Steve Taylor, Micky Phelan and Derek Scott were the scorers last time Portsmouth were beaten at Burnley and that was thirty seasons ago. We won the game 3-0 during our Third Division Championship season and it was a 19th league game without defeat.
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| Martin Paterson could be back in the squad today |
Since, they've most certainly had the better of things. There have been six league games and one Carling Cup tie. Four of them have been lost with the other three drawn.
In that 1981/82 season we did the double over Portsmouth, winning at Fratton Park on the weekend that Bob Lord announced he was standing down. It was our first away win of eight successes on the road last season and until this year we hadn't been Portsmouth at all since that season.
Then, back in February, Eddie Howe got his first win as Burnley manager at Fratton Park to end that run. We won 2-1 that night with goals from Jay Rodriguez and Dean Marney, a rearranged game that should have been played a year ago last week but was called off because of the weather.
It's always a good time to win a game but now would be especially nice to help us move further up the Championship. We hit tenth spot last Saturday night, although midweek results have dropped us down a place, and that's the highest we've been all season.
Another win would push us closer to that top six and a win would also see us achieve four successive league wins, an amazing turn round after losing the previous four.
The last time we did win four on the spin was back in October and November 2005 and it includes two very memorable games. The first of our current run of three wins was against Hull, and the first of the four six years ago was also against Hull. We won 1-0 in front of the Sky cameras with an Ade Akinbiyi goal.
We followed that up in midweek with the Richard Beeby show at home to Millwall. We won 2-1 and the goalscorers were Nathan Dyer and Wade Elliott but the major statistic on the night was that four players, James O'Connor and Millwall's Ben May, Jody Morris and Andy Marshall were all sent off.
The only away win in the four was the unforgettable 3-2 win at Luton which featured a hat trick from Ade in what was as good a centre forward performance as I've seen in years for Burnley and the heroics of John Spicer in goal following Brian Jensen's dismissal.
The run ended with Spicer scoring the only goal against Leicester in a game that saw Lee Grant make his Burnley debut having arrived on loan from Derby to cover for the suspended Jensen.
To today, and a win over Portsmouth would see that run equalled. It's a game that will see Eddie Howe potentially have far more options up front than he's had all season.
Charlie Austin, injured in the recent home defeat against Leeds, is back in the reckoning and so is Martin Paterson who hasn't kicked a ball for the first team since the opening day of the season. You have to go back almost a year beyond that, to the 3-0 home win against Leicester in August 2010 for the last time Pato played a full ninety minutes at first team level.
I don't expect either of them to start but I would think Charlie will definitely be on the bench at least. Will Ross Wallace return? He's been a regular until missing the Ipswich win through a one match ban and then being named substitute at West Ham. He did well when he came on but again might have to take a place on the bench.
Much will depend on what formation Howe goes for. I wouldn't be surprised to see a return of a 4-4-2 formation with Sam Vokes getting another start. If so, one of the midfielders from last week would lose out. That could be Dean Marney although his performance at the Boleyn Ground last week hardly merits him being sidelined.
Still, all managers will tell you it is a good problem to have and if Eddie had similar options defensively I'm sure he'd be a happy man.
We could line up today: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Ben Mee, Junior Stanislas, Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann, Keith Treacy, Sam Vokes, Jay Rodriguez. Subs from: Jon Stewart, Andre Amougou, Brian Easton, Dean Marney, Ross Wallace, Alex MacDonald, Zavon Hines, Martin Paterson, Charlie Austin.
Our Opponents - Portsmouth
A game against Portsmouth inevitably leads to comment on the off field goings on at Fratton Park. The reports coming out suggest that they are a club who are once again back in crisis following the resignation of chairman Vladimir Antonov.
Thursday saw the 30th anniversary of the death of Bob Lord. He became Burnley chairman in 1955 and since that day the club have had only three others to hold that title - John Jackson, Frank Teasdale and the current chairman Barry Kilby - with all three of them committed Clarets.
Portsmouth have had more chairmen in the last two years. They jumped from one crisis to another and it really is astonishing that they are still in business.
They are, and they travel to Turf Moor in 18th place although they are just four points behind us and with a game in hand. Their problem this season on the field has been away from home. They currently have just three points from nine away games, a sharp contrast to their home form.
Those three points on the road have come at Middlesbrough, Bristol City and Crystal Palace. The first two were in August with the Palace draw on 1st November with them having played only one away game since.
That draw at Palace was during the period when Guy Whittingham and Stuart Gray were in temporary charge after Steve Cotterill had made the move to Nottingham Forest. He'd become Pompey boss in the summer of 2010 following their relegation from the Premier League.
The new man in charge is Michael Appleton, the former Preston and West Brom midfielder. His playing career came to an early end due to injury and he joined the coaching staff at the Hawthorns and was assistant manager to both Roberto Di Matteo and Roy Hodgson.
Today will be his fourth game in charge and so far he's won one (Coventry at home), drawn one (Leicester at home) and lost one (Watford away).
The main doubt for Portsmouth this afternoon is winger and former Sunderland film star Liam Lawrence. He's been out for five weeks with ankle ligament damage.
"We would love to have him in and around the squad again," said Appleton. "It would give everyone a huge lift. He's not just the captain but he brings a lot of quality to the team. But we're cautious of not rushing him back too soon."
Portsmouth could be unchanged from the team that beat Coventry 2-1 last week when their goals were scored by Greg Halford (pen) and Joel Ward.
The team was: Stephen Henderson, Greg Halford, Ricardo Rocha, Jason Pearce, Joe Mattock, Hayden Mullins (Luke Varney), George Thorne, Joel Ward, David Norris, Erik Huseklepp (Benjani), Dave Kitson. Subs not used: Jamie Ashdown, Aaron Mokoena, Marko Futacs.
Last Time They Were Here
Portsmouth arrived at Turf Moor last season, just as they do today, with the Clarets on the back of a three match winning run. We'd beaten both Swansea and Middlesbrough at Turf Moor and followed that up with a resounding 4-2 victory at Pride Park over Derby County.
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| Chris Eagles was credited with the Burnley goal |
Those wins had given us an excellent chance of reaching the play offs but it wasn't to be as Portsmouth came and took a point in a 1-1 draw.
Ahead of the game the two teams lined up to applaud Graham Alexander onto the pitch after he'd completed his 1,000 games. It was well deserved for Grezza but badly timed and it turned the atmosphere into something closer to a carnival or a testimonial game rather than a crucial Championship fixtures.
Portsmouth came ready to offer precious little in terms of attacking intent but despite taking the game to them we struggled to create much and it was still 0-0 at half time although we did look to have a good shout for a penalty for handball just ahead of the break.
The visitors changed tactics in the second half. Besides offering nothing going forward they were also hell bent on shortening the half as much as possible with some of the most blatant of time wasting. Little was done but just 11 minutes into the half they had goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown yellow carded for his blatant time wasting.
I wrote at the time: "Was it really like this with us when Steve Cotterill was manager? I thought not, but there are a lot would say otherwise."
As often happens in this type of game, the team with no intent on attacking scores a goal. There could not have been much of a surprise when it was David Nugent who scored the goal with an excellent effort from the edge of the box. Nugent, respectfully, acknowledge the Pompey fans but otherwise didn't celebrate the goal.
You sensed our play off bid was coming to an end and that we'd lose the game. We did, thankfully, get a point with the goal credited to Chris Eagles although Wade Elliott got the last touch. Tyrone Mears set up Eagles for the shot but his effort, although goal bound, did get a touch from Wade.
A draw it was, and effectively it ended our play off hopes.
The teams were;
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Michael Duff, Andre Bikey (Ross Wallace 87), Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Chris McCann (Nathan Delfouneso59), Wade Elliott, Chris Eagles, Jay Rodriguez, Chris Iwelumo (Steven Thompson 78). Subs not used: Lee Grant, Clarke Carlisle, Graham Alexander, Marvin Bartley.
Portsmouth: Jamie Ashdown, Ritchie De Laet (Carl Dickinson 76), Aaron Mokoena, Greg Halford, Hermann Hreidarsson, Jonathan Hogg (Danny Webber 80), Hayden Mullins, David Cotterill, Joel Ward, David Nugent (Nadir Ciftci 90+1), Nwankwo Kanu. Subs not used: Darryl Flahavan.
Previous Games against Portsmouth
| Last 20 Years | |||||
| Season | Comp | Ven | Res | Att | Scorers |
| 1994/95 | Division 1 | a | 0-2 | 9,067 | |
| h | 1-2 | 10,666 | Eyres | ||
| 2000/01 | Division 1 | h | 1-1 | 15,494 | Weller |
| a | 0-2 | 12,941 | |||
| 2001/02 | Division 1 | h | 1-1 | 14,123 | Taylor |
| a | 1-1 | 18,020 | Johnson | ||
| 2002/03 | Division 1 | h | 0-3 | 15,788 | |
| h | 0-1 | 19,221 | |||
| 2007/08 | Carling Cup | h | 0-1 | 8,202 | |
| 2009/10 | Premier League | a | 0-2 | 17,822 | |
| h | 1-2 | 19,714 | Paterson | ||
| 2010/11 | Championship | a | 2-1 | 13,345 | Rodriguez Marney |
| h | 1-1 | 14,923 | Eagles | ||
Click HERE to see all previous results against Portsmouth