Sheer frustration

Last updated : 05 December 2007 By Tony Scholes
David Unsworth
David Unsworth - man of the match
There was a real excitement ahead of kick off as we discussed our chances. The form and results on the road and given us renewed hope that we'd soon be turning the home form round and giving the vast majority of our supporters some wins.

Those away wins hadn't given us much more in terms of support and walking up to the ground ahead of kick off you would have been hard pushed to know there was a game on. It was quiet, there were very few people around, and the official attendance was 10,688 it was hard to believe there were any more inside than the four figure attendances against Ipswich and Hull.

There were no surprises ahead of kick off. It was, as expected, the same eleven players who had started all of the previous three games and the bench included the same five players. There's no obvious explanation but away from home this season we have got off to good starts generally whilst at home we've struggled to make much of an early impact other than in the home win against Norwich.

And nothing changed tonight during the first quarter of an hour when little was seen of the Clarets who too often looked to hit it long from the back. Not as though Leicester were troubling us and it all led to a less than exciting start.

That all changed with a couple of moves down the right involving Wade Elliott and from the second of them we came very close to taking the lead. Andy Gray fed the right winger who went past two defenders before playing the ball to Robbie Blake. Unfortunately Robbie Blake delayed just for a split second and that gave Leicester keeper Marton Fulop the chance to save at the expense of a corner.

The corner was knocked back to Robbie who came back into the box with the ball, very similar to the way he did with the second goal at Sheffield Wednesday, and this time played the ball back for David Unsworth to hammer it home.

That goal really settled us and we proceeded to play some delightful football. Leicester simply had no answer to the Clarets but we just couldn't get that second goal that would surely have put the game beyond this Leicester side.

We should have done. Robbie missed a couple of good chances and Leicester were having real problems dealing with us in wide positions. Both Wade and Kyle were being given more space and time to play in than you could imagine.

Half time came at 1-0 and the only disappointment was the scoreline. Still we were in front and surely on the way to our third home win of the season.

Nothing much changed in the second half and Leicester couldn't find a way to deal with Kyle. He was getting enough space on the left hand side to have his own game but more than once he wasted possession whilst also being caught offside a couple of times by an over eager assistant.

Too often Kyle would shoot instead of looking for the better options and only once did he trouble Fulop. He did get in the cross of the second half though. For once Richard Stearman had got within thirty yards of him but Kyle skipped past him on the outside and crossed left footed for Robbie who again saw his shot blocked.

Chris McCann had a chance, so did Wade, but it remained at 1-0 and the worries began to grow as Leicester decided to come forward themselves a couple of times. After a couple of moves came to nothing they got down their right and this time the cross found Iain Hume who made no mistake.

It was hard to believe. After dominating the game we found ourselves level with twelve minutes to go. What an injustice, but we set about doing something about it and almost immediately should have gone back in front.

Mahon played a superb ball through to Gray but he couldn't convert the chance as Fulop came out to save. Lafferty should surely have ensured we won it. Kyle had done all the hard work, he'd worked himself into the box on the right hand side and all he needed to do was lay the ball across. But instead he shot wildly and the chance was gone.

Right at the end Clarke Carlisle almost grabbed a winner but he saw his effort cleared off the line and that was that as the most inept of officials Mark Haywood blew for time. I'd ask the question as to how people like this ever get to referee, but it will remain unanswered.

The performance had hardly been a disappointment. It might not have been as dramatic as the two away from home this week, and we might not have ever put Leicester under any sustained pressure. Yes, we should have beaten them, they were awful, and quite simply had we taken our chances we would have beaten them, and beaten them by a big margin.

Still though we can't win at home, it has been a struggle all season. We need to put an end to the home draws and soon. Next week against QPR and Preston would be a good time to start. Someone is due a hammering.

Man of the Match choices are getting more difficult. There were good performances all over the pitch but I'm going to take an easy option and choose one of the central defenders again. They were both outstanding and hard to separate, but one of them did get the goal that came within twelve minutes of being the winner so I'm going for David Unsworth.

An enjoyable night's football - but so frustrating that we didn't turn it into a win.

The teams were;

Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, David Unsworth, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Chris McCann, Alan Mahon (Joey Gudjonsson 79), Kyle Lafferty, Robbie Blake (Steve Jones 87), Andy Gray. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, James O'Connor, Ade Akinbiyi.

Leicester: Marton Fulop, Richard Stearman, Patrick Kisnorbo, Gareth McAuley, Joe Mattock, Alan Maybury (Ashley Chambers 71), Darren Kenton, Stephen Clemence, Alan Sheehan (Andy King 72), Carl Cort, Iain Hume. Subs not used: Paul Henderson, Bruno N'Gotty, Shaun Newton.

Referee: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire).

Attendance: 10,688.