Please leave ratings for all players who have played 20 mins or more.

Scoring is from 3 to 10 as follows:

10 - Out of this World
9 - Excellent
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Average
5 - Below Par
4 - Poor
3 - Abysmal

Pope 7
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 9*
Long 8
Ward 6
Arfield 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
JBG 6
Hendrick 6
Wood 5

Taylor 6
Barnes 7

Pope.......7
Bardsley..7
Long........8 clearly been told to do nothing but defend but a huge plus the last 2 games.
Tarks.......8 MoM
Ward.......7
JBG,........7
Defour.....7
Cork........7
Arfield.....7
Hendrick..7
Wood.......7

Taylor.......7
Barnes.....8. The absolute best at coming off the bench and affecting the match.
Vokes.......7

Pope. 8. He makes it look so easy
Bardsley 7
Tarks. 8
Long 8
Ward 6
Cork 6
Defour 8
JBG 7
Arfield 7
Hendrick 7
Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 9

Pope 7
Bardsley 6
Tarkowski 8
Long 7
Ward 6
Arfield 6
Defour 8
Cork 6
JBG 6
Hendrick 6
Wood 6

Taylor 6
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 9
Long 8
Ward 7
Arfield 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
JBG 7
Hendrick 6
Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 8
Tark 8
Ward 6
JBG 6
Cork 6
Defour 8*
Arfield 5
Hendrick 5
Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 7

Pope 7
Bardsley 7 (Steady pro)
Ward 7
Long 8 (Two solid games in four days at Prem level)
Tarkowski 8 *
Gud 7 (Seeing a lot of the ball and playing with confidence)
Cork 7
Defour 7
Hendrick 6
Arfield 7
Wood 6
Subs, Taylor 7 (I was impressed, looks decent going forward), Barnes 8 (extra for the strike, goals win games) Vokes 7 (Did very well in the limited time he had)

Not a classic but who cares.

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Tarks 8
Long 8
Ward 7

Arfield 6
Defour 8. *
Cork 7
JBG 7
Hendrick 6

Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 9. To come in so rusty and play like that is pheonomenal. He was fantastic tonight. Cant believe how quick he is especially when recovering.
Tarkowski 9. Fantastic again. He sprays the ball like Beckham.
Ward 7.
Arfield 7. Involved but quieter than saturday. Played his part.
Defour 8.
Cork 8
Hendrick 6 dont want to criticise anyone bit not sure what hes bringinv at the minute. Which is harsh.
Jbg 7
Wood 7

Barnes 9 was brilliant when he came on
Vokes 7
Taylor 7 did well but showed why he shouldnt even be mentioned as a left winger. Hes a defender.

Pope 8
Bardsley 8
Tarks 8
Long 8
Ward 7

Arfield 6
Defour 8 mom all over the pitch and tried to get things moving.
Cork 7
JBG 7
Hendrick 5 bullied

Wood 5 just not his night but kept trying.

Taylor 7
Barnes 8

Pope - 8 - Better than Butland!

Bardsley - 8 - very solid tonight
Tarks - 8 - shaky start but then excellent
Long - 7 - very solid
Ward - 7 - solid but not his usual attacking threat

JBG - 6 - quiet tonight, did he touch the ball in the first 15 minutes?
Defour - 8 - MOM - just sheer class
Cork - 7 - another solid performance, he is everywhere
Hendrick - 6 - next game I am going to follow him, because I think I must be missing something
Arfied - 7 - thought he was good tonight both defensively and as an attacking outlet

Wood - 5 - poor tonight but lacked support

Taylor - 7 - caught once but you could see the quality
Barnes - 7 - I love watching him play. Took the goal very well.

Pope 7
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 8
Long 8
Ward 6
Arfield 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
JBG 6
Hendrick 6
Wood 5

Taylor 6
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 8
Tarkowski 8
Ward 7
Gudmundsson 7
Defour 9
Cork 7
Arfield 7
Hendrick 7
Wood 7

Taylor 7

No one under 7 tonight in those conditions

Pope 7

Bardsley 6
Long 8 MOM
Tarkowski 7
Ward 6

Gudmundsson 6
Cork 6
Defour 7
Hendrick 6
Arfield 6

Wood 7

Taylor 6
Barnes 8

careyclaret wrote: Hendrick - 6 - next game I am going to follow him, because I think I must be missing something

Hate to agree.

careyclaret wrote: Tarks - 8 - shaky start but then excellent

Shaky? It looked like he'd never seen a football before.

He soon snapped out of it and was the beast he previously has been.

Seeing him running up the wing with the ball was particularly funny and brilliant.

Pope 8 Calmness personified
Bardsley 7
Long 8 Again to the naysayers, this lad is a good player
Tarkowski 9* Southgate there as well....
Ward 6 Steady enough
JBG 7 Lively again but marshaled better
Cork 7 Not his best but the goal resulted from his pass
Defour 8 Ran the midfield
Arfield 6 Played his part
Hendrick 6 We looked better when Ash came on although they lost Zouma by then
Wood 6 Not much service but stuck at it

Taylor 7 Seamless addition
Barnes 8 Fantastic strike

Pope 7 not much to do but handling very good in the conditions

Bardsley 7 could tell he wanted to get one over his former team mates

Long 9 battled really well with Crouch and covered superbly MOM

Tarkowski 8 again very solid and some real quality balls played forwards

Ward 7 was getting forward well but misses Brady

Arfield 7 neat and tidy but the main thing is his discipline when out of possession

Defour 8 covered so much ground, and picked decent passes. Strangely, gave the ball away on a couple of occasions when he had the most time

Cork 7 acted more as a screen in front of Crouch so he was limited to what he could do

Hendrick 6 more involved than last few game but still no 'umph' from him. I want him to do so much more given his attributes

Gudmundsson 7 they clearly wanted to keep him quiet and was only last 15 minutes where he caused them plenty of problems with his direct running

Wood 6 struggled in the physical fight with Shawcross and Zouma

Taylor 7 edgy start but grew into the game and whipped some good crosses in

Barnes 8 never gave them a minutes peace and a great finish

Vokes n/a

I'd like to think people would agree with me that the turning point was the injury to Zouma. He was immense and we never had a sniff either on the deck or in the air. When Wimmer came on he was clearly nervous and that was right up Barnes' street, who proceeded to bully him at every opportunity.

Pope 7
Bardsley 7
Long 8
Tarkowski 7
Ward 6
JBG 6
Defour 8
Cork 6
Arfield 6
Hendrick 5
Wood 6

Taylor 5
Barnes and Voke N/A

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 9 (MOM)
Long 8
Ward 7
Arfield 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
Gudmundsson 7
Hendrick 6
Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 8

Not a game for the fair weather fan. It was a real physical battle from the first minute (Bardsley, Tarky and Long stood up to it all night!) but I don't believe we wanted to resort to long ball football. However, the combination of the conditions and the fact Stoke did nothing other than throw the ball up into the air all night eventually meant we had to join the party. The turning point was Zouma departing and Barnes arriving!! One last comment on Arfield; he has come in and been fairly quiet in the past two games but has a goal and an assist to his name. I've said this before and I'm sure I'll say it again, he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time. A fantastic three points all things considered.

Pope 7
Bardsley 8
Long 8
Tarkowski 8
Ward 6
JBG 6
Defour 7
Cork 7
Arfield 6
Hendrick 5
Wood 6

Taylor 6
Barnes 8
Vokes N/A

Pope 7 good hands in difficult conditions
Bardsley 6 steady
Ward 6 steady
Long 8 once got a grip of crouch/diouf was excellent
Tarkowski 7 defended well after a shaky start
JBG 4 not at it at all tonight, but been excellent so no real issue.
Arfield 5 poor on the ball , but did try and probe, helped with Shaqiri though
Cork 5 off it again considering how good he has been, giving ball away, playing passes which caused team mates problems, but does a lot of decent dirty work
Defour 8 class act MOM
Hendrick 6 I thought he was one of the few players who actually put his foot on the ball and made some incisive passes, but that’s the minimum I expect from a premier league footballer and think he needs to give a bit more (wasted a second half break away)
Wood 5 not a sniff, worked hard though against strong opposition

Taylor 6 promising
Barnes 7

Pope - 8 sound handling in testing conditions

Bardsley- 7 fine

Long - 8 playing it safe on the ball still but no problems with that

Tarkowski- 9 had the measure of crouch in the air and everyone else on the floor

Ward - 6 looks like he'll be gone a few weeks with that injury

Cork - 7 lacked options in front of him but the one time he speculated resulted in a goal

Defour - 8 like cork, he lacked options but he was available all over the pitch and was our driving force. The feint and ball inside the full back for ward in the first half was delicious.

Arfield - 6 like saturday, his tendency to come miles inside left our full back exposed and made things a bit too congested in the centre

Gudmundsson - 6 tried to spark but well shackled; Hughes knew he was a real threat

Hendrick - 5 not tonight Jeff

Wood - 5 difficult job which he wasn't up to tonight

Taylor - 6 rusty but thats to be expected. His first cross was an absolute beauty. Needs games and it looks like he'll be getting them


Not on long enough but a word for Barnes and Vokes; they changed the game. Ashley loves a ball that sits up, another thumping instinct finish.

Did we deserve to win this? In simple football terms: Yes. We found a way to score and that's what counts.

On the balance of play, a point would have been a fairer result as we really didn't play well at all. Partly because we didn't seem quite at it and partly because stoke did their homework and made us play their way; they flooded midfield, got men behind the ball and forced us to go long. Easy street for Shawcross and Zouma.

They don't have what we do though. Grinding out wins like this is how championships are won. And while we won't be champions, there's nothing to say we won't be right up there come May. One game at a time but this is dreamland.

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 7
Tarks 9
Ward 6
JBG 6
Cork 6
Defour 9
Arfield 6
Nendrick 5
Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 9 MOM Turned the game completely. Know he was noy on long enough but what an impact

Probably a draw would have been a fair result but so would Arsenal game and Finally we finished tonight with NONE of last seasons starting back 5 and STILL kept a clean sheet

Pope 7
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 7
Long 7
Ward 6
Arfield 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
JBG 7
Hendrick 4
Wood 6

Taylor 6
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 8
Tarkowski 8
Ward 7
JBG 7
Cork 7
Defour 8
Arfield 7
Hendrick 6
Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 8

Amazing!

UTC!

Edit: having just watched the extended highlights on Sky, I have upped my marks by 1 for JBG and reduced by 1 for Hendrick. Too much rain on my specs.

The conditions were awful and as Stoek never really got anything of any real worth off at our goal our defence was terrific.
Pope 8 - safe in bad conditions
Barsdley 8 - doing great
Long 8 - calm and confident
Tarks 7 - couple of dicky moments
Ward 7 - less effective going forward tonight
JBG 6 - less effective than recently but did a job
Cork 6 - slow starting but grew into the game
Defour 8 (mom) - Some Stoke fans were moaning on the radio that Hughes hooked the best player - they weren't watching properly
Arfield 7 - never stopped, a bit curates egg but delivered the final touch for barnes
Hendrick 6 - put in a shift but not really fully on his game tonight
Wood 6 - again worked tirelessly but got nothing from their back line who mobbed him

Taylor 8 - thought he looked confident and assured and he's got a great delivery into the box
Barnes 8 - very effective once he came on and what a finish
Vokes - not really on long enough.

Pope 7 Needs to pick out available players wanting the ball rather than just lumping it up front
Bardsley 7
Long 8 Defence played well collectively even when disrupted with Wards injury
Tark 8
Ward 6
JBG 7 Clearly a marked man now
Cork7 Always available
Defour 8* MoM, thought there was two of him
Arfield 6 some good some not so good
Hendrick 4 Game by passed him. looking lightweight at the moment, better options available, maybe a game or two on bench
Wood 5 Not the man really to play 1 up against Stoke, needed the nasty Ash on from the start to give Zouma and Shawcross something to think about, got poor service though

Taylor 7 Not Wardy but should settle ok if neccessary
Barnes 8 Love him, when him and Vokesy were on we had just over a million pounds worth of strikeforce going at it, well done SD

Really think Hendrick needs a rest and if the chance comes along give Nahki Wells some game time as he gives us another option when ready.

quoonbeatz wrote: Grinding out wins like this is how championships are won. And while we won't be champions, there's nothing to say we won't be right up there come May. One game at a time but this is dreamland.

This.

We've been debating at home how we could finish this season. It has all the feel of the last two promotion seasons - I'm confident every game at the moment and I'm sure the players are too.

Pope 7
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 8
Long 8
Ward 6
Arfield 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
JBG 7
Hendrick 6
Wood 7

Taylor 7
Barnes 8 not sure this counts, but we all know what does, wham bam, Ashley

I’ve given everyone an extra point or 2 to account for the dreadful conditions. Some of the worst for a long time. Must have affected the quality of the game. Only fair this is taken into account

Pope 9 Very accomplished. Kicking was excellent given conditions
Bardsley 9 Im struggling to think of anything he did wrong
Ward 9 Had Shaqiri in his pocket before the injury
Long 9 Kept it simple. Didn’t try and win every header against Crouch, intelligent play
Tarks 10 Leader amongst a back 5, which was all change from last season in the second half
Cork 8 Having a little dip in form maybe, but vital doing the dogged work in the centre of the park
Defour 10 Gave the ball away a couple of times, but pretty much everything creative we did came through him. Starting to appear a little higher up the pitch too. And another 90 minutes, pretty much 2x90mins in 3 days!
JBG 9 Not quite as amazing as his recent performances, but still certainly deserving of his starting berth. Solid performance
Arfield 8 Vital in getting the goal (again)! Lost the ball too much for my liking in the attacking third. Often because he didn’t look around before receiving it, or trying to be too clever. But he is essential at the moment when he drifts into the centre, because Hendrick looks lost there
Hendrick 6 Another abject performance. I can only recall him once, picking up the ball and driving forwards. Didn’t win it in the air, didn’t put their back line under pressure, didn’t pick the ball up between their banks of 4... I think he has ability, I just don’t think he has the ability to play in that position. At the moment, he is very much at risk of being dropped
Wood 7 In Zouma’s pocket. Only once did he drift into the right area for the cross, too often disappearing to the back post. Never looked like winning the header. Ran the channels well though. Needs to improve if he wants people to really believe he is PL quality

Taylor 9 Got forward well. Excellent crosses. Snuffed Shaqiri out too. Can really push Ward

Horrible conditions, horrible game to be honest but we reacted positively to it, while Stoke didn't and paid the price. For a team like us to be fourth at this stage of the season in a strong premier league is, well, unbelievable but we are not there by a fluke. I'm taking it one game at a time at the moment but I doubt we'll ever top this. Enjoying it while it lasts

Pope 8 - great kicking, and what little he had to do he did well
Bardsley 7 - solid
Tarkowski 9 - mistake in the second minute then completely on it. If he's not in the next England (or Polish) squad something is very wrong
Long 8 - nice turn of pace as he cements his role as the very good back up centre half
Ward 7 - slipped a couple of times and lets hope the injury isn't too bad
Arfield 7 - lovely touch for the goal btw, and worked hard.
Defour 9* - absolutely the best centre midfielder I've seen at Burnley. I seriously doubt we will see a better one ever as well
Cork 8 - works so well with Defour
JBG 7 - our threat and Stoke realised it and really closed him down
Hendrick 6 - works hard but we do need more from him
Wood 6 - worked his socks off but Zouma did well against him

Subs
Vokes 8 - made a difference
Barnes 8 - hit that like a rocket
Taylor 8 - apart from a rash moment in the last minute, did well and he's got a great cross on him

Amazing

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 8
Tarkowski 8
Ward 7
Gudmundsson 7
Defour 8 MOM
Cork 7
Arfield 7
Hendrick 7
Wood 7

Taylor 7

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 7
Tarkowski 8
Ward 7
Gudmundsson 6
Cork 6
Defour 7
Arfield 6
Hendrick 5
Wood 5

Taylor 6
Barnes 8

Appalling conditions that were never going to be conducive to us getting our passing game together, but we just know how to win games right now, and what a win that was.

Pope 8
Bardsley 7
Long 8*
Tarkowski 8
Ward 7
Gudmundsson 7
Defour 8
Cork 7
Arfield 7
Hendrick 7
Wood 7

Taylor 7

Pope 7
Bardsley 6
Tarks 8
Long 9
Ward 6

Arfield 6
Defour 7
Cork 6
JBG 6
Hendrick 5

Wood 6

Taylor 7
Barnes 7

Pope 7
Bardsley 6 he in particular got dragged right into Stoke's way of playing
Long 8*
Tarkowski 7
Ward 6
Gudmundsson 7
Cork 7
Defour 8 The best footballer on the pitch
Hendrick 4 the rating for poor is 4, and he was poor.
Arfield 5 below par
Wood 4 didn't get a kick. Poor.

Taylor 6
Barnes 7 Great hit

Pope 7 looks confident
Bardsley 6 think Lowton offers more
Long 7 good particularly without games behind him.
Tarkowski 7 very good on the ball and can mix up play
Ward 6 hope he's fit for next games
Cork 7
Defour 8 looked really up for it. Easily MOM
Gudmundsson 7
Arfield 5
Hendrick 5
Wood 5 but isolated

Barnes 8 made an impact good sub
Taylor 6

This was a poor game and I'm sure scores are higher because we won. Should have been 0-0 but we are dogged

Pope 7-Yet another commanding display.
Bardsley 7-Impressive again. SD's will have a difficult decision sometime soon.
Long 7-Played well after a hesitant start.
Tarkowski 9- On present form he must be the best footballing CD I have seen in a Claret shirt. Immense.
Ward 7-Hope the injury isn't serious.
Gudmundsson 6-Not one of his better games
Defour 9*-Absolute class.
Cork 6-Think Corky has set his own standards and last night wasn't one of his best games IMO.
Arfield 6-OK in parts. He knows the SD script inside out.
Hendrick 5-Sorry, thought he was poor.
Wood 6-Ironically he improved once Barnes came on. Had very little support until then.

Taylor 6-Didn't really have any influence on the game
Barnes 8-for time on the pitch. He made the difference. An inspired substitution and without his presence we certainly wouldn't have got all 3 points last night.

Pope 7 - Untroubled
Bardsley 7
Tarkowski 8
Long 8
Ward 7
Arfield 7 - he's be ideal in Hendrick's role
Defour 8* - did well in awful conditions
Cork 7
JBG 7 - a handful for them
Hendrick 6
Wood 6 - struggled against Zouma

Taylor 7 - He can cross a ball, needs to get forward quicker
Barnes 8 - SuperSub

Just a word on Defour. To play with such calm and composure in such horrendous conditions was incredible. Even more impressive is the number of times he snuffs out danger by first having incredible game awareness, then the desire and fitness to cover the ground to get there.

MoM by a country mile.

Pope 7 (good handling and half decent kicking in awful and tricky conditions)
Bardsley 7
Tarks 8
Long 8 * (another excellent showing from our forgotten man)
Ward 7
Arfield 6
Cork 6 (more stray passes on one night than the rest of his career put together. An off night)
Defour 7 (again made an unusually high number of poor passes, but defended manfully and helped keep us going)
JBG 6 (I'm a fan, but his touch was well off last night)
Hendrick 5 ( the case for starting Barnes in that role seems to get stronger)
Wood 6 (never gave up trying to win, trap and lay off the swirling ball, but was totally dominated by Zouma)

Taylor 7 (by the looks of Ward limping away at the end he might be in for a run in the side and he looked very good. Leeds fans I've spoken to say they were "disappointed" to lose Wood, but absolutely "gutted" to lose Taylor who they say will go on to mega things. We'll see!)
Barnes 8 (benefited from the timely demise of Zouma, but boy does he make a difference ALMOST every time he's on. He gave us a real boost all round and the goal was icing on the cake)

Stoke were up for this and got to grips with the conditions far quicker. They dominated for much of the first half and we were way below our best pretty much all round. Allen, Fletcher and Shaquiri were excellent and hardly phased by the weather. Second half crouch tired and was less of a threat (well nuisance) and we got more of a foothold, but I still wanted to go home after 60 minutes with the 0-0 and a point. It's hard to know whether Zouma going off or Barnes coming on changed things the most, but suddenly we looked far more up for it, started causing problems and ended up grabbing an excellent and thoroughly undeserved win - AGAIN!! Thank god I have a rigid policy of never leaving before the end, because the relief and the roar when the ball went in sounded like 40,000 rather than a half empty stadium with most people already in their cars warming up!

Pope 8 - on a horrible night for goalkeepers he just looks so confident and solid. He made some of the saves look a lot easier than they were.
Bardsley 7 - another solid performance. Does not get forward as well as Lowton but he defends just fine.
Tarkowski 8 - dodgy first few minutes and Crouch was a handful but in reality Tarks kept him to a couple of half chances
Long 8 - thought he had a very good game. Best I have seen him play in a Burnley shirt and he is surprisingly quick
Ward 7 - hope the injury is not too bad. Made a brilliant tackle in the first half.
Arfield 7 - great touch for the goal
Defour 9* - cannot speak too highly of this guy. I just hope he is going under the radar of other clubs because if the likes of Henderson, Xhaka, Feliani etc are better players than Defour I will sit down with a mule for a dinner constituting only hay !
Cork 7 - not quite up to his normal standard but he sat a very high bar.
JBG 7 - Stoke marked him tightly but that is a mark of a respect as they highlighted him as our danger man and tried their best to cut off his supply.
Hendrick 6 - sorry to score anyone a 6 but I think he is struggling in this position. That said no need to panic or criticise him too much as he has played a lot better this season than some of our fans are giving him credit for.
Wood 6 - won surprisingly little against Shawcross and Zouma and I thought he was going to give them a much tougher game. Kept on going though and had a really thankless task playing on his own for most of the game when we were having to hit it longer than we usually do (which was made even tougher with that wind and rain)

Taylor 7 - thought he did well. Couple of great crosses and barnstorming runs down the line where he gained us valuable yards (without actually looking like he was going to beat their defenders)
Barnes 8 - brilliant cameo performance and great strike. I love what this lad has done for the club since he joined us for half a million. He is absolutely what our club and dressing room are about - no ego, hard working, and a better player than people outside of our club think.

Pope - 8 - On a really difficult night for keepers, with both hands and feet, I thought he was really assured and composed, even if he didn't have too many saves to make.

Bardsley - 7 - Thought he stuck at it and got up and down the line OK considering the conditions.

Long - 8 - Thought he was really composed and correctly took an uncomplicated approach to conditions. Used his pace to get out of trouble a couple of times.

Tarkowski - 7 - A bit dodgy in the first 15 minutes, but much better afterwards, although his distribution wasn't quite of the standard we've come to expect - occasionally a bit optimistic given the conditions.

Ward - 7 - Thought he'd made quite a strong start down the left and hopefully it isn't a lengthy lay off.

Taylor - 7 - Grew into the game after a shaky first few minutes, with some good, rangy runs down the left flank and a couple of good crosses. Rescued by Tarks after being caught carelessly on the stroke of 90 minutes.

Cork - 7 - Competed solidly on a night when his distribution was probably a bit below its creative best.

Defour - 8 - Not everything came off, but his willingness to get on the ball and try and play constructively in horrendous conditions marked him out as the best player on the pitch.

Gudmundsson - 6 - Stuck at it, but nothing like the creative influence he has been recently, and he lacked a bit of composure once or twice, notably when he had a decent chance at the back stick.

Arfield - 6 - Steady away, perhaps got a bit narrow on occasions but then its a good job he did or he wouldn't have an assist to go with his goal on Saturday. Has stepped nicely into the breach left by Brady.

Hendrick - 6 - I think I viewed his performance a little differently to many - I thought in the first half he surged forwards in possession a few times to good effect, and he seemed as likely as anyone on the pitch to commit defenders and open up the pitch. He was a bit less involved in the second half and passed up one good opportunity to square for JBG, but I can't recall him doing too much wrong and I'd love to see his touch map from last night as I suspect it will surprise a few.

Wood - 5 - Really tough night to play the lone striker role, but not much stuck with him all night and he was owned by Zouma in particularly in the air. I daresay had we not used a sub to replace Ward, Vokes might have come on for him much earlier.

Barnes - 8 - There are nights for sweet football and there are nights for Ash Barnes. Last night was definitely one for him, and he was every bit as effective as I thought he was ineffective on Saturday. Suddenly, Stoke's back line looked hesitant and a bit rattled and it had everything to do with Barnesy, and the finish given half an opportunity was emphatic.


That was a grim old game on an awful night on which neither attack covered itself in glory, with even short passes being buffeted by an unpredictable and swirling wind. But we stuck at it, changed things to go a bit more direct when Barnes came on, and got our rewards by sticking to the plan, whereas Stoke (for all they must have improved since Saturday) clearly came with a back to basics approach which suited some of their players but not all.

But for all it was a grim game, these are nights to be savoured as a Burnley fan. We can play better, and we will, but to be fourth in the league at any time, let alone to be doing it whilst having more than our share of rotten luck on the injury front is spectacular. There's total and utter belief and confidence in the camp at the minute and provided these injuries don't catch up with us, who knows where it can take us.

claretspice wrote: Hendrick - 6 - I think I viewed his performance a little differently to many - I thought in the first half he surged forwards in possession a few times to good effect, and he seemed as likely as anyone on the pitch to commit defenders and open up the pitch. He was a bit less involved in the second half and passed up one good opportunity to square for JBG, but I can't recall him doing too much wrong and I'd love to see his touch map from last night as I suspect it will surprise a few.

29 touches

interesting. How many did JBG have, or Wood have?

Thought we were a bit off our recent standards but very tough conditions could explain that. Late goal and happy supporters have increased average scores here in my view.

Pope 7 Good handling throughout.
Ward 5 First time I can remember his performance being less than average. Slipped at crucial times, gave the ball away, poor crossing when presented excellent opportunities to create. Genuinely shocked.
Long 7 Steady without being spectacular. Stoke asked questions but our centre halves answered most.
Tarks 7 - A comfortable 8 if I could forget his first 20 minutes but I can't.
Bardsley 7 Great experience and showed in the testing conditions.
Arfield 5 Not his usual reliable self.
Defour 7 Few sloppy collectors items but he makes us tick and was closest to Barnes for MOTM.
Cork 6 Seemed to be playing a little within himself for long periods. Hope he's not carrying an injury. So important to us in this system.
Gudmundsson 6 Really purring at the moment but nothing came off quite as he'd have hoped. Still carries a huge threat.
Hendrick 6 Carried the ball forward superbly when picking it up deeper positions which is his more natural game. Often looks a weakness in the more advanced role when we're in possession though and a position I think we can look to strengthen. Arfield up there and Hendrick out wide seems an obvious solution in the short term.
Wood 5 Was offered support from the midfield but his not even competing for many high balls is beginning to grin my gears a bit. With Barnes in the wings how can he not see he could offer so much more by making life difficult for the opposition?
Taylor 6 A fairly mixed bag on the night.
Barnes 9 MOTM Changed the game instantly. Easiest MOM decision of the season. We did little to nothing to threaten before his introduction.

Great games to win when not at our best. In awe of this team.

A pretty dire match not helped by the horrible conditions. Stoke clearly didn’t fancy it on a cold Tuesday night in Burnley...

Pope 7 ... looked a lot better than Butland
Bardsley 7
Long 7 ... the model professional and new Mike Duff
Tarkowski 7
Ward 6
JBG 7
Defour 7
Cork 6
Hendrick 5
Arfield 6
Wood 6

Subs:
Barnes 8* (+1 for goal) ... the one that made the difference
Taylor 6 ... looked a bit nervous
Vokes 7

Pope 8 Howling wind, skiddy surface and driving rain under the lights, but leathered every kick cleanly down the middle.
Bardsley 7
Long 8 Knows his limits which is a good thing
Tarkowski 8 Missed an early cross to remind us he’s human
Ward 6
Cork 6 Grafted
Defour 8 Still the best player on a foul winter’s evening against Stoke
Arfield 6
Gudmundsson 6 Marked out the game a lot of the time
Hendrick 6 Not his natural position, it shows
Wood 6 Worked hard but you can’t bully Shawcross and Zouma like some other centre halves.

Taylor 6 Confident first few touches, seemed to get more hesitant after that. Has a very odd run, holds his arms up like Raheem Sterling.
Barnes 8 A night made for Ashley

I know everybody loves a step over, a Rabona and such, but judging every swirling ball flying towards you in a storm with a Stoke player never more than a split second away from walloping you is a skill in itself. To make almost no mistakes over 90 minutes is reason enough to take 3 points.

Dreamland at the moment, but we’ve used up almost all our backup plans now re. injuries. And there’s a lot of games over Christmas.