Stunning shot pinches point for Wycombe

Williams lined up in the Wycombe shooting gallery as a national soccer magazine sought the hardest shot in England.

Team-mate Paul Hardyman broke the 70mph barrier straight off, and the strapping Williams matched it.

That power test was in training at Wycombe's Bisham Abbey HQ a week ago.

At Turf Moor he did it for real with a cannon-ball of an equalizer which would have out-paced a runaway juggernaut.

It reduced the Burnley support to a stoney silence and left the Wycombe fans in the Cricket Field Stand whooping it up.

It also left the Clarets with a stinging hangover to commemorate the first ever league joust between these two clubs of vastly differing traditions.

Just as Burnley had threatened to over-run, and then ultimately fail, to bury Alan Smith's happy wanderers, Williams pulled the trigger to secure a precious point.

The burly striker had watched as the Turf Moor lads wasted enough chances to have cruised home to a comfortable victory.

Burnley should have been home and dry before the winner of the 3.30 at Ascot had dashed past the post.

But, unlike Burnley, Williams needed only ONE invitation to level the scores with a corker of an equaliser from 25 yards out.

But a point lost or a point won? From a Burnley perspective there could be no doubt. The expectant home support turn up demanding nothing less than three points.

Easier said than done, of course. But that is the price which goes with the pre-season promotion favourites tag.

Burnley will live or die by their home form this season.

And the dejected faces battling home through the drizzle along Brunshaw Road on Saturday tea-time told their own story.

Burnley let Wycombe wriggle off the hook, but the visitors provided very competent opposition also.

Slick on the counter-attack, the giant frame and pace of Miquel De Souza was a constant threat and menace to the home defence.

He underlined why the bustling number nine had already bagged a hatful of goals this season.

A dead ringer for Newcastle United's Les Ferdinand, he is a striker who has developed so much since I last saw him play with Birmingham City.

Burnley dominated and how they only went in one goal in front at the break, left the 8,000 diehards scratching their heads in disbelief.

For Burnley played a major part in an enthralling encounter, serving up some sparkling football for the first hour. But they failed to find the killer touch - in front of goal.

Adrian Randall set the tone for the first half in only the second minute.

He forced Paul Hyde into a low save at the foot of the post.

Hyde was in the action again a minute later. This time the goalkeeper proved his agility with a breathtaking save to deny Kurt Nogan.

Nogan looked certain to celebrate his full Wales international call-up with a goal, but Hyde dived low to save one-handed.

Nogan then planted a header on the crossbar from Ted McMinn's centre as Burnley really turned the screw.

The 4-4-2 system Burnley deploy at Turf Moor saw McMinn and the impressive Paul McDonald open up the flanks.

And McMinn was instrumental in carving up the Wycombe defence for David Eyres to head down into the path of Warren Joyce. But he scooped the chance over.

In a rare Wycombe raid, Marlon Beresford produced a top drawer save to deny De Souza's header following a Dave Farrell free kick. The effort seemed destined for the bottom corner until Beresford tipped the ball around the post, one-handed.

Surely it was only a matter of time before the Wycombe lines were breached.

Brilliant work by Kurt Nogan set up David Eyres, but he clipped his effort inches wide instead of finding the corner.

Then a surging run from De Souza took him wide of Mark Winstanley and only the alertness of Beresford prevented a Wycombe goal.

But, as that Wycombe attack broke down, Burnley finally got the goal they deserved.

Ted McMinn stepped inside two strident tackles and delivered a cross into the heart of the Wycombe penalty box. There was Warren Joyce who rose unopposed to head past Paul Hyde.

Wycombe re-organised at half-time and Burnley were never the same threat again.

Paul McDonald saw a powerful shot deflected away and then Nogan saw his header stopped. Then, as Burnley began to run out of steam, Wycombe equalised.

Steve McGavin set Williams up with a clever through ball.

Williams saw his opportunity and his dipping left-foot sizzler hit the top corner.

Not surprisingly Williams paraded himself in front of the Wycombe manager as the pair celebrated a stunning strike.

The goal certainly proved the turning point of the contest and gave Wycombe the spur they needed.

You feared for the Clarets as Wycombe poured forward in search of the winner.

But those spurned opportunities in the first half hour cost Burnley three vital points and certain victory.

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