Wade's wonder goal wins it

Last updated : 12 March 2008 By Tony Scholes
Clarke Carlisle
Clarke Carlisle - Man of the Match
You often hear said that a goal was good enough to win the game and that was certainly the case with this one as Wade got onto a pass from Robbie Blake and rifled a shot into the corner from over twenty yards that gave Addicks' keeper Nicky Weaver no chance.

Wade doesn't score many goals and this, his first of the season, came in what was his 100th league start for the Clarets. It would certainly provide a strong challenge to his goal at the Stadium of Light as his best in Burnley colours.

It lit up a cold, miserable night and a game that I felt suffered because of the conditions that seem to blight every home game at the moment and around forty minutes before kick off we were being warned that it might not even go ahead.

Fans already inside the ground were alerting us to the news that there was surface water on the pitch that staff were frantically trying to deal with, but by the time I was ready to take my seat the pitch looked perfectly playable even if it wasn't in the best of condition.

Owen Coyle had made a couple of changes to the side that played at Stoke although it was the same sixteen on duty. Mark Randall, who got his first start at Stoke, and Ade Akinbiyi dropped down to the bench with Alan Mahon and Andrew Cole back in the starting line up. For Mahon it was a first start since the Preston game in mid-December.

We'd already beaten Charlton this season, down at the Valley in December when Andy Gray was scoring for fun for us. He hasn't scored since, and we're not that bothered now that he doesn't score because he's playing for them instead of us.

We now needed to beat Charlton again, a win here really was vital, but the welcome the aforementioned Mr Gray received from the home fans prompted me to suggest that we'd have to score at least two to win it. It had surely been scripted that he'd get his first goal in over three months against us.

Anyway, forget him for now, because we made a good start, in fact a very good start, and we nearly got an early lead through the most unlikely of routes, a James O'Connor header. He got above Paddy McCarthy but header over the bar.

The same defender was involved again shortly afterwards, this time hacking away a cross from the right and we sat back and waited for the opening goal. Unfortunately it didn't' come and the game started to change as Charlton came more and more into it.

They should have done better with one opportunity down the left, but Jerome Thomas, a player who seems to have perfected the art of flattering to deceive, chose to ignore waiting team mates and shot over from an angle.

They were getting on top now and I thought they'd scored when Darren Ambrose hit a shot along the ground. It was heading for the corner but Gabor Kiraly got down to make a good save to keep us level.

We were probably the happier of the two sides to hear the half time whistle at 0-0. After such a good opening to the game we'd found it tough in some trying conditions as the winds got stronger. And as the players left the pitch we welcomed another downpour as the heavens opened once again.

We'd held firm in that first half with the two central defenders in particularly showing the same sort of form as they'd done on Saturday, and that continued into the second half. It started as the first half had ended and this time they got themselves two decent chances.

The first predictably fell to Gray. He'd spent most of the time up to this point pulling our defenders shirts (he must have fancied the idea of wearing one again). This time he got clear but Clarke Carlisle got in to clear the danger at the expense of a corner. This should have been converted but Sam Sodje got his header horribly wrong. I'm sure we must be the only club that's never had a Sodje; still it wasn't the bandana wearing cheating Sodje.

We really needed to get some more of the ball and we finally did and started to take the game to Charlton. I sensed we might just be starting to turn things round when Wade did more than that.

Robbie had the ball on the right hand side, and as Wade made his move he played the ball to him with a pass that nutmegged the defender, so we'll see it again on Soccer AM. Wade just took it in his stride and hit this rocket with his left foot that just about stunned the entire ground.

We've not scored a goal like that since, well since Wade's last season, and as well as giving us the lead it lifted the entire place and suddenly everyone was trying to get in on the act. Jon Harley was the first to have a go and he wasn't so far away with his strike. Weaver was beaten but it just cleared the bar. Then it was Mahon and finally Kyle Lafferty who tried their luck.

One more goal would have finished this game but it just wouldn't come. Both sides made changes and one of them saw Gray replaced by Chris Iwelumo to the delight of the home crowd. In technical terms he'd done nowt and again had failed to get himself a goal.

Two Charlton subs both had opportunities. Iwelumo headed over whilst Luke Varney fired hopelessly wide, but they were starting to put us under some pressure with a series of high balls into our box. No one had told Pardew that we'd played both Watford and Stoke in the previous ten days so were well practiced in dealing with this sort of bombardment.

Still it was nervy towards the end and we could have done without the extra four minutes that Phil Joslin found. No complaints though about the referee, he handled his last Turf Moor game very well indeed. We did eventually run the clock down without too many scares to clinch the points.

There were a number of candidates for man of the match. Wade had to be in there for his goal, and apart from one quiet spell in the first half it was another good performance from Jimmy O'C. In the end it was a choice between the two defenders for me and I've decided to go with Clarke Carlisle just about ahead of Stanislav Varga.

I'm not so sure we were better than Charlton on the night and I do think the game could have gone either way. But it went our way and I'm not complaining about that. And in any case, that goal was good enough to win any game.

The teams were;

Burnley: Gabor Kiraly, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Stanislav Varga, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Alan Mahon (John Spicer 64), Kyle Lafferty, Robbie Blake (Mark Randall 87), Andrew Cole (Ade Akinbiyi 75). Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Unsworth.

Charlton: Nicky Weaver, Greg Halford, Sam Sodje, Patrick McCarthy, Ben Thatcher, Darren Ambrose (Luke Varney 69), Matt Holland, Jose Semedo (Zheng Zhi the China Captain 79), Jerome Thomas, Andy Gray (Chris Iwelumo 69), Leroy Lita. Subs not used: Rob Elliot, Jonathan Fortune.

Referee: Phil Joslin (Newark).

Attendance: 10,780.