CLARETS: Wig wham bam! Burnley crash in hot and cold display

FOR moments during this game, particularly early in each half, Burnley looked like a team on fire.

Passing was crisp, sharp and penetrative. Challenges were firm and efficient. There was shape and purpose. Burnley appeared to have a vision and a direction.

But those moments were all too fleeting and the visitors, whose league position will surely improve before the season is up, found little difficulty in raining on the Turf Moor parade for a comfortable victory.

Post-match, Chris Waddle reckoned his side was unlucky and that the rub of the green was against the Clarets.

But to the observer, neutral or otherwise, that was simply not so.

Burnley were, ultimately, out-fought and, more importantly, out-thought by a fluid and creative Wigan side.

The teams bear striking similarities. Both possess quality players with match-turning ability and both like to vary their style with neat ground-passing mixed with more direct play.

The visitors, however, had a cutting edge which Burnley sorely lacked.

In the final third of the pitch, Burnley just could not connect, while Wigan threatened regularly, particularly in the first half.

Wigan also found time and space in which to work. Players constantly made themselves available for the next pass. The Clarets, meanwhile, ploughed on through the middle of the park, with options limited for the player on the ball.

The boos, when they came, were an inevitable outlet for the fans' anger at their team's inability to overhaul their neighbours and fellow strugglers. But it had begun so well. The team was given a rousing reception and Lee Howey, the butt of abuse in the previous home fixture against Northampton, received the biggest cheer.

Chris Waddle's chastisement of the fans clearly had the intended effect and the players responded.

In the first few minutes, Burnley fought hard, won and kept possession and pressed Wigan back.

A fine save from Marlon Beresford after sloppy defending allowed David Lowe a chance to score was the only scare for Burnley in the opening exchanges.

Then Andy Cooke played Mark Ford in for a great long-range strike which went just over Roy Carroll's bar.

But in the 12th minute, David Lee provided either a moment of pure class or lucky strike, depending on your perspective, to give the visitors the lead.

Way to the left of the penalty box, man-of-the-match Lee saw Beresford off his line.

With no passing options available, he lobbed the ball over the keeper and into the far corner of the net.

The response of the crowd was to get behind their team and the players reacted well with Burnley's best effort worked from Waddle to Paul Barnes who placed a cross perfectly for Paul Weller.

An equaliser looked certain, but the ball fired back off the post from the header.

Weller was the outlet for Burnley's best play. But despite his probing forays into opposition territory, his team-mates were rarely available for the decisive pass.

The link between midfield and attack began to break down for Burnley while the impressive pairing of Roberto Martinez and Paul Rogers controlled the game.

With Lee buzzing on the left, assisted by Kevin Sharp, holes began to open in the Burnley backline.

Shortly before the break that defence disintegrated when Lee broke away from his pursuers and appeared to be felled from behind in the box. Play was waved on and a minute later a long throughball had Burnley's defenders claiming vainly for offside. The officials did not come to their rescue a second time.

Graeme Jones was clear on goal and smashed a drive which Beresford parried excellently.

But Jones was quickest to react and nodded the ball over the keepr for Wigan's second.

A tactical switch saw Steve Blatherwick substituted at the break with Gerry Harrison dropping back and Damian Matthew lending a more creative touch in midfield.

Again, Burnley took the game to their opponents.

Matthew provided two acccurate crosses and Weller's excellent run and low drive was missed by inches by the onrushing Paul Barnes.

Then a corner led to a scramble in the Wigan box after a reflex save from Carroll. But Burnley could not capitalise.

The work rate was high and Lee's threat was effectively snubbed out by closer marking, but there was no killer touch in Burnley's play.

And on the rare occasions when they did look threatening, the scorong instincts failed. Cooke had only to make full contact with a sweeping cross from Weller, but he glanced his header over from a yard out.

With Wigan now happy to sit back and play the time out, Burnley's players began to look increasingly frsutrated.

None more so than Matthew. A single moment, shortly before the final whistle, summed up Burnley's afternoon.

Matthew, provider of his team's inspiration in the second period, was in the Wigan half, attacking down the left.

Not a single Burnley player in a more advanced position was available to take his pass and support the move. He launched the ball back to Beresford.

And he wasn't the only one suffering the frustration. A vocal minority of the Turf Moor crowd began chanting for the heads of Frank Teasdale and Chris Waddle.

While reaching for the panic button may be a little premature, something needs to change if the Clarets want to avoid the plunge to Nationwide Division Three.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.