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The problem was. As soon as the first whistle was blown by the referee, Darren Deadman, his remarkable ability to see fouls on the Wolves players that were not fouls on the opposition was all too frequent as were the decisions that were unfairly ruled and in some cases, not ruled at all in favour of the Clarets. He ultimately ruined what could, if not should have been a good close game between two of the Championship's in-form teams.
On reflection, I believe that Wolves were the better team and deserve 3 points. The Clarets first half performance was poor at best. Unable to get the ball to the feet of our players, we had resorted to hitting the ball into space for our strikers to move onto, and with the formation and personnel we have, that is not the way we should be playing.
The Wolves play was ironically how we have come to see Owen Coyle's new look team play this season, quick passing and movement, with the long balls coming only when they were needed. Fortunately, our defensive display was solid, keeping them down to only one goal at half time. The only other plus for the Clarets, was that Wade Elliott was getting involved in our attacks, only to be double marked as soon as the ball was at his feet.
Fifteen minutes in came Deadman's first seriously bad decision of the game. A tackle from our left back Stephen Jordan on Carlos Edwards was clearly a ball winning one, with the nearby linesman obviously feeling the same way. For some unknown reason though, Deadman felt that it was clearly a vicious, scything tackle, and gave the first of what finished out to be six yellow cards, in what really wasn't a dirty game.
Then came the referee's biggest mistake of the game, somehow, only himself and his closest assistant missed the handball by Michael Kightly that led to the opening goal. As the ball ricochet into his path at head height, his right arm came up and controlled the ball, before he hit his shot passed the approaching Brian Jensen and against the post before it rebounded just right for him and he made no mistake as he volleyed the ball into the empty net. Burnley were understandably unhappy with this decision, or more precisely lack of, and Beast was given a yellow card for his troubles.
A few minutes later an almost carbon copy handball, this time by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to put himself into a dangerous position. Fortunately, Steven Caldwell, didn't expect a whistle to blow, and got in a last ditch tackle to thwart his further advance at goal.
As the half time whistle was blown, there were mixed feelings in the away end. We were happy that we were not more than one goal behind and still in the game, but at the same time, extremely unhappy with the way we had conceded and how the referee had made some of his decisions.
Straight from the second half whistle, the Clarets seemed to be a completely different eleven. Some good quick attacks caused Wolves 'keeper Ikeme, a few problems, and the screw started to turn, until Robbie Blake's gut-busting run into the box with the ball was stopped, as Deadman decided that Blake had gained an advantage through a handball and booked the player. Rightly or wrongly, this was further proof of the referee's inconsistent decision making.
Only 5 minutes later came one of the most blatant penalties we should have been awarded so far this season. As Wade Elliott cut inside, and then cut back out, the Wolves defender's sliding tackle clearly tripped the Burnley player. As the ball ricochet off the falling Elliott, it hit the defender's foot on the follow through. I can only imagine that Deadman felt the ball hit the Wolves player first, but if it had, it would have meant we were awarded a corner. The signalling of a goal kick further incensed the away following.
With the game starting to settle, Coyle made two changes in the frontline, with Jay Rodriguez replacing the frustrated Thompson and a few minutes later, Paterson coming on for the ineffectual Blake.
As we started to push players forward, we were always going to run the risk of getting caught on the break, and this is what happened as we lost the ball in a good position about 30 yards away from the Wolves goal. As the ball was cleared, the back tracking Jordan missed the ball on the halfway line, and a good exchange between Ebanks-Blake and Kightly finished with the former tapping in from 4 yards out.
With some good football being played by both sides, especially by the Clarets, it was obvious that Darren Deadman wouldn't be happy that he wasn't the centre of attention. With the ball not in a dangerous position, Clarke Carlisle tripped the Wolves player for only his second foul of the game, but with two yellow cards, the extremely unfortunate Carlisle was given his marching orders.
Surprisingly, it was the Clarets who looked the best in possession, and in particular, young Kevin McDonald, who was passing the ball around with a lot of confidence.
Before the final whistle could be blown, the referee decided that 5 minutes stoppage time was needed, where he got that from I will never know.
Now for the man of the match. There were a lot of great performances in the second half but with the back four, this started in the first. Therefore my man of the match is Steven Caldwell.