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In terms of today's game, Owen Coyle quite rightly decided to keep faith with the eleven players that had done so well to take all six points in the last two fixtures against Nottingham Forest and Blackpool, and the only change was on the bench. Ade Akinbiyi had apparently picked up some sort of back injury and did not travel, and therefore Jay Rodriguez took his place among the substitutes. Swansea made four changes to their side, including leaving striker Jason Scotland on the bench. So many changes often unsettled sides, and so I hoped that Burnley might be able to use this to their advantage and finally let me see an away win, as it is now over two years since I had seen us beat Stoke City by a single goal at the Britannia Stadium.
Burnley, playing in light blue shirts (why?) and claret shorts lined up with their fluid 4-1-3-2 formation, with Alexander in front of the back four, and strikers Paterson and Thompson given relatively roaming roles up front. Swansea, in all white, opted to keep to the 4-5-1 formation that had provided them with a steady mid-table start to this campaign, having been promoted at the end of last season.
Once referee Andy Hall had got proceedings underway, the game started to develop into a pattern which mostly consisted of spells of possession for the home side. Swansea threatened to make more of it, but were not able to due to sterling teamwork throughout and solid defensive play in particular. Burnley continued to endure lengthy spells of pressure as the first half progressed, and also picked up three bookings, with McDonald, Jordan and Carlisle all receiving yellow cards in quick succession. Swansea's best chance of the half came when Pintado failed to connect with an incisive cross from Bessone on 19 minutes. Burnley had one or two chances, but nothing of note, with a tame shot from Paterson on 22 minutes, and a long range effort from Chris McCann on the half hour, neither of which really troubled De Vries in Swansea's goal.
The home side remained in the ascendancy but were never really able to convert their possession into any other significant chances on goal. Burnley's best outlet once again came down the right wing with Wade Elliott who made some good runs, but was never quite able to deliver a killer cross in the first half. On the whole, chances were few and far between, and the fact that the first half was relatively uneventful was testament to a Burnley back four that, aside from the bookings, played extremely well as a unit. This was a pleasure for me to see away from home, after the utter shambles of a defensive performance on the opening day at Sheffield Wednesday. And so the Burnley side left the field at half time with an element of relief that the scores were level, but with the knowledge that they had done enough to keep the home side at bay.
As the players limbered up, ready for the second half, Owen Coyle decided that Joey Gudjonsson should come on to replace Kevin McDonald. The Burnley number seven had had a relatively quiet first half in comparison to his excellent performance on Tuesday night. It transpired later that he had also suffered a slight dead leg. The home side also replaced Shaun MacDonald, and brought on Mark Gower in his place, although it was a minute or two after the second half started that the fourth official, obviously struggling slightly to keep up with proceedings, realised that this switch had not been done by the book. It then took what seemed like an eternity for the officials to identify which player had entered the field of play. Once the referee had finally located Gower, he issued him with a yellow card and the fourth official put up his board. Strangely, Gower was not asked to leave the pitch to come back on.
The pattern of play at the start of the second half was not dissimilar to the first 45 minutes. However, just before the hour, Wade Elliott made space on the right and delivered an arcing cross into the centre. This time, Joey Gudjonsson was waiting inside the six yard box to head home and give Burnley an unexpected lead. The home fans were stunned into silence and the travelling support of just over 600 were ecstatic, and began to think that an away victory could be on the cards.
Swansea then replaced Darren Pratley with Jordi Gomez, and this, combined with being a goal behind, seemed to spur them on and their ability to convert their build-up play into chances seemed to improve. On 73 minutes, Andrea Orlandi made way for Jason Scotland, meaning that Swansea switched to a 4-4-2 formation. Owen Coyle knows Scotland well from his days at St. Johnstone, and in fact sold him to Swansea, but he wasn't able to make a huge impact as the Burnley back line appeared to have been well briefed. However Scotland did have one good opportunity where he was given far too much space and was able to get a shot away that Brian Jensen saved well, low to his right. From the resultant corner, Ferrie Bodde rose to head the ball, but it came back off the bar.
Robbie Blake then came on for Martin Paterson, but he did not really have an opportunity to get into the game, and shortly afterwards Alan Mahon replaced Steven Thompson. As we entered the last five minutes of normal time, a free kick for Swansea from Jordi Gomez left Brain Jensen well beaten, but he only managed to clip the top of the net.
Deep into injury time, with Burnley in possession on the break, Alan Mahon went for goal when it might have been more advisable to try and keep the ball and try to run the clock down. Burnley were made to pay a high price as shortly afterwards Gower played a long ball forward for Swansea to the right wing that Stephen Jordan did not deal with, leaving him stranded. Swansea winger Angel Rangel broke free to cross the ball into the middle where a very grateful Ferrie Bodde slotted home from close range to the relief of the home fans. Shortly after that the final whistle went and both teams had to be satisfied with a point each.
It was difficult to choose a man of the match, but I don't think you need to look any further than the back four, who aside from the error that led to Swansea's goal were mightily impressive. My vote would go to Russell Anderson who has continued to be extremely solid at right back since coming to us on loan.
I also feel slightly disappointed that I couldn't justify the headline: 'Last minute dot con' for this match report, but there was nothing wrong with Swansea's equalising goal, and on the balance of play it would be difficult to begrudge a point to the home side. Be that as it is, it is still a bitter pill to swallow when your side has worked so hard, scored the first goal, and then defended gallantly right up until stoppage time, only to concede a goal so late in the proceedings. However, a six game unbeaten run after the disappointment at the start of the season is certainly something to build on, and the continuing improvement in performances augers well for the rest of the season.