Whist soaking up the sun in the Canary Islands I scribed on Clarets Mad that the footballing Gods may well have decreed Burnley will secure the Championship title tonight at Ewood Park, because it’s written in the stars. Football has a daft way of chucking up such historical entities.

Having returned home late last might from the sunshine I thought it pertinent to share a summary of the last three games by our usual analysist David Thornley who decided to take my seat on an outward journey to Spain. So as far as Clarets Mad are concerned, it’s a case of one in and one out and in a combined effort I start off with my own thoughts.

The imperious 2022–23 season was the 141st season in the being of Burnley Football Club and was the club's first season back in the Championship since 2015-16. The Clarets were in my own opinion somewhat unluckily relegated from the English Premier League the previous season, but under the careful auspices of Vincent Kompany have bounced back to the elite level at the first attempt.

In addition to the league, the team also managed decent runs in the FA Cup and EFL Cup, both campaigns ended by the opposing “superstar” teams located twenty miles down the road from Turf Moor. Manchester City and Manchester United now meet in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. We will return to the topic in future musings, but what now for Wout Weghorst who disgracefully taunted Solly March as the young man was about to take what turned out to be last penalty in the farcical shoot-out at the not OK Corral?

Dave adds: my regular readers will no doubt be aware of my fondness for extended metaphors in the pieces I write, so it seemed appropriate that on the weekend of the London Marathon, Burnley seem to have hit their “wall”.
After their impressive dismantling of the closest rivals, Sheffield United at Turf Moor on Easter Monday, aided by a straight red card for the Blades goalkeeper in the first half and completed by two Johann Berg Gudmundsson goals in the second, The Clarets have, in three successive fixtures against relegation-threatened teams, assumed an air of a job done, as though they were jogging down the Mall, waving at the crowd and posing for selfies before actually breasting the tape, whilst their closest challengers are still back on Westminster Bridge.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise; it has been a long and gruelling season, limbs are tired and a drop in intensity is perhaps to be expected, particularly when confronted with teams fighting hard for survival and consequently have more stringent challenges on their minds than how to find room on the mantlepiece for their trophy.
A colourless nil - nil draw away to Reading was followed by a carelessly conceded late equaliser, after Manuel Benson’s “Worldie” had looked to secure all three points at Rotherham; then Saturday, Burnley’s season-long unbeaten home record was broken by Queens Park Rangers who left Turf Moor with a 2-1 win.

In every season results like yesterday’s come around where the league table of flipped 180 degrees on its axis, sadly for Burnley, it happened in a game where victory would have secured the Championship title beyond mathematical doubt and in front of their own fans.

It was definitely “one of those days” as chance after chance was either saved or cleared in a Burnley-dominated first half, and when a long throw-in was not properly cleared and allowed QPR to take the lead early in the second half, that horrible sinking feeling was confirmed.

With something to cling on to, QPR packed all eleven of their players into their penalty area. To score against such tactics requires a set-piece, a mistake or a piece of brilliance. Manuel Benson provided the latter with another long-range shot curled into the corner of the Rangers goal.

Conventional wisdom would dictate that the concession of the equaliser would have broken the visitors’ spirit and allow Burnley smoother passage to a winning goal. To their credit, QPR came back strongly and found a winning goal of their own. Their resilience, born of desperation, is to be admired, although their time-wasting tactics descended into farce and left a bitter taste.
This continues to be a wonderful season and the last three results do nothing to unravel the work done by the players and coaches or cast any more than the whippiest of clouds over the sunlit uplands. But there are still boxes to tick, still challenges to be met, not least tonight's evening’s visit to Ewood Park.

The promise of winning the Championship trophy at the home of our closest rivals should be enough to re-focus the minds, stiffen the sinews, push aside all thoughts of fatigue and restore the intensity and sense of purpose which has been apparent throughout the season and propelled the club to unimagined heights.

What better place than Ewood Park to do it? (TEC).

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