Dave Thornley reviewing for Clarets Mad writes; If Vincent Kompany wasn’t previously aware of the unique challenges involved with managing a football club in the Championship, after the last seven days, he most certainly will be by now.
In between an away game at Wigan, a midweek home fixture against Millwall and a Friday night trip to West Bromwich Albion, he also had to guide the club through the last days of a transfer window of mind-boggling activity, which yielded the arrival of a further two players to round out the squad.

That the week produced seven points from those three games, two of which were away from home, was a satisfactory return given those pressures and distractions. Nevertheless, the events at the Hawthorns on Friday night still left one with a deep feeling of frustration. More on that in due course.

Firstly, the midweek home game against Millwall, which saw the Clarets in efficient form, dispatching the visitors in what turned out to be a routine manner; a relatively untroubled and hassle free 2-0 home win of the type that good teams can produce on a fairly regular basis.

Millwall kept themselves in the game throughout the first half, but Burnley stepped up the tempo and turned on the style in the second half and produced football slicker than Des Lynam’s presentation style and smoother than Michael Holding’s run-up (for those of you from my generation).

There was an inevitability that the goals would arrive and arrive they did; Manuel Benson (who performed impressively when introduced from the bench) sent over a teasing left-wing cross which evaded Jay Rodriguez, but not Vitinho sliding in at the far post to turn the ball into the goal from close range.

Rodriguez would not be denied shortly afterwards, when the Millwall keeper, who had otherwise played well, spilled a Conor Roberts shot and Jay Rod was on hand to slot in the rebound. A poacher’s goal.

With the points secured, it was off with indecent haste to West Bromwich Albion for another of those Friday night televised fixtures. As it turned out, the physical exertions placed on the Clarets throughout the week visibly took their toll on the players’ legs.

West Brom were sharper throughout and Burnley experienced great difficulty in holding on to the ball and imposing themselves. The midfield engine room of Jack Cork, Josh Cullen, and Josh Brownhill, so polished and penetrative against Wigan and Millwall, spluttered and misfired, squandering possession much to frequently.

Unable to create anything meaningful through the midfield; Aro Muric hoisted the ball from his own penalty area deep into West Brom’s half. The onrushing Nathan Tella brilliantly controlled the ball dropping over his shoulder. With the ball under his spell Tella sidestepped the advancing Albion goalkeeper Button, whose sprawling challenge up ended the Clarets’ striker.
The keeper escaped a red card on a technicality, but Rodriguez exacted his own justice, calmly dispatching the penalty to give Burnley the lead.

The second half was a roller-coaster of emotions; Burnley had chances on the break to put the destination of the points beyond reasonable doubt: a handball which would have resulted in a second penalty was ignored and chances for two of Burnley’s substitutes, Darko Churlinov who hit the post, and Ashley Barnes who blazed over the bar after he had done brilliantly to fashion the shooting opportunity for himself, were missed.

Nevertheless, some good last-ditch defending and some woeful finishing from West Brom combined to ensure that Burnley still held the lead going into an implausible eight minutes of stoppage time. With one last corner to defend, the grimly inevitable transpired; a goalmouth scramble, a miscued attempted clearance and West Brom’s Thomas-Asante was able to clip the ball into the roof of the Clarets net.

Coming so late in the piece, Albion’s equaliser was a bitter pill to force down the gullet, but in truth over the balance of the game it was probably slightly less than West Brom deserved. Vincent Kompany echoed that thought in a measured and realistic post-match interview.

The fact remained however that Burnley squeezed a point out of a difficult away game whilst not playing anywhere near the peak of their capabilities, and that is surely grounds for encouragement.

Next Friday Night we “do it all again”, in a televised encounter with League leaders Norwich City at Turf Moor. This will be perhaps the toughest test yet of Burnley’s promotion credentials. Hopefully, Aro Muric, whose performance at West Brom won over many of his critics amongst the fan-base, will have recovered from the injury which forced him to be substituted by Peacock-Farrell for the second game in succession, as this will be a game in which the Clarets will be required to be at full strength.

Editor’s footnote: Win at home and draw away and promotion will inevitably follow. Looking forward to next season already!

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