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Yet not many in the crowd thought of pending victory as the teams took the pitch, Clarets missing the surety and presence of Taylor and the defensive leadership offered by The Skip, still out with a muscle strain, leaving a bare bones team and skeletal subs bench that could not even offer a spare defender amongst the five given tracksuits for the day. This against a Narrwch side that seemingly had strength in depth and came to the Turf looking very determined in the early stages of a very competitive and enjoyable first half.
So Clarets took to the field with the team that started at Rotherham, with Moore replacing the injured Taylor in partnering Blake up front and Little returning to the side. Having lost the toss, Clarets kicked towards the Jimmy Mac in the first half and after a quiet start Weller opened proceedings in the sixth minute with a poor shot wide of the mark, having got into a good position before wasting it from twenty yards.
Blake did test Green's hands two minutes later, when neatly flicking up and volleying over the wall from a re-taken free kick, but Green's positioning was good and he made a comfortable save from the innovative free kick. The Blake-Green combination met again on the quarter hour, this time a neat shimmy on the edge of the box created the opening and once again good positioning made the save look easy as Clarets began to gain the upper hand, enjoying plenty of good possession down the left via Briscoe and Branch, with Cook so often in the role of playmaker knocking quality balls across the midfield and setting Clarets in motion.
On twenty minutes, Clarets looked to have taken a deserved lead. Little, despite being clearly pulled back by his arm, still got the ball across the face of goal and Moore had the simplest of tap ins knocking home the squared ball from three yards out. Curiously, our man in green for the day, Mr Prosser, disallowed both the goal and the penalty claims, Narrwch very very lucky in getting the benefit of the official’s assessment. The referee's a prosser, thought many behind the goal. Branch saw yellow for a late challenge on Holt, before a lapse in concentration from Cook, allowed a quick breakaway with McGregor coming to his rescue.
Narrwch in pulling all eleven behind the ball, made progress towards Green's goal difficult for the slow and careful Clarets’ advances and too often moves broke down due to over passing and no one daring to have a go at goal, Cook's quality crosses from deep crying out for a Taylor or a Davis to latch on to. Sadly, Cook fell awkwardly when chasing back, hurting his shoulder in the fall and after earning a yellow for a trip on Rivers he was to take no further part in the game, Grant taking over the quarter back role in the centre midfield five minutes from the break.
Little had been seen of the Narrwch attack, but two minutes from the break the cautious Clarets were shown how to attack, when, following a top quality pass from the right touchline, McVeigh stepped neatly inside West's challenge and launched a right footed shot that cannoned off Marlon's left hand post, the rebound wastefully hit over the bar. An unjust goal it would have been, but the quality of the move was deserving of a goal. Clarets had the last attempt of the half on goal, but after Blake and Little had neatly set Weller up, his instep shot was more back pass like than threatening and Green once again had a comfortable save to make.
If the first half was a relatively even encounter, the second was to prove more one sided and Clarets deservedly ran out comfortable winners, though it could have been very different after Branch's fresh air clearance in the very first minute had not had the effect of deceiving McVeigh, leaving Clarets somewhat fortunate.
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Ten minutes into the half and Briscoe missed a sitter, hitting Little's cross to the far post into the side netting, but Clarets did take the lead on the hour mark. After Blake had been fouled on the edge of the area by Emblen, his sweetly taken free kick was headed powerfully home at the near post by McGregor, Green having no chance with the header, his first League goal for the Clarets coming at a very opportune moment indeed. Papa replaced DiBranchio almost straight away, Stan thinking in the positive, and Papa should have been celebrating after his very first touch, but he steered his header over from Briscoe's great cross from the left.
The Prosser was at it again when giving nothing for Green's pick up in the area, a back pass surely when taking the ball off Moore's toe as he went looking for scraps? The game was now both free flowing and eventful and Clarets were in search of the second and killer goal, but it proved elusive at that stage, the nearest to it when Blake was out jumped, just, pursuing Little's quality cross.
Addressing the ascendant Clarets, Nigel Worthington saw fit to make a triple substitution with twenty minutes remaining, Abbey, Russell and Henderson replacing Nielsen, Emblen and Rivers respectively. It was a move that invigorated Naarwch and a resurgent Holt saw his shot fly over after along run went unchallenged. Prosser came to Claret's rescue when awarding a free kick after Briscoe and Arthur refused to panic as the ball was stuck between Arthur's legs only four yards from goal, Clarets briefly looking as though they could not cope with the new found energy of the visitors.
Safe hands Marlon was equal to a shot from Russell, as Clarets then came back into the game. First Green was down smartly to parry Papa's powerful drive, but there was little he could do five minutes from time, when Blake's trickery set up a chance for Papa who could not connect with the ball as it passed across goal. Little though could connect and he forced the ball home from a tight angle, the scrappy goal calming the nerves as bendy man claimed only his third of the season.
Roberts missed the chance for an immediate reply, miscuing his shot from six yards out, then the Prosser was at it again, awarding only a free kick as Green picked the ball up when outside of his area, strangely no card or talking to felt necessary. That though was virtually it. There was though one last chance for my predicted score to come in, but Marlon spoiled it when out quickly once again to block Russell's shot after a neat threaded pass form the impressive McVeigh created the last chance in the game.
So for the Clarets, the long haul up the table continues, whereas for Naarwch and their good support of fifteen hundred or so, their long haul home began with little to discuss after the pointless trip to Lancashire.
Att:- 16,282
Star Gazer
Dean West. Struggled to get going in this game and though his supportive runs for Little and Blake were numerous, the final ball was disappointing throughout.
Glass Half Empty
The midfield continues to be a barren area of the pitch when it comes to creative play. All too often today, the favoured ball was either square or to a player in a rearward location, with little creativity on offer once Cook had been forced to leave the field due to injury.
Star Geezer
Marlon Beresford. Old safe hands made crucial saves at key points in the game and whilst his kicking left a bit to be desired, his shot stopping, cross collecting, reflects the confidence of a player on top of his form. The watching Crichton could never aspire to these levels. Sign Marlon on and quickly please.
Glass Half Full
That Clarets overcame such well organised and difficult opposition bodes well with the coming fixtures and shallow squad from which Stan has to choose. Currently it's quality not quantity he has to choose from, but everyone that dons the shirt is giving 110%; you can't ask for much more than is currently being served up in the circumstances.
