Keystone Cops finale for Turf Moor

Last updated : 27 April 2008 By Tony Scholes
Andrew Cole
Andrew Cole - injury required ten stitches
It was all triggered by an ugly challenge, and this one really was ugly, by Cardiff defender Darren Purse on Andrew Cole and I think it is fair to say that Cole was angered somewhat by it to the extent that he appeared to give chase to get his own back and that led to officials, substitutes, stewards and what looked to be half the Lancashire Constabulary following on behind.

It was so out of context with a game that, despite having six goals in it, hardly lifted the crowd and one that had 'end of season' written all over it. It was a game between a side ready for its summer break and another one more intent on saving itself for a cup final.

We were the better side and should have won this one in a canter but although we scored three goals at home for the first time in a league game all season it wasn't enough to win it because not for the first time we found ways of gifting Cardiff with some of the softest goals imaginable. We were two goals in front before losing that lead and then in front again before having to settle for a point.

Owen Coyle named the same side that had won at Southampton a week earlier. The only change came on the subs bench where John Spicer gave way to youth team player Alex MacDonald who was involved with the first team for the first time.

The pattern for the game was set early with neither side showing too much urgency. Cardiff probably had the better of the opening play but it was the Clarets who came closest to breaking the deadlock when Ade Akinbiyi got clear to the right of goal. He wasn't able to get enough into his shot and it was saved comfortably by Peter Enckelman.

In fairness we looked comfortable and then started to take over. Even so it was something of a surprise when we did take the lead. Graham Alexander came in from the right and played the ball into Andrew Cole and continued his run. Cole flicked the ball over and Alexander run on and volleyed it in only for the assistant's flag to go up for offside.

Television pictures suggest both Ade Akinbiyi and James O'Connor could both be in offside positions but neither of them could possibly have been active. Referee Andy Hall went up to the assistant, spoke with him briefly, and then turned to point the centre spot after allowing the goal. It was Alexander's first for the Clarets.

It had hardly been inspiring stuff but we led 1-0 at half time and we were worth that lead having been the better side during that first forty-five minutes, and not too long into the second half we doubled that lead.

Ade did really well to hold the ball up and play it back for Robbie Blake just inside the penalty box. Blake played the ball through then for Ade to run on to and he pulled the ball back from the right of goal for Cole who scored left footed from close range.

That should have been game won but then came the gifts. I'm not too sure who presented the first one. It could have been Stephen Jordan, who had playing well up to this point. There again it could have been referee Hall. The question is did Jordan foul Trevor Sinclair or did he go down far too easily and con the referee. I think the latter, and it wouldn't be surprising, he'd pulled them up twice in the first half for diving.

But he pointed to the spot and Joe Ledley, a half time substitute, sent Brian Jensen the wrong way and they were back in the game. Trevor Sinclair, I remember when he won the man of the match on the Turf three seasons ago in a win against Crewe.

If I'm not sure who made that mistake then I'm certain I know who made the one that gave Cardiff an equaliser twelve minutes later - there was no hiding place for Alexander. We'd come close to making it 3-1 and they came straight down the pitch. The ball came in from the right and straight across goal. There was no problem, Alexander had the ball. He tried to beat Ledley and just basically gave him the ball. He pulled it back for Aaron Ramsey who smashed the ball home past a helpless Jensen.

It was just ridiculous, there was no way they should have been level, but it was all our own doing yet again but we had opportunities to put things right but missed some good chances. It was time for a change and on came the substitutes.

Our second change saw the young MacDonald come on for a hugely disappointing Wade Elliott. He was soon into the action and he played a part in what surely should have been the winning goal.

If their penalty was dodgy then ours shouldn't have been but Purse got away with a hand ball with Hall signalling for a corner on the right. Still it didn't matter as we scored from it, and it was young Macca who got on the end of it at the far post to head back where eventually Carlisle headed home from close range.

Incredibly it wasn't the winner. Back came Cardiff, Pete Whittingham got the ball in from the left and Steven Caldwell turned it into his own goal. There was no suggestion that anyone else scored it but the goal has officially been given to Steven Thompson. Now as much as he needs goals there was no sign that the Scottish international striker was even trying to claim it, but he's got it and that's not likely to change now.

Almost immediately they were in again but despite further claims for a penalty the referee waved play on and that was really the last chance of the game, although it wasn't the last action by any stretch of the imagination.

Purse and Cole clashed just inside the Cardiff half and in front of the Longside. Purse's foot was high and looked a shocking challenge. Cole was incensed and was held back by team mates as Hall produced the red card. He really had no choice whatsoever.

This is Purse's tenth red card in the last nine seasons and he'll now miss the FA Cup Final at Wembley just as he missed Birmingham's play off final in 2002 against Norwich after a sending off in the last league game of the season. "You're not going to Wembley," sung the Longside, although incredibly his manager Dave Jones has plans to reverse that decision.

The game restarted and Cole was having treatment for a gash in his leg that would require ten stitches. Then suddenly we had the most amazing of scenes I've seen at Turf Moor in all my 48 years of watching the Clarets.

Cole suddenly set off for the tunnel, cutting across the pitch in the process. I don't think there was anyone in the ground with any doubt where he was heading and why. The game continued but he was quickly followed by others and I'm sure I saw both David Unsworth and Wade Elliott legging it across.

The Alex Wood army of stewards who had marched pitch side some ten minutes earlier to the amusement of the fans set off in pursuit and as they all started to disappear up the players' tunnel there was the sight of a large number of police officers marching into the stand via the door in the end of the stand close to the club's media room.

Meanwhile the two teams, now ten-a-side, brought the game to an end with no further addition to the score. The last time Cardiff came to Burnley for the last home game was in 1988 and it had to be abandoned because of fans on the pitch and its surrounds. This one finished and on the fans charged, and that was the cue for me to make my last exit of the season.

That finale was something none of us are ever likely to forget, and at least it provided some excitement in a game that had little of it despite the goals. A real end of season affair.

Cole had been one of our best performers, along with Clarke Carlisle after he'd recovered from a difficult start. We've just got a trip to Palace now and it will be some weeks before the Turf Moor doors are open again. Some of those players we could have seen for the last time in Burnley colours.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott (Alex MacDonald 79), James O'Connor, Chris McCann (Joey Gudjonsson 77), Robbie Blake (Alan Mahon 87), Ade Akinbiyi, Andrew Cole. Subs not used: Gabor Kiraly, Michael Duff.

Cardiff: Peter Enckelman, Darcy Blake, Darren Purse, Glenn Loovens, Tony Capaldi, Aaron Ramsey, Stephen McPhail (Joe Ledley 45), Trevor Sinclair, Riccardo Scimeca, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (Pete Whittingham 67), Steven Thompson. Subs not used: Kevin McNaughton, Gavin Rae, Roger Johnson.

Referee: Andy Hall (West Midlands).

Attendance: 10,694