|
The Clarets went into the game on the back of some good form since Eddie Howe's arrival whereas our counterparts have been struggling since Phil Brown came in and they have been rooted to the bottom of the table for some time now.
We had an early start before the game and our group was out and in Burnley town centre for 10.00am to sample a traditional English breakfast and a few pints. We caught the train over to Preston at 1.00pm and made it to the ground for 2.15pm. All in all it had been a peaceful start to the day other than the smashed light in the Preston concourse.
We heard the team news when we got to the ground and found out that the only change in the first team was that Wade Elliott had been dropped to the bench to be replaced by Chris Iwelumo, who has a history of scoring hat tricks against Preston. Charlie Austin and Marvin Bartley were back in the squad after being cup tied for the West Ham game and they replaced Brian Easton and David Edgar on the bench.
Roared on by 5,500 Claret fans the teams came out and with a blow of World Cup final referee Howard Webb's whistle the match was underway. The match had a typical scrappy sort of derby match start to it and neither team could keep the ball long enough to hold a long spell of possession. After the first 10 minutes or so the game began to open up with half chances coming at each end, with Eagles having a shot saved by Iain Turner for Burnley and Ian Ashbee missing the target from 25 yards but all in all it was a very even start to the game.
The most likely player to make something happen for the Clarets was Chris Eagles but as well as being a gifted footballer he also wastes possession on a good number of occasions and it was one of these occasions which led to the first goal of the game on the 23rd minute mark. His misplaced pass was picked up by Paul Coutts in the middle of the pitch and he moved forward and played a pass which evaded our entire midfield and defence and it allowed Barry Nicholson to latch onto it and place a shot into Lee Grant's right hand corner.
So a goal down at Deepdale, sound familiar? I've been to Deepdale on two previous occasions and both times we had gone a goal down, levelled but lost the game 2-1 and nine minutes after Preston's opener Burnley were level.
It started with a long punt downfield from Lee Grant's kick, the ball the flicked up into the air by Chris Iwelumo and Chris Eagles picked it up and looped a ball over the Preston defence into the path of the onrushing Jay Rodriguez who coolly slotted the ball into the Preston goal and the away end went crazy.
The game seemed to go back to its lack of fluidity from before the goals had gone in, scrappy passes in the midfield with no team being able to keep the ball for a decent period of time. Just before the break Chris Eagles had a shot that went just wide from about 12 yards, and that was it for the first half.
The second half began with Preston holding more of the ball and were looking a little dangerous when they were attacking, although that could just have been my nervous state getting the better of me every time Preston went over the halfway line. But it was Burnley who were having the more clear cut chances, Jay Rod had a shot blocked by David Gray and Eagles had a chance to lob the Preston keeper but just hit it into the keeper's grateful hands.
As the half wore on Burnley were starting to look more and more dangerous and we had two shouts for a penalty but Howard Webb waved them both away to the disgust of the away fans in the stand behind the goal. The first was when Eagles cut in from the right hand side and was bumped to the ground by Ian Ashbee, I can see why the referee didn't give that penalty as I thought Eagles went down a little softly. The second however for me was a stone wall penalty, after some nice passes of the edge of the Preston box Dean Marney broke into the area and was clumsily taken down.
In the 69th minute Wade Elliot was brought into the action to replace Ross Wallace, the Preston fans booed as Wallace left the pitch whilst the Burnley fans were letting Preston know why Wallace no longer plays for them.
With the game fizzling out to the draw that both teams didn't want Burnley found that all important crucial goal. Jack Cork had the ball in the centre of midfield and spreaded the play out wide to Wade on the right wing who delivered an inch perfect cross into the path of Cork who scored with a superb and brave diving header. If the Burnley fans had gone crazy at the equalising goal it was nothing compared to the delirium that followed this one, Jay Rod, Cork and Austin, who had been brought on earlier for Iwelumo, celebrated in front of the Claret following and when it all calmed down the nerves began as five added minutes were held up on the board by the fourth official.
Preston were to have one last chance which was dealt with comfortably enough by Lee Grant and Howard Webb brought the game to a close. The Burnley fans celebrated, the Preston fans sulked and it does now seem inevitable that Burnley and Preston will be in different leagues next season, whether we're divided by one league or two is yet to be determined.