Clarke claims last-minute leveller

Clarke Carlisle - spectacular late equaliser

When the early Easyjet flight from Newcastle deposited me in Bristol at a time when most of the travelling fans were still in East Lancashire, I pondered which Burnley team would turn up - the one that surrendered with barely a whimper at Scunthorpe, the one which played with some flair at Colchester, or the workmanlike combination that earned an easy win at Hillsborough a few days earlier. I further mused, whilst sampling a couple of pints in a City Centre pub called The Shakespeare, whether I would be witnessing a comedy, a tragedy, a drama, or perhaps a mixture of all three.

I took my seat in the Fred Wedlock stand, with a number of other old swingers, to see nine year old Liam Craine, the son of a new poster on this board, proudly fulfilling his mascot duties out on the pitch. In truth the away end at Ashton Gate is poor, with backless seats bolted onto old terracing, and inadequate catering and toilet facilities, but on the plus side the low roof meant that the few hundred Clarets generated a fair volume of noise.

Burnley started, unsurprisingly, with the same eleven that started at Sheffield Wednesday, but this was soon to change as Chris McCann, who had limped away from a challenge clutching his hamstring in the opening minutes, was carried off after 20 minutes to be replaced by Joey Gudjonsson. There is little else to report from the first half, although Wade Elliott could have done better with an inviting cross in the very first minute, and Robbie Blake wasted a good opportunity to put in a telling cross when free in the box on the half-hour. Michael Duff was booked for a foul on 38 minutes, and the resulting free kick led to a scramble in the Burnley area that Gabor Kiraly eventually sorted, and half time arrived with neither side having grasped the initiative.

If the first half was lacking in incident, the second half was anything but. John Spicer replaced Kyle Lafferty at the beginning of the half, and after 52 minutes the Clarets were ahead, when a left wing cross was hit onto the post by Elliott, only for Andy Gray the finish from close range. Burnley continued to press, and a mazy run from Blake ended with him disappointingly shooting wide. A good move involving Elliott and Blake then ended in Gudjonsson firing just wide.

But Bristol City were, slowly but surely, beginning to exert more sustained pressure, and Duff and Stephen Jordan were both guilty of surrendering possession too easily with loose passes. With fifteen minutes left, Steve Cotterill made his usual substitution, Ade for Robbie, but this time it didn't work, for only four minutes later Bristol equalised. Gudjonsson miscued a clearance, the ball was returned into the area, and Darren Byfield, a second half substitution, scored with a perfectly placed header. Six minutes later, disappointment turned to disaster as Byfield latched onto a loose ball to fire City ahead from close range.

Last season, that would have been that, but there are signs that the Clarets are made of sterner stuff this term. I don't suppose any of us, deep down, really expected us to come back, but right at the death an Ade assist gave Carlisle the chance to salvage the draw. Graham Alexander was booked during the celebrations, apparently, but who cares?

A strange game, where for much of the second half we looked like getting all three points, only to feel relieved at the finish to get one. No poor performances, but the thought remains - if we had a really dominant central midfielder, the two points gained against Blackpool and Bristol City could so easily have been six.

Never mind, onwards and upwards!