Burnley effectively ended the game just after the hour as Ian Moore scored a contender for goal of the season to go with earlier strikes from Glen Little and Gareth Taylor. A late onslaught from the hosts produced a goal from Simon Donnelly, but it was not enough to prevent the visitors leaving Hillsborough with all three points.
We should have known it was going to be our day as soon as the players emerged from the tunnel. For the first time this season, Burnley took to the field away from home wearing the claret and blue. This, of course, is how it should always be unless there is a genuine colour clash. Let’s hope this is the start of a trend.
For the second time in five days, Burnley’s supporters had made the journey to Yorkshire in huge numbers. There is no doubt that Sheffield Wednesday’s policy of allowing fans to pay on the turnstile attracted the casual punter and helped to swell the gate. Just for the record, the backing the Clarets received from the faithful was excellent. Noisy and boisterous throughout, they very nearly succeeded in drowning out the wearisome cliché otherwise known as the Sheffield Wednesday band. It is instructive that those who cite the merits of these musical miscreants usually do so from the comfort of a TV studio. They claim that the band brings colour and vibrancy to the game. They are deluded. What they actually bring is the kind of headache more usually induced by the consumption of several pints of strong, continental lager. With any luck the band will be banned when Wednesday come to the Turf.
With Grant, Briscoe, Weller and Alan Moore all cluttering up the physio’s treatment table, Burnley were even lighter than usual in the middle of the park. As at Huddersfield, Steve Davis was deployed the midfield general flanked by Cook on the left and Little on the right. The only other change was the recall of a now shaven-headed Dean West to the starting eleven, Mark McGregor having to make do with a place on the substitutes bench.
Burnley began the better of the two sides with Robbie Blake showing some neat touches early on, and it didn’t take long for the Clarets to get into the ascendancy. On 8 minutes, Paul Cook released Graham Branch down the left hand side of the Wednesday area. His cross to the back post was met by Gareth Taylor … with predictable and devastating consequences. Unlike last year, Burnley’s players were not subjected to an attempted assault by some of the home fans, but were allowed to celebrate their goal unmolested.
For the next twenty minutes or so, the game descended into an exhibition of mediocrity, with neither side creating much. Just after the half hour Robbie Blake lost his marker and fired a shot at goal which Pressman did well to parry. At the other end Alan Quinn’s free-kick was headed high and wide by skipper Owls’ skipper, Danny Maddix.
Wednesday were starting to apply a bit more pressure at this point, and a powerful free-kick from Sibon was excellently pushed out by the in-form ex-Wednesday stopper Marlon Beresford. Two minutes before the break, the home side should have been level, but one-time Burnley target Shefki Kuqi somehow contrived to scuff his shot and Burnley had been let off the hook. Perhaps a little fortuitously, Burnley ended the half a goal to the good.
Judging from the way the Clarets came out in the second half, Stan and the lads had not spent the interval discussing the Worthington Cup draw. The intention was clearly to go for goal and finish Wednesday off. On 57 minutes Branch took a quick free-kick to Glen Little. Through some neat and sharp inter-passing, the duo carved Sheffield’s backline open, and Super Glen was left to slide the ball under the ample frame of Kevin Pressman. It was a wonderful goal, and Glen’s second in as many games with his left foot.
Burnley’s supporters had barely finished a rousing chorus of “Super Glen” before the Clarets were at it again. Graham Branch played a long, raking ball out of defence into the path of Ian Moore. Twenty yards out, with Derek Geary between him and the goal, there didn’t appear to be much on. Moore had other ideas though. Shrugging off the limp challenge from Geary, Moore cracked a scorcher past the flailing fingertips of Kevin Pressman and into the top left hand corner of the goal. “Stand up if you’re 3-0 up!” sung the claret and blue faithful. This was stirring stuff – 3-0 up away from home having witnessed two contenders for goal of the season. It couldn’t get any better. It didn’t.
With all hope gone, Wednesday suddenly looked interested, and within six minutes had pulled one back. Simon Donnelly capitalised on our failure to clear a corner and drove home from just inside the area. Suddenly, from cruising at 3-0, fingernails were being chewed nervously.
The three man midfield, and particularly Davis with his lack of pace, was being completely overrun. And Wednesday had plenty of chances to pull level. Sibon shot over from close range and Marlon had to produce more heroics to foil Kuqi as he headed goalwards with 15 minutes left.
By this stage, Ternent had replaced Moore with Papadopoulous and Cook with Armstrong. The former was to give Wednesday something to occupy them, the latter was an attempt to stiffen up the midfield. It didn’t work. Paul McLaren fizzed a curling shot goalwards which Beresford did well to hold onto, and again it seemed as if the pressure would eventually tell.
At the other end, we were treated to the more unseemly aspect of Dimi’s game. Having invited a defender to make a challenge, Dimi spun around in the air and went to ground as though shot by a sniper in the stands. The only person he managed to fool however was the one who counted, referee Trevor Parkes. Ternent really must get hold of Papa and tell him to cut it out before he gets a reputation.
With 8 minutes to go the Greek U-21 captain almost redeemed himself as he used his pace to burst through the middle and fire a low shot goalwards. Pressman did brilliantly to turn it away one-handed. The Clarets had just one more late scare to endure when Beresford had to make another (by now standard) excellent save, as Kuqi tried his luck from distance. But the Clarets held out for what was, ultimately, a well earned away win.
There was just one disappointing aspect to the afternoon – the continued verbal abuse of Graham Branch. Maybe I saw a different game, but Crusty was involved in all three of Burnley’s goals. Evidently, this isn’t good enough for some. But then it’s hard to think what would satisfy them. Branch has long been the boo-boy for a certain section of Burnley fans, but surely they must realise that haranguing him from the sidelines is hardly going to get a good performance from him. I’m not saying he is the best player to don the claret and blue, but whilst he is out there on the pitch representing our club he should be able to count on support from his own. Shouldn’t he?
