It was a performance that was so good you would have thought we had won given the reaction from fans as they left the ground but we had to settle for a point despite dominating the game for much of the ninety minutes.
We had to come from 1-0 down and that is such a rare event at Turf Moor, it is the first time in 2004 that we haven’t scored the first goal in a home game. It was a disappointing goal to concede, when Frank Sinclair tried to head a long ball from Wolves back to keeper Danny Coyne. It fell short and left Shaun Newton with the easiest of chances.
It would have been hard to believe but nothing surprises when Wolves come to the Turf. It had been all
The goal came on the quarter hour but it made little if any difference to the way we were playing and we continued to pressurise the Wolves defence who must have wondered just how they were keeping their lead.
Not as though they kept it for long and when the equaliser came it was worth the admission money in itself. Graham Branch started it by making a strong run from his own half before feeding the ball to Robbie Blake to his right. The maestro did the rest.
Blake took the ball into the box leaving three bamboozled Wolves defenders behind and then slotted the ball past Paul Jones for what must be a contender for goal of the season. He’s scored some fantastic goals for us but I wonder if there has ever been one better.
Just after the half hour we looked a bit fortunate to escape a penalty against us with Sinclair looking as though he could have fouled the whinging Kenny Miller but both referee and assistant waved play on – that was good enough for me.
Twice Robbie could have given us the lead from free kicks. The first of them almost caught out keeper Jones who was expecting a cross. Then came the second when he made an audacious attempt to score from fully forty yards with a free kick on the right and again Jones had to be alert to keep it out.
Half time came with the scores level but we had been the better side in the first half and could so easily have gone in with a lead.
If we played well in that first half we played even better in the second and it was brilliant to see a Wolves side at
Wolves had little answer at times but we just couldn’t find the finish that would have won it for us. Chappy shot tamely at the keeper, Hyde and Tony Grant put shots wide and Robbie put one effort wide from a Michael Duff cross when he looked odds on to score.
That was one of the moves of the match as Granty initially put Duff clear with a superb cross field pass and Robbie was only inches wide.
Our last opening fell to Ian Moore and he hit a shot from the right that was just off target and that led to Wolves trying to fight back in the closing stages without ever causing us a real problem before the over fussy Colin Webster finally brought it to an end with the scores level at 1-1.
I suppose you could look at it and say it is two points dropped, after all we had dominated the game and picked up just the one point from a draw. But the reaction of those fans at the end were telling a far different story, one of real satisfaction and delight at how well we had played.
This was the best performance under Steve Cotterill’s management, no doubt about that, and a performance that lifted the whole ground. There’s no doubt that if we could continue to play like that there would be no worries about not winning enough games.
There wasn’t a player on the field who didn’t play well and it is almost unfair to pick a man of the match. Richard Chaplow came close for me but just pipping him was right back Michael Duff who turned in a superb performance. He’s beginning to look a real find for us.
So it might not have been a win but tonight we can celebrate a performance that has shown us just what good players we have got and just how well we can play. And the only disappointment all afternoon was the drop of 3,000 from the attendance at the first match, although the Wolves support was pretty dismal.
The teams were,
Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Ian Moore, Richard Chaplow, Tony Grant, Micah Hyde, Graham Branch, Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche, Ryan Townsend, Joel Pilkington, Matt O’Neill.
Wolves: Paul Jones, Mark Clyde, Jody Craddock, Joleon Lescott, Rob Edwards, Shaun Newton, Paul Ince, Colin Cameron, Seyi Olofinjana, Kenny Miller (Gary Mulligan 82), Leon Clarke. Subs not used: Michael Oakes, Keith Andrews, Kevin Cooper, Keith Lowe.
Referee: Colin Webster (
Attendance: 13,869.