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With Gareth Taylor still recuperating from last week’s nasty bang on the head at Millmoor, Stan Ternent reverted to a 4-4-2 formation. The defence which had offered such stoic resistance against Rotherham remained in tact, the game coming too soon for The Skip to have made a full recovery. In midfield, Glen Little had recovered from his calf strain and took his place on the right, Brad Maylett having to make do with a place on the bench. Up front, Ian Moore and Robbie Blake spearheaded the Clarets attack.
The opening 10 minutes of the game provided more entertainment than the whole 90 had at Rotherham the previous week, and it soon became clear that this was, thankfully, to be a much better game. It was the visitors who started the game more brightly, Mark Rivers in particular proving a handful for Graham Branch in the left-back berth.
On 10 minutes, Burnley were awarded a free-kick. After Lee Briscoe hammered his initial effort into the wall, referee Prosser ordered a re-take. Paul Cook rolled a short pass to Blake, who flicked the ball up and volleyed it goalwards, which Green did well to save. It made a pleasant change to see a bit of variety from a free-kick.
On the quarter hour, Blake was at it again. Having spread the ball wide to Little, Glen pulled the ball back to him inside the area. Again Green in the City goal was forced to make a stop. Burnley were clearly in the ascendancy now, and on 21 minutes should have been a goal up. Little and Blake combined to good effect down Burnley’s right. As Little advanced into the area, his shirt was tugged, but the ref played advantage. Little sent a low centre across the six yard box, and Ian Moore was on hand to tap the ball home. Amazingly, even though Norwich had two men on the line, Phil Prosser ruled the goal offside. The decision could have cost us dear. Who knows what kind of logic the referee was applying to the situation?
The next opportunity to break the deadlock fell to Norwich at the end of the opening period. Steen Nedergaard’s cross-field pass found the impressive Paul McVeigh in acres of space on the right. Not for the last time in the match, Marlon pulled off a fine save, his fingertips deflecting McVeigh’s stinging shot onto the post and away to safety. To go in behind at half-time would have been harsh on the Clarets who had dominated the opening period. The only other significant action of the half was the substitution of Paul Cook. The stand-in captain had injured his shoulder and was replaced by Tony Grant.
Nigel Worthington had clearly asked his players to up the pace in the second half, as it was Norwich who were quicker out of the blocks from the re-start. On 53 minutes, McVeigh fed Rivers on the right hand side of the box. His shot was safely smothered by Beresford. A minute later, the less-than-handsome Iwan Roberts had his header blocked by Marlon as the Canaries began to dominate.
On 56 minutes, Burnley spurned a glorious chance to take the lead. Little’s deep cross from the right found Lee Briscoe totally unmarked. With the goal at his mercy, Brisser found the net. Unfortunately it was the side of it, and the score remained 0-0. Moments later, Paul Weller had an effort deflected wide.
Finally, Burnley broke the deadlock on the hour. A well-worked free-kick involving Little and Blake saw the latter deliver a centre. Mark McGregor stole in unnoticed from the edge of the box to power home a header. It was his first league goal for the club, and could hardly have come at a better time.
The goal heralded the withdrawal of Graham Branch from the action. Stan had decided to turn the screw, opting to play three up front, as Dimi came off the bench. It almost paid instant dividends, as he headed narrowly over from Lee Briscoe’s cross. Shortly thereafter, Green made a fine double save, first from Blake, then Moore.
On 83 minutes, Blake played in Dimi whose shot was well saved by Green. Two minutes later, Burnley sealed the points. Robbie Blake picked up the ball on the left hand side. With two Norwich defenders to get past, his options seemed limited. But then, this is Robbie Blake we’re talking about. Shifting the ball onto his left foot, he sent an inviting centre over to the far post. At full stretch, Super Glen was able to get enough power into his effort to send the ball past Green and double the home side’s advantage.
To Norwich’s credit, they did not let their heads drop and continued to chase the game. On 87 minutes McVeigh found Roberts in space. He seemed sure to score, but instead dragged his shot wide much to the relief of Burnley’s supporters. The Clarets had one more scare to survive in injury time when the ever-dangerous McVeigh was through on goal, but dependable to the last, Marlon was on hand to make another fine stop.
The Canaries may feel they should have left Turf Moor with something, and on another day they might have done just that. But Burnley deserved to win simply by dint of the fact that they took two of their chances whilst Norwich failed to convert any of theirs.