Burnley 2-1 Leeds United

The Clarets got back to winning ways with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Leeds United at Turf Moor last night. Goals from Gifton Noel-Williams and Andy Gray were enough despite a late consolation from David Healy, but the 2-1 result flattered Leeds and the game was never as close as the scoreline suggests.

True, we were all worried as Healy lined up a free kick just outside the area in the 94^th minute after Michael Duff handled, but as Healy’s free-kick hit the wall, referee Phil Dowd finally brought the game to an end and gave Burnley a much deserved three points over Dennis Wise’s very average side.

Danny Coyne was back in the starting line-up for the first time in 14 months, yes it has been that long, replacing Brian Jensen who has in truth suffered a dip in form in recent weeks. Wayne Thomas moved to right back, with McGreal partnering the again impressive Michael Duff at centre-half.

Leeds? Well they had two players in attack that needed no introduction to Burnley fans. Ian Moore lined up alongside Robbie Blake, but the pairing of McGreal and Duff meant that these two were kept under control all night, leading to both ex-Burnley players being substituted in the second half.

What a strange decision it was to take Blake off just three minutes after Hayden Foxe had been sent off for a second bookable offence following his deliberate handball. Blake was arguably Leeds’ best player and that decision, and with Leeds down to ten men saw the Claret regain the ascendancy.

Burnley were by far the better side in the first half, Steve Jones twice cutting in from the left to fire in good efforts to keep Graham Stack busy. The first Stack watched sail just over the angle of bar and post but the second brought a good save from the former Arsenal keeper who had a poor night otherwise.

Stack was guilty of wasting time with goal-kicks when the score was 0-0, not a bad sign for Burnley fans when you consider the recent Champions League semi-finalists must have set their stall out for a draw if Stack had been instructed to do this. Not surprisingly he adopted a much more urgent approach later on in the game.

Midway through the half the Clarets had another free-kick just outside the Leeds area that James O’Connor struck following a lay-off, Stack managing to parry the shot away to his right this time. Jon Harley got another free-kick on target later on in the half, but this one was much easier for the Leeds keeper to deal with.

We went in at half time, and the feeling amongst the Burnley fans was one of optimism. We were easily the better side and had Leeds well and truly penned in their half at times. Ian Moore was running about a lot, but wouldn’t have scored if he played all night... on his own, and his game was summed up with an attempted over-head kick that looked to strike him in the face before rolling out harmlessly. Good old Ian Moore.

Blake had caused us one or two problems in the first half with one very neat backheel, and one mesmerising run, but he would see just 10 minutes of the second half thanks to Wise’s bizarre decision to take him off.

Despite being on top in the first half, we came out quite sluggish in the second. That all changed in the 54^th minute when Hayden Foxe deliberately handled a cross field pass, which resulted in his second booking and Foxe marching off down the tunnel before the second yellow and subsequent red had been shown. Blake was then immediately substituted and replaced by Tresor Kandol... of Barnet fame.

The Clarets started to press again, but chances were now at a minimum despite having all of the ball and with Leeds being a man down. Finally on 68 minutes the breakthrough came. Steve Jones again caused the Leeds defence problems, beating his man on the left before cutting a low cross across goal.

The cross came in low and the Leeds defence didn’t deal with it, Matt Heath stuck out a leg directing the ball into the path of Gifton Noel-Williams who was waiting 8 or so yards out to hammer the ball into Stack’s right-hand corner.

Turf Moor erupted, and we had to wait just two minutes to double our lead. Wayne Thomas played a low ball into Andy Gray and Gray turned his Leeds marked with ease to place a daisy-cutter into the same corner that Gifton had scored into.

It was looking easy now, and we took our foot off the gas. Leeds were not causing us any problems, it was just a matter of playing out time. That was until the 88^th minute when substitute David Healy broke down the right hand side, firing in a shot which looped over Coyne thanks to a deflection off Jon Harley.

Why do we do this? We were in complete control and we give ourselves a tense finish when the game should have been well beyond Leeds. In truth the final two minutes, and then four minutes of injury time were played out without any worries until right at the death when a Leeds attack was handled by Michael Duff just outside the area.

Unbelievable, this was surely to be the last kick of the game. Healy, the goal-scorer lined it up, 20 yards out almost dead centre. Tense? It was unbearable. Thankfully Healy hit a poor free-kick into the wall, and as the cross was returned in, Dowd blew his whistle to signal the three points for Burnley and a deserved 2-1 win.

Disappointingly, Andy Gray was literally carried off down the tunnel by two physios in injury time, and now we have another tense wait to see how our top scorer is. It doesn’t look good though; Gray looked to be in some pain, and the fact that he could not walk off the pitch himself doesn’t bode well for a quick return.

However, this was a sweet victory over the obnoxious Bates, Wise and Leeds. The win sees the Clarets back up to 4^th place and ensuring we stay 4 points clear of 7^th place. Let’s pray that Andy Gray’s injury isn’t as bad as feared and we can turn over a struggling Ipswich side at Portman Road on Saturday.

Up the Clarets.