Printer-friendly pageTuesday, September 26, 2006
They say it's grim up north, but Burnley on an unseasonably warm September afternoon was anything but, and coming away with 3 points completed a very satisfactory excursion. However, they also say there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, and of course this was Southampton.
The first slip came when no-one claimed responsibility for a right wing cross and the ball fell to Jones who had plenty of time to pick his spot. Saints needed something to get back into the game and home skipper Thomas obliged by choosing a dead ball moment to extract retribution on Viafara for an earlier foul. It was difficult to find a Saints fan who actually saw anything, but the referee did and had no option but to show red. Rasiak took advantage by scoring with a fine header from Makin's cross, but Saints weren't dealing with high balls very competently either: Gray restored the Burnley lead with a back header while travelling fans variously blamed Pele and/or Davis.
A better second half showing from Saints saw parity restored when Skacel fired in from 25 yards, then Makin produced the sort of cross Terry Paine would have been proud of, and Rasiak responded with a header worthy of Ron Davies. Against 10 men, that should have been enough, and so it proved. But it was a close call as Burnley rallied well, including immediately from the kick off when Gray shot too close to Davis when he should have scored. The result stayed unclear well into injury time, and this time it was a brilliant save from Davis that preserved the lead and meant the end of an unwanted statistic: this was the first time Saints had conceded the first goal and won away from home for over 10 years.
Man of the Match: Chris Makin. Two assists + clear headed defending (often when all around were losing theirs) beats Rasiak's two goals and Skacel's one + good performance.
