| Happy in defeat 17:52 - Feb 8 with 1742 views | Mullet |
Not often that is it? I've left Turf Moor on a Tuesday night so angry the wounds still haven't healed before, but that was under Jewell when ALB looked like Lev Yashin in a game we lost 4-0. Last night was a lifetime beyond that.
It's easy to talk about the relative league positions of both teams, but that's an irrelevance beyond the fact Burnley needed their top end Champ players to turn the screw with their substitutions.
It's been a while and walking past the Sean Dyche pub was a little nod to what awaited. Turf Moor is more Turf Vegas these days. Enough LEDs to cause seizures or mimic a nuclear blast when they're all going at once. The wooden seats are plastic and the rust on the girders is the only remnant of what it used to be like in many ways.
We probably learnt a few things last night and solidified others. When teams play football so do we. Burnley opening the scoring after a minute was not good. Their move was though.
The way we equalised was built of three important components. Aluko played a pass that would make the coldest of balls tingle, Kayden Jackson did that bit in Forrest Gump where he completes football and Hirst popped up with great movement to force the goal and show a bit of why McKenna wants him.
Aluko produced one of the best bits of magic we've seen in ages, dancing around what was anywhere between 3 and 30 players without losing a millimetre of ground. It's a shame we lost him to injury as he is exactly what we need when teams are hard to unlock.
Humphreys put in some great challenges as he and Morsy didn't yield a 50:50 all night and both looked seasoned against some tough competition. The biggest bugbear was Hladky relying on the unorthodox sometimes with his saves and his insistence on the short game when it played us into a corner close to goal too often. If we are to make the jump to where we should be it might take a bit of welly now and again.
Hirst showed much better movement, and made some good chances and held up the ball well, but it was Jackson who had the best chance and forced a good save for BPF as he coasted across from the right and fired low at the near post. Everybody did their job in the whole sequence which is what kept the scores level.
It's easy to suggest that everyone who has not been getting a game deserves a start now, but I do hope Luongo is being rested to sit alongside Morsy on Saturday and we go with a bit of fire and grit. Leigh was excellent at times in just taking a chance and will leave some fans questioning why we've not seen more of him lately.
Overall, Burnley had the bit more cutting edge and ability to be decisive at either end and the ability to bring on players like Brownhill and Cullen really told. They're far dirtier than I expected and far more whingey too, whether that's because second string players are trying to make an impression of Kompany instructs them to be I can't say.
Edmundson and Woolfy look a really good complement to each other, but there will be times when we need Burgess to put a boot through anyone and everything too, for all our technical ability across the thirds we aren't always crisp and simple enough to do the most efficient thing. Burnley arguably taught us a lesson there.
Once again it was glorious up North, a great away end and a great atmosphere even without the home fans turning up. There might be something in our style being incompatible with the slog and rigour of Div 3 at times, but we still have to get out of it and we still have enough games and the safety net of the playoffs to do so.
If our cup form is anything to go by, then knockout games may well favour us but I still don't think we are out of the race for autos yet either based on the positive signs last night. |  |
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| Happy in defeat on 19:36 - Feb 8 with 1501 views | backwaywhen |
Great post and sounds like we played our part , many Burnley fans have complimented our game and said we gave them a better game than many championship side have so far this season , not simply the strength of the two starting teams last night , but the fact that we try and play football in a similar style to many good footballing sides , great compliments rather than ridicule. |  | | |
| Happy in defeat on 21:36 - Feb 8 with 1309 views | ibbleobble |
A good write-up, thanks for that. We were all scratching around trying to find the game on any obscure channel we could last night so the insight is appreciated.
For all our brilliance though, we’ve won 4 games in 12. Fail to beat Wednesday and we’ll be heading into that 14th game only one win better in the same amount of games than Cook’s derisory start to last year’s campaign. We need to start turning in back to back wins and quickly otherwise the autos will be out of grasp. | | | |
| Happy in defeat on 22:05 - Feb 8 with 1222 views | cbower |
Thanks Mullet. Nobody who was there wiĺl have needed reminding of that Tuesday 4-0 under Jewell. Probably the most apathetic performance by a Town team I ever witnessed. Big game Saturday, a win and Plymouth drop some against Pompey too and all will look very tasty. Been going through a rough time lately but I need to get back to going to these northern away games again for my own sanity if nothing else. |  |
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| Happy in defeat on 22:08 - Feb 8 with 1206 views | Vic |
Thanks Mullers - appreciate that. A good read, well written. Have a house point. |  |
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| Happy in defeat on 22:23 - Feb 8 with 1133 views | WestStanderLaLaLa |
I liked those wooden seats, nice and warming. |  |
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| Happy in defeat on 22:48 - Feb 8 with 1073 views | Rocky |
Bravo.
Agree totally about Aluko - we need him playing more to unlock teams with everyone behind the ball - ie., most teams in our division. |  | | |
| Happy in defeat on 12:57 - Feb 9 with 761 views | Stadiumofdark |
I was late into the ground due to the positioning of the stupid ticket collection "office", but got in just in time for kickoff.
After a sh1t start, really enjoyed the game - really enjoyed it.
Remember previously the parachutist getting stuck on the top of the stand... not quite that much excitement this time, and their LEDs were horrific |  | | |
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