Wednesday do us again

Last updated : 01 March 2009 By Tony Scholes
Chris McCann
Chris McCann - scored the first goal
There was no doubting that Wednesday deserved the 4-2 win which leaves the Clarets still on the fringes of the play offs on a day of some very strange results in the Championship.

My day had started down at Gawthorpe watching the youth team, and just before the 11:00 a.m. kick off someone suggested there could be a lot of goals in the first team match. I'm sure he never envisaged most of the goals going in against us.

I'm one for looking at club's records on grounds and such and although Wednesday don't have the best of records at Turf Moor overall they haven't lost here since 2000 having secured three wins and two draws in the five visits prior to this one. Not only that but former Claret Brian Laws is unbeaten on his trips back as a manager with all three clubs Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Wednesday.

Again there were no surprises when the team was announced. The only change in the starting line up over the last five games has come at left back with Stephen Jordan returning for Christian Kalvenes. Again it was the same five substitutes.

It all started brightly for us. We got at Sheffield Wednesday right from the start, got the ball wide although more than once the final ball into the box wasn't quite good enough. We did create the first chance but Steven Thompson headed over from a corner when it looked as though he might score.

Nothing had been seen of Sheffield Wednesday but then the whole game changed when they went in front. Rhys Williams lost possession just inside his own half to full back Tommy Spurr who sent Marcus Tudgay clear. The striker, who scored twice in the Hillsborough debacle, made no mistake as he fired across the helpless Brian Jensen and into the far corner.

It was a difficult one to take after our good start but from then on things could have got a lot worse. Jensen came to the rescue almost immediately afterwards to stop Tudgay getting a second and they had another couple of decent chances as we struggled to contain them.

Maybe they would have got a second if the inept Andy D'Urso hadn't stopped the game to give them a free kick some fifty yards back. He'd come with a policy of not playing any advantages whatsoever it seemed but this one was ridiculous and it was no surprise to see Laws jumping up and down in the technical area with the fourth official trying to calm things down.

Not as though the aforementioned D'Urso was favouring us. Throughout the afternoon he failed to spot a single shirt pull, something Wednesday were good at, and overall he didn't give the impression he had any sort of serious control on the game.

Neither did we any longer but we came close to an equaliser when a cross was deflected goalwards but our former loan keeper Lee Grant, who didn't look too assured, made a good stop to turn the ball away from the incoming Thompson.

But overall it was Wednesday in the ascendancy and we could certainly have no complaints whatsoever at the 1-0 deficit at half time. It's the nineteenth time we've gone 1-0 behind in a league game this season compared to having gone 1-0 on thirteen occasions.

In the first real incident of the second half Thompson got into the box after a mistake by a Wednesday defender but he blazed the ball high and wide when he should at least have been working the goalkeeper.

However, it looked as though it wouldn't be a costly miss when just two minutes later we drew level. Chris McCann won a free kick down the left hand side and it was McCann himself who got on the end of Robbie Blake's free kick to head home but there were fingers pointing at goalkeeper Grant from the Wednesday defenders after he came for the ball but failed to collect.

Level, and now was the time to kick on and get ourselves on top. Unfortunately it didn't happen and if anything the goal only served to lift the visitors who nearly went straight back in front but saw Jensen get down well to save. Then they hit the bar with a speculative effort.

We were having plenty of the play but we weren't threatening at all and you always sensed Wednesday, with their pace, might just catch us out and my word did they.

Owen Coyle made his first change, replacing Wade Elliott with Chris Eagles, but within five minutes of that we were behind again after some more calamitous defending let in Tudgay for his second.

We made two more changes and again within just a few minutes we conceded. This time the scorer was Leon Clarke. It was a good finish but it was all too easy for him, and it was even easier three minutes later when he got his second.

They'd beaten us 4-1 at Hillsborough and now here they were 4-1 up against us again. Not since April 2004 have we conceded so many goals at home, that last occasion was when a Premier League bound Norwich beat us 5-3 after we'd led three times.

With five minutes to go we had a good shout for a penalty but D'Urso wasn't having anything of it but did give us a free kick for a second foul just outside the box. From that Eagles curled a beauty in to reduce the deficit.

We were never going to get anything but we did have a couple of half chances before the referee ended it to bring our fourth home defeat of the season.

Incredibly it doesn't leave us much worse off given the results, but we can't keep relying on others. We've won just twice in the last eleven league games and it is to all intents and purposes looking like the traditional second half of the season disappointment.

We simply have to get back to winning football matches and we have to start at the half a ground on Tuesday. We turned in a nightmare performance there last season but let's not talk about revenge. Look where it got us as we tried to avenge the 4-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Rhys Williams (Kevin McDonald 73), Michael Duff, Steven Caldwell, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott (Chris Eagles 64), Graham Alexander, Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, Steven Thompson (Jay Rodriguez 73), Martin Paterson. Subs not used: Diego Penny, Joey Gudjonsson.
Yellow Cards: Stephen Jordan, Michael Duff.

Sheffield Wednesday: Lee Grant, Lewis Buxton, Richard Hinds, Mark Beevers, Tommy Spurr, Jermaine Johnson (Wade Small 87), Sean McAllister (James O'Connor 90), Darren Potter, Michael Gray (Francis Jeffers 90), Leon Clarke, Marcus Tudgay. Subs not used: Richard Wood, Frankie Simek.
Yellow Cards: Leon Clarke.

Referee: Andy D'Urso (Essex).

Attendance: 12,449.