Burnley keep up away form

We collected just 15 points on the road last season, made up of three wins and six draws, and managed a measly 12 goals- three of which came in the great win at Luton. We are already over half way to beating the points total with 19 games left to play and it is looking like we have finally sorted out our away form which has troubled us for the last few years.

As expected, Steve Cotterill handed the new darling of the fans, Gifton Noel-Williams, his first start since February following his midweek hat-trick, and he displaced the injured Alan Mahon and partnered Andy Gray in attack. This meant that the wings would be occupied by Wade Elliott and Steve Jones, who to me is looking far from comfortable playing wide, whilst Ginge and Micah Hyde completed the midfield four. The defence was unchanged from Tuesday night, Harley and Duff playing full-back with Thomas and McGreal in the centre, in front of the Beast in goal.

For many of the team it was a return to their former hunting ground, and Wayne Thomas, Ginge, Steve Cotterill and Dave Kevan received hostile welcomes from the home supporters, although Gifton was signing autographs for them before the game. Former Stan Ternent loanee Luke Chadwick was also facing a reunion with a former club, lining up on the right side of Stoke's midfield, and Stan's assistant Sam Ellis, who joined Tony Pulis' backroom staff during the summer, made several appearances by the touchline throughout the game.

We had a nightmare start to the game on Tuesday, conceding two in the first half hour, and we were determined not to let that happen again today and as fans were still making their way to their seats Andy Gray opened the scoring on just 35 seconds. Micah Hyde picked up the ball on the edge of the area and, after finding his initial shot blocked by a City defender, played the ball into Gray in the area, who produced a great finish into the bottom corner, with a little help from the left hand post. We now had 89 minutes plus stoppage time to defend our lead.

We seemed to take confidence from the goal and had most of the play for the next few minutes and Wade Elliott saw his long range shot blocked after he received the ball with plenty of space from a free-kick just outside the penalty area.

We continued to put the Potters under pressure for the rest of the first half and Elliott and Hyde both came close to doubling our lead. Stoke had a few half chances to equalise, their best chance being an acrobatic shot from Russell, but Jensen had no trouble in holding what was a very weak effort in the end.

Sammy Bangoura, a surprise addition to the starting lineup and who received a mixed reaction from Stoke fans when the teams were read out following his disappearing act at the start of the season, picked up an injury at the end of the first 45 and was replaced by Paterson.

The referee brought the first half to an end to the sound of booing from the home support, who are evidently growing tired of ‘new' manager Tony Pulis and his ‘boring' football already. The travelling Clarets, however, had nothing to complain about, other than the lack of half time pies.

The second half began with a few silly fouls being given away by both teams, but Premiership referee Chris Foy did well in keeping this under control throughout. Stoke were beginning to put pressure on our defence, with Sweeney and Paterson coming close but McGreal and Thomas were instrumental in the centre of defence as Stoke struggled to turn their domination into clear goalscoring opportunities.

In front of the Burnley fans, Steve Jones fired over, and then minutes later wide, whilst Michael Duff somehow failed to connect from a Wade Elliott cross where the slightest of touches would have doubled our lead. Gifton did well to get round a City defender in the penalty area, but his driven cross was too far ahead of Andy Gray.

The last ten minutes saw the home team go all out attack and we were being forced to defend in numbers and the Beast forced into producing two saves straight from the top drawer to hold onto his third clean sheet of the campaign. The referee finally brought the three minutes of added time to an end and it couldn't have come sooner for the Clarets, who moved up to third in the Championship table.

It was a fantastic win on the road, and Steve Cotterill walked towards the tunnel with a smug smile after picking up his second Britannia win in three games as Burnley boss, and rightly so. He got everything right on the day and the doom and gloom that followed the Colchester defeat now seems all but forgotten.

I struggled to pick out a single man of the match after the whole team put in a solid, yet unspectacular display, but Jensen and Ginge, who hassled his old team throughout, stood out for me.

We need to build on this win now, and Southampton on Saturday looks a tricky game but if we play with the same belief and passion that we have done in the last two games we have more than a good chance to pick up all three points.