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No more than 45 minutes
A win would have been enough to ensure we were mathematically safe from the drop, although we really aren’t in any danger of going down, but this a real reminder of the inept football we endured two years ago when season ticket sales were dropping quicker than a member of the Red Devils.
We were promised that it would be better than Gillingham last week and Steve Cotterill made two changes (other than the switch of keeper), leaving out the two worst players from last week, John Oster and Jean-Louis Valois, two players whose time at Burnley are soon to come to an end.
In came another two set for the exit door very soon in Tony Grant and Dean Bowditch with the Ipswich loan man played on the right hand side.
It all started fairly quietly with Burnley far from their best but Brighton looking as bad as anything that had been at the Turf all season. They were making very little impression on the game and eventually Burnley did start to stamp some authority on it.
A goal looked likely and it came at the mid-point of the half when Graham Branch won one of countless headers from a right wing Dean Bowditch cross and left Ade Akinbiyi with the simplest of tasks to head home his first Turf Moor goal in a Claret & Blue shirt.
That prompted a period of real pressure from the Clarets to which Brighton had no answer, as Mo Camara, James O’Connor, Tony Grant and Graham Branch all had chances.
Branchy came so close to making it 2-0 when he run on to a Grant pass but the keeper did well to get out and smother the shot, he saved well as a Camara free kick was on target but he would have had no chance had a cheeky effort from O’Connor been on target rather than rolling agonisingly just wide of his left hand post.
Akinbiyi run on to a ball but Brighton defender Guy Butters spread himself well and that brought the half to an end.
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From that moment on, the game changed and just seven minutes into the second half the visitors were level. They got down the right hand side and past Camara as if he wasn’t there and the cross was hammered home by Dean Hammond from close range.
We don’t keep clean sheets these days, that’s something that in general has been confined to the first half of the season but it was hard to believe that the lead had been lost and it was almost worse in the next attack as a header hit the post.
Jake Robinson had been introduced as a half time substitute by Mark McGhee and we were having real problems containing him as they put us under some real pressure but through some good defending and some good fortune Danny Coyne didn’t have too much to do.
But we were being outplayed by a side at the bottom of the league, and the only change we made was to replace right-back with right-back as Lee Roche came on for the Michael Duff who is currently in a very poor run of form.
We could, and should, have regained the lead when Akinbiyi had a clear chance from a Bowditch cross but his shot went horribly wide but it did seem to signal a change in the game as Brighton reverted to McGhee style and probably decided to stick with what they had and get themselves a point.
Much of the play in the last few minutes was towards their goal but we never created one real chance and we had to settle for a point in a game that should have been sewn up an hour earlier.
It was another performance that really has to go into the ‘not good enough’ category, there was little to excite again and certainly Bowditch down the right hand side had his poorest game yet for us.
The boo boys kept quiet yesterday as Branchy made them eat their words and for the second week running he was my choice as man of the match. But it’s a worry because right now we are a side with little in the way of creative spark as well as being a side that doesn’t seem to be able to prevent the opposition from scoring at least one goal.
There are only four games to go but already the size of the rebuilding required is beginning to look a massive task.
The teams were,
Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff (Lee Roche75), Gary Cahill, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Dean Bowditch, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, James O’Connor, Graham Branch, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Joel Pilkington, John Oster, Jean-Louis Valois.
Brighton: Alan Blayney, Adam Virgo, Adam El-Adb, Guy Butters, Paul Reid, Daniel Harding, Richard Carpenter, Charlie Oatway, Dean Hammond, Mark McCammon (Jake Robinson 45), Chris McPhee. Subs not used: Ramon Shaaban, Kerry Mayo, Joe Dolan, Alexis Nicolas.
Referee: Scott Mathieson (Stockport).
Attendance: 11,611.