Special day to be a Claret

Everyone dug in and gave everything they had, whether it be in the centre of defence, midfield, up front or in the away stand where it was nothing short of a privilege to be sat with Burnley fans who gave their team every ounce of support and more during a second half that left each and everyone of us totally drained.

There was no sign of the drama in the early stages of the game as the Clarets, who had John McGreal back for Keith Lowe and Duane Courtney getting his first start in place of the injured Michael Duff. Again we started slowly and the home side, without a win in three but unbeaten at home, took the early initiative.

Twice they turned young Courtney, who was making a nervous start, but they never really troubled Brian Jensen who had a couple of shots to deal with. Little had been seen of the Clarets though in the first quarter of an hour but we made a quick and sudden change to that by taking the lead.

Ade Akinbiyi and John Spicer combined before Spicer played the ball through for Ade to run on and place a shot past former Claret Marlon Beresford. It was a good goal and there was to be even better from this duo but not before Luton had come close to an equaliser from a very harshly awarded free kick.

The Beast saved well to his left at the expense of a corner but the flag kick came to nothing and in the very next attack we doubled our lead. Again it was Spicer who played the ball, and what a good ball it was, to Ade who simply hammered the ball home past Marlon with a stunning half volley.

Two up, half an hour gone and a third away win of the season was already looking on the cards but we almost conceded a goal straight from the restart but Feeney put his shot wide of the post.

That apart the Clarets really had the upper hand, that was until one mad moment for Jensen, who inexplicably caught the ball outside his penalty box. Up went the assistant’s flag and over came referee Paul Melin to send him off.

Melin had been very much a homer up to this point, and you do wonder whether he would have taken the same action at the other end, but there really could be no complaints as the red card was shown.

That left us with a major problem. We were down to ten men with over half of the game still to play and we don’t have a substitute goalkeeper any longer. That is a ridiculous state of affairs, and I don’t care whether the club is hard up or not. Apparently Michael Duff and then Graham Branch are selected for this duty should it arise but neither of them were there and after a hold up when it looked as though Ade would go in goal, then Duane Courtney, it was eventually John Spicer who took over.

The rest of the first half was torrid as the home side won corner after corner and it was very quickly evident that Spicer is not the best equipped to keep goal. Somehow we had to keep the two goal lead until half time but unfortunately we didn’t and just two minutes before the interval they pulled one back.

Heads were down at half time and a heavy defeat was being predicted by many in the away stand. They could not have known just what a performance we were going to give in the second half.

Gifton Noel-Williams came on for Garreth O’Connor with Ade going onto the left hand side of midfield but before Gifton could get into the action, Luton made their intentions clear by hitting a couple of high balls into our box.

It was obvious that Spicer wasn’t going to be able to come and win these balls so he wisely stayed on his line and allowed his defenders to win the headers. We were doing ok and then suddenly we were doing even better. Ade broke clear down the left hand side and was brought down just inside the box.

There was no question about it at all and the referee pointed to the spot. With Garreth O off the pitch Ade stepped up to take on Beresford, sent him the wrong way and put the spot kick right into the corner. The two goal lead was restored but not for long.

Within just a few minutes Luton grabbed a second as the ball run loose in the box following a corner and we all looked at our watches, there was still half an hour to go and the lead was back to just one goal.

I wasn’t confident at this point and yet for that remaining half hour everyone in claret & blue gave an incredible performance. There were times when it got a bit close for comfort, there were times when Spicer was forced into saves but for most of that last half hour we turned in the most magnificent of performances.

The more balls Luton threw into our box the more headers we won, the more they tried to take us on the more tackles we won and this crazy notion that we might win it got through to the fans in the stand who turned in their own special performance as they got behind the team.

The clock counted down and Luton got more and more desperate, and then we finally reached the ninety minutes only for the fourth official to hold up an extra four minutes on the board. Gm Fitted Furniture would have been impressed to get so many extra minutes.

It was one last effort and they did have a couple of half chances that they put high into the stand before referee Melin brought it all to an end.

Almost immediately Steve Cotterill got them together in a huddle, surely telling them how proud we all were, and then they broke to come to the away end – and what a reception from the travelling Burnley fans at the end of a remarkable match.

There was just one more curtain call for the heroes, as they made their way to the tunnel they received a standing ovation from the home fans, yes that’s how good this performance was.

I really shouldn’t be picking out a man of the match today, all of them were heroes, but in doing so I wonder just how on earth I can overlook the brilliant Frank Sinclair and John McGreal. I have to though because down the other end of the pitch we saw the first away hat trick since Paul Barnes in 1997, it just has to go to Ade Akinbiyi.

No matter how many more times we go to Luton, there is no doubt that on every visit we will be talking about this. I spoke to a friend of mine as I left the ground, through someone’s house, and Martin said, “This is what being a Burnley fan is all about,” Back on the coach Sandra said, “You just had to be here for this.”

Yes Martin and Sandra, you are both so right, this has been one special day that none of us there will ever forget.

The teams were,

Luton: Marlon Beresford, Kevin Foley, Russell Perrett, Paul Underwood, Carlos Edwards, Leon Barnett, Peter Holmes, Dean Morgan (Enoch Showunmi 73), Markus Heikkinen, Warren Feeney (Rowan Vine 71), Steve Howard. Subs not used: Dean Brill, Keith Keane, Ahmet Brkovic.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Duane Courtney, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Keith Lowe 78), John Spicer, Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Garreth O’Connor (Gifton Noel-Williams 45), Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Chris McCann, Danny Karbassiyoon, Nathan Dyer.

Referee: Paul Melin (Surrey).

Attendance: 8,518.