The 1991/92 Season - Part One
By Claret Andy
February 28 2007
Claret Andy brings you a new series on the 1991/92 championship season in the fourth division. The series will run alongside our current 59/60 series, starting with the games from August, and finishing with that great night in York.
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Over the next few weeks I shall be writing a feature on Burnley's Fourth Division Championship season 1991-92. This will be done on a month-by-month basis covering all league and cup matches and featuring statistics for all players. For anyone that did not witness this season I hope it will give you an insight into what could possibly be the most important season of Burnley’s recent history. The previous season saw Burnley miss out on promotion via the play-offs after defeat to Torquay United in the semi-finals. With the introduction of a Premier League set to start in 1992-93, the Clarets were hopeful of promotion this time around to Division Two. Part 1 PRE-SEASON On the transfer front the close season was a fairly quiet affair with only three players joining the club.
Burnley's pre-season started with a two-match trip to Russia with the first game against Dynamo Stavropol, with Mike Conroy scoring on his debut to give Burnley a 1-1 draw. Another 1-1 draw followed against Asmaral with John Francis on the score-sheet. Since 1982 the Lancashire Manx Cup was a major part of Burnley’s pre season fixtures, which comprised of 3 group matches and a final between the group winners. The first group match saw Burnley lose 2-0 at home to Bury although the match three days later was the important one for the fans. On the 6th August Blackburn Rovers visited the Turf and a crowd of just under 8,500 were present. John Pender gave the visitors the lead with an own goal, not to be his first of the season, but there was still time for Mike Conroy to score an equaliser and become an instant Turf Moor hero. A 5-1 defeat by Preston at Deepdale in the final match meant Burnley finished bottom with just 1 point. There was just one other friendly, a 2-1 defeat to Oldham prior to the Preston game with Graham Lancashire scoring the Burnley goal.
AUGUST First up in the league was a tricky away fixture against one of the promotion favourites Rotherham. Burnley got the season off to a fantastic start as Conroy netted on his league debut to give Burnley a 1-0 lead only to see Rotherham score 2 in the last 20 minutes to secure the 3 points in front of a crowd of over 6,000. The Clarets certainly played their part in an entertaining opening fixture and the feeling was that both Burnley and Rotherham could be involved in the promotion shake-up come May.
Wigan away was next in the Rumbelows Cup. Mike Conroy equalised Wigan’s early goal but the Clarets ended up losing 3-1 on the night. Burnley’s first home league game came on the 24th August against Aldershot.
The Shots’ keeper kept Burnley at bay in the first half with some fine saves but could not stop Conroy and Francis scoring two quick second half goals to give Burnley their first points of the season in front of a crowd of just under 6,000. An own goal and a Steve Davis goal was not enough for Burnley at home in the second leg cup match against Wigan. There was however plenty of positives shown on the night, especially from Davis and Conroy, both of whom had seemed to settle into the Burnley team very well. Before the next match manager Frank Casper signed two new players. Midfielder Mark Yates arrived from Birmingham for £50,000 and Andy Marriott signed on loan from Nottingham Forest. Only one more game remained in August and that was at ‘Sunny Donny’, with both Marriott and Yates making their Burnley debuts. A Conroy penalty in the early minutes gave Burnley the lead but Doncaster soon equalised. This seemed to be a new Burnley though, tougher, stronger and with a little more class, and in the final 17 minutes Burnley scored 3 more times from Harper, Yates and yes you guessed it Conroy to secure a 4-1 away victory. By the end of August the Clarets were sitting in 3rd place although September was to turn out to be a very important month with regards to Burnley’s season. ClaretAndy. |
