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Coventry at home tonight and it is only just over five weeks since we played them at the Ricoh so you would think little would have happened since then. At the time they had just revealed a Ray Ranson led consortium had rescued them minutes before falling into administration and so there seemed little that could happen in the next five weeks.
That's not been the case - they sold one of their strikers Dele Adebola to Bristol City and let another, Kevin Kyle, go to Wolves on loan, this after he'd been sent off twice in a short space of time, the second of them against us.
They'd been under a transfer embargo so when that was removed it gave them the chance to increase the squad. The only two signings though before the window closed were Daniel Fox and Scott Dann two young defenders from Walsall.
Iain Dowie had been given full support by the new men but then came the shock last week when he was dismissed after, according to Ranson, they disagreed on the way forward for the club. He's since been replaced by former Fulham & Real Sociedad manager Chris Coleman, the former Blackburn centre half.
Coventry had won just the one league game since we met in January but Coleman got off to the best possible start with a win against Leicester on Saturday that has left them in 18th position in the table.
The Clarets are unbeaten this year at home in league games although we've played only three out of eight away from home. We really need to make this one count to get ourselves as close as possible to the top six ahead of the following three games, all against teams currently above us.
Chris Coleman received a blow yesterday when defender Arjan de Zeeuw suffered an injury in training. Coleman believes he could have a grade one tear in his medial ligament but is currently awaiting the results of the scan.
Midfielder Stephen Hughes was substituted with concussion after just a few minutes of the win against Leicester and is ruled out. Kevin Thornton who replaced him on Saturday is likely to start in his place and also in midfield Michael Doyle will be missing the second in a three match suspension following a very harsh looking red card in the cup defeat to West Brom.
De Zeeuw hadn't featured on Saturday so the only change looks to be Thornton for Hughes and the likely Coventry side is: Andy Marshall, Isaac Osbourne, Elliott Ward, Marcus Hall, Daniel Fox, Jay Tabb, Kevin Thornton, Michael Hughes, Julian Gray, Michael Mifsud, Leon Best. Subs from: Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, Wayne Andrews, Robbie Simpson, Scott Dann, Daniel Fox, Chris Birchall, Gary Borrowdale.
Owen Coyle has had to rule out central defender Stanislav Varga with illness and it is looking increasingly likely that Ade Akinbiyi will also have to miss a second game having suffered similarly.
Will Andrew Cole feature? It was first said he'd miss one game, then it was thought that he could make the sixteen tonight. I believe that's the best we can hope for but I would not be surprised if he wasn't named in the squad. Alan Mahon and Steve Jones are both back in training but it is not expected that either of them will be risked, neither of them have played since the 2-1 win at the Ricoh.
With Varga out it looks as though Clarke Carlisle will get his first start of the year after returning from injury in the following team: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Kyle Lafferty. Subs from: Gabor Kiraly, Stephen Jordan, David Unsworth, Mark Randall, John Spicer plus if available Andrew Cole, Ade Akinbiyi.
It was the last game of the season and that's just how it looked as the Clarets went down to a 2-1 home defeat last May against Coventry.
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With just five minutes gone a 0-0 draw was suspected with players from both teams showing a total lack of urgency with no real meaning to the game but Coventry did take the lead through Michael Mifsud either side of two missed chances from Ade Akinbiyi.
Burnley were 1-0 behind at half time and soon after the restart Coventry doubled their lead with a Jay Tabb goal. Incredibly it was given despite a clear offside, but such was the lack of enthusiasm no one seemed to care.
It was loan player Paul McVeigh, on as a half time substitute who brought us back into the game. It gave us a short boost but in reality we never threatened an equaliser until Wayne Thomas headed a late chance over the bar.
The final whistle came as something of a relief, and another season that had started with such high hopes had ended at least thankfully without a frantic fight to stay up. McVeigh said his goodbyes, Eric Djemba-Djemba played his last game and it was also a farewell to the two unused substitutes Danny Coyne and Graham Coughlan.
The teams on the final day of the season were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Joey Gudjonsson (John Spicer 75), Alan Mahon (Steve Jones 45), Andy Gray, Ade Akinbiyi (Paul McVeigh 45). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Graham Coughlan.
Coventry: Andy Marshall, David McNamee, Elliott Ward, Colin Hawkins, Marcus Hall, Jay Tabb (Lee Hildreth), Isaac Osbourne, Michael Doyle, Kevin Thornton (Liam Davis 68), Kevin Kyle, Michael Mifsud. Subs not used: Luke Steele, Stephen Hughes, Andy Gooding.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1999/2000 | FAC | a | 0-3 | 22,774 | . |
2001/02 | 1 | a | 2-0 | 16,849 | Taylor Little |
| . | . | h | 1-0 | 18,751 | Taylor |
2002/03 | 1 | h | 3-1 | 13,470 | Blake(pen) Grant Davenport(og) |
| . | . | a | 1-0 | 13,659 | Cox |
2003/04 | 1 | h | 1-2 | 10,358 | Blake |
| . | . | a | 0-4 | 12,953 | . |
2004/05 | C | h | 2-2 | 10,919 | Blake(pen) Branch |
| . | . | a | 2-0 | 13,236 | Oster Moore |
2005/06 | C | h | 4-0 | 11,683 | G O'Connor Thomas Akinbiyi(2) |
| . | . | a | 0-1 | 19,641 | . |
2006/07 | C | a | 0-1 | 18,362 | . |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 12,830 | McVeigh |
2007/08 | C | a | 2-1 | 17,347 | Akinbiyi Blake |