A magnificent night of football

Last updated : 17 December 2009 By Tony Scholes
Stephen Jordan
Stephen Jordan - the best left back performance since the days of Alex Elder and Keith Newton
Yes, another draw, another point, and on a night when the quality of football was such that I cannot remember how long it is since I saw a game of football as good as that at Turf Moor. Owen Coyle said we would go toe to toe with football purists Arsenal and that's exactly what we did and such was our performance that a point was the least we deserved.

I think most Burnley fans were hoping for some poor weather to give the Wenger all stars a bit of real Burnley atmosphere. I cold biting wind might have been the order of the day but instead the temperatures never dropped as expected and we got a typical wet miserable night.

I'd said yesterday that this was always a game I was looking forward to. How can you not look forward to watching a side that plays like Arsenal? How can you not look forward to an opportunity to see the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Andrey Arshavin playing on the Turf?

This is very much part of the Premier League package we signed up to when we won at Wembley last May, getting the opportunity to see some of the top players at our ground.

Often we discuss our chances ahead of the game over the pre-match pint and pie & peas, but last night so much of the conversation centred on the visitors and some of their players. It was almost as if we were star struck.

The team news reached us just before we left for the ground, Arsenal had all their available stars in whilst Owen Coyle had decided on a change, bringing in Kevin McDonald for Robbie Blake.

Arsenal fans thankfully had shown more interest in this game than Fulham had in Saturday's and it was good to see people in the away end again. Indeed the ground looked packed on all four sides as the teams came out.

You can't let Arsenal get at you, you have to take the game to them, and that's exactly what we did in the first few minutes. It was a terrific opening from the Clarets and only the woodwork prevented us from going in front.

Burnley won a free kick for a foul by Fabregas on Andre Bikey. The kick, taken by Chris Eagles, was won in the air by Clarke Carlisle. The next header was from Thomas Vermaelen and his was heading goalwards before Manuel Almunia tipped it onto the bar before it was eventually put out for a corner.

Arsenal had escaped, or so it seemed, but maybe they hadn't quite with Fabregas picking up an injury as he fouled. He wasn't to see out the first half but he more than had an influence for his remaining time on the pitch.

It had been a hell of a start from us but it was Fabregas who brought it all to an end in the eighth minute. He took advantage of a Bikey mistake, got past Carlisle too easily and hit a shot into the bottom corner.

A goal down so early was certainly not what the doctor had ordered, but if that was bad the next ten minutes was almost like a bad toothache. Fabregas almost scored again, this time putting his effort just wide, Jensen got down well to smother another effort and then, just for good measure, Arshavin hit a shot against the base of Jensen's left hand post.

Oh dear, it was beginning to look as though a difficult night was in store, and there was a thought we could lose this by some big score. We were struggling to deal with their pace and movement, but there again many other teams have equally failed against this Arsenal side.

I thought we needed to be a bit more in their faces, really take the challenge to them. We survived that ten minute onslaught without any addition the score and we started to come more and more into the game.

We got our chance to pull level when Bikey got into the box and was caught by Vermaelen. The impressive Mike Dean didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot. Up stepped Graham Alexander and do you really need to ask the result? He hammered it past Almunia and we were back in it at 1-1.

Almost immediately Jensen had to be quick out to prevent a second Arsenal goal but overall it was end to end stuff for the rest of the first half and I would say we were causing them more problems than they were causing us.

Fabregas came off about five minutes before the break and that was perhaps good news for Burnley to see a player of his quality taking no further part. Even so, almost on the stroke of half time, they nearly went back in front when Vermaelen saw a header tipped over by Jensen. It would have been cruel had that gone in, we'd fully merited being level at half time.

There was no let up in the pace or quality in the second half and most judges, Wenger apart, would believe we had the edge. Bikey nearly took advantage of an Almunia slip soon after the break but there were two big moments during the second half.

Both came from right wing moves. Eagles got into the box from the first and hit a screamer that bounced back off the near post and then we thought we'd won it when McDonald played in Steven Fletcher. The striker made no mistake from close range only to see the assistant's flag raised for offside.

It was a close call, could have gone either way, but I would say on most occasions it would be the forward who would get it. This time it wasn't and our few seconds of ecstasy were quickly ended.

Coyle made substitutions but the only opportunity late in the game went Arsenal's way but William Gallas headed straight at Jensen. A goal against then would have been disastrous, but it didn't come and we got our point, a point not too many Burnley fans would have expected ahead of the game.

How well did we play? How good a game was it? We simply played as well as we've played all season and the game was as good as any I've seen at Turf Moor for many a year. To get a game of that quality and that style there is no doubt Arsenal would have to be the visitors.

But this was not just about Arsenal. We did go toe to toe with them, we went everything with them and was it any surprise our players left to the ovation they did? We were simply magnificent.

I suppose at the end of the day a draw at West Ham would have been a better point to win, but in this league you just have to take what you can get, when you can get it. Make no mistake; this was a brilliant point, so deserved.

It could be considered so unfair to select a man of the match. There were top, top performances all over the pitch last night. But I have to go with Stephen Jordan. So often he comes under unfair criticism but last night he turned in a performance of left back play, the likes of which I've not seen from a Burnley player since the days of Alex Elder and Keith Newton.

But just look at the names below, you can heap praise on any one of them. And let's not forget Wenger and Coyle, without their philosophies on football we could never have had a game like that. It really was a magnificent night of football.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Wade Elliott, Andre Bikey (Joey Gudjonsson 70), Kevin McDonald, Chris Eagles (Robbie Blake 83), Steven Fletcher (David Nugent 83). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Christian Kalvenes, Fernando Guerrero, Steven Thompson.
Yellow Cards: Chris Eagles, Steven Caldwell.

Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Bacara Sagna, William Gallas, Thomas Vermaelen, Mikail Silvestre, Cesc Fabregas (Aaron Ramsey 43), Alex Song, Abou Diaby, Theo Walcott (Eduardo 64), Samir Nasri, Andrey Arshavin. Subs not used: Lukasz Fabianski, Carlos Vela, Jack Wilshire, Emmanuel Eboue, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).

Attendance: 21,309.