Coyle's still waiting

Last updated : 27 December 2007 By Tony Scholes
James O'Connor
James O'Connor - man of the match
I've never known anything quite like it. As it stands right now, and if the league table was based on away points only, we would be in second place some four points behind Watford. But, a league table based on home points would see us bottom of the league below both Colchester and Sheffield Wednesday on goal difference.

It is almost nine years since we had a run longer than this at home without a win and the most worrying is that, Stoke apart, these recent games have been against some of the worst teams in the division, and Sheffield Wednesday based on this performance are down there on merit. I thought they looked every bit as bad as they did when we beat them at Hillsborough earlier in the season and still look strong relegation candidates.

Whether it is having an effect on attendances is difficult to ascertain, but those responsible for the running of our club will have been very disappointed with the poor attendance yesterday given that the away end was full.

Should we have won it? Possibly; we certainly didn't deserve to lose it and other than a few seconds when we were behind we never looked like losing it. But neither did we ever really look as thought we could take hold of the game and go on and win it.

It is a difficult situation for manager Owen Coyle right now. He's come in to a team that has two long term absentees in Besart Berisha and Michael Duff. To add to that he also had Alan Mahon and leading scorer Andy Gray ruled out yesterday with injury. Mahon is not quite ready following his hamstring strain whilst Gray has picked up an angle injury that required stitches.

If that's not bad enough most of the centre of midfield is missing through suspension. Chris McCann and Joey Gudjonsson were both sent off in the Preston defeat whilst John Spicer, returning to the side after injury, was sent off at Ipswich last Saturday.

It wasn't difficult to pick the match day squad. We required sixteen players and we had sixteen players available. In a reshuffle, Clarke Carlisle returned from injury to partner Steven Caldwell in the centre of defence, David Unsworth moved to left back to fill the gap left by Jon Harley who filled in alongside James O'Connor in midfield. Up front Ade Akinbiyi got his first home start of the season in place of Gray. And on the bench, for the first time, was the youngest member of the squad Jay Rodriguez.

We started the better of the two sides without ever really threatening too much. There was a header from Ade, a shot from Harley and probably the closest we came was a header from Caldwell that went just over the bar. That came from a Robbie Blake corner but it looked as though goalkeeper Lee Grant just got a touch on it making it difficult for Caldwell.

At the other end Gabor Kiraly had been almost redundant but he became a central, an in my view a totally innocent, figure in one of the most bizarre of goals you are likely to see. It was suggested that it might eventually make 'What happened next?' on A Question of Sport but I'm not sure anyone would get it.

Sheffield Wednesday won a penalty for a foul by Caldwell. Referee Scott Mathieson thought not but his assistant waved furiously before placing the flag across his chest. Mathieson although closer went with his assistant and pointed to the spot. I've no problem with this decision; I was too far away but some closer and in a better position than myself have accepted it was probably correct.

There was some delay before it was taken, but let me stress that this was NOT because of anything Gabor did or didn't do. The delay, quite rightly, was because the ball had not been placed on the penalty spot. Eventually Mathieson went forward with Deon Burton, who was to take the kick, and ensured the Wednesday player placed the ball correctly.

We could say well done here to the referee for this, but that's all been forgotten with one of the most ridiculous pieces of refereeing I've ever seen. Mathieson turned after the ball had been placed to make his way back out of the penalty box. He was walking away from goal when Burton, seeing that Gabor wasn't ready, struck the ball into the net. Of course he would have to take it again, the referee (whether he had blown his whistle or not) hadn't even seen what had happened.

Mathieson turned and looked bemused, he quite simply didn't know what to do, but just then he saw his assistant running back up the pitch indicating that the goal should stand. Again he took the word of his flag waver and gave the goal.

Burnley were furious, and rightly so, Mathieson was already being marked down by the assessor for quite clearly not even following the laws of the game, but the truth is that we were behind.

In the end it possibly all worked in our favour. The likelihood is that they would have scored from the spot had it been allowed to be taken properly and we would still have been a goal down. In those circumstances we would not have been so incensed, so wound up and probably would not have stormed straight back up the pitch and equalised.

Right from the kick off we went forward and the ball reached Kyle Lafferty on the left hand side. He played in a ball to the far post that was met by Wade Elliott. His header back across was headed goalwards by Robbie but Grant got to it and parried but only as far as Ade who did well to bring it down quickly from an awkward height to hammer it home from very close range.

It had been a crazy minute in what had up to then been a dull sort of affair, and after another quick attack by the Clarets it reverted back to its previous state for the rest of the half.

The second half was better than the first, no doubt about that, but chances were still at a premium. Lafferty hit a curling shot just wide, both Harley and Caldwell missed with headers whilst more than once we just failed to get shots in.

At the other end there was very little activity and Gabor was again left with precious little to do as the Clarets searched for that elusive winner. Steve Jones came on for the tiring Ade with Kyle going into the centre. He got in a couple of good crosses but we just couldn't find that goal. Even in stoppage time we came close through Carlisle who saw his effort blocked by Grant but it was not to be and in the end we had to settle for a point.

We were the better side but again the opposition probably went away with their reward too easily. We didn't create enough real chances and for much of the game, I didn't think we particularly looked like scoring.

Now we've got another home game, another chance to start putting things right. It might be even more difficult to get a team out. Graham Alexander now serves a one match ban making it four players ruled out with suspension.

I don't think we'll have as ridiculous as decision as we saw in this game from Mathieson. He was nothing like as bad as Mason was in the recent defeat to Preston, but he was bad enough. One player gets carded for blocking an opponent, the next player doesn't. One player doesn't get carded for kicking the ball away, the next one does. It was as easy to select six winning lottery numbers as it was to work out what he would do next. And he made a complete fool of himself with the penalty.

Back to our performance and the man of the match. Defensively we looked more than good enough against Wednesday whilst my choice for top man comes from the midfield. The in form Wade started quietly but got stronger as the game went on whilst James O'Connor, starting a home league game for the first time since he was stretchered off against West Brom last season, gave the sort of display that will make it very difficult for Owen Coyle to leave him out. He wins my man of the match.

It was more disappointment though, only two home wins at this stage of the season is not good enough. We cannot afford to wait any longer to end this run and start winning in front of our own fans.

The teams were;

Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, David Unsworth, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Jon Harley, Kyle Lafferty, Ade Akinbiyi (Steve Jones 76), Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Stephen Jordan, Garreth O'Connor, Jay Rodriguez.

Sheffield Wednesday: Lee Grant, Lee Bullen, Richard Hinds, Mark Beevers, Tommy Spurr, Burton O'Brien, Glenn Whelan, Steve Watson (Etienne Esajas 82), Wade Small (Yoan Folly 43), Marcus Tudgay, Deon Burton (Luke Boden 72). Subs not used: Peter Gilbert, Kenny Lunt.

Referee: Scott Mathieson (Stockport).

Attendance: 15,326.