The last time we were involved in a 0-0 draw was in the penultimate away game of last season at Leicester and the last time a Turf Moor game finished without a goal was in January last year against a somewhat negative Derby side.
People see 0-0 and automatically assume that it must have been a poor game. That's not always the case and I've seen some excellent 0-0 draws over the years with much to enthuse over. Unfortunately, last night's encounter didn't fall into that category and for much of the ninety minutes it proved to be very drab and tedious with precious little to excite the crowd.
It was the first home game in over three weeks and I was looking forward to it. In my match preview I'd reported that I couldn't even predict the team Sean Dyche might put out. In the end there were three changes with two of them forced on him.
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| Kevin Long was preferred to David Edgar |
Both Ross Wallace and Danny Ings were ruled out with injuries and back came Brian Stock and Martin Paterson. Dyche made one other change, giving Kevin Long a second first team start in preference to David Edgar who dropped to the subs bench.
We'd heard of Middlesbrough's defensive problems in terms of player availability, but they got a team out with former Claret Andre Bikey, looking much leaner than when I last saw him in a Burnley shirt, in the centre of it.
Manager Tony Mowbray had hinted that he would have to go back to playing a less expansive game to try and grind out a result so it was no surprise to see them turn in, for much of the game, one of the more negative performances seen at the Turf this season.
Against teams like this you need an early goal and in fairness we started lively enough and that early goal almost came. The nearest we got was from Charlie Austin, no surprise there. Brian Stock got the initial shot in but when that was blocked it dropped to Austin just outside the box. He did well to get his shot in but Jason Steele saved well to his right.
Steele made one more good save in the half, this one to deny Dean Marney, but for the remainder of the first 45 minutes we hardly gave him anything to do despite dominating possession. Middlesbrough seemed happy to let us have the ball and then proceeded to defend, with ease, most of what we offered with it.
We did have chances and none better than one which fell to Paterson in the inside left position. He got clear in the box but made a hash of things and couldn't get a shot in.
Our best play was coming down the right with Kieran Trippier but too often, from either side of the pitch, the delivery into the box was nowhere near good enough and in truth you have to say that Middlesbrough got to half time at 0-0 with some comfort.
Nothing much changed in the early part of the second half. We had most of the possession. Middlesbrough offered next to nothing but we didn't really threaten.
Middlesbrough made a couple of changes and soon after the first of them, which saw Mustapha Carayol introduced, they got their first shot of the night. Carayol was fouled on the edge of the box by Long and Grant Leadbitter fired a shot wide from the free kick move.
With twenty minutes remaining we made our changes. On came both Keith Treacy and Sam Vokes as we looked to push for a winner. Vokes won a couple of headers and Treacy got two very good crosses in from the left, but somehow it was too little too late and by then you sensed we didn't have a goal in us.
With not too long remaining, Mowbray sensed a chance to win it and Middlesbrough offered more in those last few minutes than they'd done in the whole of the game previously, and it culminated in Lee Grant having his first real save to make in stoppage time, tipping over a Carayol shot from outside the box.
Had they won it, and Middlesbrough have a habit of scoring long distance goals against us, it would have been a rank injustice, but having said that, this was a shockingly disappointing game from Burnley.
It was so similar to the last 0-0 home draw thirteen months ago. Last night's game really was one to forget. There was little to excite and the game was played almost in silence with the ground again totally devoid of any atmosphere.
There was just no creativity. There was no sign of a player who might just find the spark to change things. This afternoon I was watching some of the clips from the promotion season. Oh for a Robbie or a Wade. What a difference a player like that might have made.
Dyche looked for the positives after the game. Frankly I couldn't find any at all. We needed better than this and in truth we made it easy for Middlesbrough to sit back and take home a point.
The teams were;
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Kevin Long, Jason Shackell, Danny Lafferty, Brian Stock (Sam Vokes 70), Junior Stanislas, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Martin Paterson (Keith Treacy 70), Charlie Austin. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Edgar, Joseph Mills, Marvin Bartley, Dane Richards.
Yellow Cards: Kevin Long, Dean Marney.
Middlesbrough: Jason Steele, Nicky Bailey, Stephen McManus, Andre Bikey, George Friend, Rhys Williams, Richard Smallwood (Mustapha Carayol 53), Josh McEachran, Grant Leadbitter, Andy Halliday (Ishmael Miller 73), Marvin Emnes (Curtis Main 68). Subs not used: Jayson Leutwiler, Faris Haroun, Emmanuel Ledesma, Luke Williams.
Yellow Cards: Nicky Bailey, Josh McEachran.
Referee: Kevin Wright (Peterborough).
Attendance: 12,394.