Crewe off the rails as Clarets win

Last updated : 26 November 2005 By Tony Scholes
John Spicer - two goals and a man of the match performance
They’d been beaten 4-1 at Luton just four days earlier and it was easy to see why they are struggling to get results given this performance. They were probably, Franchise apart, the worst side to play at the Turf since we won promotion back to this league in 2000.

Even so they still have to be beaten and despite a lull in the early part of the second half, we were on top for much of the game, and more than deserved the points and we were certainly not flattered by the scoreline.

It was no surprise to see us return to the tried, tested, and so far successful 4-5-1 formation that has brought us all but one of our victories this season and that meant a return for Garreth O’Connor on the left in place of Keith Lowe. It must have been a difficult decision with Lowe having had yet another good game at Leeds.

That meant Nathan Dyer, having extended his loan yesterday, would start on the right hand side and he immediately began to cause Crewe some problems after the game got underway following a rather strange, poorly observed, minute’s applause for George Best.

Burnley got on top right from the start and the visitors were soon back peddling as we got forward time and again, particularly down the right hand side where Michael Duff was playing almost as a winger as he linked up with Dyer. The first attempt at goal came from John Spicer but his shot went just wide of the post and that was the pattern for the early attacks as a number of shots just failed to find the target.

We had a couple of good shouts for penalties within a couple of minutes of each other. John McGreal looked to be blatantly pushed and then there was a shout for handball, but referee Probert waved them both away. Both O’Connors tried their luck from the edge of the box with the same result whilst we were close to getting on the end of a couple of good crosses from the right.

There was nothing much happening at the other end at all and we did eventually test Ben Williams in the Crewe goal after Micah Hyde found Ade Akinbiyi. Ade turned well in the box but Williams saved his shot at the expense of a corner.

Some of the crowd were getting frustrated, we were so much on top but hadn’t scored, and memories of a similar first half at Leeds were still very much fresh in the mind. Spicer and Garreth O linked well before the latter shot wide and then we finally found the target and went in front and what a good goal it was.

Garreth O found Ade on the right hand side of the box and Ade laid it off superbly for John Spicer and he hit his shot right into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. It was his second goal in a week following his winner against Leicester, not bad for the stand in goalkeeper.

It was the break we needed and we continued to push at them, surely a second would end any resistance from this Crewe side. We tried to give them a helping hand by challenging each other as Jon Harley and McGreal clashed in the air. It brought Johnny Mac’s afternoon to an end as he was led off with blood pouring from a head wound.

It hardly affected us as Keith Lowe slotted in at the back and within minutes we really should have been 2-0 up after a cross found Ade in the box. He brought it down superbly but as we all looked for him to hammer the ball home, his shot went tamely wide. That was the last real action of the first half and we probably should have been further ahead but had to settle for that one goal lead.

We dropped off the pace a little in the early part of the second half and we had the shock sight of Crewe actually creating a couple of chances, both from headers. The first went wide from Higdon but he looked to be well offside and then Mark Rivers headed straight at Brian Jensen.

It served to give us the jolt we needed and with just over twenty minutes to go we ensured the points would be ours with a second goal which was just as good if not better than the first. This time Micah found Garreth O down the left hand side and he played the ball in for Spice.

He pushed the ball forward for Ade and continued his run into the box. Ade responded with the perfect ball and as the keeper came out Spice made no mistake as he placed it into the corner.

Everyone inside the ground sensed that we’d won it and just to make sure we added another four minutes later through Dyer. This time Spice was the provider and the youngster hit a tremendous shot in from a tight angle.

It was all over now and, according to the crowd in the Jimmy Mac, we should then have had a penalty. They went up as one but again the referee indicated that it was ball to hand and waved play on.

The rest of the game seemed to be played in the last third of the pitch and there’s no doubt that we were trying to set Ade up for the goal his performance had deserved. It didn’t happen though and we had to settle for the three, a repeat of the scoreline last time Dario G was here.

Crewe were poor, there’s no doubt about that, and on this form they must be favourites for one of the relegation places. But this shouldn’t be allowed to take anything away from our performance. We passed the ball well all afternoon and at times were a joy to watch.

There were good performances all over the pitch but I have to pick out two from the midfield, James O’Connor and John Spicer, both of whom had excellent games. The two goals from Spice tip the scales and he gets my man of the match vote. That’s four goals from him this season, that’s thirteen goals from the three ex-Bournemouth players, goals from midfield that a year ago were in such short supply.

December is going to be tough but the last couple of months have seen us climb the table from bottom to a play off position. We can now go into these games with some confidence, starting next week with our first visit to Southampton in years.

The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal (Keith Lowe 35), Jon Harley, Nathan Dyer (Wade Elliott 82), John Spicer, Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Garreth O’Connor (Danny Karbassiyoon 89), Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Gifton Noel-Williams.

Crewe: Ben Williams, Darren Moss, Chris McCready, Richard Walker, Adie Moses, Kenny Lunt, Billy Jones, Gary Roberts, Mark Rivers, Michael Higdon (Eddie Johnson 78), Steve Jones. Subs not used: Stuart Tomlinson, Justin Cochrane, Luke Varney, Luke Rodgers.

Referee: Lee Probert (Gloucester).

Attendance: 11,151.