Again it was the two strikers who scored the goals for us. Danny Ings opened the scoring just before half time when he got on the end of a Kieran Trippier cross and his partner Sam Vokes scored twice in the second half, first getting on to a Dean Marney through ball, my favourite goal of the game, and then, almost Sergio Aguero like, volleying home a Junior Stanislas corner.
The pair of them are currently in sensational form, but the continued highlighting of their exploits, and it is right to highlight them, should not be allowed to mask the performances of the rest of the players who are all making massive contributions to these performances and results.
This was another day which those who have their glasses half full or more were eagerly anticipating while anyone who has seen the level drop below the half way mark was suggesting it would be the day the bubble burst on the early season form.
 |
| Burnley game number 300 for Michael Duff |
The only thing for certain, and when was our weather ever certain, was that the game would be played in conditions more suitable to the middle of summer with temperatures probably only beaten so far this season for the friendly in Cork.
Very often now we assume it is going to be the same line up. This time there were questions over the central midfield positions. David Jones had been stretchered off at Leeds and missed the Nottingham Forest cup tie when partner Dean Marney was forced off.
I was confident Jones would make it but wasn't sure about Marney, but both were passed fit and it was no surprise when Sean Dyche confirmed the team would be that which had kicked off at Elland Road seven days earlier. The only change came on the bench where Luke O'Neill stepped in to replace Kevin Long.
Thankfully, after a night with the moaning in the Bob Lord, I was back on the Longside where the shorts, sun glasses and caps were prevalent as we prepared to be baked for the next ninety minutes.
Ahead of kick off there was warm applause for Michael Duff making his 300th Burnley appearance, not bad for a calculated risk at £30,000. I'll write more on Duff next week but he wasn't the only defender reaching a milestone; the game was Kieran Trippier's 100th league appearance for the Clarets.
He's missed just one, the win at Hull last season since signing for us, and that came because he'd been sent off in this game, against Charlton, and wrongly, a week earlier.
Charlton had arrived without much in the way of form but with manager Chris Powell talking game plans and battening down the hatches, so I rather suspected this might be a game where they might be difficult to break down.
And so it proved. Sean Dyche suggested after the game that we hadn't moved the ball quickly enough, and who am I to question that? But I think some credit has to be given to Charlton who worked hard, stayed organised, doubled up and didn't give us much space.
In games like that you need to be patient. Too often you can lose that patience and I've seen it all too often where that's happened and it has cost us a goal at the other end, and then it really does get difficult.
For much of the first half we didn't really look likely scorers. Having said that neither did they. Our best chance fell to Vokes, who probably should have done better than to head a right wing Trippier cross wide of the far post.
Tripps was looking a threat down the right hand side and it came as no surprise when he played a major role, alongside the two strikers, when the breakthrough finally came in the 38th minute.
Vokes, on the right hand side won a good header to drop the ball into the path of the right back. Trippier didn't even take a touch; he crossed first time and it was perfect for Ings coming in behind a defender to touch home from close range.
 |
| A first league brace in over five years for Sam Vokes |
There have been suggestions that it went in off his shin. Who cares if it did? Ings was there to turn the ball home and that's all that mattered although he might be getting a deduction from his wages to pay for the damage he did to the advertising hoarding as he celebrated.
That left us all a bit more relaxed at half time than we'd have been at 0-0 and I really didn't think, even at 1-0, that there would be any way back for Charlton.
We looked to be in control of things and were causing the visitors some real problems down their right with full back Lawrie Wilson, somewhat belatedly given the number of free kicks he'd given away, getting a yellow card.
With an hour gone we gave Wilson a different problem when Dyche introduced Junior Stanislas for Kightly and seven minutes later he played his part in another wonderful Burnley goal.
He played the ball inside for Scott Arfield. The midfielder's cushioned pass for Marney was perfect as was Marney's subsequent through ball for Vokes. He'd got past Wilson on the outside and as goalkeeper Ben Hamer came out he dinked the ball over him and into the far bottom corner.
When I see 'Goal of the Month' on Match of the Day, or 'Goal of the Week' on Sky, they are always dominated with long range strikes. Many of them are outstanding goals but these are my favourites; real team goals with some great passing and movement coupled with an equally good finish.
Charlton had to push forward although the game looked up for them. They got the ball in our box a couple of times but didn't really threaten and then it was a matter of whether we could get any more.
Ings couldn't have come closer to a second. Stanislas played a short ball to Mee whose cross was met perfectly by Ings only for the header to hit the bar.
So no third successive home brace for Ings but that honour went to Vokes four minutes from time. Keith Treacy had been introduced just a minute earlier and went on a run down the right, cutting into the box and eventually winning a corner.
That Vokes then scored from the corner would suggest a header, but he hammered home the Stanislas taken flag kick on the volley, an outstanding finish that takes him equal with Ings on six league goals.
It was also the first time Vokes has scored two goals in a league game for more than five years. The last time was in September 2008 for Wolves in a 3-1 away win. The opposition? Charlton.
That was it, a third 3-0 win of the season, the second in succession at home in the league, and still in second place behind QPR and ahead of Leicester, whose fifteen goals include five penalties, on goal difference. The only disappointing news was the yellow card picked up by Marney which now rules him out of our game at Doncaster.
It had been another much deserved win. The crowd are warming to our performances too. 'Sean Dyche's Claret & Blue Army' and 'Ginger Mourinho' were evident throughout the second half.
You can always judge things leaving the ground and there is no doubt that this latest win had been given the stamp of approval from most fans.
I say most, there's always one isn't there? "We won because Charlton were crap," someone said walking back into town. I said nothing; I didn't need to because he got it from several other Burnley fans. The truth is we'd just comprehensively beaten a team that finished four points ahead of us last season.
Whatever happens this season there is one thing I can say with some certainty and that is that our club is a happy place right now. There's a real togetherness on the pitch, that is so evident, and the fans are certainly enjoying what's currently on offer.
I said to a friend last night: "If I'd said to you before the Bolton game that we'd go on to take 20 points from the first nine games, what would you have said?" The reply? "I'd have probably gone and told you to have a lie down."
Just to confirm; we've got 20 points and I'm not taking it lying down.
The teams were;
Burnley: Tom Heaton, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Jason Shackell, Ben Mee, Scott Arfield (Keith Treacy 85), Dean Marney, David Jones (David Edgar 90), Michael Kightly (Junior Stanislas 60), Danny Ings, Sam Vokes. Subs not used: Alex Cisak, Luke O'Neill, Danny Lafferty, Brian Stock.
Yellow Card: Dean Marney.
Charlton: Ben Hamer, Lawrie Wilson, Michael Morrison, Dorian Dervite, Rhoys Wiggins, Dale Stephens, Jordan Cousins, Mark Gower (Marvin Sordell 68), Bradley Pritchard (Callum Harriotts ht), Cameron Stewart (Yann Kermogant 83), Simon Church. Subs not used: Ben Alnwick, Cedric Evina, Richard Wood, Andy Hughes.
Yellow Card: Lawrie Wilson.
Referee: David Coote (Nottinghamshire).
Attendance: 10,645.