Not how we wanted to end the year

We were playing a side who hadn’t scored in their last seven games, we were going into the game on the back of six successive home games, but records are made to be broken and these were on their way out as early as the fifth minute when Wednesday took the lead.

Steve Cotterill reverted to the side that had played Stoke on Boxing Day, and the side that had played the second half at Norwich, but with John Spicer unfit his place on the bench was taken by the most recent addition to the full time playing staff, Chris McCann.

There had been a dramatic change in the weather with the frost and snow of the last week well and truly gone to be replaced by rain and what a surprise, despite all the work that had been carried out on the pitch there was still a problem with surface water, particularly in front of the Bob Lord Stand.

It was clear that there was going to be nothing like the crowd we had for the Boxing Day game as the game got underway at the totally unnecessary time of 1 o’clock. I’m certain these early starts have a detrimental effect on the attendance, and the number of visiting supporters was certainly disappointing.

They were soon in good voice though as they took the lead with only five minutes gone. It’s a wonder they knew what to do after not scoring for so long but the way we so easily conceded must have had them thinking there could be another seven on the way.

Former Blackpool and Gillingham thug John Hills got the better of us down their left hand side but his ball into the box should surely have been cut out before it reached Chris Eagles who made no mistake from close range.

What a poor start but at least it gave us time to recover. We sat and waited for us to get our game going but it just didn’t happen. It wasn’t as though we were playing badly, we weren’t playing at all, and you wondered whether some of our players thought it was a 3 o’clock kick off.

We needed a lift and Wade Elliott almost gave us one with a good cross from the right that was met by Graham Branch at the back post. He really should have done better but his header was poor and went out for a goal kick.

It was a let off for Wednesday, they weren’t to have or even need many of them, and they almost celebrated by doubling their lead. It would have been a bit unfortunate as a cross deflected off Jon Harley and left Brian Jensen helpless. Thankfully it came back off the post and we were able to clear.

It didn’t lift us though and there was worse to come when John McGreal limped off and had to be replaced by Wayne Thomas. There’d been no sign of any problem during the opening period of the game so John probably went into the game with a knock.

There was still around half an hour to go in the first half but we hardly troubled the visitors’ defence during that period, and had there been another goal it would surely have come at the other end.

It really was awful to watch, there was no spark anywhere, to call it lethargic would be building it up into something it most definitely wasn’t. It was the worst we had played all season and we were thankful to get in at half time just a goal down.

The subs warmed up during half time but there was no sign of Garreth O’Connor who was getting ready to come on. The question being asked in the stands was which lucky player was not going to be forced back out for the second half. It could have been anyone of a number of them but it was Graham Branch, who had played probably as badly as I have seen him play in some time.

We needed to get back into it and we almost did, right from the restart. Garreth O and Wade linked up well with the latter’s cross being headed just wide by James O, and from the corner we came so close to equalising as Micah’s header was cleared off the line by Hills.

What effect a goal then would have had on the game we’ll never know but we were getting forward more and Gifton incredibly failed to get a shot in after bringing the ball under control in the box.

It wasn’t good but it was better than it had been in the first half. Wednesday though were close to clinching the points thanks to a very poor mistake by the assistant referee. They cleared the ball from Gifton’s chance and won themselves a corner but the ball clearly did not go out of play. It made no difference, it was given and we gave an example on how not to defend a set piece as Graham Coughlan had a free header to double the lead.

There was still half an hour to go but we had to wait a while longer before we finally decided we would try and get something from it and the last fifteen minutes or so were spent almost entirely in and around the Wednesday penalty box.

It was all frantic stuff though as we piled men forward and we created very little in terms of clear cut chances but with balls going into the box there is always a chance. A couple of efforts went wide, Weaver dealt with a number of balls into the box and then the ball broke for Garreth O.

He rounded Weaver and was all set to pull a goal back when the keeper brought him down. Astonishingly referee Woolmer did not point to the spot but went chasing Garreth ready to give him a card for diving. But as he did, the assistant had his flag across his chest indicating a spot kick.

Even more astonishingly, having now given the penalty, he failed to take any action whatsoever against Weaver. When is there going to be some consistency? A red card could have left Wednesday in a mess. Never mind the fact that they had no keeper on the bench, they had already made three substitutions so would have had to play out the closing stages with ten men and no recognised keeper.

But Weaver was not even spoken to and came close to saving the spot kick. Garreth gets some power behind them and that carried it through into the net. That meant the alamo for the last few minutes and we could, with just a little bit of luck, grabbed ourselves an equaliser.

It would have been unjust though and in losing this game we got exactly what we deserved, nothing. It really was a big disappointment against one of the teams down at the bottom of the league. They didn’t look a good side either, although they did turn in a performance considerably better than the likes of Coventry, Brighton, Millwall and Crewe.

Two defeats in three days is not what we wanted, but let’s get this into some sort of perspective. We’ve been on a good run and lost a couple of games, nothing more and nothing less. And this is the first time we have lost consecutive games in the league since the first two games of the season.

There is no doubt that it was an unacceptable performance, it is all but impossible to find a man of the match from what really was a shambolic ninety minutes. We need to put it right behind us by the time we get to Loftus Road on Monday where I really hope Steve dispenses with the 4-4-2 system that has brought us so little success and reverts to the 4-5-1 system we employed during the good run.

The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal (Wayne Thomas 19), Jon Harley (Danny Karbassiyoon 81), Wade Elliott, Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Graham Branch (Garreth O’Connor 45), Ade Akinbiyi, Gifton Noel-Williams. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Chris McCann.

Sheffield Wednesday: Nicky Weaver, Frankie Simek, Graham Coughlan, Richard Wood, Peter Gilbert, Chris Eagles (Lee Bullen 70), Burton O’Brien, John Hills, Steve Adams (Glenn Whelan 67), Chris Brunt, Barry Corr (Drissa Diallo 82). Subs not used: Ritchie Partridge, Danny Reet.

Referee: Andy Woolmer (Northampton).

Attendance: 14,607.