Burnley Report

By: Nick Osborne
Date: 17/09/2000

Town climbed out of the bottom three with a spirited performance at Turf Moor, riding their luck at times in the second half with some great saves by Danny Coyne especially to come away with a deserved 1-1 draw and a valuable point.

Town started off the better side by far. Inside the first minute loan signing Stuart Campbell hit a shot over the bar. A few minutes later Butterfield himself hit one over the bar from a free kick after Livvo nodded it down to him and he let fly,but it sailed well over the top. Then on 5 minutes Livvo found himself in front of goal with only ex-Town keeper "Crotch" to beat, but he hit it low and wide to his left. It was reminiscent of his embarrassing miss against Bolton earlier this week.

Town throughout the first half looked vulnerable at the back - it was unnerving, especially when they hit us on the break. On about 10 minutes Town seemed to pick up a bit more momentum and started to really attack the Burnley goal, they must have sensed they were on top and could score.

Then it happened. Town got a free kick outside the box, Campbell took it and it came back off the wall straight to BUTTERFIELD who volleyed it straight into the bottom corner of the net from about 25 yards or so. It was a wonderful goal to see,and it set the traveling fans alight, approximately all 150 of us.

Burnley were onto us all the time after that and kept piling on the pressure, they got a corner, which some of us thought was a goal kick. COOKE seemed to come from nowhere when the corner was taken and scored with what was a reasonably free header. Town nearly went behind not long after but Ball miss-hit his shot. Livvo was subbed for an injury he picked up, and then it was all Burnley. We seemed to lose our rhythm when he went off. We got back into it for the last 5 or 10 minutes but a draw at half time was probably a fair result.

2nd Half

From the restart Burnley were well on top and within the first 5 minutes Payton had 2 chances to put them ahead but thanks to Coyne, it was still level. "Crotch" was his usual self (crap) when Clare challenged him for the ball he punched it out to Coldicott, who headed it back in towards goal but it was easily cleared and he should have done better (he might have scored if he had had a shot instead). Coyne then went on to make 3 or 4 good saves in about 3 or minutes. Town nearly scored from a corner, Raven headed to the keeper's right but he palmed it out to Allen who put it back in the box but it was cleared, can't remember who by though.

Burnley claimed a penalty after about 80 minutes, but the ref was having none of it, the home fans went wild, I can't lip read but I reckon I know what they said. Bloomer tackled Cooke in the box and he went down like the usual sack of spuds. With moments for both teams in stoppage time it ended 1-1.

Overall, I think Town deserved a draw. If we had taken our chances early on we might have won. In the 2nd half it was Coyne's heroics (again) and the woeful finishing of Burnley that kept us level. Well-done Town. BUT, there's always a but. We looked OK going forward but looked very suss every time they broke away. Something Lawrence will have to work on.

Campbell? He worked hard, was quite fast and showed he had some skill. I would like to see him again after training with the lads before I say he was brill.

Man on the match was shared between Coyne and Butterfield.

Grimsby Town: Coyne, Bloomer, Livingstone, McDermott, Butterfield, Raven, Campbell, Groves, Coldicott , Smith, Allen
Subs: Croudson, Black, Clare, Donovan, Jeffrey

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