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There is no doubt that this inability to win away from home is continuing to put pressure on us at home. We'd be going into this game tonight in a strong position in the top six but for that late equaliser against us at Norwich and as Brian Laws has said, we must win our home games if we continue to fail to win on the road.
It's incredible. Just two away defeats from the first eight would, I am sure, have been acceptable to most fans at the start of the season, but not when the others are all draws. Certainly, from what I've seen, at least three of those should have been won and I'd honestly say we probably could quite conceivably had won maximum points from five of them.
But we haven't and that means we go into tonight's game in ninth position, needing wins to get us back up there and to put the pressure on the teams ahead of us rather than ourselves. Doncaster will be difficult for us to play against as we saw two seasons ago. We need to reverse that trend and come out on top.
I think most decent judges would have expected Doncaster to drop back to League One very quickly following their promotion in 2008, but they are still here and now into their third successive season in the Championship.
In truth, there's never been a threat and they have finished 14th and then 12th and that latter position is what they hold now leaving them behind us only on goal difference.
The lowest they've been this season is 15th and they did get into the top three at one point in the season. They are certainly scoring some goals too with no less than twelve in the last five league games.
James Coppinger looks the one to watch tonight. He's scored five times in the league this season. That has been bettered by the currently injured Billy Sharp but the former Burnley target's six goals have included three from the penalty spot.
Doncaster have signed former Barnsley defender Dennis Sousa but having played his last football in Qatar they now await international clearance before they can play him. This morning there was no indication that it would come through in time for tonight's game.
As mentioned above, Sharp is injured and the other player who is rated doubtful is Joseph Mills who is on loan from Southampton. The left-back is the younger brother of former Doncaster, and now Reading, centre-half Matt Mills.
Former Bury and Preston player Simon Whaley is training with them, but at this time he hasn't signed and isn't available. They will have one former Preston player in their ranks in David Healy who signed last week on loan from Sunderland and scored on his debut against Millwall on Saturday.
Their line up could well include two ex-Clarets in Wayne Thomas and John Oster. The team that played Millwall was: Neil Sullivan, James O'Connor, Shelton Martis, Wayne Thomas, Joseph Mills, James Coppinger, Brian Stock, Dean Shiels, John Oster, James Hayter, David Healy. Subs: Gary Woods, Sam Hird, Byron Webster, Mark Wilson, Steve Brooker, Mustapha Dumbuya.
Brian Laws is hoping that Andre Bikey is fit to resume. He's missed the last three games with a combination of illness and the rib injury he sustained at Millwall. He wasn't even included on the bench on Saturday at Norwich but he has resumed training this week.
I think the game should see Martin Paterson continue up front after his two goals on Saturday and it would not come as a surprise to see both Bikey and Jack Cork back in the starting line up.
Our team could be: Lee Grant, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney, Chris Eagles, Martin Paterson, Jay Rodriguez. Subs from: Brian Jensen, David Edgar, Leon Cort, Michael Duff, Graham Alexander, Ross Wallace, Chris Iwelumo, Steven Thompson.
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The early part of the game centred on referee Steve Bennett being too lenient on Doncaster's Matt Mills. He was eventually yellow carded after twelve minutes for a foul on Steven Thompson. Thommo reacted and both saw yellow.
When Mills went in again, Thompson reacted again, and Thompson saw red and from that moment we really were up against it.
It took us to half time to sort out a formation and we eventually settled for a 4-4-1 formation with Chris Eagles up front. It didn't work, although that was no fault of Eagles.
We did come close once and should have scored but Chris McCann headed tamely into the hands of Neil Sullivan.
Not as though we'd had too many problems keeping them out, that was until the last few minutes when they twice came close to winning it. Firstly, Eagles' brilliant tackle denied them and then Jensen made an excellent double save.
In the end, a 0-0 draw was a good point for us in what had been a tedious game. Then, we'd just 48 hours to prepare for a televised game at Barnsley and a meeting with Mr Nigel Miller.
The teams were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott (Alan Mahon 34), Joey Gudjonsson (Michael Duff 79), Chris McCann, Chris Eagles, Robbie Blake (Ade Akinbiyi 58), Steven Thompson. Subs not used: Diego Penny, Martin Paterson.
Doncaster: Neil Sullivan, James O'Connor, Matthew Mills, Sam Hird (James Hayter 38), Shelton Martis, James Chambers, Richie Wellens, Brian Stock, Martin Woods, Lewis Guy (Paul Heffernan 72), Jason Price (James Coppinger 72). Subs not used: John Spicer, Gareth Taylor.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1991/92 | 4 | a | 4-1 | 2,940 | Conroy(2 1p) Harper Yates |
. | FA | h | 1-1 | 7,076 | SM Davis |
. | AG | h | 2-0 | 2,590 | Francis Eli |
. | FA | a | 3-1 | 4,207 | Harper(2) Eli |
. | 4 | h | 2-1 | 9,605 | Conroy Eli |
2008/09 | C | h | 0-0 | 12,173 | . |
. | . | a | 1-2 | 14,020 | Paterson |