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Losing run ends but still no goal
We should have scored, chances were created but missed, as Steve Cotterill injury and suspension ravaged side crept one point closer to safety.
Tony Grant, a wounded hero at Blackburn, was not surprisingly ruled out after playing for just the first half against Sunderland although the good news was the earlier than expected return for John McGreal.
Hit by suspensions it left us with every fit and available experienced outfield player on the pitch, three players ruled out because of suspension. I hope Mo Camara and Ade Akinbiyi felt guilty because their dreadful actions in the last week or so left us desperate for numbers.
It was a big shuffle with captain Frank Sinclair moving to left back whilst Jean-Louis Valois moved up front to partner Ian Moore in a 4-4-2 formation.
The new partnership almost got off to the dream start with a goal in the first minute as Valois set up Moore after a good ball from Pete Whittingham.
Moore though made a complete mess of the chance, his control looked similar to that of a dog with a balloon and allowed Ian Walker to save when the Clarets should have been one up.
Moore though made a complete mess of the chance, his control looked similar to that of a dog with a balloon and allowed Ian Walker to save when the Clarets should have been one up.
I’m told that in any case Moore was offside although the inept flag wavers got little right all night so the fact there was no offside given should mean nothing.
It’s a long time since Moore scored a league goal on the Turf but this was to be his best chance.
At the other end Leicester missed a chance themselves with a poor header over but it was Burnley who started much the brighter. The goal didn’t come though and as the first half progressed so Leicester came more into it and it was they who went on to create the chances.
Twice they should have done better but Brian Jensen made saves but we were having the odd dodgy moments at the back where Gary Cahill seemed to be struggling with injury.
With those chances missed the rest of the first half descended into some awful football and by the time referee brought it to an end virtually nothing was happening at all.
Poor Cahill was struggling and spent most of the half time interval out on the pitch trying to keep moving but he was limping badly and it was a big surprise to see him come out for the start of the second period.
It was Leicester who made the change, bringing on former Blackburn winger Keith Gillespie. The atmosphere inside the Turf last night was such that even his introduction made no difference. You really struggled to believe that one week earlier we had been in the middle of a 7,000 away following giving it everything.
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We saw them off though and got back into the game and we started to create chances – and good chances at that.
Valois found Branch who did ever so well on the edge of the box as he turned his man to get a shot in, the right footed shot though went wide of the post to Walker’s right. If only it had been his left foot I heard.
Well, poor Branchy got the next chance and it fell to his left foot as John Oster found him with a delightful ball in from the right. All Branchy had to do was hit it but instead he chose to come in on his right to look for other options.
If you have never previously seen a player without confidence then this was it – it was our best chance of the game and it had gone begging.
Oster started and ended the next move that came closest to giving us the lead. He linked up with Moore, Leicester half cleared but only as far as Michael Duff who got the ball back into the box.
Out on the left Oster beat Kenton, set himself up and curled one in past Walker but he was robbed of his first home goal by the inside of the post.
Leicester made changes and one of them saw the introduction of former Hearts striker Mark de Vries – apparently the Leicester fans haven’t taken to him and it was not difficult to see why. Despite our lack of fire power we can think ourselves very lucky we haven’t got him in our squad, and twice we were thankful for his poor ability that brought Leicester attacks to an end.
Leicester made changes and one of them saw the introduction of former Hearts striker Mark de Vries – apparently the Leicester fans haven’t taken to him and it was not difficult to see why. Despite our lack of fire power we can think ourselves very lucky we haven’t got him in our squad, and twice we were thankful for his poor ability that brought Leicester attacks to an end.
There was just time at the end for one last chance and it fell to Branchy but he headed the ball down and watched agonisingly as it bounced over and with that referee Kaye brought the game to an end.
It was hardly inspiring stuff against what I thought was a very poor Leicester side but we did at least create some chances tonight and with just a bit of luck and/or some better finishing we could well have won it.
We do have to consider the state of the squad as well, the lack of players, the number of games we’ve played recently. Poor Cahill somehow survived the full ninety minutes but he really shouldn’t have been out there.
At least there will be two more in the squad on Saturday with Lee Roche and Camara back and we are going to need them.
Just a final word for Micah Hyde. Early in the season as clean sheet followed clean sheet many fans were talking about how well four of our new signings were doing. Coyne, Duff, Sinclair and McGreal were getting the headlines but doubts were being cast about out midfield recruit form Watford.
If there are still any doubts now then I will be amazed and Micah turned in another superb performance in midfield that should have seen him win the man of the match award by some distance.
How much we need him to play well in Tony Grant’s absence – he is certainly not letting us down.
We have four days now before Rotherham come and a win would see us so close to that fifty point mark that everyone suggests is safety. We are getting closer but if we could just get a goal or two it would be a lot easier.
The teams were,
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Gary Cahill, John McGreal, Frank Sinclair, John Oster, Micah Hyde, Pete Whittingham, Graham Branch, Ian Moore, Jean-Louis Valois. Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington, Cayne Hanley, Mark Yates.
Leicester: Ian Walker, Darren Kenton, Nikos Dabizas, Patrick McCarthy, Jordan Stewart (Keith Gillespie 45), Alan Maybury, Stephen Hughes, Scott Gemmill, Gareth Williams, David Connolly (Lilian Nalis 76), Tommy Wright (Mark de Vries 63). Subs not used: Lars Hirschfeld, Richard Stearman.
Referee: Alan Kaye (Wakefield).
Attendance: 10,933.