It was Burnley's Chime at Pompey

Last updated : 26 January 2011 By Tony Scholes
Dean Marney
Dean Marney - overhead kick winner
It was our 27th game of the season; a year ago our 27th game was a home defeat against Portsmouth in a relegation season and the last time we beat them was in the 27th game of the 1981/82 as we went on to lift the Third Division title.

That last win, in February March 1982 and would you believe on the 27th, was a 3-0 win at home and completed the double over Portsmouth that season. Steve Taylor, Micky Phelan and Derek Scott were the scorers then but last night Jay Rodriguez and Dean Marney were the players on the scoresheet.

It was all done and dusted in a six minute spell just past the half hour as Jay Rod give us the lead on his 50th league appearance, turning in a Danny Fox cross, and Marney restored the lead after a John Utaka equaliser with an overhead kick. Marney's shooting has been a feature of recent games as he's managed to blaze chances wide, over or straight into the goalkeeper's hands. We've now found the solution; make sure he has his back to goal.

Pompey's a long way to travel for an away game and that's made even worse when it becomes a midweek game and you know it is going to be a very late return home. For a variety of reasons and excuses our usually travelling group of five was down to one, and so I boarded the Supporters' Club coach at around 12:30 p.m.

We were there in good time despite the attempts to hold us up with nigh on impossible traffic jams in the last few miles and we were in the ramshackled old Milton End long before kick off. The players were warming up and some kind official had already passed us the official team sheet showing one change from Saturday with Steven Thompson replacing Ross Wallace who'd had such a disappointing afternoon at Scunthorpe.

One team change there might have been but it was a different formation as Eddie Howe starts to put his stamp on things. I'd suggest it was a 4-2-1-3 formation. The two midfielders were Jack Cork and Marney with Chris Eagles in a more central role behind the central striker Thompson who was supported on the right by Wade Elliott and by Rodriguez on the left.

Portsmouth had a surprise in their line up in Jonathan Hogg who had signed on loan during the day from Aston Villa.

As is always the case at Fratton Park we were treated/subjected* (* - delete as appropriate) to Mike Oldfield's Portsmouth before John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood and his bell got the Pompey Chimes started. Imagine sat near him at a game with that daft hat and all the damn noise; it makes having Rocky sat close by almost acceptable.

The Chimes might have been ringing but it was Burnley who were the better side in the first half, and by some distance. They looked a ragged outfit at times and anything but organised defensively, something I certainly found strange given the manager there.

Even so, Pompey had the first chance of the game as David Nugent got a shot in. Lee Grant did well but it fell invitingly for Sunderland film star Liam Lawrence who made a real hash of his opportunity. Lawrence was the one Portsmouth player I had real concerns about, besides Nugent who I suspected might just score against us. As it happened, apart from some theatrical diving the former Stoke winger didn't trouble us too much and struggled against Danny Fox who was in top form on our left hand side.

Despite being much the better side we weren't creating too much although I did think we should have had a penalty when Tyrone Mears went down in the box. Referee Stuart Attwell was having none of it. In fairness, this most worrying of referees didn't have that bad a game.

With half an hour gone it was goalless but six minutes later the scoring was over and Burnley had won it 2-1. The first came from Jay Rod, his sixth of the season. Fox got down the left hand side and crossed low for the incoming striker to slide it in at the near post and right in front of the travelling Clarets.

Now of course, despite our inability to win away games, this was the seventh of those away games in which we've held a lead so perhaps it was no surprise we went in front here and squandered the lead almost immediately.

The now aging Kanu received the ball, turned Michael Duff and then slipped it between our two central defenders for Utaka to run on and score as Clarke Carlisle desperately tried to get back.

That deflated us, but not for long and this time we have to pay credit to Greg Halford for his contribution. Eagles played the ball into the box from its left hand corner but it went straight to the Pompey loan player from Wolves. He swung at it wildly with little degree of success and it dropped for Thommo who shot first time.

Jamie Ashdown did well to save it; really well in fact, as he parried it away. It dropped nicely for Marney with his back to goal and as we all wondered what he might do next his overhead kick nestled into the bottom corner.

Now some 37 years ago a Burnley striker scored with an overhead kick at Leeds. He's lived on it ever since so maybe this is one Marney can talk about for years to come.

There were opportunities at both ends before half time but neither goalkeeper was forced into much and so it was Burnley who went in with the half time lead.

We'd played some good football at times in that first half that left the Burnley fans enthusing during the break. For much of the second half, however, it was a case of nail biting stuff as Pompey got forward far too often.

Not as though there was anything about their attack to cause anxiety but we were dropping deeper and deeper and even in the early stages looked to be hanging on to our lead. Against a better side than Portsmouth we might have been in some trouble, but this was Portsmouth and in all honesty they didn't really create anything of note.

Down at the other end there wasn't too much activity but the home side were indebted to Ashdown for keeping them in it as Jay went close to a second. This time it was a Mears cross from the right that he headed goalwards only for the Pompey keeper to make an excellent save to keep him out.

The last ten minutes or so were frantic but, one routine effort apart, Grant didn't have a save to make. Lawrence won another couple of, shall we say, somewhat soft free kicks but they came to nothing and there is no doubt that when the final whistle blew the points were going the right way.

A first Burnley win for Howe and he came across the pitch for the post-match huddle as the Burnley fans waited to salute the winning team and manager.

John ........ Westwood had gone home by now and the only chimes were ours with 'Play Up Burnley' sounding more like 'Eddie Howe's Claret & Blue Army'.

We've played better on our travels this season and got less, no doubt about that, but there is a lot to commend this performance. We were, to us a quote from the Portsmouth manager, 'miles' better than they were in the first half and after the break the commitment, desire and will to win were there for all to see and, to quote another former Burnley manager, 'that augurs well for the future'.

The teams were;

Portsmouth: Jamie Ashdown, Joel Ward, Greg Halford, Ibrahima Sonko, Ritchie De Laet, Liam Lawrence, Jonathan Hogg (Hermann Hreidarsson 89), Hayden Mullins, David Nugent, Nwankwo Kanu (Carl Dickinson 64), John Utaka. Subs not used: Darryl Flahavan, Ricardo Rocha, Tom Kilbey, Nadir Ciftci.

Burnley: Lee Grant, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Dean Marney, Chris Eagles (Graham Alexander 90+1), Wade Elliott, Steven Thompson (Chris Iwelumo 87), Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Edgar, Andre Bikey, Brian Easton, Ross Wallace.
Yellow Cards: Jack Cork, Michael Duff.

Referee: Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton).

Attendance: 13,345 (including an estimate from Portsmouth FC of around 800 Clarets).