Out of tune IT is said that Glenn Roeder makes more notes during a game than Beethoven put in his nine symphonies.

True or not, Roeder will have pushed hard on the pen last night after Burnley played out a symphony of sorts - backwards.

The rousing crescendo was reached in the opening minute when Chris Waddle found Paul Weller whose cross was met by Lee Howey but his header was deflected over the bar.

From there tedium set in until a spirited encore in the final five minutes when Burnley struck the inside of the same post twice within five seconds.

Substitute Paul Barnes, who came through a fitness test late afternoon, rattled it first and then Andy Kiwomya, the debutant on loan from Bradford City, thumped the rebound against it, the ball rolling right across the goal-line but defiantly not crossing it.

"Come on, Burnley, we still want a goal. Two passes, that's all it takes," cried out one fan who, if he can play it like he talks it, should be signed by Chris Waddle tomorrow.

Waddle believes the goal is coming.

Five league games into the season, none scored but no need to panic is the message.

"Patience is the key word," he said.

"It's only bad luck at the moment that is keeping us out, I don't care what anyone says. "We'll keep persevering, keep fighting. But there's still a shortage of confidence in the final third of the field."

Maybe that's why Burnley are playing so much football in the other two-thirds.

Too often last night, they seemed to be passing the ball about in areas that presented no danger to Michael Pollitt in the Oldham goal.

They are comfortable at the back and don't mind keeping possession there.

Steve Blatherwick, Lee Howey, Chris Brass and Mark Winstanley are just so assured.

And Marlon Beresford is simply the best keeper in the division.

He proved it again with an outstanding save from Scott McNiven whose rasping half volley was struck on the edge of the six yard box.

"They say that all good sides are built from the back, maybe we're taking it too far," added Waddle wryly before taking issue with a question concerning formation.

"What do you want to see?" he asked his questioner.

"I've tried four different formations. I haven't had a full-strength squad apart from two games.

"Tonight we could have had two or three goals. I'm sure we'll start scoring."

Without Andy Cooke and Barnes, this was always going to prove difficult.

Weller's pace and vision took him past Carl Serrant in the ninth minute, Waddle missed the pass but the loose ball fell to Winstanley who shot well wide.

Four minutes later that stout defence was stretched to avoid conceding their third league goal of the season when Beresford ended up in no man's land and Brass had to head clear off the line a Dougie Hodgson shot. Kiwomya came real close to the big breakthrough with a header just off target from a Damian Matthew cross.

The game then switched off, just as a security man searched in vain for a socket to reconnect those sitting in directors' boxes whose TV monitors had suddenly gone blank.

They were not missing much.

David Eyres tried a lob from 35 yards that was so ambitious the keeper was back on his line almost as soon as the ball left the Burnley captain's left foot.

Kiwomya had a good effort saved by Pollitt at full stretch and Eyres' 30-yarder, driven low and hard, was snapped up without fuss.

And that was it, the crowd being saved by the bell or in this case the half-time whistle.

Beresford made his presence felt with that magnificent interception of McNiven's thunderbolt just a minute into the second half.

Then McNiven squandered a good chance, blasting over from eight yards and slightly to the right of goal from Barlow's cross.

After an hour the coach drivers from Oldham were advised to return to their vehicles.

Some of us not even in their party might have been inclined to join them.

We would have missed a good chance for Howey at the back post in the 66th minute which he headed into the ground and up over the keeper onto the roof of the net.

Barlow had time to settle himself on the edge of the area but could not find the angle and the ball sailed harmlessly wide.

And with 11 minutes remaining, substitute Sean McCarthy found the net for Oldham but he had handled the ball in his attempt to control it and got booked for his troubles.

After those two close encounters with the woodwork, Matthew had a shot but it was blocked by Mark Innis, the young lad making his debut for the visitors.

Unlike on Saturday, the crowd clapped appreciatively at the final whistle. It was not pretty but at least it contained commitment. And that was an improvement on Saturday.

Whether sufficient improvement can be made soon to push Burnley up among the leaders remains to be seen.

But at this stage in the season, they still deserve the benefit of the doubt.

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