We're almost there

Last updated : 13 March 2005 By Tony Scholes
Tony Grant - his second goal of the season means its his best ever
It wasn’t so simple though as we fell behind early in the game, only to be in front after less than a quarter of an hour through two very unlikely scorers.

The 2-1 victory was the first time we have won at home having conceded a goal since February last year when we beat Ipswich 4-2 and we have to go back as far as December 2003 for the last time we won at home having been behind, that was against Rotherham’s close neighbours Sheffield United.

Turf Moor was looking like some third rate American football stadium with ‘More than 90 Minutes’ displayed on the grass down the touchlines in front of the three home stands. It looks like some tacky Edmunsonesque slogan to go along with his 500 Miles. Surely we are not advertising the season ticket campaign on the pitch are we?

The performance against the Millers was just about as inspirational as the latest decor, in fact at times it was downright shocking stuff as we struggled to put anything together on a day when passing to a team mate at times looked the most difficult thing on earth.

Gary Cahill was fit and Michael Duff was the one to miss out at the back whilst further up the pitch both Graham Branch and Ian Moore were left out with Tony Grant back from injury and Dean Bowditch making his debut alongside Jean-Louis Valois up front in a 4-4-2 system.

We’d hardly got the plastic seats warm before we went behind and what a soft goal it was following a corner on the right. There was no challenge whatsoever as former Baggie Phil Gilchrist headed home beyond Brian Jensen to his left hand side.

The previously quiet home crowd (there weren’t enough visiting fans to bother counting) went quieter in total disbelief. Were we going to be the side that would finally give Alan Knill his first win as Rotherham manager?

We needed a quick response and we got it, ten minutes later we were in front. The equaliser came from the best move of the match as the ball was worked out to Mo Camara on the left. Mo got in a superb cross that Bowditch appeared to get a touch onto but there was still much to do when the ball dropped to John Oster on the right.

He cut in and just as we expected a shot from the angle he played the ball across for Grant who hammered home. Some reckon this Burnley side struggle to score goals but not Grant, this is his best ever season now for goalscoring – today was his second.

If a Tony Grant goal is a rarity then none more so than a Frank Sinclair goal and that’s what we got on fourteen minutes as the Clarets took the lead.
He has found the net twice before for the Clarets, in the penalty shoot out against Wolves and also in pre-season over in Austria, but this was his first league goal since he netted against Manchester United for Leicester in a Premiership game in 2003.

Frank won us a corner down the right hand side and headed the flag kick from Oster in off the post to get us in front and set us up for what we hoped would be a big win. Disappointingly that never came.

The next ten minutes or so were good and we could twice have doubled the lead but weren’t able to get any shots on target but then Rotherham really should have equalised after an awful mistake from John McGreal who gave the ball away with a poor pass and the Beast came to his rescue with a good save.

That spurred Rotherham on and after winning a needlessly given away free kick on the edge of our box they came close again to drawing level as they hit it against the post.

John Oster - played a part in both goals
Managers often talk about poor ball retention when things aren’t going too well, I’ll just say we were giving the ball away too often and we hardly looked capable of stringing two passes together.

We got to half time and surely things would be better in the second half. We were unchanged, unlike the other two teams. Rotherham brought on one new boy for another with Michael Keane replacing Leandre Griffit whilst referee Paul Robinson retired with a calf injury to be replaced by the fourth official who had been warming up all through half time.

The improvement never came and there was very little action of note in the second half. Millers’ keeper Mike Pollitt made a good save early on whilst Jensen watched a couple of shots go just wide.

Both teams tried to inject some life into proceedings with substitutions but it made no difference although the crowd did come to life at one point because of the changes.

As Graham Branch was warming up and looking ready to come on Rotherham nipped in front of us to bring on former Claret John Mullin who received warm applause from the home crowd.

Just over a minute later Branch, on for the dreadfully disappointing Pete Whittingham, was clearly booed from some sections of the crowd. It really must be difficult playing for Burnley sometimes for some players and perhaps it is no surprise that many of the better performances this season have come on the road.

Steve Cotterill had the luxury of using three substitutes today, that’s just the fourth time this season he has done that and the first time since we lost at QPR at the end of October.

There was just one incident to come in stoppage time and again we were thankful for Jensen for saving a shot from the edge of the box. In reality it was probably a routine save but it brought relief for those Clarets still inside the ground at the end.

Man of the Match is a difficult one after that performance but I'm going for John Oster if for no other reason his contribution towards both goals.

Still, we are in the points business, as Stuart Pearce said this week as Kevin Keegan did his latest runner – and today we picked up three vital points towards that safety target. And we all feel better for that.
The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Gary Cahill, John McGreal, Mo Camara, John Oster, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, Pete Whittingham (Graham Branch 70), Dean Bowditch (Michael Duff 84), Jean-Louis Valois (Ian Moore 79). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Lee Roche.

Rotherham: Mike Pollitt, Paul Hurst, Phil Gilchrist, Rob Scott, Paolo Vernazza, Paul McLaren, Shaun Barker, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Leandre Griffit (Michael Keane 45), Paul Warne, Will Hoskins (John Mullin 69). Subs not used: Gary Montgomery, Scott Minto, Marc Newsham.

Referee: Paul Robinson (Hull) followed by N Yates.

Attendance: 10,589.