FA Cup 2nd round: Walsall 1 Burnley 1 - Brian Doogan's big match verdict

SOME Burnley fans might have expected George Cain to miss the blatant handball that resulted in Walsall's injury time equaliser.

For on an afternoon of high FA Cup drama which transformed Bescot Stadium, in the second half at least, into a seething cauldron, the Bootle official made a hash of just about everything else.

From impeding Gerry Harrison, ignoring a linesman frantically waving his flag, to failing to book Peter Swan for a dangerously clumsy tackle on Kyle Lightbourne, Mr Cain was consistent only in his incompetence.

He surpassed himself in the 55th minute when his reaction to the causes of a melee involving almost every player on the pitch might have resulted in disaster.

Andy Cooke, a well-built 22-year-old whose enthusiasm for physical competition precludes violence, became the victim of an assault by Wayne Evans, who held him in a vice-like grip, and Adrian Viveash who meted out the punishment.

Cooke had gone in hard for a 50-50 ball with keeper James Walker to which the aspiring vigilantes took exception.

Cain's response? He booked Viveash and, unbelievably, Cooke as well.

Viveash should have walked and Evans, for making sure that walking away was an option not open to Cooke, should have been yellow-carded.

Presumably Cooke was penalised for going for the ball.

The referee's inadequacies aside, Burnley can have few complaints about a game in which they failed to reach the heights attained on Tuesday night.

This was largely due to the quality of their passing which too often resulted in the intended recipient having to work hard to bring the ball under control.

However, this witness has frequently seen Burnley bow to defeat when not on top of their game.

Saturday was, therefore, further evidence of the advances made under Adrian Heath.

It's great to win games when you play well, it's better to get something out of a game when you don't.

Until the final moments, it looked like David Eyres' spectacular 28-yard free kick, which sent him into such frenzied celebration that he looked like he had just been strapped to an electric chair, would propel Burnley into the third round .

Burnley should have had the lead on 14 minutes when Weller's pass to Nogan beat the offside trap, provided the Welshman with three options in the middle but culminated in the keeper coming out to claim the ball when Nogan lost control.

Within 10 minutes Walsall might have been ahead after captain Nigel Gleghorn lost the ball to Wilson whose tremendous cross Lightbourne took in his stride. But instead of a shot he elected to round Beresford who intelligently drove him wide to the right.

He managed to seek out Marsh who had his shot blocked before a volley by Wilson brought a good save out of the highest-paid and, by consensus, the best keeper in the Second Division.

Eyres' drive from the edge of the box with the unfavoured right boot was deflected behind for a corner before Gary Parkinson cleared a powerful Viveash header off the line. He, then, had a tremendous opportunity at the other end to transform himself from saviour into scorer but completely missed Paul Weller's cross on the volley.

A minute later and a minute before half time Smith found Cooke who headed over from 12 yards.

If Burnley had looked dangerous just before the interval, Walsall appeared certain to break the deadlock three minutes into the new period.

Lightbourne flicked the ball over Swan, cranked up a powerful left-footed shot but watched in despair as it ricocheted to safety off the inside of the post.

Darren Bradley's effort from 35 yards had to be forced over the bar by Beresford's fingertips before danger was totally averted.

When Cameroon international Charlie Ntamark's fingertips touched the ball as Weller attempted to break through, the referee awarded a free kick in a central position which David Eyres rifled into the top right hand corner.

Walker produced an acrobatically outstanding save to deny Eyres a second before having to do the same from Smith's 35-yard screamer. In between, Beresford had come out bravely to deny Lightbourne and Marsh as they charged through a gap in Burnley's defence.

He also maintained his formidable reputation for saving penalty kicks after Weller had handled the ball and Wilson placed a low shot to his left.

But he could do nothing about the rebound which Lightbourne drove high into the net. Walker made another Herculean effort to save Cooke's close-range shot at the death of a game that espoused all the values of cup football.

Parity was probably fair but Burnley should hold no fear about living to fight another day. Their only worry might be that Messrs Evans and Viveash take this literally.

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