A fan's-eye view from Turf Moor, with Stephen Cummings
WHERE to begin? Andy Payton's sending off? Toppling the league leaders with only 10 men? The electrifying atmosphere? A convincing debut from Ian Cox? Or that marvellous picture on the front of last night's Lancashire Evening Telegraph showing Stan Ternent's gap-toothed grin.
No. There is, of course, only one place to start. And that has to be Glen Little's breathtaking match winner 20 minutes from time. My initial thought as Little chested down Andy Cook's flick on was that even given Glen's deft footwork, he may have been hard pushed to out fox the three opposition players and their goalkeeper who stood between him and glory.
Which perhaps shows you what this writer knows about football.
As we now know, this proved no obstacle for Little. And as Ternent correctly observed: "It was a goal worthy of winning any match, anywhere."
Although whether or not it was a goal worthy of losing your teeth over, only Stan would be able to tell us.
Altogether less palatable was the behaviour of Andy Payton who was dismissed for retaliating to provocation from Trevor Challis. Payts has done a lot for Burnley Football Club since he signed. His 18 goals for the Clarets are one of the main reasons why they are still in the promotion hunt. Also his enthusiasm and commitment on the pitch are second to none. Yet because of one moment of indiscipline, Burnley will be deprived of the division's leading scorer for the home games against Wigan and Preston - first and third in the table respectively. Not to mention the away fixture at Colchester.
One wonders about the supporters who applauded Payton down the tunnel following his red card.
Those proffering the defence of provocation are on shaky ground. Andy Payton is a top marksman in the division. He must be the target of wind up merchants everywhere he plays.
Okay, Saturday was a big match featuring four of the division's top strikers. The pressure was on. Yet this is the same Andy Payton who, in the early 90s, was playing for Glasgow Celtic in Old Firm games where pressure comes as standard.
Let's hope Payts will make up for it on his return from suspension.
Finally, it would be remiss to end this week's column without a mention of the solid and assured debut of £500,000 signing Ian Cox. Congratulations to him and the Clarets on Saturday's performance.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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