Burnley get point after encouraging second half

Last updated : 03 March 2007 By Matthew Hargreaves

Michael Duff - Sponsor's Man of the Match
The Burnley team was very much predictable apart from the left side where Chris McCann and Jon Harley were swapped round from their normal positions in what to some people would have been a surprise decision but to others was something they would have tried weeks ago.

Burnley began the match playing towards the cricket field end with the first few minutes passing without any major happenings. The first half chance fell Burnley's way with a throw from Duff which created a slight scramble in the area only for the ball to be hit back out to Duff who leathered the ball high and wide.

A few minutes later saw a slight scare for Burnley fans when Danny Coyne dived to keep the ball in for the ball to fall to Freedman who, much to Danny Coyne and Burnley's relief, saw his cross headed away by John McGreal.

Good determination from Harley in his new position of winger created Burnley's first corner which, as we've come to expect from Burnley's corners, was caught easily by the opposition's keeper.

The resulting kick out from Kiraly was allowed to bounce by two Burnley defenders and as a result of poor communication between goalkeeper and defenders caught Danny Coyne in no-mans land, for Clinton Morrison to head the ball easily over him and in. Both bad defending and bad goalkeeping. Burnley one - nil down and many expected that to be that.

Another Burnley half chance came with Akinbiyi chasing down a through ball which was crossed in for Gray but put out for a corner by the Eagle's defender. The resulting corner was again a worse than poor effort.

The next 5 - 10 minutes past without much happening. A ball was then played across the box for Crystal Palace which was chased down by Spence, who spun Duff and won himself a corner. However the resulting corner was Burnleyesque, beating every man and going out for a throw in.

Minutes later Burnley won a free-kick 30 yards out to the right. The cross from this saw no challenge from a Burnley player and the cross from the clearance picked up by Wade Elliott also saw no challenge and resulted in an easy catch for Kiraly.

Burnley's first real chance came to Ade Akinbiyi on 35 minutes after he chased a through ball into the box and hit a shot aimed at the roof of the net producing a good save from the Crystal Palace keeper resulting in a corner which (see a pattern emerging?) was caught easily by Kiraly.

Burnley's goal came on 40 minutes. Andy Gray received the ball and distributed it to Michael Duff. Duff hit a very good cross which reached the head of Ade Akinbiyi who hit the target and scored. Ade then ran over to the crowd and seemed to let off a lot of frustration, either to the fans or his fellow players. My money is on the boo boys after recent games.

The goal seemed to lift the players who began to look more comfortable in receiving the ball up until the whistle signalling the end of the first half.

At half time I felt we had every chance of scraping away from this game with a win against a team who hadn't really troubled us apart from the goal and our own mistakes.

Burnley kicked off the second half and within the first 30 seconds saw an Andy Gray shot quite easily saved by Kiraly but seemed to show to me that Burnley were looking to win this match.

Wade Elliot then won Burnley another corner, which was also poor and headed away. The cross back in from Chris McCann found Ade Akinbiyi with almost a free header inside the six yard box, however he couldn't get any power on the header and it sailed harmlessly into the arms of Kiraly.

Harley again showed good determination and found himself in the box only for there to be sadly no-one on the end of his low cross. These three chances seemed to show Burnley's intent to win the game.

A good run from Elliott and a great through ball from him for Duff come to nothing after the cross. Shortly after Chris McCann played a lovely one-two with Jon Harley and won a corner for the Clarets only to have it caught well by Gabor Kiraly.

Crystal Palace's first venture in the second half into Burnley's half resulted in just an easy catch on the ground by Coyne from Crystal Palace's Spence's cross.

Another good chance came for Burnley when Duff played a good ball through for Ade to run onto only for him to try a cross come shot which trickled harmlessly across the face of goal and wide when he got into the box.

Crystal Palace then made the first substitution of the game with Ben Watson replacing Lewis Spence which came as a bit of a surprise to me as Spence had given Duff a bit of a torrid time in the first half.

Another, this time short, corner again resulted in a tame header caught by Kiraly.

Burnley's first booking of the game was for Gudjonnson as a result of a harsh decision by the referee. The decision seemed harsher still shortly after with a bad challenge on Gudjonsson for which the player went unpunished for the foul.

Another push on Andy Gray this time saw a free kick for Burnley on the edge of the area which was hit high and wide, although this time it did get past the wall.

Another chance fell for Crystal Palace after Lewis Grabban beat the offside trap and hit wide. A ball to Clinton Morrison shortly after resulted in him being able to flick the ball up and turn inside the box and hit a volley wide.

Chris McCann was then substituted for Steve Jones after 75 and shortly after coming on Jones went down after having his shirt pulled on the edge of the area which saw Eagle's substitute Watson booked.

A Clinton Morrison run into the Burnley half was cut short by James O'Connor who brought him down and was subsequently booked.

Andy Gray was then taken off for Garreth O'Connor on the 90 minute mark which suggested to me that Cotterill was happy with a point. The fourth official then held the board up revealing four minutes added time.

The tannoy then gave the man of the match sponsor's decision, claiming it to have been Michael Duff.

In the last couple of minutes Crystal Palace won a corner only to see James Scowcroft head the ball over Danny Coyne's goal.

Some people may have seen this as a point gained towards our survival push whereas others may have seen it as two points lost. Burnley's next match against Southend has now become something of a six-pointer and hopefully Burnley can now push on after this encouraging second half performance.