The future is now

Do I HAVE to report on the Burnley game? I do wonder why I signed up to do this.

When I heard Steve Cotterill commenting on the future of Burnley Football Club last week, I got all excited. I like hearing about the progression of the club and with this coming from the manager I started to look forward to the weekend's game. Actually, I started looking forward to the rest of the season, knowing that a nice run of form could bring optimism for 2007/08.
There was also the added fillip of being back in my own seat in the Jimmy Mac.

This performance was bad enough to bring all this optimism to a sudden halt.

I have been a little detached from BFC since Christmas, the multitude of away games and postponements at home taking care of that. I have listened on the radio and read the Internet reports, seeing us lose to teams we really should do better against. On Saturday the true state of affairs was revealed to me, if it hadn't against Stoke already - we have forgotten how to play the game.

One or two times the Burnley team provided a vague recollection of the season's good form. Five minutes in there was some smart build up between Jones, Gray, Elliott and Akinbiyi, who failed to make good contact with a header. But it never really happened for us. In many ways the drain of confidence has left our players unable to do the basics. How many times could fans say that a poor touch was taken by Steve Jones, not making the most of a good run through the Wednesday defence around the half hour. Poor kicking from both keepers was evident, but you cannot underestimate the impact of another kick out of play by Coyne – it just adds to the moans and groans. Then there is the aimless passing. The team played countless long, aimless balls, sometimes in play, sometimes out. Wednesday didn't happen to do much when the ball was given to them but our play was far too narrow to stretch them in any way. I am also neglecting to mention our corners, which once again achieved very little. In saying this, our best opportunity came from a dipping Joey Gudjonnson corner, striking the frame of the goal and bouncing to safety.

There was a good shout for handball around the quarter of hour mark; I couldn't see it so well from where I was sat though. I wouldn't have felt a lot of shock if Nigel Miller had made the incorrect decision; confusion reigned over the officials all afternoon long.

It seems strange to be talking about the man of the match award this early, but Danny Coyne stole it for his save on the 25 minute mark. Coyne got down quickly to his right to save a shot from Burton, who showed neat footwork to create the opportunity. This was followed by a smart block on a Tommy Spurr effort. The worrying thing is, if those chances had gone in, there would have been no way back for us.

Still, we got a goal early in the second half. A well struck shot from Wade Elliott bobbled into the net off Mark Crossley. Strangely enough I didn't really get excited. The goal seemed harsh on Wednesday, who started the second half the brighter of the two teams. Still you take what you can get and I hoped that this would lift the team to at least achieve competence.

The impact of an instant equaliser didn't shock me really. We haven't defended corners all that well lately from what I have read. I couldn't tell if Danny Coyne was at fault - he did appear to scramble across the goal in a panicked fashion.

The game then petered out, both teams content to give the ball to one another. We didn't even take advantage of five minutes added time. Apart from a Chris McCann cross that no one could meet, there wasn't much constructive play shown after the equaliser.

Bit by bit this condemned the atmosphere to the dustbin. I actually enjoyed the first ten minutes between both sets of supporters - I think there was a real willingness to get behind the two teams. But the silence grew louder as the game wore on, where hardly a chant was sung.

Ultimately I thought Wednesday were slightly sharper than us up front, they just seemed to have a bit more nip about them. This is hardly surprisingly considering the fitness of Akinbiyi and Gray. I thought by the end that Wednesday looked the more likely winners, which presented our fans with an opportunity to boo, taken with aplomb at the end of the game.

I am sure that we won't get relegated, but this is more a matter of next season and where we are going. Indeed Steve Cotterill was right to talk about the future last week, but he has to realise that to Burnley fans the future is now and this form will not be tolerated for much longer.