Burnley 0 Bristol Rovers 0 - Tony Dewhurst's big match verdict

THE Saturday night radio phone-in crackled into life and a bloke called Dean let rip with a discharge of untamed anger.

And boy was he spitting feathers. Fury was not the right word. This bloke was a weekend candidate for human combustion.

He was a ballistic, surface-to-air missile aimed in the direction of Turf Moor.

I just hope his wife and kids were stuck in the Asda car park and the dog was chasing next door's cat, because nobody was safe from his ire!

Dean put his cards on the table and delivered a blistering assessment to the natives of Lancashire on Burnley's Division Two engagement.

This Clarets fan did not mince his words as he planned his future - without Burnley! "I'm now an ex-Burnley supporter after that performance," he announced.

"I'm not going on to Turf Moor again until they get a new board, new players and a new manager!

"Chris Waddle has not got any experience. He has not got his heart in the job!"

Well, you can't deliver it straighter than that can you?

I just wish Dean had thumbed through a copy of Chris Waddle's revealing autobiography before he had picked up the telephone and berated the manager who has just taken his first step on to the ladder of football management.

From Waddle's first kick in non-league football to the 1990 World Cup penalty shoot-out in Turin - the message that comes through loud and clear is: Chris Waddle is NOT a quitter.

And he will not turn his back on Burnley until he does everything in his power to deliver the success these passionate and demanding fans crave.

And, believe you me, he is not going to let Burnley's unproductive start bring him to his knees at Turf Moor.

Let's get it right, and you can't escape this stark fact, Burnley's display was gruesome - and Waddle was not going to defend that. Indeed, when he arrived in the Turf Moor press room a full hour after the final whistle and still simmering with anger, he was openly critical of his team's performance and attitude.

He observed: "My players did not show enough desire. That disappointed me.

"What we ask is for players to be totally committed.

"Even if they are not playing well it is not a lot to ask for players to make runs and work hard for the cause and to try and make things happen.

"I did not see enough of that against Bristol Rovers. I will not accept performances like that. People need to stand up and be counted."

Nearly 10,000 fans turned up to witness a frightful bore-draw that saw Burnley never trouble the Bristol Rovers goalkeeper, and that is not an encouraging state of affairs is it?

If the Clarets had played until the next episode of Teletubbies, they wouldn't have found the net. It was that poor I'm afraid.

And there lies the problem, because if you are not fracturing defences and creating quality opportunities for forwards to feed off then you have major problems. Certainly, Burnley's defence is more resilient and organised under Waddle. But inside the opposition penalty area, well that is another narrative.

Burnley are not getting enough bodies in the penalty box and the creativity we saw from the midfield against Lincoln was sadly lacking.

Okay. Waddle was handicapped by the loss of Andy Cooke and the suspended David Eyres, two influential characters.

And he was forced to blood untried teenager Ian Duerden for his full league debut.

The 19-year-old did everything that was physically asked of him, but arriving on the league stage is a massive step up and Duerden will need more time to develop.

Perhaps he will get another chance tomorrow.

Duerden's partner, Paul Barnes, is obviously having a barren time in front of goal and that only serves to compound Waddle's problems at present.

The main worry is that the result leaves Burnley without a goal in four successive league games, and the obvious effect that can have on a squad of players cannot be understated, even at this early stage of the campaign.

But you have to put events into perspective. The fact remains that we are three weeks into a new season and Waddle has had just over a month in his new post.

So much expectation surrounded his arrival in July and, just because the opening jousts have not gone strictly to plan, it would be wrong to make hasty and rash judgements. That is why the Turf Moor fans will have to show extra patience and understanding over the coming months and get behind their team and manager like never before.

"We didn't play well and the crowd were entitled to show their displeasure," Waddle added.

"But I'm new to the job and, in my past experience elsewhere, getting on players' backs is not going to make them better footballers.

"You need confidence as footballer, but if the fans boo you when you make a bad pass, you cannot expect a player to gain anything from that.

"If the fans are frustrated than I'd ask them to save it until the end of the game. Let them know when they are walking off the field, because that is when they hear it and feel it most.

"But, during the game, getting on the case of individual players is not going to benefit Burnley Football Club."

It was obvious that Rovers had set their stall out for a point, and the hugging and kissing at the final whistle highlighted that it was mission accomplished. Chances were at a premium for the Clarets and there was just no way past the giant double act of Andy Tillson and Brian Gayle.

And when Burnley did get an opportunity it was the experienced pair that snuffed the danger out.

Certainly the Clarets did show marginally more ideas in the second half, but the fact that goalkeeper Andy Collett did not have a worthwhile shot to save, summed up a disconsolate performance from Burnley.

Keep your fingers crossed that Oldham Athletic get the Burnley backlash at Turf Moor tomorrow - and the Clarets break their scoring duck.

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