The happiest of unhappy draws

After our late point stealing antics at Manchester city last time out it was perhaps just a matter of time before footballs funny old symmetry came back to bite us in the backside. Sadly it spun round all too quickly to see us walk away from Turf Moor with just a single point on Saturday after leading Aston Villa for the majority of the game.

The days swirling wind and rain was hardly the perfect tonic for good football but this was still a game I was really looking forward to as I saw Martin O'Neil's men as the perfect side to measure how our Premier League credentials were coming along.

For the first forty five minutes we were once again looking comfortable as we dominated much of the proceedings. We were winning the first and second balls in the middle of the park, our full backs were snuffing out the danger from England wide men Milner and Young while Agbonlahor and Carew were kept quiet by Carlisle and Captain Caldwell.

It was the skipper who added to his impressive defensive performance with the opening goal nine minutes in as he met a perfect Robbie Blake free kick to loop the ball past the heavily booed, flapping Friedel. In contrast to Villa’s underperforming England stars, it was the Burnley wide men who were creating the majority of the problems as the pace of Eagles and craft of Blake threatened to add to our lead.

Villas best chance came when Agbonlahor, who seemed to be playing far too deep for a player with his pace, chased down a through ball that looked destined to be met first by the oncoming Brain Jensen; but the England striker got there first and with the goal gaping laid the ball back to Ashley Young who failed to find the target.

While we bossed the first half, the second was to be a different story as Villa started strongly and got better and better as the game progressed. We desperately needed a second goal to give us some breathing space as the pressure on our back line kept building. Chances came in the form of a free kick from Tyrone Mears and an excellent effort from Steven Fletcher while at the other end Brain Jensen kept out Agbonlahor’s break away effort with a fine fingertip save after some route one football from Brad Friedel.

The delivery of Villa’s set pieces was getting more and more robust, especially from Ashley Young who was whipping them in with great quality. That combined with the worsening weather kept every claret hoping for another Turf Moor victory on the edge of their seats. Emile Heskey and Stuart Downing were brought on to add to the away sides attacking threat while Coyle tried to sure things up by withdrawing Eagles, Fletcher and Blake in favour of McDonald, Gudjonsson and Nugent.

As the game entered its latter stages an extremely tight offside decision managed to go against us, being pretty much level with the incident I was sure Nugent had got himself back in line with the last Villa defender before he was played through to audaciously lob the ball of the oncoming Friedel; the linesman thought otherwise.

In a cruel twist of fate two minutes later Villa were level; Brian Jensen managed to come and punch away a cross before the ball was returned by James Milner only for the Beast to this time stay on his line as the ball was met by the head of Emile Heskey, who out-muscled the otherwise exceptional Stephen Jordan to guide into the net.

With only two minutes left of normal time it was a gut wrenching blow as a potentially vital two points slipped from our grasp. On reflection it was a fair result with both sides dominating a half a piece but many leaving Turf Moor at full time were left with that strange feeling that only football can bring; prior to the match nearly everybody would’ve been happy with drawing against Villa yet after ninety minutes many were left disappointed with taking a solitary point.

It’s now been two years since Owen Coyle’s first game at Turf Moor, when he took to the dugout as the club celebrated 125 years of existence with a nil nil draw against Stoke City. Since then we’ve been completely transformed and have just made it three games unbeaten in the Premier League. Not only has Coyle given the fans an exciting two years of football but he has also taken the club out of the financial mire. Last weeks release of the previous years books showed a 9 million pound loss, something that promotion has wiped out. Nobody at that game against Stoke would’ve thought we’d be where we are now, completely debt free and slightly disappointed at taking a point against Aston Villa to keep us in the top half of the Premier League.

Saturday also saw us get somewhat of a backhand compliment from Martin O’Neil as he described Burnley as a “notorious” venue to visit in his post match interview; comments which instantly propelled Turf Moor just ahead of Compton in the rankings of the world’s shadiest places. The good news is that after O’Neil’s kind words we are now only a couple of places behind Baghdad and Kabul.

But if that is the case then next Saturday we must clamber through the hoards of cockney gangsters, pimps and prostitutes in order to reach our destination of the Boleyn Ground in the heart of the “notorious” East London. If we manage to get there alive we will look to add more misery to the side that are cuurently bottom of the Premier League’s Claret and Blue mini league West Ham United and maybe just maybe get that first away win of the season?

The sweet, sweet taste of an away point

Saturday's thrilling three all draw away at Manchester City was one of those few occasions in football where a single point felt like three.

Having yet to pick up anything away from home so far this season there were few who gave us any chance if turning our fortunes around, especially when Mark Hughes' starting eleven came through with the likes of Tevez, Adebayor and Bellamy all included.

But that very same team also had Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott at centre half with a midfield packed with largely attack minded players. Reading their line up gave me more confidence than fear as I knew that we could hurt City if they allowed us too much time on the ball and the space to create chances.

Fortunately that's exactly how the first half panned out, we passed the ball brilliantly and regularly found Chris Eagles in acres of space on the flank as he and the likes of Steven Fletcher, Wade Elliot and Tyrone Mears created wave upon wave of attacks down the right hand side. And not just that, whenever we gave the ball away we were quickly getting men behind the ball and thwarting the home sides advances.

Eighteen minutes in a ball from the Claret's right back was slapped behind for a corner by the hand of Lescott to earn us a penalty. Graham Alexander stepped up and for the second week running gave the keeper no chance and Burnley a one nil lead.

While City probed for an equaliser, things were about to get even better. Another impressive bit of play down our right hand side saw Chris Eagles perfectly slide the ball across the City goal for the oncoming Steven Fletcher to take full advantage of to double our lead. The upset was now most definitely on, little Burnley were teaching the rich kids from the City a well deserved lesson.

Sadly, although it was a much improved away performance we were about to be taught another timely lesson ourselves. The impressive Shaun Wright Phillips gave City hope just before half time as he rather fortunately pulled one back via the cutest of deflections off the boot of Stephen Jordan. With the home side buoyed it was now our job to continue with the same work rate and concentration levels in the first part of the second half that kept City at bay for the majority of the first period.

Unfortunately when the onslaught came we weren't prepared and crumbled, Kolo Toure levelled within ten minutes of the restart before Craig Bellamy gave City the lead just short of the hour mark. With the game spinning out of our control Owen Coyle made a couple of spectacular tactical changes to get ourselves back level. On came Joey Gudjonsson and Kevin McDonald in a double substitution to bolster the midfield, while David Nugent was thrown on ten minutes later to add some spark in attack.

Coyle's attempt to nullify City's threat and make the game ugly worked to perfection; patience was now to be the key as it was inevitable that we would create another chance before the end. Nugent was working hard in the channels and his dogged persistence paid off with four minutes to go when he swung in a cross from the right hand side which was perfectly headed down by Steven Fletcher for the oncoming Kevin McDonald to smash past Shay Given. For the third time in the game the travelling Claret's went wild as we secured a much deserved first away point.

After the results we've had away from home so far this term this result is a timely reminder that if given the time and space to punish teams we most certainly will.

What we saw yesterday was two teams on very different learning curves. While we are still very much a work in progress in terms of becoming a fully fledged Premier League side, Manchester City are still working out how they can make the breakthrough to rejoin English football's elite.

The young City fans chatting behind me on the way out reminded me of the gulf between the two sides financially when they decided 50 million pounds worth of new players could solve City's problems. Unfortunately, throwing money around isn't the solution to all of their woes as while City are an impressive attacking force, they are largely an imbalanced side desperately in need of a leader at centre half.

For Burnley, we still need to keep learning about the art of closing games out and at times making the game ugly at this level. Yesterday we did it but far too late to turn one point into three. But we've spent a fraction of what City have and are always going to concede goals against opponents with such quality. For us any point away from home in this league will be treated like a victory and Saturday was probably the greatest example of that we will find this season.

No luck for Halloween Hull

The decision of quite a few Hull City fans to come to Turf Moor in Halloween fancy dress was perhaps always going to turn out to be an ominous one, especially when I spotted the Grim Reaper strolling down Harry Potts Way; although I'm still not sure whether he had actually taken the official supporters club travel.

The pressure on the visitor's manager Phil Brown in the week building up to the game had been mounting considerably, which lead him to illogically insist that his players were "one million percent" behind him. So if this game was to be a "six pointer" in terms of Burnley's survival hopes then using Browny's school of maths who knows how many points a win would've been worth to them?

Burnley started the brighter of the two sides without really making their possession count while the Tigers looked quite shaky and nervous. They seemed to happy to conceed needless throw-ins and corners when more confident players would've cleared the ball up-field or passed it out of defence.

As the first half was descending into a scrappy affair the breakthrough came. Wade Elliot played in Tyrone Mears whose air shot was judged to be a foul by Stephen Hunt on the Burnley full back. A sheer stroke of luck, although to be fair to the referee Mike Jones his view was severely restricted. But the ball still needed to be put away and it was with aplomb from Graham Alexander on his one hundredth appearance in Claret and Blue, earning me a more than welcome fifteen quid in the process.

From then on the remainder of the first half was largely Burnley’s; the man mountain Zayette blocked a fierce Blake drive, while Bikey, Elliot and Eagles also went close. The failure to see off the visitors was to almost prove costly though as a different Hull came out of the away dressing room after the break. They began to get a hold on the game and pushed Burnley back especially after the introduction of Mendy and Altidore.

Thankfully Brian Jensen was back to his commanding self and proved vital in taking the pressure off especially when saving well from the lively Ghilas. I must admit concern was growing, especially after the way we fell apart after taking the lead in our last two games against Blackburn and Wigan.

Thankfully lady luck was about to shine for us once more, in a rather big way. A questionable free kick was awarded to the visitors on the edge of the Burnley box which Giovanni lined up and beautifully found the top corner of the net. Sadly for Hull the man in black proved vital again, blowing up for a foul in the wall before the ball found its way beyond the outstretched Jensen. I was beginning to think that hidden under that Grim Reaper’s outfit was a referee’s uniform.

If that wasn’t enough of a blow for Hull then Giovanni’s booking for dissent being quickly followed up a second for a foul on Fletcher saw them down to ten men. Then stepped forward Alexander once more, as the Scot drove forward a pass to the overlapping Tyrone Mears looked certain until he unleashed a superb drive past Matt Duke into the bottom corner.

The strike was the perfect way to answer the critics that have called for him to be dropped or rested from the side. That has never been an issue for me, especially at a time when Chris McCann is absent, the experience, leadership and calming influence of the man they call Granddad is essential to the makeup of the team. Grezza’s situation has been compared to that of Ryan Giggs, but while Manchester United have the luxury to rest players Burnley do not and personally I wouldn’t want it any other way.

While Hull City’s fans will lament the referee’s failure to deal with the games controversial moments, over the course of the ninety minutes Owen Coyle’s men were well worth their victory. Saturday’s result is even more important to us as we are still producing far from our best form. We’ll now use this three points and clean sheet as a springboard to somehow get a result at Manchester City next weekend; but for Hull I’m pretty sure the Grim Reaper will be following them back to the KC Stadium for Saturday's visit of Stoke City.

To Hull and back; an almost perfect symmetry

Almost two years ago on a freezing cold Tuesday night in November at Turf Moor one of the worst games of football I'd seen in a long time took place. After an exhausting ninety minutes viewing from my seat in the Bob Lord Stand Phil Brown's Hull City came out one nil winners over Steve Cotterill's Burnley.

That was the last time we were to be known as that as Cotterill was later dismissed by the Burnley board in a sacking probably best remembered for him turning up to his own funeral as he sat looking glumly in the resulting press conference as Chairman Barry Kilby delivered the club's reasoning to the press.

I remember thinking that both sides weren’t really up to much that night; the Claret’s looked weak and drained of confidence while Hull simply relied on their intimidating physical presence and organisation. Either way I didn’t foresee much success for either of what seemed to be the Championship’s also-rans.

But how times quickly changed; somehow the Tigers managed to put an astonishing run together and lift themselves into the playoffs that season, only to then earn a smash and grab promotion via the playoffs courtesy of a beautiful volley from local lad Dean Windass. Meanwhile on the other side of the country new Claret’s boss Owen Coyle was busy improving on his work in progress at Turf Moor.

Then while Hull were impressing all in the Premier League with fantastic early season wins away at Arsenal and Spurs, Burnley were doing the same against the big boys in the Carling Cup where we also upset the Gunners, along with Chelsea whilst giving Tottenham a scare in the semis. Now after Hull’s last day survival and Burnley’s play off promotion tomorrow we come face to face once more but this time as heavily tipped Premier League relegation candidates.

It’s been a tough time recently for the boys from the Humber as the club seems to be going through turmoil on and off the pitch. The clubs finances are in a mess with their share of Premier League gold seemingly disappearing into an over ambitious black hole. Just imagine what state they’d be in if they were paying Michael Owen’s wages on top of what they are already shelling out? This financial mess has led to Chairman Paul Duffen resigning this week with the returning Adam Pearson ready to step into the chair.

The loathable leather faced Phil Brown has also been under lots of pressure but for the time being looks like keeping his job. It’s a difficult one with Brown, for Hull fans he will always be the man who took them to the Promised Land and kept them up but does that success mean he is immune from the sack even if results and performances remain consistently awful? The Tigers currently sit in the relegation places and in their last two games his team have only managed two shots on goal.

Now this weekend it is our turn to heap further misery and pressure on the club as we must get back to winning ways after back to back derby defeats against Blackburn and Wigan. Last weekend’s first home defeat reminded me of when Roberto Martinez came to town with Swansea last season. The performance of his Wigan side was very similar as they work hard for each other and passed the ball well, while their lone striker Jason Scotland once again was enough on his own to occupy both of centre backs.

That game changed when we suffered the unfortunate injury to Brain Jensen in the build up to the Wigan equaliser. It was probably the most bizarre goal I’ve ever seen at Turf Moor to see our goalkeeper collapsed in a heap on the floor while the ball was stroked home into an empty net by Hugo Rodellega. Who needs beach balls eh?!

While the Beast clutched his ankle the crowd scratched their heads as to whether Jenson's injury was serious or simply embarrassment at his indecision. The verdict from the Turf Moor medical staff was of slight ankle ligament damage. Let’s just hope he can get himself back in goal on Saturday and put the last two weeks behind him.

The rest of last Saturday’s performance saw us in and out of the game. Sadly when we were in it we were largely ineffective. There were one or two bright moments particularly from Chris Eagles but in the end we were well beaten.

It seems to me we are losing the battle in central midfield. Ever since Andre Bikey moved into the spot vacated by the injured McCann the balance just hasn’t been right. The Cameroonian has done his best but now needs to be back in his best position at centre half and be replaced by someone who can start and finish attacks and move the ball from side to side.

That man for me is Kevin McDonald. The young Scot has so far failed to live up to the potential he showed when he first arrived at the club. Injuries have blighted his progress and perhaps by his own admission he will say he lost his way slightly last season. But certainly in his cameos in the last two games he’s looked bright, hungry, composed and well worth his opportunity in a midfield lacking spark.

Towards the end of last weekend’s game the Wigan fans sang “It’s just like watching Brazil” as for the first time in a long time we were outplayed at Turf Moor and gave up the ghost before the final whistle. This weekend when Hull come to town things will be different as sadly for their well pruned and over tanned manager Phil Brown the only thing that could ever be Brazilian about him is his pubic hair arrangement.

Hull will come to Burnley with their usual physical, get men behind the ball mantra and try to frustrate us. But unlike the last time the two sides met at Turf Moor under Steve Cotterill, Owen Coyle’s new look Claret’s are more than capable of putting this game to bed and stretching the gap between the two teams to seven points.

Both Burnley and Hull may have enjoyed similar fortunes over the last two years but one thing is for sure; neither side will want to end up back where the started in the Championship next season. As the clichéd six pointers go, we may only be a third of the way through the season but this game definitely has the feel of one.

Hoofball 3 Football 2

Having been barely able to crack a smile since our derby day defeat on Sunday I've taken the time to digest exactly why we left Ewood Park with no points.

My conclusion? Well, that's pretty simple; Blackburn deserved their victory on the day. That's not because they outplayed us as a football side, instead they earned their victory in typical Sam Allardyce fashion. Rovers were simply more physical than Burnley, they pressed us better and picked up more of the second balls.

From the moment that Robbie Blake wonderstike hit the back of the net we were second best for the rest of the first half. We stood off Rovers, gifted them plenty of possession and handed them three goals.

Despite the Dunn equaliser and Chimbonda third being well worked moves, the ease at which we let it happen was laughable. It was almost like a training ground demo as we limply opened ourselves up.

In the build up to the second goal there was a foul on Stephen Jordan by Franco Di Santo that was missed by the referee which forced the Burnley fullback to obstruct the oncoming Brain Jensen. That incident aside, we hadn’t learnt from any of the lessons that lost us the game at Stoke as a side with exactly the same long ball and throws tactic punished our naivety once more.

In the second half we improved as the likes of Wade Elliot and Robbie Blake tried to get us playing the football we had come accustomed to. Sadly it just wasn’t happening for us and time and time again we needless gave the ball away.

The introduction of Chris Eagles helped as he immediately took the fight to Rovers. His cameo performances have been of a consistently high standard since the start of the season and must soon surely earn his place in the starting eleven. It was nice to see him show some fight and he deserved his last minute goal, even though it merely served to give the score-line a fairer reflection of the game. Kevin McDonald also did his claim for a starting berth no harm as he looked composed and assured when he was brought on for Andre Bikey.

Eagles post-match comments impressed me too, as our number 33 stated that on our day Rovers are no threat to us. And I’m with him on that; but the fact of the matter is we lost to an average side who, and it pains me to say this, looked like they wanted it more on the day. Let's just hope a defeat against our most fierce rivals will mean will we finally learn from our mistakes.

Despite our defeat I will always commend Owen Coyle and his team for at least trying to play football. For the most part we weren’t at the races on Suinday and let ourselves down; but I’d rather keep the ball on the floor and take the chance of our play not coming off than have our goalkeeper take free kicks on the half way line and lobbing every throw in thirty yards.

The East Lancashire derby part one may have been won by Blackburn; but until our chance to put things right at Turf Moor next March we’ll just take keeping ourselves above Blackburn in the league; starting with a win in our next local derby against Wigan on Saturday.

Bring on the Bastards

It's here, the build up to the first Burnley Blackburn derby in four years is well under way, the first in the top flight for over forty years. This game was top of my list when the fixtures came out, the moment when we can finally face Rovers as fully fledged Premier League equals.

In the FA Cup clash of 2005 and the face offs in the Championship Rovers always had the financial edge with their Premier League bank balance and parachute payments. But none of that matters this time as Owen Coyle has assembled a squad that as a true football team can beat Blackburn on any day of the week.


Not being old enough to see the last Burnley win over Blackburn in 1979, my first real experience of the derby was back in the 2000/01 season where both sides met in the Championship. The “battle of Turf Moor” may have been lost but the sight of David Dunn being sent flying by Kevin Ball was a small moment to savour and has already been resvisited a few times on YouTube this week. The return game at Ewood saw us lose five nil in what was the most depressing journey home I’ve ever made from a game; whilst the FA Cup fifth round tie in 2005 saw us lose 2-1 despite a brilliant goal from Micah Hyde and some of the wildest celebrations over a single strike I’ve ever seen.

Stories from the distant past fill me with hope of what I could be experiencing come Sunday's final whistle. My favourite being a tale from the last time the two sides met in the top flight on New Years Day in 1966. Burnley won the game two nil in a victory that saw a Rovers fan being laid out by Burnley keeper Adam Blacklaw as he ran onto the pitch towards the Clarets’ stopper. Towards the end of that game, many will remember Ralph Coates cheekily sitting on the ball in the dying moments as Burnley cruised to victory. Those were happy moments shared by those slightly older than me, all I have is bitterness and resentment following the three defeats I’ve seen and I’m more than ready to taste our new moment of glory.

Prior to kick off next week the Burnley fans will have been bused into Ewood Park by the coach load. A lot has been said about the draconian police measures and loss of human rights etc that our fans must endure. I don’t want to say anymore about that, although I do feel sorry for any Claret not living locally who can’t make the game because of it. Sadly that’s the way it has to be for now and the game must take priority.

The compulsory coaches must now be used a positive and add to the atmosphere of the day. Three thousand Clarets traveling in convoy down the M65 into opposition territory will give us an edge. By the time the players arrive and are ready to warm up there may already be a stand full of clarets waiting for them in good voice in the Darwen End. For the Burnley players it will be a sign of encouragement and hopefully the sight Claret and Blue will add fear and take some of the edge off home advantage for the Rovers players.

The danger man for Blackburn will be David Dunn, who I can actually say without the need for gritted teeth that despite being a crock is a wonderful footballer; unfortunately for us, he is injury free and enjoying a good season playing in the hole.

Although, while I can point to Dunn, I can also look at more than one man in Claret and Blue who is likely to cause Rovers serious problems. If Wade Elliot can continue to drift into play like he did against Birmingham and pick the ball up in a variety of dangerous positions he will hurt Rovers. There’s also Steven Fletcher and David Nugent who are forging an exciting partnership and together will cause the Blackburn defence a whole host of problems. While who can forget our little magician Robbie Blake? In Blakey we have a player who can turn a game in an instant, particularly with his ability from set pieces. And oh how I’ve dreamt of a trademark Blake free kick winning this game for us.

The Andre Bikey and Graham Alexander partnership in midfield will hopefully add the steel we’ve been missing away from home and be more than enough to cope with Rover’s combative style. While the back five will all need to be at their best to deal with the long ball’s and throws that caused us problem in our opening day defeat to Stoke.

There is a slight worry that the referee won't be strong enough to withstand the home advantage and the ballaching of Big Sam, who whenever I've seen him speak would rather point to refereeing frailties than his sides defensive ones. Let’s just hope our attacking style can exploit plenty of the latter come Sunday.

An interesting stat sees Blackburn one victory ahead of us in terms of head to head clashes, something which doing the double over them this season would reverse nicely.

In the last couple of weeks Blackburn Rovers have released a t-shirt reminding their fans that they beat us five nil back in 2001. It’s apparently being sold alongside “a DVD called Bring On The Clarets, as part of a range called ‘get ready for the Clarets’.” While they may want to tell their fans what this game is all about for a very reasonable retail price, over at Turf Moor those gimmicks are not needed.

There’s no smugness or expectancy of an easy victory; all we have is a pure and unadulterated desire to put one over on our enemy and be the ones walking out of Ewood Park next Sunday as the best team in East Lancashire.

Owen Coyle's record breakers...again

There's only one way to respond to a heavy defeat in any form of football and that's by winning your next game; for any side newly promoted to the Premier League it's all about that old soccer am coined phrase "bouncebackability" and that's exactly what Owen Colye's team showed on Saturday when Birmingham City came to town.

The only change saw Joey Gudjonsson drop out of the side to make way for the skipper Steven Caldwell in a move that saw Andre Bikey pushed into the middle of midfield. As the game began the players showed no ill effects of the 5-0 defeat to Spurs last weekend as they came flying out of the traps.

Birmingham had definitely come with the plan to try and frustrate us; Alex McLeish has built a team that is notoriously difficult to break down with a habit of nicking late goals. Sadly for their fans that's all they have to offer, perhaps that's why so few bothered to make the trip north to Turf Moor.

Burnley's first half probing saw no breakthrough as the blues defenders blocked everything in sight; including a couple of thunderbolts from Bikey. Nugent's shot from outside the box was the only effort of note as Joe Hart saved well. The away side also had their chances; confusion caused by a corner played out to Steven Carr left Lee Bowyer with the goal gaping as he somehow managed to miscue the ball away from goal.

As the half time whistle went the away following began to chant "4-4-2" in a misguided attempt to try and serenade their manager into ditching their policy of parking the bus. Sadly for them, their X Factor audition fell on deaf ears; although they did get changes in the form of Liam Ridgewell as a makeshift left back and the slightly more attacking Seb Larson, who was brought on to add abit of flair to the blue's drab midfield.

Before the oncoming pair had time to find their feet Burnley took the lead. Seven minutes into the second half Tyrone Mears quickly turned defence into attack as he broke from a Birmingham corner to find Steven Fletcher who drove forward before embarrassing Joe Hart to score his first official Premier League goal.

Minutes later Fletcher should've had his second as a beautifully lofted ball from Robbie Blake left the Scottish International one on one with Hart only for the ball to take an age to come back off the post. Turf Moor was once again rocking. It was only a matter of time before we got a second, Birmingham just couldn't cope with the pace of our game. Then came the move of the match, Andre Bikey skilful managed to make space before exchanging a perfect one two with Nugent before knocking the ball into the net past the oncoming Hart. A fantastic Burnley move and as Owen Coyle said, one that was worth the admission fee alone.

Birmingham's last kick of the game consolation couldn't even take the shine off a marvellous performance by Owen Coyle's team. The introduction of Andre Bikey into the middle paid dividends as once he got over a shaky first half due to his switch of position he grew and dominated the centre of the park along with Alexander throughout the second period. The added steel in that department along with the flawless return of skipper Steven Caldwell saw the spine of the team become much stronger than in previous weeks, allowing the likes of Wade Elliot, Steven Fletcher, David Nugent and Robbie Blake to play their natural inventive game.

The full backs are too playing their part, Stephen Jordan has proved all his doubters wrong with his consistency so far this term and Tyrone Mears, dominant in both defence and attack looks to be our signing of the summer. The Claret's right back definitely makes up for our lack of natural width on that flank with his tireless work rate.

At the Turf we continue to look very much at home in the Premier League and at this rate our survival party could be brought considerably forward from the last game of the season in May. If it was, it'd easily be a more debauched celebration than Simon Cowell's 50th. Who's betting that naked bloke in the car had something to do with Louis Walsh?

Saturday also saw us break the record for the number of straight home wins for a newly promoted side, one better than the landmark set by our neighbours Blackburn Rovers. And that's where we head next, to Ewood Park for the most anticipated game in years. Echo the cry with me, "Bring on the Bastards".