can also add it to the list of grounds I've seen us win a league game at. Ipswich, finally, was the last one I added to that second list to take it to 92, I'd love to see Yeovil take it one step closer to three figures.

Tom Heaton is expecting another tough game

One thing we'll definitely be looking to do tomorrow is keep a clean sheet. They've not been as easy to find recently and the 0-0 draw at Wigan was our first clean sheet on the road since Ipswich.

Even so, we've kept ten clean sheets in total in the league this season, a figure matched by Brighton and beaten only by the 14 clean sheets kept by QPR.

Goalkeeper Tom Heaton has been in goal for all of them and is hoping to add another to the total tomorrow but he knows it won't be that simple.

Recalling the home game against them in August, he said: "It was a tough game and for 70 to 75 minutes they were excellent. They came with a plan and sat in and tried to catch us on the counter and I think especially in the first 20 minutes they had a couple of opportunities when they broke on us and got through.

"We were slightly fortunate in terms of a bit of a fortunate goal went in that broke the deadlock and then we ran out 2-0 winners. It was obviously a tough game and we'll be expecting the same again."

Michael Duff is expected to return to play alongside Jason Shackell in the centre of the defence in front of him. Duff missed out at Southampton. He'd picked up an injury at Wigan, got through the Huddersfield game but sat out the cup tie with Kevin Long replacing him and scoring our third goal.

However, Ben Mee isn't expected to make it and that should mean Danny Lafferty continuing at left back. He's started all of the last three away games with tomorrow making it four against the last team he started a home league game against.

The other player out of the reckoning last week was Michael Kightly. Sean Dyche suggested he had a better chance of playing that Mee but less of a chance than Duff.

I'd expect at best a place on the bench for him alongside new signing Ashley Barnes who signed in this morning in time to travel with the team whose plans for the day were changed at the eleventh hour.

They were scheduled to leave this morning and train at Bristol City's training ground, courtesy of our former manager Steve Cotterill, before moving on to their overnight hotel. However, Cotterill's own training plans were hit because of unfit, waterlogged pitches and so we trained at Gawthorpe before making the journey south.

Barnes was involved with the training and is the one member of our squad who has played in a league game at Huish Park this season; he was in the Brighton side that drew 0-0 there in October.

Barnes has scored five goals this season but they've come in three games in a four week period. His first two goals were scored in a 3-0 win against Blackburn at the Amex, then he scored a spectacular goal, highlighted on Youtube, in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth before scoring twice as Brighton beat Leicester 3-1.

He's the first player we've paid a transfer fee for since the summer of 2012 and finally gives us more options up front. Meanwhile our dynamic front two of Sam Vokes and Danny Ings will be looking to continue their top form and ensure Barnes remains on the bench for some time.

I expect the team tomorrow to be: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Danny Lafferty, Keith Treacy, Dean Marney, David Jones, Scott Arfield, Danny Ings, Sam Vokes. Subs from: Alex Cisak, Luke O'Neill, Cameron Dummigan, Kevin Long, David Edgar, Brian Stock, Steven Hewitt, Junior Stanislas, Michael Kightly, Ashley Barnes.

Our hosts Yeovil are the first club to reach the Football League for the first time via the automatic promotion introduced for the 1986/87 season to go on and reach the second tier of English football.

It's a remarkable achievement but they have, as expected, found it difficult and are currently next to bottom of the league courtesy of a better goal difference than Barnsley.

Shane Duffy played once for Burnley

At home they have won just twice, against Nottingham Forest and Blackpool. Defensively they are fine and have conceded the same number of home goals as current league leaders Leicester.

The problem is they've scored just seven with three of them coming in that win against Forest, two in a 2-2 draw against Charlton and one each against Leicester (1-2) and Blackpool (1-0).

They've scored 18 league goals in total. Ed Upson leads the way with four and Ishmael Miller, on loan from Forest, has scored three.

They were amongst the goals a week ago in the FA Cup. They beat League One promotion chasers Leyton Orient 4-0 at Huish Park. James Hayter scored two and there was a goal each for Joel Grant and Liam Davis.

Miller, by then, had returned to Forest and today Paddy Madden, such a prolific scorer for them during last season's promotion run, has signed for Scunthorpe for an undisclosed fee.

Yeovil might have lost two forwards but they hope to have defender Byron Webster fully fit after a hamstring problem forced him off last week and also have Matteo Lanzoni, a recent signing from Oldham, set to make a debut.

There is one familiar figure in the Yeovil team for Burnley fans, or maybe not quite so familiar. That's Shane Duffy who is on loan from Everton. He spent a short time on loan at Burnley in the 2010/11 season but made only one appearance against Ipswich.

Yeovil's team last week for the cup win against Leyton Orient was: Marek Stech, Luke Ayling, Byron Webster (Ed Upson), Shane Duffy, Liam Davis, Kevin Dawson, John Lundstram, Joe Edwards, Sam Foley (Adam Morgan), James Hayter (Kieffer Moore), Joel Grant. Subs not used: Chris Dunn, Jamie McAllister, Joey Jones, Seth Nana Ofori-Twumasi.

 

Previous Games against Yeovil

 

Last 20 Years
Season Comp Ven Res Att  Scorers
2013/14 Championship h 2-0 10,085 Treacy, Vokes