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Moore ends Leicester record
Leicester City will come into this clash full of confidence after securing a fine 2-1 away win at Vicarage Road on Saturday. In their six home games so far this season, Craig Levein’s side won, lost and drawn two times a piece, therefore making the result of this game a very difficult one to call.
Since its inauguration in July 2002, the clarets are yet to be ‘outfoxed’ at the Walkers Stadium (crisp bowl), having taken four points from a possible six there in the league. After twelve years of separation in both league and cup, Burnley and Leicester finally met again in the 1995/96 season, when the Clarets went down 2-0 to the Foxes at Filbert Street in the Coca Cola Cup. A further 2-0 defeat at Turf Moor a fortnight later saw Jimmy Mullen’s Burnley side go out of the competition 4-0 on aggregate, at a time when each round of this domestic competition were played over two legs.
Taking a look back to October 2002, the Clarets travelled to the Walkers Stadium to play a Leicester side, lying second in the division one table. The clarets would make history that afternoon, by becoming the first team to take any sort of result from their new stadium and ending Leicester City’s 100% unbeaten home record in the process. Most fans would have been happy if that result was a draw, but as it turned out, Burnley came away with a win and a clean sheet against the Foxes, who had up until then, been scoring at freewill in the league.
Within half a minute of the kick off, Marlon had to be on his guard as Brian Deane sent a strike just wide of his post. Burnley’s current captain, Frank Sinclair, was next to come close for City, as he cut in from the left hand side and produced a curling left footed cross which skewed just wide of the goal. It was all Leicester early on and once again, Beresford had to be alert to deny Paul Dickov from a one on one opportunity after 15 minutes.
Although Burnley managed to get considerably more involved in the game as the first half progressed, it was Leicester who had created all the clear cut chances.
After the break Burnley came out looking like a new team. Playing in a 4-3-3 formation, Robbie Blake started to make things happen; picking the ball up from midfield and running at the centre half pairing of Taggart and Elliott.
Ten minutes into the second half, the deadlock was broken. Burnley won a corner which was taken by Lee Briscoe. The delivery was initially helped on by Steve Davis, but Arthur Gnohere also got an important touch on the ball, diverting it to Ian Moore, who dispatched a header passed Ian Walker from close distance.
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Last season the Clarets kept another clean sheet at the Walkers Stadium, but unfortunately were unable to score a goal of their own, in a game where the Burnley defence had a relatively light day’s work.
Jean-Louis Valois made his first start for the Clarets and on the day he impressed immensely, offering good movement and an array of neat passes throughout. We went close early on as Richard Chaplow tried his luck from range, but Kevin pressman handled the strike well.
Burnley absorbed everything that was thrown at them, with Frank Sinclair and John McGreal looking watertight in the centre of Burnley’s defence.
In the 73rd minute Jordan Stewart maliciously kicked out at Ian Moore down by the left touchline. It came completely out of the blue and was unprovoked – he rightly was shown the red card and as a consequence, presented Burnley with a good chance of winning the match, with just less than twenty minutes left to play. The goal didn’t come, but Burnley could be proud of the way they had played – it had been another excellent performance on the road.