Top of the league Stoke take the points at the Turf
Having been criticised by manager Stan Ternent following the big defeat at Preston, hopes of a positive response were dashed when league leaders Stoke came to Turf Moor and took the points in a 2-0 win.
There was news in this week of one 90-year-old lady being robbed by four youths in the town centre. It was at 5:30 p.m. on the Friday evening and the youths grabbed her bag which contained cash and personal items. The lady was left badly shaken and the only good news was that she didn’t suffer any serious injuries at the hands of these low lives. With little to go on Detective Sergeant Mark Gray appealed for anyone in the area at the time to come forward.
She wasn’t the only pensioner to fall victim to heartless thieves either. Harry Nutter, a 75-year-old disabled man, had been left virtually housebound after thieves stole his invalid scooter. They had broken into his garage to steal the electric vehicle and had tried to hot wire it which had caused damage so when it was found it couldn’t be used until it had been repaired. A distraught Mr Nutter said of the repair: “I don’t know how long that will be. I can’t say what I think about the people who stole it but I think the courts are too soft on criminals.”
Mr Walter Brimelow had to travel to London to the Poplar Coroner’s Court after his 36-year-old son Colin had lay dead in his home for around a fortnight before he was found. Pathologist Dr Freddy Patel gave the cause of death as methadone poisoning. He also confirmed other substances were found along with a bag of used needles. Mr Brimelow Senior knew that his son took drugs and said: “I knew he was taking methadone but would be surprised to learn he was taking heroin. He only dabbled in drugs.”
My old primary school, Todmorden Road, is long gone but in 1998 it was struggling with OFSTED inspectors ruling that it did not have the means to improve itself without help. The school had been placed under special measures. The inspectors reported that teaching standards for pupils aged between five and seven was good, that pupil behaviour was satisfactory and the school provided a secure and happy environment. Then they added that the weaknesses outnumbered the strengths.
At the Town Hall, Councillor Harry Brooks slammed the council for considering spending money on a Racial Equality Council. Brooks, who had been called a bigot in council for his anti-gay views weeks earlier, told the meeting: “We are talking all the time about prioritising. There is often a real alternative use for the money which will be more appreciated by the borough.”
We’d heard from Ray Ingleby who was still sat waiting in the wings. He confirmed he’d received no invitation to join the board from chairman Frank Teasdale but offered his open chequebook should such an invitation be forthcoming. Ingleby had been at Deepdale and told the Burnley Express: “I look forward to hearing from the board, and judging by that performance the appropriate time would be Monday morning.”
In response, the board of directors issued a statement which read: “The board understands that Mr Ingleby is in the UK this weekend and has requested a meeting. Unfortunately, the timing of this visit does not permit a meaningful visit at the time. However, the board would welcome a meeting with Mr Ingleby at an appropriate time.”
Ingleby replied as follows: “They can have my support any time as long as they talk to me, but unless I get on the board sooner rather than later and I’m involved in the actual process of how they are going to raise the money, I’m not interested.”
The board had taken some action by appointing KPMG Corporate Finance Limited to look into various ways the club could raise cash.
Could the football brighten the week? Could the Clarets give their supporters a boost following the debacle at Preston three days earlier?
Before that, news came in that Sunderland were set to make a big money bid for Glen Little. They were top of Division One (now the Championship) and Peter Reid had appointed Adrian Heath, who had signed Little for Burnley, as his number two.
Stan Ternent though was more interested in making signings after a performance at Preston that he described as useless. Ternent reported: “I have got money to spend, although there isn’t a lot. And when the players I want become available, hopefully I will be able to sign them, but I won’t take second best.”
It was thought that the first player through the door on a permanent basis would be goalkeeper Gavin Ward who had been with us on loan from Bolton since the second league game of the season, this was to be his final game on loan.
There was an interesting development with two of the gang of four who the manager had said would not play for us again. Lee Howey was on loan at Northampton and Ternent said: “If they come up with a deal, we wouldn’t stand in his way.” Mark Winstanley’s loan at Shrewsbury had come to an end with Burnley recalling him because, Ternent said: “They weren’t looking after him.”
Glen Little was back having served a one match ban and Mark Ford, who had come on as a substitute at Preston, got his first start since suffering an injury on the opening day of the season.
Ternent said he wanted to see more effort, endeavour and will to win against Stoke having accused his players of ducking their responsibilities at Preston. Despite suffering a 2-0 defeat, he got that in abundance from a Burnley team whose first half performance suggested we might win the game and this without both of our strike force of Andy Cooke (suspended) and Andy Payton (injured).
The first half was all about Mark Ford who showed just how much we’d missed him. He broke up attacks at one end of the pitch and prompted at the other, slipping back in effortlessly after three months out.
With one of the two strikers on the pitch, we would have very likely gone into the half time break with a lead, but it wasn’t to be and Stoke quickly turn things in their favour in the second half. Within two minutes of the restart, they were in front.
Before that second half, there was a treat for supporters during the interval. Jimmy McIlroy, with the Clarets playing against the team we sold him to, made the half time draw but also received an award having been nominated as one of the Football League’s one hundred legends. He was joined by Ian Britton, Tommy Cummings and Peter ‘Uwe’ Noble. What contributions those four made to our club.
Graham Kavanagh took over the game in the second half and he got in a shot that was a total mishit to such an extent that the ball found its way to Kyle LIGHTBOURNE who turned to slot the ball past Gavin Ward.
Burnley gave it a real go with Little, playing in front of the watching Heath and Bobby Saxton from Sunderland along with Port Vale’s John Rudge, outstanding in a surprise role alongside Phil Eastwood up front.
Stoke had their answer in Kavanagh who wreaked havoc down their right against a bewildered Steve Morgan and the hugely disappointing John O’Kane.
Just past the hour, it was all over. Again it was Kavanagh who left Morgan for dead and his cross was thumped home from the head of striker Peter THORNE.
In terms of effort and commitment, this had been much, much better from Burnley, with Ford and Little, the two returning players, standing out. But it was the lack of quality against the league leaders that cost us.
We had a break from the league now. It was FA Cup day at Darlington, or should have been, but on the day we lost to Stoke, we learned that the game had been put back three days due to the state of the pitch at Darlington and that it would be moved to Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium.
The teams were;
Burnley: Gavin Ward, Chris Brass, Chris Scott, Matt Heywood, Brian Reid, Steve Morgan, Mark Ford, Rune Vindheim (Kevin Henderson 67), John O’Kane, Glen Little, Phil Eastwood (Brad Maylett 54). Subs not used: Colin Carr-Lawton.
Stoke: Carl Muggleton, Steve Woods, Bryan Small, Larus Sigurdsson, Phil Robinson, Richard Forsyth, Kevin Keen, Graham Kavanagh, Peter Thorne, Kyle Lightbourne, David Oldfield. Subs not used: Justin Whittle, Ray Wallace, Neil MacKenzie.
Referee: Graham Laws (Whitley Bay).
Attendance: 10,575.
Millwall were able to do what we couldn’t do; they won at Preston and did so with a goal from our former loan player Paul Shaw, the only player with Burnley connections to score in this midweek. On the subject of scorers, Chesterfield’s Tom Curtis scored a hat trick of sorts in their 3-1 win against Bournemouth. He scored two of the Chesterfield goals while also netting an own goal.
Wycombe continued their recent improvement with a 1-0 win against Manchester City. They’d moved up another place, now above both Oldham and Lincoln and the three of them had been joined by Northampton in the relegation places with Macclesfield climbing out with a 2-0 win at York.
Despite another defeat, we remained in seventeenth place in the table but now just three points above the bottom four.
Division Two Results
Tuesday 10th November
Bristol Rovers 0 Blackpool 2
Burnley 0 Stoke 2
Chesterfield 3 Bournemouth 1
Colchester 1 Northampton 0
Gillingham 2 Oldham 1
Preston 0 Millwall 1
Walsall 2 Lincoln 1
Wrexham 0 Fulham 2
Wycombe 1 Manchester City 0
York 0 Macclesfield 2
Wednesday 11th November
Reading 0 Wigan 1
Burnley Goalscorers (League)
10: Andy Payton
5: Andy Cooke
2: Rune Vindheim
1; Gordon Armstrong, Phil Eastwood, Glen Little, Brian Reid
Burnley Goalscorers (Cups)
1: Andy Cooke, Andy Payton
Leading Goalscorers
10: Carl Asaba (Gillingham), Andy Payton (Burnley)
9: Richard Cresswell (York), Barry Hayles (Bristol Rovers), Andy Rammell (Walsall), Martin Williams (Reading)
8: Stuart Barlow (Wigan), Shaun Goater (Manchester City), Mark Stein (Bournemouth)
7: Carlo Corazzin (Northampton), Kurt Nogan (Preston), Paul Shaw (Millwall)
League Table
| Pos | Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | gd | pts |
| 1 | Stoke | 18 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 27 | 15 | 12 | 37 |
| 2 | Fulham | 16 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 12 | 14 | 36 |
| 3 | Walsall | 18 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 28 | 23 | 5 | 35 |
| 4 | Preston | 17 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 17 | 15 | 32 |
| 5 | Gillingham | 18 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 28 | 18 | 10 | 29 |
| 6 | Chesterfield | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 28 |
| 7 | Manchester City | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 23 | 18 | 5 | 27 |
| 8 | Luton | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 27 |
| 9 | Millwall | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 18 | 20 | -2 | 26 |
| 10 | Blackpool | 17 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 23 | 1 | 25 |
| 11 | Bournemouth | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 19 | 5 | 24 |
| 12 | Wigan | 17 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 22 | 18 | 4 | 23 |
| 13 | Reading | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 24 | -4 | 23 |
| 14 | Bristol Rovers | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 22 | -1 | 21 |
| 15 | Notts County | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 20 | 21 | -1 | 21 |
| 16 | Wrexham | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 24 | -7 | 21 |
| 17 | Burnley | 18 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 25 | -4 | 20 |
| 18 | Colchester | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 22 | -6 | 20 |
| 19 | York | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 22 | 30 | -8 | 20 |
| 20 | Macclesfield | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 23 | -7 | 18 |
| 21 | Northampton | 18 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 21 | -4 | 17 |
| 22 | Wycombe | 18 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 16 | 25 | -9 | 14 |
| 23 | Oldham | 18 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 28 | -14 | 13 |
| 24 | Lincoln | 17 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 16 | 32 | -16 | 11 |
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