Alls well that ends well

That was until some late drama saw the Clarets win a penalty which was converted by substitute Jean-Louis Valois and a second in stoppage time from James O’Connor that gave us a somewhat flattering two goal victory.

Not as though anyone was complaining and it all led to the players coming back out along with the management team which had its special moments for both our longest serving player Graham Branch and youngster Gary Cahill.

It all started brightly for the Clarets and we took the game to Plymouth right from the start, but twice we were thwarted from corners. The first saw us somewhat reluctant to even take it but eventually Mo Camara came across from the left back position to take it out on the right wing.

His inswinger caused the keeper Luke McCormick some problems and he was fortunate in the end to push the ball away. He was left helpless with the resultant flag kick from the left after Branchy won one of countless headers in the afternoon. Cahill headed the flick on goalwards but it was cleared off the line.

We looked to be warming up for a good performance but we were soon thankful to Brian Jensen at the other end for keeping us level. Nick Chadwick got clear down the left and Plymouth’s expensive non goalscoring striker looked odds on to give them the lead but the Beast made a superb save low to his left to keep it out via the post.

McCormick made a similar save at the other end to deny Ade Akinbiyi who had been played in on the left hand side but generally we failed to trouble the goalkeeper much during what really was a somewhat tepid first half.

Some Burnley players are popular, some not quite so much, and then there are the real heroes. One of them returned this afternoon and I cannot quite recall the Turf Moor crowd ever giving a former player the sort of reception Andy Payton received at half time.

From a distance Payts looked to be lapping it up and very much enjoying being out on that pitch again. I’m sure particular favourite goals were being recalled by most of us as he made his way out to that stunning ovation from the stands.

We hoped it might inspire us in the second half, oh how we could just do with a Payts in the side right now, and we did start the second half brightly. But it didn’t last long and there wasn’t much to enthuse over as the clock started to tick down.

There were a couple of shouts for penalties for hand ball, the first one looked unlikely but the second one brought much of that corner of the Jimmy Mac onto their feet in anticipation. Overall though a 0-0 draw was beginning to look the most likely of results.

Steve Cotterill tried to change things round, he brought on John Oster for the disappointing Dean Bowditch but it made no difference and I cannot recall anything positive from Oster. That was followed with Jean-Louis Valois came on for Tony Grant.

It was Plymouth though who nearly won it but Jensen made another top save to deny them when he tipped over a header from sub Steven Milne from point blank range.

Then it all changed in the last five minutes as James O’Connor put Ade Akinbiyi through. The Clarets’ striker had not had the best of games but this time he got into the box only to be brought down by David Worrell.

Gary Cahill - received a magnificent send off

Referee Bates pointed to the spot, it wasn’t a difficult decision, and it was good to see it was Worrell who was somewhat fortunate that some of his earlier challenges on Graham Branch had not been picked up by Mr Inefficient running the line in front of the Longside.

It was some minutes before the spot kick could be taken as goalkeeper McCormick and Ade got involved in some unnecessary stuff. Apparently Ade pushed the ball in the keeper’s face and then the keeper clearly pushed Ade to the ground.

It doesn’t matter how easily he went down and the push would have brought an immediate red card from most referees. I’ve certainly seen players go for much less than this. All credit to referee Tony Bates, he will probably be marked down by the assessor in the stand but he got it right, he used common sense and issued yellow cards.

We still weren’t ready for the penalty though as Plymouth employed just about every delaying tactic available.

Ian Moore got the job from Robbie Blake and missed the only one he took. I’d been waiting to see who the new penalty taker was but we still don’t know as substitute Valois stepped up to put the ball on the spot. He scored with some ease, placing the ball into the bottom corner to the keeper’s left.

It had taken some four minutes or so to get the thing taken and almost immediately after the restart the board went up for the last sponsored stoppage time of the season – three minutes of them.

Steve Cotterill was urgently trying to make a substitution and I think we all knew why but the ball wouldn’t go out of play. It did in the end as it nestled into the Plymouth net again for a 2-0 lead.

O’Connor got the ball on the half way line and run forward. He should have played the ball to the left but didn’t and carried on. He then should surely have played the ball out to the right but again he chose the wrong option and carried on.

That left him with just the one option and that was to go past the last man and then shoot into the bottom corner giving McCormick no chance. That brought some fans onto the pitch and after the Blackburn incidents this could well now mean a fine for Burnley, some fans never do learn.

And just before the restart Cotterill was able to make the substitution to bring on Michael Duff in place of Gary Cahill for no other reason than to give the youngster from Villa his own standing ovation. And what an ovation it was, that was just about subsiding when the referee brought league football to and end at Turf Moor for 2004/05 season, a season that has seen us win eleven of the twenty-three games.

The players left the field and after a short delay they returned, or should I say Graham Branch returned. He was allowed to lead the team out but his team mates didn’t follow him and allowed him to take his own bow before he was joined on the pitch by the rest of the team.

They walked around the ground, again some got on the pitch but Steve Cotterill told them in no uncertain terms to get back off, and as they left Gary Cahill turned for one last appearance for the home fans and once again he received the most amazing reception from the Burnley crowd.

When he made his debut against Spurs I wrote, “There has to be special praise tonight for Gary Cahill who came in and did exceptionally well.” Gary Who we said back then in December, I think we all know now.

He’d played well again but his defensive partner John McGreal gets my vote as man of the match. No wonder the youngster always says how much he learns from the former Ipswich defender.

It’s off to Millwall now to close the season, I’m sure they could have found us somewhere better to go. At times it has been hard work, at times its been far from entertaining but answer this question. Would you have been happy if someone had said to you back in August that we would go to the Den safe and with 59 points in the bag?

The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Gary Cahill (Michael Duff 90), John McGreal, Mo Camara, Dean Bowditch (John Oster 68), Micah Hyde, Tony Grant (Jean-Louis Valois 75), James O’Connor, Graham Branch, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Lee Roche.

Plymouth: Luke McCormick, David Worrell, Graham Coughlan, Matthias Kouo-Doumbe, Peter Gilbert, David Norris, Paul Wotton, Akos Buzsaky, Scott Taylor (Tony Capaldi 78), Micky Evans (Steven Milne 66), Nick Chadwick. Subs not used: Romain Larrieu, Keith Lasley, Bjarni Gudjonsson.

Referee: Tony Bates (Stoke-on-Trent).

Attendance: 12,893.