Burnley's run comes undone

The biggest piece of bad luck they can point to as they look back on their first defeat in two months is the fact that they had to play Portsmouth, the league leaders and comfortably the best side the Clarets have met this season.

And they were also unlucky that Marlon Beresford picked this match to make his first big mistake since his return to Turf Moor.

On first sight it looked like he might have been unfortunate to allow Svetoslav Todorov's long range shot bounce over him and into the net as he dived to stop it.

Was there a divot, did it take a dodgy bounce?

"I'm afraid not," admitted Beresford honestly. "It was a howler!

"To be honest it almost came too slowly towards me, if he had hit true I think I would have made a comfortable save. But he didn't hit it true and it went in.

"But we have been on a good run and I have only made one mistake in 12 so that is not bad.

"As a goalkeeper you are always striving for perfection but you won't ever get that, although things have gone well for me. I hope it is another 12 games before I make another mistake.

"But they are the best side I have seen this season, they have got a lot of good players and they really came at us and opened us up. I had to make some good saves but it was an error for the goal.

"We had started the second half well, were creating plenty of chances and then we were two down."

His manager Stan Ternent is not going to lose any sleep over his error although he admitted: "A goalkeeper of his quality you would expect to save that but that's the only one he has thrown in and he has saved an awful lot more.

"It pitched in front of him but he came in and apologised to the lads."

Luck was certainly not involved in the goal that had given Pompey a first half lead.

Steve Stone's pass down the right released the predatory Todorov and he picked out Nigel Quashie on the edge of the box with a lovely pass that was matched by a precise shot into the corner.

And the Clarets had to ride their luck in the closing minutes when four great chances in four minutes brought just one more goal, sub Kevin Harper netting following more good work by Stone on his debut.

But the biggest stroke of luck for Pompey fans is that chairman Milan Mandaric has decided to have one last push for promotion to the Premiership, backing his new manager Harry Redknapp big style.

Beresford is the only man to have been added to Ternent's squad from last season and he is still to sort out his contract, hopefully today.

In fact the presence of Kevin Ball at the game was a reminder that he had to let half a dozen players go.

In contrast flash Harry has been doing deals like Del-boy on speed and the arrival of Stone on loan from Aston Villa showed again that, unlike virtually every other first division team, he has the ability to attract top class players.

There is no doubt he has done some major wheeling and dealing but the addition of the irrepressible Paul Merson alongside quality players like Shaka Hislop, Paul Richie and Todorov must have been done at a price.

And amid many bigger names one diamond shone especially brightly, the left sided Matthew Taylor who could be the steal of the season at just £400,000 from Luton Town.

That might not sound much but in these cash strapped times it is well beyond most clubs, certainly Burnley, but he looks to be a great investment.

Merson has been glowing in his praise of the England Under-21 star and he is going to benefit from playing with such top quality players.

He delivered some great balls, rarely wasted a pass and even found time to clear off the line from Robbie Blake as the Clarets showed both spirit and determination as they sought to extend their unbeaten record.

That was in the 77th minute, three minutes after Dean West had missed from the spot after Stone appeared to be harshly adjudged to have handled a cross from Lee Briscoe.

West has scored once from the spot this season, as has Blake, and he was determined he would take the responsibility. He is a blaster not a placer but unfortunately he caused more problems for the Pompey fans behind the goal than Hislop in it.

It will be interesting to see who is on the ball the next time the Clarets have a spot kick. Mind you, it was not the miss of the day as Blake somehow failed to tap in from close range after good work by Brad Maylett a minute earlier.

That summed up a strange second half because Burnley dominated it for long periods, created and missed a lot of chances but could easily have ended up losing by five or six.

Skipper Steve Davis did his best to keep his side going forward and used the ball well from midfield before dropping back to replace the injured Ian Cox in defence.

To be honest for much of the first half the whole of the midfield was by-passed and out-passed by Pompey, to such an extent that after only 27 minutes Ternent took off one of his three strikers in favour of Paul Weller.

That move helped to stem the tide and he admitted: "I felt they were getting at us and I needed to do that."

Having missed the trip to Ipswich, he clearly made good use of his half time team talk as the side came out fired-up and certainly ruffled a few Portsmouth feathers.

But as Ternent said "all good things must come to an end" and he will hope to embark on another run at Grimsby tomorrow.

And luckily they only have to play Pompey once more this season!

BURNLEY 0

PORTSMOUTH 3

(Quashie 22, Todorov 59, Harper 87)

At Turf Moor Att: 15,788

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