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We were behind twice, in front once and eventually had to settle for a point against Crystal Palace having come very close to snatching all three points right at the end of the game.

There was some good football played by both teams, some very indifferent football too and throw in a set of match officials who got one key decision shockingly wrong it gave us an afternoon that had us on the edge of our seats right to the end. It also had a very special goal too but that was no surprise with Maxwel Cornet in the Burnley team.

Winter is approaching and the temperatures are dropping. Thankfully, we didn’t get the heavy rain forecast and I’m sure the London Clarets volunteers on the foodbank collections were thankful for that having got themselves drenched a couple of seasons ago.

With my tins dropped in the bin, it was then the battle to get in on time. This week the queues for the turnstiles were short for the Longside but it was difficult to get round to them with a huge bottleneck by the gates going behind the Jimmy Mac. They were blocked by queues for that stand.

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Thankfully, I was in my seat in good time with Sean Dyche having named the same eleven who started the win against Brentford and the draw at Chelsea.

Last time out at home we started on the front foot against Brentford; more than that, we played them off the park. We were in front after just four minutes and 3-0 by half time. Could we expect the same against a better team in Crystal Palace? No was the answer and for almost twenty minutes we looked lost.

Palace were by far the better of the two teams right from the start. We couldn’t get into the game at all and it was no surprise when they took an early lead through Christian Benteke who got the ball from Joachim Andersen after a poor Cornet header. He scored, via a James Tarkowski deflection, off the post. My initial thoughts were that Nick Pope could have done better but I hadn’t picked up the deflection which left him with little hope of keeping it out.

It should have been 2-0 within a minute but thankfully Connor Gallagher shot weakly straight at Pope after being played in by Benteke. They had another chance too soon after as we fought to even stay in the game.

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Then, it all changed, and it changed when we found their Achilles heel, the lack of ability to defend set pieces. We won a corner on the left. Ben Mee climbed highest to head Ashley Westwood’s corner back across Vicente Guaita and in off the far post.

Before that opener we had James Tarkowski carded in an incident with Wilfried Zaha. He’s unlucky to get the card, which will now see him miss the Spurs game next week; Zaha was lucky to get his because he quite clearly was very fortunate not to be sent off.

Eight minutes later and things got even better. This time a Dwight McNeil free kick was headed back across goal for Chris Wood to head home. Again I thought a goalkeeper might have done better, again I was wrong. Wood’s header was perfectly placed.

So from being 1-0 down and second best we were 2-1 up and in the ascendancy. It didn’t last long unfortunately. Gallagher got onto the ball, played in Benteke with ease and just a few minutes later we were behind again. Pope made on good stop but Marc Guéhi hammered home with the ball going on off Mee.

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Five goals in the first half and to be fair there wasn’t too much confidence around when we went in for the break. I felt that Sean Dyche would change things and though he might take off Cornet who hadn’t been involved anywhere near enough and, of course, had been at fault with Palace’s first goal.

There were no personnel changes. Cornet was still on the pitch and let’s all be thankful that Dyche picks the team and makes the changes and I sit in the stand. Four minutes into the second half, after some good play down the right, Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson got in a cross. Tarkowski headed it on to the unmarked Cornet to the left. Now we know Cornet has already developed a habit of scoring stunning goals but what about this.

The two words Robbie and Blake came to mind as he scored another stunner, this time a left footed volley that simply flew into the roof of the net, beating Guaita at near post with the goalkeeper having no chance. It was a big reminder of our first ever Premier League goal scored by Robbie against Manchester United in August 2009.

We were level again with still forty minutes plus to play and by this time I think we’d already realised that anything could happen. It did; within no time at all Palace should have been playing with ten men.

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Guðmundsson hit a big clearance up the pitch. Wood did ever so well to get in front of Andersen who realised he was a beaten man and Wood was through on goal, so he hauled him down, surely expecting, no, surely knowing he was going to be sent off.

Incredibly, he wasn’t sent off. The appalling Hooper, along with an equally inept assistant didn’t even penalise the error prone Palace defender. That shouldn’t have been a problem. Hooper could clearly be seen indicating he was in discussions with VAR, the inept Graham Scott. Quite how on earth there was no change to the original decision only they will know. We all know, and all the television pundits agreed, they got it very badly wrong.

As it happened there were no further goals. The closest Palace came was when Pope, having punched the ball away, got a hand to a Zaha shot which hit the bar. It had come initially from a corner given away by Josh Brownhill who was so blatantly being fouled.

We went into extra time at 3-3. Would there be one last chance? There would and it came our way. Brownhill hooked the ball forward and it has to be said that Matěj Vydra controlled the ball brilliantly. But then he scuffed his shot and Guaita saved at the expense of a corner. It was a good save, undoubtedly, but Vydra should have scored.

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That was it, a 3-3 draw, another point but on a day when too many of the teams around us got points although there is nothing we can do about that.

There were positives and negatives. We conceded another three goals. We don’t look anything like as secure defensively as we’ve done in previous years. We’ve only kept one clean sheet which is our worst at this stage of a Premier League season. But we are scoring goals now and have created enough chances to have scored many more.

This wasn’t, overall, one of our better performances this season but it’s another point although we are going to have to start turning some of these draws into wins. If we can do that, things will start to look much better.

There was one further blow for us. The yellow cards picked up will mean both Tarkowski and Westwood will be missing next week, the first time we’ve had a player suspended since Westwood missed the home game against Crystal Palace at the end of November two seasons ago.

The teams were;

Burnley: Nick Pope, Matt Lowton, James Tarkowski, Ben Mee, Charlie Taylor, Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson, Josh Brownhill, Ashley Westwood, Dwight McNeil, Chris Wood (Jay Rodriguez 80), Maxwel Cornet (Matěj Vydra 84). Subs not used: Wayne Hennessey, Phil Bardsley, Nathan Collins, Kevin Long, Erik Pieters, Jack Cork, Aaron Lennon.
Yellow Cards: James Tarkowski, Ashley Westwood.

Crystal Palace: Vicente Guaita, Joel Ward, Joachim Andersen, Marc Guéhi, Tyrick Mitchell, Conor Gallagher (Jeffrey Schlupp 81), Luka Milivojevic (Odsonne Édouard 87), Kouyaté, Jordan Ayew (Michael Olise 58), Christian Benteke, Wilfried Zaha. Subs not used: Jack Butland, Nathaniel Clyne, James Tomkins, Kelly, Will Hughes, Eberechi Eze.
Yellow Cards: Wilfried Zaha, Christian Benteke, Michael Olise.

Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).

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