Burnley 1 Rotherham Utd 1

By Longsider
November 24 2003

Burnley have now extended their winless run to 8 league games with this draw. The draw means that we continue to concentrate on results at the wrong end of the table which isn't what we want to do.

Burnley fans had to suffer another awful 90 minutes of football on Saturday when they failed to hold onto a lead which would have given the side 3 valuable points in our fight against relegation.

The day started badly enough with Jeff Brown trying to build the atmosphere up by singing our new athem, 500 miles, which was embarrasing for everyone in the ground as it soundly so silly and made almost every Burnley fan cringe.

The game started unusally for the Clarets as they kicked towards the Jimmy Mac stand in the first half, for the first time this season, and we did start resonably well. Robbie Blake and David May both came close in the opening period of play whilst Glen Little also missed a good chance to open the scoring. As the game went on in the first half the visitors were coming more and more into the game with Paul Warne and the impressive Darren Byfield both asking questions of Jenson.

The Burnley goal came out of nothing. A ball played forward from the back was flicked on to Robbie Blake who was allowed the freedom of the Turf to strike his shot into Montgomery's left hand corner. The keeper really should have done better as the ball wasn't struck with any particular venom and it seemed an age before the keeper finally dived. Cue the goal music however it wasn't the irritating Tom Hark instead its the new anthem of the club, 500 miles, which didn't go down well with the 11,000 home fans. The half drifted away without either side creating any real chances.

The Second half started very brightly with Ian Moore missing an absolute sitter just 12 yards from goal after good work by Little. Then, as so often this season, the opposition scored with Moore losing position and Rotherham broke quickly on the break. A ball was played through to former Claret John Mullin who sprung our offside trap to slide it past Jenson and make the game level. In all honesty the goal wasn't a suprise as we had given the ball away a lot and with our defensive capabilities an equalizer was always on the cards.

Stan left the fans in doubt who he blamed by withdrawing the ineffective Moore for the soon to be also ineffective Facey. Rotherham had found new life and were starting to run amok with Byfield, in particular, causing mayhem. One scary moment for the Clarets came when Jenson dropped a simple cross from a corner however luckily there wasn't a Miller around to take advantage of the howler. The Clarets did hang on to take a point but there's no doubt its a case of more points dropped against a Rotherham side missing 7 key players.

Virtually all of the Burnley side went missing during the game. In relegation fights there's no doubt that sides need leaders and you'd do well to find a Burnley fan who would find one based on Saturday's performance. We need to get back to winning ways desperately, starting with Tuesday night, as we are being sucked more and more into the danger zone.

If the Clarets battle and fight for everything on the pitch and don't show the opposition any respect then we will stay up however if they continue to hide in games then there's no doubt its going to be a long Winter.

Burnley: Jensen, West, May, Gnohere, Camara, Little, Chaplow, Grant, Moore (Facey 55), Blake, Branch.
Subs not used: Roche, McGregor, Weller, O’Neill.

Rotherham: Montgomery, Barker, Swailes, McIntosh,Hurst, Sedgwick, Robinson, Mullin, Warne, Byfield, Barker.
Subs: Minto, Robins, Monkhouse, Hoskins, Mudd.

Referee: Ray Olivier (West Midlands).