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The match began with a minute's applause to remember the passing of former player Billy Ingham and the widow of legendary manager Harry Potts, Margaret Potts. Although I am regrettably too young to remember either, my deepest respect and sympathy goes out to those families whose names I am more than familiar with having been told and retold the history of the club, like many Clarets, by my Dad over the years.
Before the game Mark Lawrenson had predicted a 2-0 away win, citing Villa's ability to deal with our aerial threat as the basis for his prediction. Regardless of the former PNE man's puzzling interpretation of Burnley's attacking proficiency, the miserable trout faced 'Lawro' was proven wrong on both counts within ten minutes as skipper Steven Caldwell somehow rose between Richard Dunne and Brad Friedel to meet an exquisite Robbie Blake free-kick and direct it firmly into the Aston Villa goal. 1-0 to Burnley and for the seventh consecutive Premier League home game the Clarets went in front first (twelve consecutive home games stretching back to last season).
It was an advantage Burnley quickly set about increasing as the direct pace and skill of Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor failed to materialise largely due to the organisation and intense work rate of a clearly up for the challenge Burnley defence. Going forward Burnley were passing the ball crisply and with intent whilst Chris Eagles looked particularly dangerous down the right flank. Andre Bikey went closest to making it 2-0 as he dipped an almost perfect knock down from Steven Fletcher towards the top corner of the goal to mark the start of an inspired midfield performance from the World Cup bound defender.
Despite the pressure Burnley were putting on the Villa defence it was perhaps the team in white who had the best chance to score as Brian Jensen lost his head towards the end of the first half and rushed out to the feet of Ashley Young who failed to lob the ball into an open net. This sort of incident has been an unnerving trademark of the big Dane for several seasons but on the balance of things the Clarets went into half time unlucky to only be one goal in front with certainly more to come from a talented Aston Villa side.
The second half proved to be a much more open affair as the Villains improved and Burnley's impeccable work rate inevitably began to drop. It was Burnley however who went close soon after the break as Tyrone Mears curled a free-kick just over the bar after Fletcher was hauled down on the edge of the area. Next it was Aston Villa's chance to go close as Agbonlahor found himself one on one with Brian Jensen from a long punt up field from Friedel only to be denied by the finest of finger tip saves from the Beast to make up for his earlier mistake.
It was the former Blackburn Rovers stopper himself who was shortly forced into two fine saves from man of the match Robbie Blake and the increasingly impressive Steven Fletcher. Bikey again went close shooting wide with power but it was beginning to look as though that crucial second goal wasn't coming and so Coyle looked to make changes with Joey Gudjonsson, David Nugent and Kevin McDonald coming on to see out the match and what would have been a sixth win of the season for Burnley.
Nugent looked sharp and had the ball in the back of the net after a cool lob but the offside decision was never in doubt. The painful truth was that the next goal was to come from the most unlikely of sources. Brian Jensen failed to deal with a cross and Milner was allowed to float in another on to the head of England target man Emile Heskey. The former Liverpool, Wigan and Leicester striker often struggles to score against the minnows of the international scene but it was made easy for him as he towered effortlessly over the helpless Stephen Jordan to equalise four minutes from time. Jensen could be forgiven for the decision to punch given the conditions but he could and should have done better with its execution.
Burnley pressed forward for another goal with Kevin McDonald looking dangerous at times but the team were visibly tired after a hard game against quality opposition who were made to look second best for long periods by a top-notch Burnley performance in tough conditions before the excellent Howard Webb ended the game.
The initial reaction of most of the rain drenched fans trudging away after the match was one of cruel disappointment but the result took Burnley up to 9th in the table and extended our unbeaten run to three games after playing two teams expected to be amongst the top positions come the end of the season. It was a deserved point and a good performance to take into two important away games at relegation rivals West Ham and Portsmouth.
