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The game started with a typical rhythm of, what looked like, a nervous Burnley side, but you could see the difference Paterson made immediately, chasing down the huge, slow, City centre halves. Neither side got off to a particularly good start, but after 10 minutes, Burnley started utilising the strong right side, Elliott, Eagles and Mears linking up well creating chances and running rings round Norwich.
A brilliant passage of play between 10 and 20 minute marks from Burnley, then changed to some Norwich pressure, then, on the 26 minute mark, a good move started by Mears, after interchanges with both Elliott and Rodriguez linking up, for a ball between the City left back and centre half, welcomed by a rapid Tyrone Mears, who then picked his pass behind the other centre half, for a cool headed Martin Paterson to finish into the bottom left corner.
The game was then dominated by Burnley, smart passing and skill from all of the midfield, Paterson linking well alongside them. Then a ball over the top left the slow, immobile City defence exposed, and a determined Martin Paterson broke the offside trap and had his shot partially saved by keeper John Ruddy, and was urged over the line by Burnley fans and players alike, just trickling over the line despite City attempts to prevent what was a deserved 2-0 lead for a dominant Burnley side.
Half time came, and Burnley fans were in high spirits, confident that this was their day. A silent City crowd waited as the teams came out. As play got underway it seemed a different Burnley, with different tactics. They looked much more defensive and lack of that spark we saw so often in the first half. Norwich pushed for a goal, and down the right with McNamee, they were causing us some problems, Danny Fox looking alone on the left.
After relentless Norwich pressure, they got a goal back through Chris Martin, well finished and started by McNamee on the right. After this Burnley sat back and invited City on, McNamee almost putting his efforts to an equaliser, his shot coming off the inside of the left upright, before going across the face of goal, before being cleared.
What followed next came as a surprise to many, Eagles off for Wallace, and Marney off for Cork. Why Brian Laws took Eagles off, who looked like he had something left in the tank, was an unknown to Burnley fans, before Alexander and Marney who looked a lot more fatigued.
Burnley then rode out the next 10 minutes, coming under fire from Norwich on many occasions. Iwelumo came on for Paterson, and lost every header to the big centre halves, Paterson also didn't look spent. 85 Minutes came and went, we looked as if we'd got ourselves together and just needed to see the game out, after coming under pressure. Then on 90 minutes, a cross for McNamee came out to Andrew Crofts, who looked to handle the ball before blasting past Grant, the protests fell on deaf ears, from a Ref who seemed determined to be the star of the show.
As the game ended, City fans celebrated the result like a win, and boos rung out from Burnley fans, annoyed that Burnley had, yet again, failed to see out another 2 goal lead away from home, and felt Brian Laws' tactics were again wrong.
Overall it was a game of two halves, the first dominated by Burnley, the second by Norwich. But it does play on the mind how Burnley were so unplayable in the first half, attacking constantly, compared to sitting on the back foot and being bombarded by Norwich, and then coming out in the second half determined to just stick with a two goal lead, and not kill the game off.