Bank Holiday disaster for Clarets

Ironically, had Thomas served the first part of his suspension he would have been looking forward to a return in three weeks time, but he could now be out for the season after suffering what could be a serious cruciate ligament injury.

It was just more misery on misery for the beleaguered Clarets who also lost the inspirational Micah Hyde and went down to a fourth defeat out of six in a game that we simply should not have lost.

With Thomas available, Steve Cotterill named the same side that had drawn with Derby with the same five substitutes sitting on the bench, a luxury that he’s not had too often this season.

As the game got underway, so did the Madejski Stadium atmosphere, one annoying drummer and nothing else, and in tune with that the game got off to a very scrappy start. Reading however, were soon in front as Leroy Lita broke the deadlock with a goal that some were suggesting was a fluke.

He stuck out a foot to a loose ball and I’m not sure whether he meant it or not, but it was a centre forward’s goal, the sort that such as Willie Irvine and Andy Payton scored regularly and the sort of goal that I suspect the impressive Lita will score more of during his career.

He looked the sort of player we would love to have in his side and although there was speculation linking him with us during the summer he was always going to be heading for one of the money clubs in the division.

The goal knocked us sideways and it took us some time to get into our stride, but when we did we started to take the game to Reading and without doubt got on top and we could, on more than one occasion have dragged ourselves level.

Even John McGreal got in on the act as he was put clear in the box but his shot from a tight angle on the left was well saved by the at times unsure Marcus Hahnemann.

We looked set to go in at half time a goal down, and that would have been harsh on us, but it was Ade Akinbiyi, now the league’s top scorer, who brought us level with another top finish.

He collected the ball from a flick on from Gifton Noel-Williams and again turned to hit home low into the corner giving the American keeper no chance. It was another top finish from Ade, his first goal away from Turf Moor since he netted in his first full game at Bramall Lane back in March.

He could have got another almost immediately but put a shot from the right hand side over the bar just as referee Olivier was about to blow for half time. It hadn’t been a bad first half for the Clarets, despite going behind we had certainly shaded it and were more than worth the 1-1 scoreline.

We started the second half well too but could have gone behind when substitute Kevin Doyle (yet another player we were linked with in the summer) was allowed a free header from a corner. Thankfully he put it wide, but what a pity we didn’t heed the warning and do something about it.

It was Burnley again in the ascendancy, we were having much of the possession and Reading were finding it difficult to get into the game at all. We weren’t creating too much in terms of chances but this was definitely a period when we should have gone on and won the game.

The disaster was now only just around the corner, and it was from a corner that the home side again took the lead. It really was ridiculous but Doyle again was allowed a free header from the corner kick and this time and this time he didn’t make a hash of it and scored his first league goal for the Royals.

To make matters worse, just after the restart Micah Hyde, who had again been pulling the strings in the midfield was forced off with what looked like a hamstring injury. That allowed John Spicer to make his debut but things were certainly not going to get any better.

The Burnley fans were calling for a change, and it would have been nice to see Karl Bermingham get a chance at the expense of a defender to try and go for a second equaliser but there was no movement on the bench, that was until a bizarre incident saw potentially the biggest disaster of all fall on us.

Former Claret Glen Little, who hadn’t made too much contribution to the game, fell over the ball. Wayne Thomas fell on top of him and as he lay on the ground referee Olivier strangely awarded Reading a free kick.

But the Thomas injury was one causing the greatest concern, and eventually the John Madejski golf buggy, doubling up as a stretcher, drove onto the pitch from the far corner to help take Wayne from the field.

The news is not good, he could well be out for the season with a snapped cruciate ligament, and that is dreadful news for a player just settling into his new club.

There were to be no gambles from Steve Cotterill, who took the safe option of bringing on defender Keith Lowe and shortly after that our intentions were clear. There were less than two minutes of normal time remaining, we were 2-1 down and we conceded a corner. All eleven Burnley players came back to defend it and of course when it was cleared it came straight back. I’m not sure how on earth you can go and find yourself an equaliser like that.

Five minutes were added on but that just gave us time to lose yet another player with Garreth O’Connor sent off for kicking out at a Reading player. It brought it all to an end and yet another defeat as the league table starts to take shape with this Burnley side close to the bottom.

As I said, we really could have won this game against a Reading side that, Bobby Convey and Lita apart, looked nothing to me, but don’t be fooled into thinking we played that well. Some players, to put it kindly, off form.

Michael Duff had probably his worst game in a Claret & Blue shirt. He was given a difficult time by the American international Convey but when he was in possession he wasted virtually every ball, his distribution was shocking.

Up front it was a Gifton Noel-Williams that was nothing like as effective as previous games. We know about his lack of mobility and it didn’t help when our midfield kept giving him balls to chase for fifty yards but this was a poor performance from Gifton.

James O’Connor was improved on recent showings but Micah won precious little help in midfield and Garreth O’Connor’s only real contribution was hitting a shot wide and getting himself sent off.

We need to have more players in form if we are going to start to climb out of this early season poor form, we certainly don’t want to be stuck this close to the bottom of the league for much longer.

It might mean even more players coming in, and certainly we will have to be looking for a long term replacement for Wayne Thomas. We’ve got just two days left because of this ridiculous window.

Overall it really was a seriously disastrous Bank Holiday Monday and when we return to action in just under two weeks we can only hope that we have some of our injured players back and a somewhat stronger looking squad than the one that finished the game at the still quiet Madejski Stadium.

The teams were,

Reading: Marcus Hahnemann, Graeme Murty, Ibrahima Sonko, Ivar Ingimarsson, Nicky Shorey (Chris Makin 45), Glen Little, Steve Sidwell, James Harper, Bobby Convey, Leroy Lita, Dave Kitson (Kevin Doyle 39). Subs not used: Graham Stack, Steve Hunt, John Oster.

Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas (Keith Lowe 86), John McGreal, Jon Harley, Garreth O’Connor, Micah Hyde (John Spicer 73), James O’Connor, Graham Branch, Gifton Noel-Williams, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Chris McCann, Karl Bermingham.

Referee: Ray Olivier (West Midlands).

Attendance: 14,027.