It was also a third for me too - the third time I've seen us win at Brighton with all three ending 1-0 and at three different venues. Martin Dobson got the winner in the 1972/73 season, Robbie Blake scored the only goal in 2004/05 and this time it was Kieran Trippier who scored the all important goal just past the half hour.
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| Kieran Trippier won it with his first league goal for the Clarets |
Trippier's goal, his first league goal for the Clarets, was enough in a game that saw us playing against nine men for all but the first twelve minutes after a bizarre opening in which Brighton had two players sent off.
I was pleased to be able to get to the game. I really enjoy going to away games and having been forced to miss the last two it was good to get back even though I was being warned by so many people that we were doing much better without me.
I'm not sure what to make of the stadium. There is certainly one very impressive three tier stand which was situated to our left but the other three sides hardly matched and there was a lot of wasted space. The coucourse was also very badly designed. It did, however, have very comfortable seats and plenty of leg room. I'd been led to believe it was something very special but in truth it fell a long, long way short of that.
I'd just got to my seat when the team news came through. Dean Marney was back in after missing last week's defeat to Portsmouth whilst Martin Paterson was named in the starting eleven for the first time since the opening day of the season following his return from injury. Junior Stanislas and Sam Vokes were the two to drop out and both were named on the bench alongside Andre Amougou was also back in the squad.
Burnley defended the end where we were situated in the first half but the opening two or three minutes were all spent down at the other end as we pushed forward from the off. The game soon changed dramatically with referee Craig Pawson and the fourth official taking centre stage.
With just a few minutes gone the game was halted as Pawson went to talk to his man on the touchline. I had absolutely no idea what had happened but thought, maybe, someone on the Brighton bench had upset Andrew Laver, the fourth official.
The two of them seemed to take an age before Pawson strode back onto the pitch with some purpose. "This looks serious," I said as Pawson pointed at Marvin Bartley before walking a few more yards to wave his red card at Romain Vincelot.
There were the customary cries of 'Time to go' from the away end as text messages came in to tell us he'd been sent off for foul and abusive language although it was later confirmed he'd punched Bartley.
Six minutes later and referee Pawson was definitely public enemy number one with the home fans. Chris McCann went into a challenge and that's about all I saw. The home fans were screaming for a red card and I was worried that things were going to be evened up. I was wrong and it was Ashley Barnes who was on his way for stamping. I've now seen the pictures and there can be no doubting it.
I've seen several games over the years when a team has been reduced to nine men. Sunderland, Rochdale and Crystal Palace have all beaten us at Turf Moor with nine players but I don't think I can ever recall a team having two players sent off so early in the game.
For some time it seemed to flatten the game completely. Nothing much was happening but in some ways that was positive. Often when faced with only nine men a team can panic thinking they have to get a goal quickly. Burnley, to their credit, remained patient and tried to stretch the Brighton defence.
There wasn't much patience on the touchline where Gus Poyet was by now very much in angry mode. He stormed off at one point but was around to make a double substitution in only the 20th minutes.
One of the players to come on was Craig Noone and I still can't quite work out how he stayed on until the end. He went down looking to get decisions not once, not twice but three times. Pawson wasn't fooled with any of them but didn't even speak to the player let alone show him a card.
The first of the three was inside the box and is the incident Poyet was complaining about at the end of the game but he really needs to look at himself and his team because a more undisciplined lot you will struggle to find.
Finally we got ourselves in front. It came during what proved to be our best period of the game. Jay Rodriguez had just forced our first serious effort on goal and the next time we went on the attack we won a corner on the right.
Ross Wallace took it short to Marney who played it back for Trippier. The full back took a couple of steps forward and from just outside the box fired in a shot into the far corner. It was an excellent strike and when Jay Rod came close, only to be denied by Casper Ankergren, a couple of minutes later, we were well in control.
It was still 1-0 at half time with the feeling being that a second goal would kill of Brighton and the points would be ours.
Sam Vokes came on for Bartley for the second half but it was a half that was to get more and more frustrating as the Clarets, who dominated possession, failed to create much of note and never really looked likely to get that all important second goal.
For much of the half the ball rarely went over the half way line into our defensive half as we kept possession with some ease. If a goal was going to come then it was down our right as Wallace and Trippier constantly linked up, but too often Trippier's cross failed to find a Burnley forward and Brighton were able to clear.
Ankergren did have to smother a number of balls into the box and did, eventually, have a couple of saves to make, tipping over a couple of efforts, one of which astonishingly won Brighton a goal kick.
There seemed little likelihood of Brighton even mounting an attack for much of the half but then, maybe with around ten minutes or so to go, we started to do a bit of micky taking. We were just knocking the ball from one player to another without looking for an opening and the away fans were beginning to get more and more frustrated.
I can't recall just how often I heard the words 'Bradford CIty', referring to the game there nine seasons ago when we did the same thing at 2-1 up only for Steve Davis to give a goal away and the game end in a draw.
Suddenly the game changed and in those last few minutes it could have changed dramatically. Brighton forced what was the first save of the afternoon from Lee Grant. They then had the ball in the net only for it to be disallowed. They put a couple of efforts wide and now we were very much on the back foot.
Surely they weren't going to get a goal. They didn't, but they should have done. With one last opportunity Grant saved again from Craig Mackail-Smith. The Brighton forward got the ball back and shot towards goal where David Edgar thankfully was there to clear.
It proved to be the last chance of the game and it was, unquestionably, the best chance of the game. They'd missed it and the points were ours.
There was a massively mixed reaction at the final whistle. It hadn't been a good performance, not by any stretch of the imagination. The whole game had lacked incident and excitement and the second half, for long periods, was tedious in the extreme.
The whole thing was summed up well by Trippier after the game when he said: "We made it hard for ourselves at times and it got a bit nervy at the end, but we have come here and got a clean sheet and the three points which is the most important thing."
And it is the most important thing. We won the game and the three points have taken us back into the top half of the table ready for Christmas, and it brought to an end an incredible year away from home of which I'll write during next week. The change in fortune on the road has been almost Jimmy Mullen-like.
We can now enjoy Christmas and the rest of the year with two home games before starting the New Year with the obscenely overpriced trip to Leeds.
The teams were;
Brighton: Casper Ankergren, Adam El-Abd, Gordon Greer, Lewis Dunk, Mauricio Taricco, Liam Bridcutt (Will Buckley 89), Ryan Harley (Craig Noone 20), Romain Vincelot, Kazenga LuaLua (Alan Navarro 20), Ashley Barnes, Craig Mackail-Smith. Subs not used: Peter Brezovan, Billy Paynter.
Yellow Card: Mauricio Taricco.
Red Cards: Romain Vincelot, Ashley Barnes.
Burnley: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Ben Mee, Ross Wallace, Dean Marney, Chris McCann, Marvin Bartley (Sam Vokes 45), Martin Paterson (Charlie Austin 66), Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Jon Stewart, Andre Amougou, Junior Stanislas.
Yellow Cards: David Edgar, Martin Paterson.
Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire).
Attendance: 19,641 (including 983 Clarets).