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Defensively, apart from the move for Stoke's goal, Clarets looked solid, Arthur and Ian Cox linking well and in goal Marlon gave as solid a performance as can be remembered of a Clarets keeper. Up front, initially using the Moore/Blake partnership Clarets created chances, but the replacement options from Papachasealldayos and Taylor looked more rewarding and this duo threatened Stoke whenever Clarets broke forwards, though it has to be said the quality of the supply to the latter pairing was greatly improved over the generally poor fodder served for the former duo.
The midfield still is an area for some concern. Unless Grant is in playmaker mode, the entire role of creating chances for the front men falls on Little's shoulders and his first half contributions were limited by a strangely out of sorts Little. He's on the pitch but he doesn't seem there, if you know what I mean, whereas once Alan Moore had come into the fray in the second half, Clarets then had two wide options and the attacks were both better in quality and quantity, Little excelling, once some of the pressure on him was relieved. Still, all's well that ends well.
Stan started with only one change from the team that had convincingly beaten Blackpool in midweek; the injured Weller's place went somewhat surprisingly to Johnrose, Stan selecting the brawn of Lenny over the craft and guile of Cook, who had to make do with a place on the bench. The front two pairing of Blake and MooreI was the preferred starting line up and in what was to be a rather dull and drab affair posing as a first half, the balls to the small guys comprised mainly of long, high punts, or hit and hope stuff, rather than passes into feet that two quick and adept strikers could then work with.
Little trickery after only eight minutes, saw a foul conceded a yard outside the area, but Briscoe's free kick was a waste from the good position, but this was something he was able to reproduce throughout the half, wasting good opportunities becoming a skill in itself. Two minutes later and West should have doubled his personal "goals for" column, but his left footed effort sailed over after good set up work from Blake left the full back with a clear sight of goal. Briefly, Stoke replied and their main threat throughout, debutant loan boy Mooney, glanced wide from a good cross as McGregor and Briscoe failed to nullify the threat from wide man Gudjonsson.
Marlon's first call to action came on twenty minutes, easily collecting Gudjonsson's shot in his midriff, before the game became one of congestion in the midfield area, neither side able to crack the other, therefore a scrappy and dull affair unfolded, Clarets left side of midfield looking disjointed and posing no threat whatsoever in the opening half.
The linesman's flag pointed at former favourite Andy Cooke on the half hour, (nice to see he still hasn't mastered that one) Gnohere was booked presumably more for something he said than did, after a minor challenge was punished by the overly fussy referee Mr Pugh. Ten minutes from the break and having got used to feeding off scraps, Blake did well to react to a ricochet, but his shot was deflected by Cutler's save on to the outside of the post, the rare sound of oohs going round a rather quiet ground, the quiet broken by predictable interludes of Delilah from Stoke's 2,000 travellers.
Clarets frustrating return to the tactic of the short corner saw absolutely nothing from the move, in fact more often than not Stoke profited from the dubious tactic. Vandeurzen's superb cross five minutes from the break was superbly headed away by Arthur, glancing the cross as it was whipped in from the left, with Mooney waiting to pounce. Last chance of the half fell to the Clarets and Briscoe did really well not to score from six yards after great approach play from MooreI set up Blake, who in turn put Briscoe in at the far post, but his full back instincts were present rather than his striker ones and a Stoke defender was able to recover and snuff out the shot before Briscoe could finish the job properly.
So off to half time and the now roly poly Vince Ovalson came on to warm applause from both sets of his former supporters.
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The first clear cut chance fell to Mooney whose left footed free kick was tipped round the post by Marlon before the two came together moments later, Marlon superbly tipping over the loan mans rising shot. Ten minutes into the half and Mr Pugh got it all wrong, Clarets being denied a bang to rights penalty, as Little was clearly flattened in the area after Mr Pugh had wrongly tried to allow Little advantage as he stumbled past a previous foul.
Mr Pugh's corrective actions saw him favourably award decisions Clarets way for a short spell which had Delilah's followers howling and chanting at the sight of proceedings on the pitch. If nothing else it brought the game to life and increased the atmosphere on all sides of the ground.
Clarets were caught wide open defensively on the hour, a long diagonal ball to Gudjonsson splitting Arthur and Cox but the control was poor, the attempted lob laughable and the chance was gone. From this point Clarets gained the upper hand, with Alan Moore catching the eye with good wing skills and his link play with Ian Moore set up a decent chance, before West crossed superbly to the far post only for Taylor's great downward header to rebound off the upright, Cutler well and truly beaten by the force of the header.
MooreI was replaced by Papacrowdpleaseros before Cooke took applause from all sides as he was replaced by Goodfellow and then against the run of play came Stoke's goal. Grant was embarrassingly nutmegged in centre midfield, the huge gap behind was exploited as everyone retreated and from the challenge free zone supposedly occupied by West came another super cross from Vandeurzen to the far post where the unmarked Gudjonsson volleyed home.
Cue cheers from the visitors section and question marks over Briscoe's disappearance from the left back slot, as too much time and space was given to the goal scorer. Still before we had got to the chorus of Delilah it was ha ha ha to the Stoke fans as Arthur rose majestically from Moore's corner kick powering down a header and just inside the unoccupied far post of Cutler's goal.
Tom Hark quashed Delilah as the scores were levelled within a minute. Clarets were buoyed by the immediate reply, Stoke stunned and minutes later, good interplay down the right wing between West and Little saw Little curl over a delightful cross, the spin on the ball allowing a flying Papafullstretchedos to head superbly past a stranded Cutler and in to the same spot used by Arthur five minutes previously, the cheers greeting the goal were loud as the players celebrated.
Goals as they say change games and Stoke were clearly rattled by this one, Mooney's stamp on Grant being spotted by the fourth official and during repairs to Grant, Mr Pugh consulted, then issued a straight red card to the foolish debutant. Papaoverenthusiasticos was booked for flying at a defender before Hoekstra entered the fray for the final few minutes, but only to see Clarets knocking the ball around with a new found confidence.
Before Mr Pugh could call things to an end Little was worryingly injured, limping on to the final whistle. Let's hope this is just a minor knock and not another September setback for the fans favourite.
Att:- 14,244.
Star Gazer
Lenny Johnrose. Never really got to grips with the game and doesn't seem to be a 1st Division standard player. Able to help in shutting the shop late on, but lacked creative options and continually hit the ball forwards in an aimless manner.
Glass Half Empty
A rather poor first half showing when the midfield failed to get to grips with Stoke. The right hand side looked OK but was significantly improved after half time, once Alan Moore came into the game and added a balance on the left hand side offering another outlet to the overused right hand side.
Star Geezer
Ian Cox. Another steady performance where his pace and composure ensured a solid partnership with Arthur was maintained and with Marlon behind, the centre of Clarets defence never really looked stretched.
Glass Half Full
Three wins in eight days, seven goals scored and only two conceded, things are most certainly looking up. The balance of the team looked good in the second half and Stoke were made to look a relatively poor side as their recent string of defeats continued. Bye bye Delilah.
