Cup run ends at the Emirates

Last updated : 09 March 2009 By Tony Scholes
Steven Caldwell
Steven Caldwell - came closest for Burnley with a header against the bar
The cup runs went beyond anyone's wildest dreams and Owen Coyle himself said ahead of this game that seasons like this don't come around that often. We'd already been to Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane in the Carling Cup. In the two cups we'd already seen off Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Brom, or put another way 20% of the Premier League.

Here though, at the very impressive Emirates, it all came to an end against an Arsenal side that showed more than a few glimpses of why they are one of our top teams, and there was certainly no denying them the quality of their goals.

There's one thing about playing in London on a Sunday lunchtime, the journey is likely to be trouble free, although I have to say as we made our way down the M1 our driver delighted in mocking those who had been stuck in traffic on the same road in January trying, and failing, to reach Watford.

We parked at Cockfosters along with many other Clarets, and what an eye opener on the short journey from the M25 along the A111 to the underground station. I don't think most of us could ever dream of affording any one of the houses we passed, and we later learned from the message board's First Lady that such as Dennis Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and Lennox Lewis have lived there whilst Amy Winehouse is about to move in.

From Cockfosters we travelled to Arsenal station and paid a visit to Highbury, a ground I last saw us play at in the mid-70s. Work continues there as the old ground is converted into more overpriced property, but the obligatory retaining of parts of the two side stands means there will always be a reminder of the football ground it once was.

And so eventually the short walk from Highbury to the Emirates and a first view of a stadium that many have described as better than the new Wembley. It's not perfect, some of our fans found it almost Jimmy Mac Lower Tier like as the rain came down and found it offered little protection, whilst again lower down the view was not perfect.

Close to the back of the lower tier the view was fine but the experience of the large padded seats was missed as we stood for the entire game.

The players had warmed up on a pitch that looked like a bowling green and before they came back out for the game the sprinkler system gave that pitch some final attention.

I'd never accuse any team of not taking a cup competition as seriously as they should, but there's no doubt the FA Cup carries more importance with Arsène Wenger than the Carling Cup. He fielded only three of those players who had started the Carling Cup tie. It was a much stronger side and also carried the likes of Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott as the insurance policy on the subs bench.

Burnley, as expected, showed just the one change from the side that won at Blackpool last Tuesday. Rhys Williams wasn't eligible and so Graham Alexander moved to right back with Joey Gudjonsson coming into the midfield holding role.

Amazingly captain Steven Caldwell was the only survivor from the back four that had conceded four goals to Sheffield Wednesday a week earlier. Williams couldn't play whilst Michael Duff and Stephen Jordan had both been left out at Blackpool.

Owen Coyle had said he would take the game to Arsenal and that's exactly what we did in the opening exchanges as much of the play was down at the far end with Burnley on the attack. It was a cracking start but we didn't come close to a breakthrough and eventually the game settled down.

We'd got to midway through the half without too many problems but then came finish number one from Vela. We gave the ball away just inside the Arsenal half and they responded by playing Vela in. He got past Clarke Carlisle and finished superbly past the helpless Brian Jensen.

We'd very much contributed to the goal by sloppily giving the ball away but it was a fantastic finish from Vela and it certainly upped Arsenal's game as well. In the next passage of play we were thankful to both our central defenders for keeping the score at 1-0. Both made timely interceptions and Caldwell in particularly made one blinding challenge in the box to deny Eduardo.

Just before half time there was a scramble in the Arsenal box. For a few seconds the away end thought we might even have scored, but Arsenal got the ball away and as the half time whistle went they went in with their 1-0 lead intact.

No matter what the plans were for the second half, they were quickly undone when we went 2-0 down just six minutes after the break. And no matter which way you look at this, it was a stunning goal.

It all started when Russian Andrey Arshavin chased the ball to prevent it going out and played it back for Kieran Gibbs, the only Englishman in their starting line up. He played it inside for Alex Song who in turn played the ball into the box. Now Kalvenes might have done better but Eduardo met the ball on the volley with the outside of his foot.

It was sensational stuff from a player who is just finding his way back after an awful injury. I can't believe anyone will score a better goal against us this season. We all look to point fingers when we concede goals but you just simply had to admire that.

Coyle responded by replacing the hugely disappointing Chris Eagles with Wade Elliott and soon after Steven Thompson came on for Gudjonsson and that led to our best spell of the match.

Much of the prompting came from Robbie Blake but there was to be no goal for us yet further goals should have come at the other end as both Eduardo and substitute van Persie missed chances.

Yes, Van Persie came on, as did Walcott and our last change saw Alex MacDonald replace Kevin McDonald. But it really was Arsenal's day and they got their third with another excellent goal finished by Eboue six minutes from time.

It was all over for Burnley, but we twice came so close to a much deserved consolation goal. Firstly Caldwell headed against the bar and then as the game was almost at an end Chris McCann went down in the box. There's no doubt it was a penalty but it was waved away by the otherwise very impressive Chris Foy.

3-0 it ended and it sealed out exit from the FA Cup. That was highlighted as we heard the semi-final draw on the radio as we made our way home. There was no mention of Burnley in the draw but incredibly, into the second week in March, that was the first domestic cup draw of the season that hadn't included us. That says everything about our wonderful cup season.

At the end of the day, anything other than an Arsenal win would have been unjust, but we didn't let ourselves down. I said before the day that if I could return with my head held high I could ask for no more. And I did return with my head held high.

I've so enjoyed the trips to some of the big grounds this season, and I'm sure I speak for most Burnley fans when saying I'd like some more of it. There's an old cliché about concentrating on the league when you exit the cup, but it applies so much to us now. We've ten games left, we can still achieve so much.

And I don't think we'll be coming up against the likes of Vela, Eduardo and Eboue in those games.

The teams were;

Arsenal: Lukasz Fabianski, Bacary Sagna, Johan Djourou, William Gallas, Kieran Gibbs, Emmanuel Eboue, Alex Song, Abou Diaby (Aaron Ramsey 71), Carlos Vela (Robin van Persie 60), Andrey Arshavin, Eduardo (Theo Walcott 71). Subs not used: Manuel Almunia, Gael Clichy, Nicklas Bendtner, Amaury Bischoff.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Christian Kalvenes, Joey Gudjonsson (Steven Thompson 58), Chris Eagles (Wade Elliott 54), Kevin McDonald (Alex MacDonald 75), Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Martin Paterson. Subs not used: Diego Penny, Stephen Jordan, Alan Mahon, Jay Rodriguez.
Yellow Cards: Kevin McDonald.

Referee: Chris Foy (St. Helens).

Attendance: 57,454.