Turf Moor chaos

Some had suggested beating Millwall would be a reasonably easy task but they arrived at the Turf on the back of an unbeaten run away from home of seven league and cup games and within a minute they looked on their way to making it eight.

Just a year ago this week Jermaine Wright scored after twelve seconds against us for Leeds before we came back to win it 2-1. One year on and it took the same player 47 seconds this time to give his current side Millwall a 1-0 lead against us only for him to once again see the Clarets come back to win it.

All the fingers were pointing at Micah Hyde, and rightly so, after he tried to walk the ball out of his own box rather than clearing it. He succeeded in giving it away and Wright scored with a deflected shot.

It should have been the shot in the arm the Clarets needed to get at the visitors but frankly we were poor, and apart from one effort that was cleared off the line we hardly threatened to get ourselves level. We had most of the possession against a Millwall side who looked content enough but it was the visitors who came closest to the next goal but thankfully Barry Hayles put his shot over the top.

We won a series of free kicks on the edge of the box but there was to be no repeat of recent successes although with one from the left hand side Garreth O’Connor did force Andy Marshall into a save down by his right hand post.

It was proving difficult for the Clarets against a side who certainly were more than ready to get men behind the ball and overall Marshall had a less than difficult first forty five minutes. At least the half time whistle brought the crowd to life, we were booed off by some sections of the ground.

If the first half was without incident then the next hour or so was to provide enough for a novel and it all started before the players had got into the dressing rooms as Dave Kevan summoned two of our substitutes back in rather than warming up on the pitch, it was obvious we were about to bring on Gifton Noel-Williams and also give Southampton youngster Nathan Dyer his Burnley debut.

News also filtered through to the stands via local radio that Millwall would be playing the second half with ten men following an incident in the tunnel. The player involved was Ben May and he was sent off by referee Richard Beeby for racial abuse. May had come on just two minutes before half time as a replacement for Carl Asaba.

It has been denied by Millwall, certainly the partially deaf Theo Paphitis heard nothing, and if this has not happened then some very serious action needs to be taken against referee Beeby. If it has then the book should be thrown at May.

Many in the crowd had no idea why Millwall were down to ten, surely there should have been an announcement, some didn’t even realise they were down to ten. Nothing much changed and it was still Burnley doing all the attacking, getting nowhere, and Millwall trying to maybe grab another on the break.

How they didn’t get another only Jody Morris will know. It came after a bad mistake from Keith Lowe let him in but thankfully for us he screwed his shot wide when it looked easier to score and that was almost the end for Morris.

Following a foul by James O’Connor he reacted and had the Burnley player by the throat. In stepped Beeby and out came the red card again, not once but twice as O’Connor joined him. It was certainly not clear to me why O’Connor had been sent off, he appeared to try and walk away from the incident.

Ten against nine, a hostile atmosphere, but it was just what we needed. We had more space to play and all of a sudden Millwall found themselves under more pressure than at any time during the game. Marshall was forced into a good save to keep out a Wade Elliott shot and an even better one to prevent Dyer from hitting in the rebound but just after that Dyer was to have his moment.

He’d lifted the ground with his ability and willingness to run at defenders, and at some pace, but with only around a quarter of an hour to go he had the whole place on its feet. He turned in his man on the corner of the box and hit a powerful shot across the keeper that went in via the foot of the far post.

We were back in it and Millwall knew it. Four minutes later and the recovery was complete as a Wade Elliott shot from just outside the box was deflected into the top corner. Suddenly all the miserable play from Millwall, all the time wasting that had gone on all night, was of no use to them, they were behind.

Burnley kept going forwards but he had one scare when, in a rare Millwall attack, they blazed a shot over the bar. Within a minute thought we had the ball in the net again. Dyer got in an excellent shot but it came back off the woodwork and was turned in by Ade Akinbiyi only for the assistant to flag for a rather dubious looking offside.

Beeby was having a hell of a time and was waving cards like nobodies business and only he will know why Ade went into his book for an incident that even the Millwall players considered was nothing more than a throw in.

He added four minutes of stoppage time and we played it out comfortably, there was no need for Brian Jensen to make a last ditch save this time, but it was far from all over as the Millwall players surrounded the referee.

The police moved in and suddenly from within the crowd up went the red card again – I’d certainly no idea who it was for, it was impossible to see, but it has been confirmed it was Millwall keeper Andy Marshall.

The bottom line is we have won, it is two home wins in four days and we are still in the top half of the league. But it was not a good performance for well over an hour as we struggled to recover from that early goal from Wright. Too often, particularly in the first half, we hit too many long balls and at times we seemed unable to string more than a couple of passes together.

It was difficult against a team who got in front and then tried to spoil for much of the remainder of the game. We shouldn’t have been surprised at that though, it was Millwall and it is Colin Lee in charge of them.

There were plusses, we kept going when it looked as though we weren’t going to get anything, and then of course there was young Dyer. We’ve seen him for just half a game but it is enough to see that the lad has a real future ahead of him.

It was a crazy, crazy night and the arguments will continue for some time, particularly following the first red card of the night. And what must Beeby really be thinking about his own performance.

The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff (Nathan Dyer 45), Keith Lowe, Frank Sinclair, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Duane Courtney 87), John Spicer (Gifton Noel-Williams 45), Micah Hyde, James O’Connor, Garreth O’Connor, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Chris McCann, Danny Karbassiyoon.

Millwall: Andy Marshall, Matt Lawrence, Paul Robinson, Phil Ifill, Tony Craig, David Livermore, Don Hutchison (Marvin Elliott), Jody Morris, Jermaine Wright, Carl Asaba (Ben May 44), Barry Hayles. Subs not used: Paul Jones, Sammy Igoe, Josh Simpson.

Referee: Richard Beeby (Northampton).

Attendance: 10,698.