Ade's first gains point

Last updated : 03 March 2007 By Tony Scholes
Wade Elliott - he and Michael Duff linked up well
Ade has a habit of bagging goals against former clubs and managers, so one against Palace managed by the Legend was always on the cards, and although it couldn't win the game for us it did lift us out of a poor start and earn us a much needed point.

Perhaps he should have gone on and won it for us, but Ade misses chances as well as taking them, and at least today he was finally in a position to get those chances which should give us more hope as we try to get those much needed points.

There were just two changes to the side that drew at Colchester last week. As expected, Wayne Thomas was ruled out with a knee injury to be replaced by Michael Duff, and on the left hand side Jon Harley returned for the suspended Kyle Lafferty and played in that left midfield slot with Chris McCann continuing at left back.

When we were winning games at the beginning of the season, I'm sure you remember those days, we were getting off to good starts in games and seizing the initiative. That certainly couldn't have been said of today. We were lethargic, without inspiration, and the only saving grace was that Palace looked anything but a decent side.

We did have one half chance when Michael Duff hit a shot wide from the right hand side, but down at the other end it was almost calamitous. Danny Coyne made a real hash of one back header and presented the ball to Palace, thankfully Johnny Mac got back to clear.

The next time Coyne was in action it was to pick the ball out of the net. Was he at fault? My first thought was no, but what a poor, poor goal to give away. It was just a punt up field from the comical pyjama wearing figure of Gabor Kiraly that was allowed to bounce for Clinton Morrison to almost apologetically loop a header over Coyne and in.

We're struggling enough but we continue to make things difficult for ourselves by conceding some incredibly poor and this was certainly another one for the collection, leaving us with a mountain to climb to if we wanted to win the game.

The goal hardly shook us out of our slumbers and only some bizarre decisions came to our rescue. How on earth the assistant in front of the Bob Lord Stand couldn't see Coyne had handled outside his box is anyone's guess. It was clear from the upper tier of the Longside, just as it was clear that we'd run a ball out of play before getting in a cross only for the assistant to miss that as well and allow play to go on until we won a corner.

Corners have become something of a pointless exercise, and Joey Gudjonsson found a consistency difficult to question. He did put one corner straight out of play but for the rest he found Kiraly with unerring accuracy.

If it wasn't dire then it wasn't much better and it took us over half an hour to muster our first shot. When it came the pantomime figure saved well from Ade. Just a few minutes later and Kiraly could do nothing when Ade got that all important goal to draw us level.

Andy Gray, who disappointed again, laid the ball off for Duff and his cross was met by Ade who headed home at the near post to bring us right back into the game. It inspired us too and almost immediately Joey Gudjonsson got a shot in from outside the box but it flew over the top.

The half time whistle came and we went in for the break in the ascendancy, difficult to believe after turning in such a poor show for all but the last few minutes. We probably could have done without the interval but needed to continue where we left off at the start of the second half.

We did too, and within two minutes had two chances. Firstly Gray turned well to shoot but saw the keeper save down to his left and then Ade got his head on a high ball form Harley but could get no power into his header and it was an easy save for Kiraly.

It was all Burnley now and twice we caused pandemonium in the Palace box following right wing crosses, one from Duff and one from Elliott. That looked to be where the danger might come from, they were linking up well and beginning to cause Palace no end of problems.

And it was Duff who was involved when we missed the best chance of the lot. He put Ade in to left of goal with an excellent pass but the striker hurried his effort and could find neither power nor direction and his left foot shot went tamely wide. He should have scored his second but at least we were creating chances now and Palace were struggling.

Little was seen of Palace for much of the half but the last real opportunity came following yet another right wing cross from Elliott. He found Harley beyond the far post and his header back across just eluded Gray.

Steve Cotterill made a couple of substitutions, the first of which saw Steve Jones come on down the left at the expense of McCann, but he failed to make an impact and worryingly in the last few minutes Palace, for the first time in the half, started to get the chance to come forward. The nearest they came was with a shot that from distance that went over the bar, but by then we'd run out of steam and were having to settle for a point.

A point's a point, and it takes us that little bit closer to safety. Who knows how many points will be needed, but with the six teams now below us picking up just one point between them that target might just have come down a little.

We need a win though, fifteen league games without a solitary victory is clearly just not good enough. We can't keep counting the games, if we do we are going to find ourselves in serious trouble. As it is we now have to sit and watch everyone else play next week and that's the last thing we needed.

For me the man of the match had to come from one of the two players down the right hand side of the pitch, Michael Duff and Wade Elliott. That's where we caused Palace problems. Duff had a difficult first fifteen minutes or so and for that reason I'm going to give my vote to Wade Elliott. If only we could offer the same options down the left hand side right now.

Southend next, I would have said this was a game we couldn't afford to lose but it is surely one where we should be going looking for a victory. Win it and that league table could look a whole lot different.

The teams were;

Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, John McGreal, Steven Caldwell, Chris McCann (Steve Jones 80), Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Joey Gudjonsson, Jon Harley, Ade Akinbiyi, Andy Gray (Garreth O'Connor 89). Subs not used: Stephen Foster, John Spicer, Eric Djemba-Djemba.

Crystal Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Danny Butterfield, Mark Hudson, Leon Cort, Matt Lawrence, Lewis Spence (Ben Watson 66), Carl Fletcher, Tom Soares, James Scowcroft, Clinton Morrison, Dougie Freedman (Lewis Grabban 63). Subs not used: Julian Speroni, Darren Ward, David Martin.

Referee: Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear).

Attendance: 10,659.