Clarets turn on the style

Last updated : 27 August 2006 By Tony Scholes
Brian Jensen - Man of the Match with three outstanding late saves
We were hanging on to that point in the last few minutes, and were thankful to goalkeeper Brian Jensen who made three outstanding saves, but this was not an undeserved point for the Clarets who twice led and for a period in the first half played some of the best football I've seen us play in a long time.

It was far removed from the debacle of Tuesday night and for the first thirty minutes, against a Palace side who are amongst the promotion favourites, we dominated proceedings in all areas of the pitch and with any luck at all would have been in front before Alan Mahon broke the deadlock midway through the half.

Steve Cotterill made changes, and with it a change of formation. It was John McGreal who came in for the suspended Wayne Thomas and although he was only able to play up to half time he was inspirational at the back as the Clarets dealt with anything that they could offer.

Further up the field we had Kyle Lafferty in a wide right position with Steve Jones out on the left in what could be called a 4-5-1 formation, although really it was 4-3-3 as we got forward at every opportunity.

Palace didn't know what had hit them as we came forward in numbers, the three midfield players – James O'Connor, Micah Hyde and Alan Mahon – had Palace all over the place as they struggled to cope with the incisive passing and the movement whilst Lafferty and Jones were causing them all sorts of problems.
Central defender Michael Duff got his head to a Mahon free kick but couldn't quite direct it goalwards and shortly afterwards Palace were thankful for their somewhat comical looking goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly for keeping them in it with a superb save from Andy Gray. Despite what was to come later in the game this was the best save in the entire ninety minutes as the pyjama wearing Hungarian got down to his right to palm the ball away.

It had been a terrific start but it needed a goal, and when it came it was a goal worth waiting for. Johnny Mac started it, winning the ball well against Dougie Freedman and eventually we worked it to Jones on the left wing. He got to the edge of the box, looked as though he was going to cut in and shoot but played the ball back to the edge of the box and Mahon placed the ball right into the corner for his first in Burnley colours.

It really had been virtually one way traffic but they did give us a major warning just a few minutes later. Duff dallied on the ball and allowed them in to hit a shot against the Beast's right hand post. It thankfully bounced to safety. It was probably our only scare of the first half and we took that well deserved lead into the half time break.

McGreal had required treatment after the goal and although he carried on until half time he didn't reappear for the second half. Stephen Foster came on with Frank moving into the middle.

I wish some people would keep their thoughts to themselves, I didn't really need telling that the first ten minutes of the half would be vital and we needed to keep them out during that problem. No sooner had it been said, we lost our lead as Palace equalised from a free kick.

It came in the one and only way Palace knew, a big high ball into the box and one of their big men getting a head on it. It was defender Leon Cort who got the better of a static Kyle, the Irish youngster getting some stick from his team mates.

He answered in the best way possible by going down the other end and getting his first goal of the season to take us back in front. It look something of a scrappy affair from the other end but who cares – back in front, two goals in an away game for the first time since that wonderful day at Luton – and Palace looked shaken.

They did put us under some pressure, but mainly from these big high balls and for much of the time we didn't look in too much danger. In fact, we looked the more likely side to score as we exploited the space the home side were leaving as they looked for a second equaliser.

Probably the nearest we came was from Andy Gray who was put clear some forty yards from goal, but he didn't get a shot in as he stumbled and the chance was gone as Palace surged forward again.

With eighteen minutes to go we made a double substitution. Kyle and Jones, who had worked tirelessly, gave way as Graham Branch and Gifton Noel-Williams were introduced to give us more height against the one dimensional home side.

Unfortunately, within two minutes, we conceded a second equaliser as Scowcroft got up to head home and we were now facing a battle to hold on to a point although in our very next attack only the woodwork robbed Foster of a goal.

That was it from Burnley and those last eight to ten minutes fell into the ‘hanging on' category and three times Brian Jensen came to our rescue. The last of the three saves looked the most spectacular but the first one was the best one after Jobi McAnuff had got clear past two defenders down their left hand side.

He cut into the box, rode the last challenge and set himself up for what looked certain to be the winner, but the Beast was equal to his effort. He then saved down low to his left before tipping over a long range effort as referee Probert looked closely at his watch.

It really would have been cruel had we got nothing, we'd murdered them for half an hour in the first half and been the better side for a time in the second half. We succumbed to the aerial bombardment twice but survived that late onslaught to bring a point home with us.

Palace are being tipped by some for promotion, so make no mistake this was a good point, and earned with a performance that was at times breathtaking and one that included some fine individual performances.

Man of the Match? It could be Johnny Mac or from the second half Frank. Maybe Micah or Jimmy O, and then there was Alan Mahon who tormented the Palace defence at times. But I'm going to go for the player who ultimately ensured we got a point, goalkeeper Brian Jensen. His best work all came at the end when it was needed and it was him that the rest of the team turned to at the end.

Where does this leave Burnley? Who knows, we've played ever so well in two of our three away games, but there again we've turned in such as the horror performance against Hartlepool. But one thing's for sure, we've lifted our game a level at Palace in that first half hour, much more like that and we won't need to bother looking below the top ten places for us. It's just trying to ensure we continue to play like that.

Palace played their part and for the neutral this must have been one hell of a game to watch, for us it was just a bit too tense at times. But having got a result, and played like that, what a pity we don't have a game now for two weeks.

The teams were;

Palace: Gabor Kiraly, Danny Granville, Leon Cort, Mark Hudson, Danny Butterfield, Carl Fletcher (Michael Hughes 59), Tom Soares, Mark Kennedy, Jobi McAnuff, James Scowcroft, Dougie Freedman (Clinton Morrison 77). Subs not used: Scott Flinders, Matt Lawrence, Marco Reich.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Michael Duff, John McGreal (Stephen Foster 45), Jon Harley, Micah Hyde, James O'Connor, Alan Mahon, Kyle Lafferty (Gifton Noel-Williams 72), Andy Gray, Steve Jones (Graham Branch 72). Subs not used: John Spicer, Wade Elliott.

Referee: Lee Probert (Gloucester).

Attendance: 16,396.