A tale of two halves

Andre Bikey - scored a great goal and made us look stronger in midfield

I was quietly confident heading into this match given our home performances and having already beaten Manchester United, Everton and Sunderland at home in our first three homes games this season?

As I took my seat and looked at the team sheet I saw a welcome return of our skipper Steven Caldwell and with neither Clarke Carlisle nor Andre Bikey giving way I could only presume that Bikey had moved into the defensive midfield role. I was eagerly anticipating seeing him in this role and how he would cope and in the opening exchanges he appeared to blow hot and cold.

In the end it was Burnley who had the first chance of the game with Robbie Blake playing a lovely weighted pass to Wade Elliott in our own half and he carried the ball out of our own half and into the attacking third (as he does so well) before stopping in his tracks and playing the ball to Nugent on the edge of the 'D', he tried placing his shot into the corner only to see it saved by Joe Hart in the Birmingham goal. A promising start to what was otherwise a dull half.

It was a scrappy game with only the one chance until the 37 minute when Lee Bowyer missed a chance that only can be described as the miss of the year! It came from a corner and after initially defending the original corner kick, the ball was drilled back in and as it evaded the entire Burnley back line it fell to Bowyer at the far post with the goal at his mercy but all he could do is appear to put it back across goal! A let off for the Clarets.

The half time whistle sounded and I could only hope that the second half would get better.

I returned to my seat as the second half kicked off and for the first 5 or 10 minutes it was Birmingham who appeared to have the upper hand. After already missing one chance at the start of the second half they had a free-kick right in front of me which James McFadden took. His free-kick failed to beat the Burnley wall and after both sides scrapped to win the ball back it fell to Tyrone Mears who picked the ball up inside his own half and did an Elliott style run before laying the ball off to Fletcher who then carried the ball up to the edge of the box and he stuck it hard and low into the back of the net to put us 1-0 up a home again. We are getting used to this! Turf Moor erupted as he celebrated his first league goal in the magical colours of Claret and Blue.

From there on in it was a totally different game as we grew in confidence and the relief around Turf Moor was for all to see. Two minutes later Fletcher nearly doubled his and our tally after another lovely Burnley move that saw the little magician chip a brilliantly weighted through ball right onto Fletcher's chest and he beat the onrushing goalkeeper at his near post but he didn't beat the post and Birmingham scrambled the ball to safety.

To say that it was a totally different game would have been an understatement and in the 62^nd minute came a goal that even Barcelona would have been proud of! Bikey used his immense strength to hold off two men and he went on a surging run, he did a quick one two with Nugent and he suddenly found himself inside the box with only the goalkeeper to beat and he slotted the ball to the goalkeepers bottom right hand corner to make the score 2-0. Sheer brilliance from the Cameroonian international are the only words that can describe this goal and the celebration wasn't too bad either!

It was all Burnley, and Birmingham looked like a team resigned to defeat and as Stephen Carr brought down Nugent on the edge of the box I thought that he was the last man back. However he got a yellow card and from the resulting free-kick Mears nearly scored as his shot beat the wall but Joe Hart tipped over the bar. Andre Bikey should have had his second of the afternoon from the resulting corner as he headed the ball over the bar from close range.

The final chance took the shine off what was otherwise another great afternoon at Turf Moor but let's take nothing away from Larsson as he curled a free-kick beyond Beast into the bottom right hand corner. Perhaps if I was being over critical then the Beast should have done better but after what he has done for us over the past 12 months, then being critical of that goal would be unfair on him.

The final whistle sounded to the delight of all Burnley fans and we were going home happy again for the 4^th successive home game. As tough as it is to pick a man of the match today I finally brought it down to either Mears or Bikey but I am going to give it to Bikey who scored a great goal and he made us look stronger in midfield.

All we have to do now is break that away day duck and I can think of no better place to do it than at our friends down the road. Come on Burnley, let's make this yet another season to remember!