We really should have been going in at half time in front and had we done so I'm sure would have gone on to win this game and get our season well and truly underway, but an early goal from Charlie Austin was wiped out by a Robert Earnshaw equaliser and the second half proved to be an uphill struggle.
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| Charlie Austin - outstanding centre forward play |
Eddie Howe made three changes to the team that had so disappointed at Crystal Palace a week earlier. Michael Duff was preferred to Andre Agoumou in the centre of defence, the David Edgar in midfield experiment was halted with Dean Marney returning in midfield, and Austin came back into a 4-4-2 formation leaving Wade Elliott somewhat unfortunate to be left out.
The first half hour or so was the real highlight. We used the width of the pitch as much as possible; we moved the ball at pace and we gave Cardiff something of a torrid time, and during that period there were two stand out performances for totally different reasons.
After the pre-season friendly at Bury last month there was a thread on the message board asking about Austin. He'd scored a goal that night via a deflection and I suggested that's what he was all about , scoring goals.
He did it again in the opening league game, scoring a goal this time not via a deflection but off his face. That's what goalscorers do, but yesterday he was way beyond that.
He got his goal early, indeed with what could have been his first touch in just the second minute. It owed much to Kieran Trippier who bamboozled Cardiff left back Andrew Taylor with an array of step overs before getting beyond him to cross.
The cross was perfect and was met by Austin who headed powerfully and downwards past David Marshall to give us the perfect start.
For two seasons I saw this name 'Austin' on the goalscorers list for Swindon and when a name appears regularly you do sit up and take notice. I assumed he was a natural goalscorer, and they are rare. Back in the 1960s we had Willie Irvine and more recently Andy Payton, probably the two most natural goalscorers I've seen at Burnley.
But yesterday, Austin offered far more than his goal. For some time Cardiff couldn't deal with him. He made some fantastic runs down the channels. He linked up play well. He got into good positions and then he hit an absolute rocket of a shot from a long way out that Marshall somehow parried away.
It was half an hour of outstanding centre forward play. Much more of that and his transfer fee will be looking no more than an absolute bargain.
It wasn't all about Austin though, far from it. He was involved just a few minutes after the goal when he got into the box. The ball run loose for Dean Marney who was upended. Incredibly, referee Tony Bates, the other to have a stand out performance, waved it away.
I'd written on Friday that Bates was an experienced referee who have never, in a lot of games, caused us any real problems. In this game the poor man had something of a nightmare. He got decision after decision wrong. Both sets of fans were singing, "You don't know what you're doing," at him but we were the ones to suffer most.
Soon after the penalty incident he yellow carded Marney. It looked fair enough at the time, but given what he let go afterwards it made it look very harsh.
His two biggest howlers, penalty apart, came in incidents involving Austin and Keith Treacy. Poor Austin was kicked in the air over the touchline by Anthony Gerrard. He deemed it a yellow but I can't believe many referees would have let Gerrard stay on after that.
Howe said after the game that this was the incident that eventually forced Austin off the pitch. If truth be told he was lucky to be able to get up from it.
Then there was the Treacy incident. He stormed through the middle and was brought down. Somehow Bates thought the ball going out to the left touchline was an advantage and played one. This time the offender was Mark Hudson and he was duly carded when the game stopped but the advantage was an astonishing decision.
In fairness, Marney could have gone during this period when a high foot caught a Cardiff player but a red for a Burnley player at this point would have been adding insult to injury.
Cardiff's policy of disruption worked though. They were in trouble and knew it as the Clarets came forward so well. Whilst Trippier linked up with Ross Wallace on the right, we had a similar thread down the left with Sheena and Dick (Easton and Treacy) and it was Treacy who came closest to adding a second when he stormed past Kevin McNaughton and then saw his shot go just wide of the far post.
I'm convinced that had a second goal come we would have gone on to win the game comfortably but Cardiff eventually started to get a foothold in the game, and it paid off five minutes before the break when we allowed Earnshaw too much space in the box from a ball in from their left. He made no mistake and it was 1-1.
The second half never lived up to the first 45 minutes unfortunately. Cardiff tightened things up and showed little adventure. Their intention was to make it difficult for us and that's what happened.
Howe tried to change things and his first substitution saw Zavon Hines get his debut with both Elliott and Alex MacDonald getting on. For MacDonald it was his first league action for Burnley since replacing Joey Gudjonsson against Swansea in January 2009.
Chances were at a premium but the game should have been won with around ten minutes of normal time remaining. This time it was Easton who got the cross in and it was met by Chris McCann. It looked easier to score but, from close range, the captain headed wide.
In the end though we had to settle for a point again in what was the fourth successive 1-1 draw in league games at Turf Moor, with two of them against Cardiff.
We do need to stop giving soft goals away but the positives from the first half hour are what we can build on. If we can reproduce that sort of football then the win won't be very far away.
As for Austin. He is a goalscorer, there's no doubt about that, be he offered so much more in that opening half hour and it all suggested there are plenty of goals in this team.
Three weeks now before the next home league game against Middlesbrough, by which time we will hopefully have repeated the last win of last season by picking up three points at Pride Park.
The teams yesterday were;
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, Ben Mee, Brian Easton, Ross Wallace (Alex MacDonald 84), Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Keith Treacy (Wade Elliott 77), Charlie Austin (Zavon Hines 65), Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Edgar.
Yellow Card: Dean Marney.
Cardiff: David Marshall, Kevin McNaughton, Mark Hudson, Anthony Gerrard, Andrew Taylor, Pete Whittingham, Don Cowie, Craig Conway, Joe Mason (Darcy Blake 69), Kenny Miller, Robert Earnshaw (Rudy Gestede 75), Subs not used: Tom Heaton, Dekel Keinan, Paul Quinn.
Yellow Cards: Kevin McNaughton, Anthony Gerrard, Mark Hudson, Kenny Miller.
Referee: Tony Bates (Stoke).
Attendance: 13,428.