We dumped them on their Arsenal

Last updated : 03 December 2008 By Tony Scholes
Brian Jensen
Brian Jensen - magnificent performance
You never know when the memorable days and nights might just be around the corner watching the Clarets. They appear from nowhere, such as the 3-2 win at Luton in 2005 against all the odds, the incredible turn round at QPR back in February this year.

If anyone had dared to tell me I would be re-living such nights as wins against Chelsea and Arsenal within three weeks of each other I would have been tempted to dismiss the very notion.

But here I am, still up in those clouds, still trying to come to terms with that incredible penalty win at Stamford Bridge, and we've landed in the Semi-Finals of the Carling Cup with an astonishing and breathtaking win over Arsenal.

Kevin McDonald was the goalscoring hero on the night, and at the other end of the pitch Brian Jensen was playing his own special game of one-one-one goalkeeping. They will grab the headlines but this was very much a team performance in every sense of the word with not one single player turning in anything other than a top display. From Duffo at right back to Robbie on the left, and everyone in between, they played out of their skins for us.

It had been a strange day with the snow arriving to try and spoil it for us. Despite the repeated confirmations from the club that all was well there were those who were inclined not to believe the positive messages. No surprise really given the number of times we've had late postponements over recent years.

Getting there was difficult, sadly for some it proved impossible with their routes to the Turf blocked by the snow, but inside Turf Moor the pitch looked like a green carpet ready to stage a big game.

I tend to get very nervous on these occasions but not this time. I'd been calm all day surprisingly but that didn't last and about ten minutes before the teams came out the tension grabbed me in no uncertain terms.

The teams that did come out were as expected. The Arsenal team had been named on Sky Sports News earlier in the day and the Clarets were, and hardly surprisingly, unchanged from the side that had beaten Derby on Saturday.

The scene was set, even Jeff Stelling was there and he'd brought the Carling Cup Trophy with him rather than his James Brown doll. Jeff, prior to our FA Cup tie at Coventry in 2000, said Burnley had always been his First Division team during his formative years supporting Hartlepool. He mentioned McIlroy, Coates and Casper, and I bet he was hoping we were going to make him feel good.

How good were they going to make us feel? Arsenal had the first chance. It fell to Nicklas Bendtner but in the first of a series of one-on-ones it was the Beast who came out on top to keep the scores level.

It was the only scare of any kind in the opening five minutes, and then, Turf Moor literally took off. Go back to Saturday and our second goal. Duff involved, gets it forward down the right where Blake and Eagles combine superbly before Eagles gets in a low cross.

It was just the same but this time the goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski got there but could only knock it out and lurking just a few yards from goal was Kevin McDonald who stroked it into the unguarded bottom corner of the net.

BURNLEY 1 ARSENAL 0 appeared on the big screen. There it was proudly being brightly displayed right across Turf Moor from the midst of the Arsenal fans.

I looked at my watch hoping it might be almost time, but there were still well over eighty minutes to play. I think those butterflies that appeared just before kick off had started breeding because that goal had made it a whole lot worse.

The game did settle down and there was some tremendous football being played by both sides. Both managers talk about passing and moving the ball and it was there for all to see and we were more than having our share of the game.

We caused them more than a few problems, whilst down at the Jimmy Mac end the Beast was inspired. If he has two specialities in his repertoire then it is penalty shoot outs and one on ones. He'd done one at Chelsea and was now excelling with the other.

We'd had the one from Bendtner before our goal and he denied him again as he did with Carlos Vela and former Burnley loan player Mark Randall. But don't let all that fool you into believing it was one way.

Martin Paterson had a chance; Fabianski couldn't hold a shot from Robbie but managed to smother it before any Clarets could get onto it.

When referee André Marriner brought the first half to a close it was still the Clarets in front after a pulsating forty-five minutes that had been an absolute joy to watch. With no fog to talk about and no snow falling we were able to dismiss the weather and reflect on our first half performance during the interval.

Arsenal came out first for the second half, Burnley were a while behind them. Could we keep a clean sheet and win this I thought, still hardly believing that we were in front against a side I'd seen murder Wigan in the previous round.

Almost immediately they came within inches of equalising after a brilliant run from Fran Merida who saw his shot go agonisingly wide of Jensen's far post. Vela had an opportunity and then, incredibly, the balance tipped even further in our favour.

There looked to be no real danger when we won a thrown in on the right hand side and Eagles, who was going to take it, is certainly no Rory Delap. But McDonald made his move, screamed for the ball and Eagles spotted him and played him in.

The big Scot got into the box, brushed past Randall as if he wasn't there, and then beat Fabianski with a brilliant (and I mean brilliant) finish with the outside of his right foot. It was so reminiscent of the way Glen Little took his goal at Deepdale seven years ago.

BURNLEY 2 ARSENAL 0 - it really was, and those butterflies in my stomach went into overdrive and caused me some real problems during the next half hour or so.

McDonald didn't last much longer, he went down and required treatment and was replaced by Joey Gudjonsson. He'd done his job, and he'd had a night he is going to remember for a long time.

Pato could have made it three when he got his head to a cross from Robbie but he could only find the goalkeeper. Within seconds Arsenal almost pulled one back but Jensen saved from sub Jay Simpson. It could have been 3-0, it could have been 2-1, but it was still 2-0 and we were still in the driving seat.

And so it continued, and in all honesty Arsenal didn't create much at all after that. They had a lot of possession, they did put us under some pressure, but I thought we looked comfortable. I remember looking at the clock showing 87 minutes gone and thinking that surely they can't get three now.

And half way through stoppage time came the realisation that they just didn't have time to get two. Turf Moor was bouncing, even some of the older fans in the Bob Lord were by now on their feet.

Jensen let the ball roll out for a goal kick and as he prepared to take it the last of the four added minutes was up. All we needed now was Marriner's final whistle and we were in the semis.

The Turf lifted as that whistle sounded and the party started. Text messages and calls were flooding my phone from friends who have the audacity to support other clubs. One Premier League fan told me he was jealous, another just said English football will be proud of us.

The message board on this site has been the same, as fans have joined us from elsewhere to pass on their best wishes. Real football fans who are always welcome here at Clarets Mad.

Last season I watched such as Cardiff and Barnsley get through to the last four of the FA Cup and just wished it could be us again one day. Well it is, our day has come.

I said before the Chelsea game that the league games are more important. They are, no doubt about that, but no one can take Chelsea or Arsenal away from me, nor from any other Burnley fans. Two wonderful nights, two that will be talked about for years.

I'm still so full of emotion, I'm still gazing at the pictures on my Sky+ box in wonderment and I'm preparing for our fourth League Cup Semi-Final in January.

I always end my thoughts with a choice of man of the match. It could have been two goal McDonald, there again it could be any one of a number of players. To not give it to the brilliant Graham Alexander seems so wrong.

But stand up goalkeeper Brian Jensen, he was simply magnificent, and whilst it almost seems wrong to reward that team performance by giving it to the goalkeeper there is no doubt that without him we might not be looking forward to that two leg tie.

We are looking forward to it; now let's pick up plenty of league points before we get there.

COME ON YOU CLARETS

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Clarke Carlisle, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Graham Alexander, Chris Eagles, Kevin McDonald (Joey Gudjonsson 61), Chris McCann, Robbie Blake (Wade Elliott 77), Martin Paterson (Ade Akinbiyi 74). Subs not used: Diego Penny, Alan Mahon, Alex MacDonald, Jay Rodriguez.

Arsenal: Lukasz Fabianski, Gavin Hoyte, Paul Rodgers (Henri Lansbury 45), Mikael Silvestre, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere (Jay Simpson 63), Aaron Ramsey, Mark Randall (Amoury Bischoff 72), Fran Merida, Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela. Subs not used: Vito Mannone, Emmanuel Frimpong, Francis Coquelin, Rene Steer.
Yellow cards: Mark Randall, Fran Merida.

Referee: André Marriner (West Midlands).

Attendance: 19,045.