Crystal Palace 0 Burnley 0

By Longsider
January 11 2004

Burnley ended the losing run of 4 games with a hard fought point at Selhurst Park. The point means we are now 5 points above the drop zone.

Burnley kept their first clean sheet in the league since the victory over Reading back in November in a truly awful game of football.

The first half was a total non event with neither side creating any real chance in the 45 minutes of football that was played. Julian Gray probably had the best chance shortly before half time but he blazed over the bar.

The second half was a marginal improvement from both sides with Glen Little replacing Chadwick shortly after the re-start. Little played reasonably well and looked quiet hungry for the ball. Our best chance came shortly afterwards when David May's header was well saved by Myrhe, this chance sparked a spell of decent football from both sides although in truth neither keeper was really tested.

The last few minutes of the game caused some anxious moments and you could sense the Burnley fans who'd made the trip were as nervous as hell. Jensen did all that was asked of him though and we'd gotten our point.

It was our first 0-0 game since the match against Rotherham in November 2002 and this was just as bad to watch. There are positives though with the defence working more and more as a unit. If we continue to defend as we have done in the last few games we'll be alright. One gripe i do have with Stan though is his continuing policy of playing players out of position with Luke Chadwick having another poor game on the left wing.

With Derby and Forest both losing, the pressure has somewhat been eased by the result but we do no enter a period of difficult matches but as long as we continue to work as a unit we should be alright.



Crystal Palace:-
Myhre, Fleming(Borrowdale 12), Smith, Popovic(Black 73), Granville, Routledge, Butterfield, Watson, Gray, Johnson, Shipperley(Freedman 61).

Subs not used: Berthelin, Soares.

Burnley:-
Jensen, Roche, May, McGregor, Camara, Weller, Chaplow(Branch 79), Grant, Chadwick(Little 52), Blake, Moore.

Subs not used: West, Moore, Pilkington.

Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire)