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Full of confidence our journey was without incident. It included an excellent stop for lunch en route close to Newport and somehow I thought this might just be time to win again at Cardiff. Some things don't change there, from the minute we parked up you could sense the hostility. I was snarled at by some Cardiff supporter (a man of around 70 years) as I got out of the car.
Through the car park, past the aggressive looking police, the very people I had problems with last season, past the dogs just waiting to take a chunk out of my leg given half a chance, and then the usual searching and bag checking by the stewards. By then I was just about able to get into the ground.
There weren't many of us there, that's hardly a surprise, and some of our number let themselves down somewhat during the afternoon. The players were warming up and we first spotted Wade Elliott with the subs so checked out the starting players and quickly worked out that we were going to employ David Unsworth behind the midfield four, as we'd done against Portsmouth. But with Robbie Blake and Andy Gray both looking like starters we had to wait until the game started to work out who was where.
Unsworth for Elliott was the only change from the side that drew with Ipswich on Tuesday. The back four were the same, Unsworth indeed was in front of the back four, and the midfield was (right to left) Kyle Lafferty, John Spicer, Alan Mahon and Robbie Blake with Andy Gray up front on his own.
Cardiff had their big signings Robbie Fowler and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink up front but made a late change to their initial side when Stephen McPhail dropped out and was replaced by our former loan player Pete Whittingham.
The home side certainly started the brighter of the two and the first few minutes were played down at the far end from our vantage point on one of the few terraces remaining at this level of football. None of their early play came to anything, although a couple of times were thankful to some sterling work from John Spicer.
We soon got into our stride. Kyle Lafferty had a good run down the right whilst Robbie was prompting from the left. It was Robbie who came closest to breaking the deadlock with a shot from outside the box that was only inches over the bar with Michael Oakes beaten.
The first half was hardly inspiring stuff. We didn't particularly look dangerous going forward but we certainly weren't having any problems at the other end of the pitch where their high profile strikers weren't getting anything resembling an opportunity.
It looked odds on that it would be 0-0 at the interval but then action both behind and in front took our attention. There'd been some unnecessary chanting by some Burnley fans and then there was some commotion. We turned to see one of our fans being escorted from the ground. As we all looked round, backs to the pitch, there was a roar and we turned to see the Cardiff players celebrating having taken the lead.
Without TV coverage since I wouldn't have been able to comment on this goal. I'd seen Gabor Kiraly punch the ball away to apparent safety before turning. Cardiff got the ball back through substitute Darren Purse and his cross was met by their best player Joe Ledley who got his header in against Graham Alexander far too easily and we were a goal down.
I don't think we deserved it, but a few minutes later the half time whistle went from referee Penn with us still a goal down. I thought we might change things in the second half but I wasn't prepared for what happened.
Half time was spent watching kids playing football on the pitch, and very enjoyable it was. Then out we came for the second half, but just eight players rather than eleven. There on the touchline were not one, not two but three subs all about to come on. Chris McCann (back from injury), Wade Elliott and Ade Akinbiyi were all about to join the action.
I don't think there was any surprise that two of the three to come off were Unsworth and Lafferty. The change in formation meant Unsworth would be coming off whilst Kyle had been disappointing in the first half. Perhaps Alan Mahon, the third to come off, could count himself unlucky.
It all meant Robbie stayed on the left in a more usual 4-4-2 formation and we took the game to Cardiff and it took just five minutes to draw level with Robbie playing a major part in the goal. He picked the ball up down that left hand side and a clever back heel played in Stephen Jordan whose cross was met by the head of Wade. He flicked it on for Ade who headed home from seven yards out.
It had taken us just five second half minutes to draw level, and we were almost in front a couple of minutes later through Gray, but Oakes was equal to his shot and was able to get enough on it and the home defence cleared.
Almost immediately disaster struck. Hasselbaink played the ball out to Paul Parry wide on the right. There appeared to be no imminent danger but Jordan got it all wrong. He allowed Parry to go on the inside of him and that left him unable to get a challenge in. Parry unleashed a shot from the edge of the box and we were behind again.
We'd done all the hard work and gone and undone it again, but we gave it a real go to try and get ourselves level again. A lot of the play was towards the Cardiff goal but a couple of times we were thankful to Gabor for keeping the score at 2-1.
He saved from Parry after the Cardiff midfielder had got past Jordan again, and he then saved well from a Hasselbaink free kick. Fowler went off, having done precious little. He was replaced by Scottish international Steven Thompson who pushed, shoved and went down untouched a couple of times. I really hate this type of player.
Then they took Hasselbaink off, he'd done about as much as Fowler, and for the last few minutes we pushed the home side right back on defence but we just couldn't find that opening.
And Penn's final blow of his whistle brought with it our second defeat of the season. A quick word on Penn at this point. Having suffered Webster last Tuesday, and worse still the appalling Kettle last Saturday, it was refreshing to see a referee who didn't want to hog the limelight and went out of his way to let the players get on with playing.
It was a disappointing game. We didn't play well but there again neither did Cardiff and it was a game we should definitely have got something from. However, we made mistakes at the back and they proved costly.
There were positives. In midfield John Spicer had a terrific game whilst his second half partner Chris McCann showed the sort of form on his return that he was showing before his injury. Wade Elliott was a lot more positive than he's been recently and caused the Cardiff defence a few problems.
The two central defenders did more than well enough against the home side's star studded declining strikers.
We've two weeks now, and its back on the road to Barnsley. We need to take those positives with us and cut out those mistakes, and we might get our first win at Oakwell in living memory.
The teams were;
Cardiff: Michael Oakes, Kevin McNaughton, Glenn Loovens (Darren Purse 23), Roger Johnson, Tony Capaldi, Paul Parry, Gavin Rae, Joe Ledley, Pete Whittingham, Robbie Fowler (Steven Thompson 66), Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (Aaron Ramsey 86). Subs not used: David Forde, Chris Gunter.
Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, David Unsworth (Ade Akinbiyi 45), Kyle Lafferty (Wade Elliott 45), John Spicer, Alan Mahon (Chris McCann 45), Robbie Blake, Andy Gray. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Jon Harley.
Referee: Andy Penn (West Midlands).
Attendance: 12,914.