Keep up the good work Mr Coyle

Last updated : 01 November 2009 By Andy Dean
Graham Alexander
Graham Alexander - determined to mark his century with a memorable performance
Despite the excitement of Manchester United coming to town or the ferocious local rivalry of a derby with Blackburn Rovers, the visit of Hull City to Turf Moor was the biggest game Owen Coyle's fledgling Premier League side had faced.

With a November ahead that includes back-to-back games against Manchester City and Aston Villa it was imperative that the Clarets piled more pressure on Tigers boss Phil Brown with a fifth home win of the season.

Owen Coyle resisted the temptation to make changes following the disappointing defeat to Wigan, not surprising knowing his stubbornness to make rash changes to his starting XI's.

The game represented Graham Alexander's 100th league start for the club and he marked it with two goals, the first controversial, the second clinical.

After a relatively non-descript opening to the game, it burst into life after 20 minutes with the help of referee Jones.

The Chester official was at the centre of the beachball fiasco at The Stadium Of Light a fortnight ago, and due to that incident he was demoted to a Championship game at Peterborough last weekend.

On his return to the top flight he would surely have been hoping for an uneventful afternoon, sadly for him he got anything but that.

Wade Elliott's angled through-ball was inch perfect for Tyrone Mears, but as the right-back looked set to square the ball along the six-yard box he seemed to totally miss his kick, only for Jones to award the softest of penalties for what he saw as a push by Hull winger Stephen Hunt.

No matter the rights and wrongs of the award, the decision stood and Graham Alexander's nerve held yet again from the spot as he beat Matt Duke away to the 'keepers right hand side.

It was Alexander's 12th league goal for the Clarets and staggeringly the 119th of his career, it also means Owen Coyle's men have taken the lead in each of their six home league games in the Premier League.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of the visitors, they are a side low on confidence and falling behind thanks to a bad refereeing decision visibly hit them hard.

The impressive Chris Eagles and Elliott both had efforts to double the lead before half-time but both were thwarted by Duke, saving at the near post from Elliott's deflected snap-shot and palming away a stinging drive from Eagles.

Phil Brown felt his side should have had a penalty early in the second half, it looked as though his players didn't share his sentiments though.

Seyi Olofinjana, so often outstanding against us in the past but dismal this time out, burst into the penalty box and looked set to fire an effort on goal before strangely squaring to Kamel Ghilas, although Clarke Carlisle's attempted sliding block did catch the Nigerian, no-one in a golden shirt appealed for the foul and thankfully Jensen managed to block Ghilas' poor shot on goal.

If Brown was wrong to have claimed a penalty there, he was right to feel aggrieved minutes later.

Hunt won a cheap free-kick on the edge of the Clarets' box, and despite a wall of almost all 10 outfield players Geovanni bent the dead ball into the corner to make it 1-1, or so we thought.

Before we get into the dissection of the decision to disallow the goal, it's only right to highlight the fact Jensen should have saved the free kick, no question about it.

Mike Jones indicated Olofinjana's push on Elliott was the reason he awarded a Burnley free kick instead of a Hull goal, it was an incredibly harsh call.

It's easy for us to look at the perilous position of Phil Brown and find decisions such as this amusing, had it gone against us and cost us vital points though we would have been incandescent!

So enraged was 'goalscorer' Geovanni that his protests proved so vociferous they warranted a yellow card, a second was not long in coming.

When he caught Steven Fletcher late and from behind the writing was on the wall, a second yellow followed by a red.

The Brazilian had been totally ineffective all afternoon after being selected in a strange defensive midfield role and he won't remember this trip to East Lancashire with much fondness at all.

Determined to mark his 100th appearance with a memorable performance Alexander made sure of the points with his, and Burnley's, second goal 13 minutes from time.

Substitute Kevin McDonald found the ageless veteran in acres of space on the right hand side and with no Hull pressure forthcoming he ventured to within 25 yards of the opposition goal, before firing an unerring effort past the despairing Duke to seal a vital win for Burnley.

Alexander has scored some big goals for Burnley Football Club, most notably the goal against Reading in the play-off semi-final first leg last season, but never have I seen him celebrate with such passion, this one meant a lot to him.

Before Mr Brown launches into a scathing post-match attack on Mike Jones' performance though, there is something he should consider.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink could easily have been dismissed for an elbow on Tyrone Mears early in the first half and Bernard Mendy could also have walked for a deliberate kick aimed at Fernando Guerrero late in the day.

Neither resulted in red cards, so whilst I can understand Brown's frustration at the penalty decision and the disallowed goal he can't say that everything went against his side.

10th in the table, above Everton, Blackburn, Fulham and just three points behind Liverpool after almost a third of the season - keep up the good work Mr Coyle!