What a surprise, we lost at Bramall Lane

Steve Cotterill made four changes from the side that played Wolves and all for different reasons. Out went John McGreal (suspended), Tony Grant (injured), Pete Whittingham (left the club) and Jean-Louis Valois (dropped).

As we reverted to a 4-4-2 system they were replaced by Michael Duff who went to full back with Frank Sinclair in the centre, Lee Roche who really did play in the centre of midfield, Ade Akinbiyi as a strike partner for Dean Bowditch, and Graham Branch respectively.

The Clarets attacked the Bramall End in the first half, the end of the ground housing the away fans, and we got on top right from the kick off and the play seemed to be exclusively in and around the Sheffield United penalty box.

John Oster was in sparkling form and he set up the first chance after a good move down the right hand side. His cross was met by Graham Branch at the far post but he could only put his header wide of the target.

By that time Ade Akinbiyi, parading a new hair cut, had already recorded his longest outing in a Claret & Blue shirt but the home fans’ booing and chants of ‘What a waste of money,” came close to being silenced when he came within inches of giving us the lead.

Again it was the impressive Oster who was the provider but there was still much for the new striker to do but he turned well and from a tight angle beat the Tyrone Dobbs look-a-like in goal but saw his shot go wide of the post by no more than a few inches.

Ade was doing well and was provided us with something that has been missing from the side, the ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play. He set up both Branchy and Dean Bowditch for shots, with Kenny forced to save well from Bowditch.

There were further chances for Roche, Hyde and Camara and surely the first goal would only be a matter of time. It was, but incredibly it came at the other end of the ground. It was nothing more than a routine cross into the box but Brian Jensen failed to deal with it and could only palm it down for Alan Quinn who scored with ease.

We were stunned, it took some believing that we could have gone behind but for a few minutes nothing changed as both Duff and Oster came close to grabbing an equaliser. Oster’s effort was a superb volley that went just wide but Duff should have done much better with a header from point blank range.

Right on half time things could have got even worse when Steve Kabba got through only for Jensen to redeem himself with an excellent save. A half time score of 1-0 down was very hard to take though.

We were treated to Phil Collins at half time – although I’m not so sure treated is the word I should use. Some amateur stars in your eyes type seemed eager to make something of a fool of himself.

Still at least they had young kids on the pitch with footballs, showing off their skills on a day they will remember.

Ade Akinbiyi - his first Burnley goal

We needed to start the second half well but it couldn’t have been worse and less than four minutes in the home side doubled the lead. Andy Gray was put clear down the right hand side and one-on-one with Jensen didn’t give him a chance as he finished well into the bottom corner.

All eyes were on the woman posing as an assistant referee with the away fans believing it to be offside, in fact some yards offside. This was not the case and Gary Cahill played Gray onside and the decision by Amy Rayner was correct.

Mo Camara obviously thought some portion of blame would be coming his way and astonishingly started to have a go at Jensen and blame him for the goal. Baffling, he had no chance.

Two minutes later Graham Branch, who had played well in the first half, was forced off with an injury to be replaced by Jean-Louis Valois.

In truth we never really recovered from that second goal and the performance after half time never came close to matching the first half and the first half hour in particular. More than once we could have fallen further behind but we defended well even though we were a bit fortunate on more than one occasion.

We were also treated to some pure Warnock gamesmanship through the antics of Steve Kabba. I recall this player running us ragged during that 6-5 defeat at Grimsby in 2002, today he seemed more intent on trying to win non-existent free kicks with a series of dives.

He’s a cheat, there’s no other word for it, and apparently he had been just the same in midweek when they played Preston. Quite simply the game would be better served without the likes of Kabba.

He was eventually yellow carded for it, but it remains a mystery how he failed to be sent off during the game. A minute after that yellow card he went down as if he had been shot following a challenge from Cahill. Referee Atkinson booked the Claret as Kabba called for much needed treatment. As the card came out up got Kabba with nothing wrong with him. As I said, he’s a cheat.

We did get ourselves a lifeline late in the game when Ian Moore, on for Oster, crossed low from the right for Akinbiyi to record his first Burnley goal as he hit a shot straight down the middle.

It raised the hopes briefly but we failed to put them under any pressure and the final whistle confirmed yet another defeat at the ground.

Incredibly, just after the goal, the Burnley fans gave David Johnson a rousing welcome just as our players were needing that final lift. “Always be a Claret,” some were singing to a player who was never more than a loan player. Nothing should every surprise me now.

At Wolves on Tuesday we were awful but today we played as well as we have done for some time in the first third of the match and could so easily have done enough to win it. Once we had gone behind though we found it very difficult to step things up.

Now though we get the chance for that much needed rest and we should be ready to take on Watford in a couple of week’s time, almost two years to the day since that crazy 7-4 defeat. It will be time to confine that one to history with a win.

The teams were,

Sheffield United: Paddy Kenny, Rob Kozluk, Leigh Bromby, Phil Jagielka, Jon Harley, Andy Liddell (Simon Francis 90), Nick Montgomery, Alan Quinn (Paul Thirlwell 82), Michael Tonge, Andy Gray, Steve Kabba (David Johnson 85). Subs not used: Paul Shaw, Jonathan Forte.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Gary Cahill, Frank Sinclair, Mo Camara, John Oster (Ian Moore 75), Micah Hyde, Lee Roche, Graham Branch (Jean-Louis Valois 51), Dean Bowditch, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (Leeds).

Attendance: 19,374.