 |
| Stephen Ward looked solid at left back |
Sean Dyche rang the changes with only 4 players who played in the defeat at Swansea retaining their place- there were two debutants, Matt Gilks who had nothing to do, and Stephen Ward who looked solid at left back. It seemed quite a big overhaul considering the international break which is just around the corner should provide ample recovery time for the majority of the squad, but I suspect even if you asked most of the 5,000 who paid to watch the game last night, they wouldn’t put the League Cup high on the list of priorities for the season, as good as it’s been for the club in recent times.
Taking my unfamiliar seat in the Bob Lord stand, with the Jimmy Mac Upper closed (are they really charging near £40 for a restricted view of the pitch?), I settled down for a pretty tame and uninspiring first 45 minutes- Michael Kightly fluffed his lines for Burnley’s best opening, while Kevin Long was fortunate to see his sliced clearance bounce out off a Burnley post at the other end. Sheffield Wednesday offered precious little and, while Burnley had the better of possession, they weren’t really harming the Owls’ backline.
There was a definite improvement in the Burnley performance in the second half- the tempo increased and Ashley Barnes, who I thought was our man of the match, was getting a lot of joy out of his marker, although the final ball let the Clarets down time and time again, with only Marvin Sordell and Matt Taylor having efforts that really looked to threaten the Wednesday goal. Dyche said after the game we should have had 3 penalties- not sure about that but there was one that looked obvious to me, as Barnes turned his defender and was held back- not enough to stop him getting a shot away, but enough to delay it so that Kirkland was able to come off his line and smother the chance. It was a clear foul and the only reason I can think for the referee not to give it was that he didn’t have the guts to produce the inevitable red card to go with the decision.
I said to my dad with about 20 minutes to go that one goal would definitely win this game and so it proved- a rare Wednesday counter-attack saw Helan burst past Shackell into the box before the captain brought him down with a daft challenge for the most nailed-on penalty you’ll see at the Turf this season. The giant Nuhiu tucked it away easily enough and from then on it was a slow march to the inevitable, with the introduction of Ings and Jutkiewicz making precious little difference. Dyche said after the game he thought the performance was OK but sadly for me it failed to hit those heady heights- one of those early round cup games where neither team looks particularly bothered and neither particularly deserves to go through.
A disappointing night which perhaps highlighted the deficiencies in our squad- Sordell, Wallace and Kightly in particular showed nothing to suggest they’d be a viable option to change a Premier League game from the bench. At least, as the cliché goes, we can concentrate on the league now, and hopefully it’ll serve as another gentle reminder before the window shuts that additions to the squad are still very much needed.