There's only one Trevor Sinclair

Ian Moore - Man of the Match performance

Lee Roche, as expected, came in for the suspended Micah Hyde slotting in on the right hand side of the midfield in a 4-4-2 system with Ian Moore playing up front alongside Robbie Blake.

But there was a surprise for fans with Jean-Louis Valois, signed on a short-term deal at the last minute, on the bench and set to make his debut later in the afternoon.

The visitors made their intentions clear right from the start, that they were going to get forward at every opportunity and they were going to attack us down the flanks. It was Mark Rivers, a summer target for Burnley, who set up the first real chance of the game with a strong run and cross but good defending from Frank Sinclair ended the danger.

His defensive partner McGreal was involved a couple of minutes later, at the other end, when he got his name on the scoresheet for the first time since joining the Clarets. A set piece worked to perfection as Tony Grant’s near post corner was expertly flicked on by Graham Branch for the central defender to head home.

For a while after the goal it was fairly even but whilst the Clarets always looked dangerous at one end our defence was making life somewhat difficult for the Crewe forwards who were struggling to create any real chances.

It was entertaining stuff and it was half an hour before referee Grant Hegley was called into action to award the first free kick of the afternoon which speaks volumes for the way both sides were playing.

We needed that second goal and it came just five minutes before the interval with Richard Chaplow starting it all off. He lost the ball in midfield but quickly won it back to set Ian Moore clear down the right with a delightful ball.

Mooro, having his best game of the season, crossed low and hard and it was met by Blake at the far post who hit home from close range.

That was just what we wanted and just four minutes after the interval it was 3-0 and the points were just about in the bag.

The goal involved the same three players. Mooro found Robbie who in turn put Chappy clear with a brilliant ball. It was one of those Payton moments as Chappy went one-on-one with the Crewe keeper Ben Williams and it was a Paytonesque finish as well, taking it in his stride and to roll the ball home with ease.

That was the end of the goals for the afternoon but certainly not the entertainment with Crewe coming as close as you can get to pulling one back. A long range shot hammered back off the bar, was won by a Crewe forward in the air who set up Mark Rivers for a shot at goal.

Richard Chaplow - a 'Paytonesque' finish

At the other end Robbie was giving them all sorts of trouble as he weaved his way in and out and twice came close to setting himself up for shots. Chappy hit one just over and Mo Camara, in another excellent performance, tried his luck from the left but it went out for a throw in on the other side.

Mooro will wonder how he didn’t get his third of the season, when he curled in a beauty from the left that looked to have goal written all over it. But it came back off the post and Crewe survived yet again.

It wasn’t one way traffic though and the visitors were causing us some problems but we defended well and you always thought that this was going to be another clean sheet day.

We even survived a slip up by Sinclair who let them in but he was quick to recover but there was any real danger.

Man of the Match was always going to be a difficult one after this performance but the Turf Moor crowd was stunned when the sponsor’s award went to Manchester City’s Trevor Sinclair.

Yes, that’s right Trevor Sinclair. The PA announcer, he’d already called Crewe’s Under-21 international Dave Ashton rather than Dean, decided that Frank was actually called Trevor.

This is surely one gaffe too many from him, we really must have a change here. Worryingly after the match he was laughing and joking about it and thought it was funny and boasting about it. He should be finding it funny at the next home match when he finds he’s been replaced.

There was just time for Steve Cotterill to give Valois a debut for the last few minutes before he brought on Matt O’Neill and Joel Pilkington – thankfully the PA was off by then otherwise we might have had sixties stars Brian O’Neil and Brian Pilkington coming in.

It was a good day though, no a very good day, as we ended the afternoon convincing winners. There were several contenders for Man of the Match, and that does not include Trevor Sinclair.

For me it was Ian Moore who was at his best this afternoon. His performance deserved a goal and it would have been just had that effort sneaked in rather than coming back off the bar.

There wasn’t a bad performance anywhere on the pitch though as the Clarets returned to form after the poor showing against Gillingham.

Finally a word on referee Grant Hegley. The last time we saw him he was over officious, card wielding and attention seeking. That had all changed though and he had a good game, he allowed the game to flow as much as possible, made good use of advantage and let the players get on with it.

A superb afternoon that was all set to be followed by a superb launch for the Clarets Trust. It would be good if all match days were like this.

The teams were,

Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Lee Roche (Jean-Louis Valois 85), Richard Chaplow (Matt O’Neill 90), Tony Grant, Graham Branch, Ian Moore, Robbie Blake (Joel Pilkington 90). Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Ryan Townsend.

Crewe: Ben Williams, Billy Jones (Richard Walker 83), Adie Moses, Stephen Foster, Anthony Tonkin, Neil Sorvel, Kenny Lunt, David Vaughan, Mark Rivers (Michael Higdon 67), Dean Ashton (Luke Varney 67), Steve Jones. Subs not used: Clayton Ince, Lee Bell.

Referee: Grant Hegley (Bishop’s Stortford).

Attendance: 11,274.