The Turf re-opens with a draw

Last updated : 31 July 2002 By Tony Scholes

Not as though many chose to take in the first home fixture, in fact just a disappointing 4,561 supporters went through the turnstiles for the only home pre-season game this time around. With the shortage of money around the place this will have been a further worry for the Turf Moor money men with the gate coming nowhere near those for the pre-season games last season when 8,020 saw the Everton game and 8,971 the game against Chelsea.

Still for those who did venture out and pay their £10 or £5 it was an enjoyable night as we took on a side that last season picked up 40 Premiership points, the considered safety total.

It was a game without the cut and thrust of league football but a game where both sides allowed each other to play a bit and it was good to see the Clarets getting the ball down and trying to pass it around, similar to the style of play we saw during that magnificent November last year.

Will Stan continue with a 4-4-2 system this year or will he switch back to three central defenders with wing backs? No real clues I suppose with both systems used although I suspect the initial 4-4-2 in the first half is the likely formation with the starting line up close to the starting eleven against Brighton.

Not everything is perfect though and I was very disappointed with some so called Burnley fans sat not too far behind me with their behaviour just before kick off. As Mr. Here at Turf Moor announced the Burnley team over the tannoy the first two names, Michopoulos and West, were greeted with cheers but the booing started when he announced ‘Number 3 Graham Branch’. What do these people want? Do they really support Burnley?

As it happened Branchy did really well during his time on the pitch but he, just as is the case with all the players, will have a bad game at some time. Is this what he can expect every time a pass goes astray or he misses a tackle? At least it kept the Taylor bashers quiet.

As for the game and the performance it’s not really a time for picking out individuals and to be fair nobody had a bad game but I was particularly impressed with Robbie Blake during his time on the pitch. He has a lot to prove after the situation last season when injury prevented him making any impact but his quality did show through tonight playing behind the front two.

It was last season’s leading scorer Gareth Taylor who found the net for the Clarets, predictably with a header. It came as we approached half time from a Lee Briscoe free kick. We didn’t hold the lead for long though and shortly after the restart a shot from some 20 yards from Henrik Pedersen nestled into the bottom corner to Nik’s left.

Stan promised to use all twenty players in the squad he named but that was not quite the truth, there was no sign of Marlon Beresford and Nik Michopoulos played the entire ninety minutes. Rumours were that Marlon had left but in fact he has picked up a knock in training and wasn’t risked. In fact Nik was the only player on either side to play the full game.

Stan made a number of changes and in fact Lee Briscoe and Alan Moore were both substituted and then returned whilst Sam Allardyce changed his entire side at half time with twenty-two players all getting a half each.

Overall though an enjoyable evening played in a virtually empty Turf Moor but an evening that gave us all some hope for the new season. Playing football at the Turf made a refreshing change after the summer of news regarding the financial problems.

We move on to Bury next on Saturday for the last of the pre-season games before hopefully a much bigger crowd than tonight turn up at the Turf in ten days time for the first league game of the season against Brighton.

The teams for tonight's game were;

Burnley: Nik Michopoulos, Dean West (Marlon Broomes 45), Steve Davis (Mark McGregor 60), Arthur Gnohere (Ian Cox 52), Graham Branch (Gordon Armstrong 60), Glen Little (Andy Payton 72), Tony Grant (Lee Briscoe 69), Lee Briscoe (Paul Cook 45), Alan Moore (Robbie Blake 45), Ian Moore (Dimitri Papadopoulos 45), Gareth Taylor (Alan Moore 65).

Bolton Wanderers (first half): Jussi Jaaskelainen, Bernard Mendy, Simon Charlton, Bruno N’Gotty, Mike Whitlow, Per Frandsen, Kevin Nolan, Jay-Jay Okacha, Michael Ricketts, Bo Hansen, Ricardo Gardner.

(Second half): Kevin Poole, Nicky Southall, Anthony Barness, Paul Warhurst, Gudni Bergsson, Danny Livesey, Gareth Farrelly, Henrik Pedersen, Delroy Facey, Youri Djorkaef, Jermaine Johnson.