Around One – Nightmare weekend for Clarets

Neil Emblen - scored Walsall's winner

There were stunned expressions on the faces of Burnley fans as they left Highfield Road but as the results came in things only got worse.

We knew Walsall would have gone above us, it was highly unlikely they would do anything but win against Franchise, and they did just that with a 1-0 win in a less than inspired performance.

With Paul Merson returning they picked up their first win of 2004 with a goal from Neil Emblen against a Franchise team who are now thankfully just about dead and buried. That’s nine successive defeats for them with only one goal scored in those games and that came from a player now at West Ham, Jobi McAnuff.

If Walsall’s win was expected then we could have hoped for better in the east midlands where both Derby and Forest picked up maximum points.

Nottingham Forest have only beaten the bottom two since they won at the Turf back in September and in all honesty I didn’t expect them to beat the in form Crystal Palace, not even at home.

Gareth Williams celebrated his return to the side with two goals but Palace played well and were very unfortunate not to pick up at least a point after putting the Forest defence under severe pressure, a Forest defence that had Des Walker at left-back for much of the second half after coming on as a substitute.

That was a bad result for Burnley and it was no better down the road at Derby where they beat fellow strugglers Rotherham 1-0. A draw would have been preferable and an away win more than acceptable but this was the worst result possible for the Clarets.

He's in the white shirt of Derby now and Mr. Karren Brady scored the winner on his debut

Sheffield United did at least do us one favour this weekend by beating Watford 2-0 at Vicarage Road. Even then the Hornets went back above us on goal difference but it could have been a whole lot worse had they not lost this one.

This one was never in doubt once the Blades were in front, they were far too good for Watford on the day.

Even BRBC and Gillingham got points on the day at home to Wigan and away to Preston respectively and both in 0-0 draws.

Gareth Farrelly, having torn up his contract at Bolton which run until the end of next season, made his debut for Wigan having just completed three months on loan at the Bradford & Bingley Pulse Flamingo Land Pension Fund Valley Parade Stadium.

Over at Deepdale according to the Offensive Pathetic Weary Whinger Gillingham didn’t play fair and tried to defend and play for a point. It has not yet been confirmed as to whether he will report them to the Football League and accompany his complaint with some video action showing too many Gillingham players defending.

It all leaves us frighteningly in 21^st place, we’ve been there once before after losing to Stoke in the last match of 2003. This time it is beginning to look very serious indeed with the next three games against Forest, Franchise and BRBC looking vital. We certainly need to do what Forest did when they played the bottom two in the same week – beat them both.

At the other end of the table, almost 30 points away from us, West Brom have pulled level with Norwich after coming from behind at Dario G’s place to win 2-1.

Andy Johnson - scored West Brom's first with his first goal of the season

West Brom drew level with Norwich who were beaten at the very pleasant Ninian Park, Cardiff. They never fully recovered from two goals in three minutes in the first half from Paul Parry and Robert Earnshaw although they did pull one back through Leon McKenzie.

They are both nine points clear of the field and really should be the two to make it automatically to the Premiership although Sunderland might have something to say about that. They are currently outside the top six but could get within three points of West Brom if they win all their three games in hand.

They picked up another maximum with a 2-0 Stadium of Light win against West Ham with manager Mick McCarthy not losing his temper this time. On Wednesday he was wound up by OPWW and referee Phil Prosser (what a combination) and was seen throwing coats and manhandling his players.

Goals from Kevin Kyle and Jeff Whitley secured the win and it leaves the Hammers with just one win in four, and that against Franchise.

A fourth defeat in five for Ipswich has seen them drop out of the running although a couple of good results could see them back in the top six. They were beaten at home by Millwall, the form team in the division right now, a result that leaves them in 9^th place.

Neil Harris helped himself to a couple in a game that Millwall won even more comprehensively than the scoreline suggests.

Finally Reading and Stoke earned a point each in the Madejski Library. We did hear that one visiting supporter was accosted by the stewards for shouting in support of his team. Atmosphere at the Madejski, whatever next, they will ruin football.

There are ten fixtures in midweek and a full fixture list at the weekend. All Burnley eyes will be on that Watford v Derby game on Tuesday. I suppose a win for one means a defeat for the other whilst a draw is perhaps favourable. But I do not want to go to Forest with us in the bottom three.

All the midweek fixtures kick off at 7:45 p.m. and the weekend fixtures at 3:00 p.m. unless otherwise shown.

Cardiff City v Reading
Norwich City v Gillingham
Rotherham United v Sheffield United
Sunderland v Stoke City (8:00 p.m.)
Walsall v Ipswich Town
Watford v Derby County
West Bromwich Albion v Wigan Athletic

Coventry City v Preston North End
Nottingham Forest v Burnley
West Ham United v Crewe Alexandra

Burnley v Franchise
Crewe Alexandra v Cardiff City
Crystal Palace v Norwich City
Derby County v Nottingham Forest
Gillingham v Rotherham United
Ipswich Town v Watford (12 noon)
Preston North End v Walsall
Reading v Sunderland
Sheffield United v BRBC
Stoke City v West Bromwich Albion
Wigan Athletic v Coventry City

Millwall v West Ham United (12 noon)