Having returned from Gigg Lane with a 1-1 draw a week earlier in the first leg of the League Cup first round tie against Bury, hopes were high that we could win through to a second round tie, but those hopes were well and truly dashed with the Shakers beating us 4-1 at Turf Moor.
What an awful lead story there was locally ahead of the game as news came through that a 74-year-old lady had been mugged and injured while waiting for a bus at Burnley Bus Station. Detective Seargent Graham Briggs said the lady was extremely upset and shocked. He told the Burnley Express: “The woman and her friend were on the bus station and had seen a man looking suspicious and hanging about the station as they went into the ladies toilet. As they emerged, he jumped up from a bench and grabbed her bag. She held on to it tightly and he pulled her to the ground before he ran off.”
Two bus drivers and others gave chase and the good news was that someone had been arrested in connection with the incident. The poor lady, however, had suffered a fractured wrist, a fracture on the top of one shoulder and swelling to her forehead.
The courts were going to be busy; the drugs raid we reported three days earlier had led to ten arrests. Some of the ten had not applied for bail; those who did were refused and all ten were set to appear before the magistrates. It was alleged that 24kg of heroin had been involved in the operation with a street value of £2.4 million.
Driver Warren Heaton received a prison sentence for a driving offence when he made his court appearance. It was revealed that the 24-year-old had been driving while disqualified having received three previous convictions for drink driving. He told the court that he no longer drove but had to on this occasion because he received a phone call informing him that his girlfriend was being harassed. He received a three month sentence.
We could do with some good news and we got it with 20-month-old Giulia Botta had finally returned to her grandparents Burnley home after weeks in a Birmingham hospital where she had successfully come through a liver transplant operation. Although it was just the beginning of a long road to full health, her mum Suzanne said: “This is what we wanted for Giulia and what we have been waiting for.”
The residents at Whiteacres Home for Elderly Men had also received some good news. Burnley Borough Council were supporting their bid to keep the home open and had written to Lancashire County Council in protest at the planned closure.
In local sport, the new sports and community centre at Barden Playing Fields was officially opened but Burnley United Football Club, one of the partners in the project, were not there in protest at the shocking state of the football pitch. It was all good new though on the day and Mr Colin Berry, chairman of Burnley Sports and Community Centre Partnership, said: “After several years of hard work the results are here for everyone to see and use. We hope that the community as a whole will benefit and make good use of the facilities available.”
The season had started possibly better than expected for the Clarets. A home win against Bristol Rovers had been followed by the draw at Bury with the defeat at Chesterfield coming because of a shocking penalty award. Despite Bury being a division higher, hopes were high ahead of the second leg.
Manager Stan Ternent had some injury and availability issues to deal with. He was hopeful that both Steve Morgan (calf) and Neil Moore (ankle) would come through fitness tests but loan goalkeeper Gavin Ward wasn’t given permission to play by Bolton and we were without striker Andy Cooke who had suffered a groin strain at Chesterfield. “There is a lot of football left in this game,” Ternent said, adding: “We want to win because we need to get last Saturday out of our system. If we can get through to the next round and draw a big club, that would give us the chance to earn a few quid, and that could be very useful to us at this stage of the season.
“We know what to expect from Bury and we know it will be tough, but we have just got to go out and get on with it.”
There was a pre-match boost for Ternent. Having heard nothing back from Harry Redknapp at West Ham, midfielder Paul Weller had signed the deal on offer at Burnley and went straight into the team.
Hopes were raised for much of the first half and we were so close to going in front at the interval, but a second half showing just wasn’t good enough and it left Bury to go through to face Crystal Palace in the second round.
Weller played his part in the opening goal just a few minutes before half time. He lifted a ball forward for Paul Smith who made ground before trying to find Andy Payton with a low cross. It should have been dealt with by Steve Redmond but he made a hash of it and that left PAYTON to beat Dean Kiely from around 12-yards.
It was right on half time, but in added time, Bury grabbed an equaliser when Frenchman Laurent D’JAFFO took advantage of hesitancy in the Burnley defence and stole in to score.
Things went worse for Burnley in the second half. With not long gone, we fell behind. D’Jaffo played a through ball that saw Nicky DAWS get the better of Neil Moore far too easily. He fired past a helpless Tony Parks.
We were now offering precious little going forward and only sterling performances from Chris Brass and Steve Blatherwick were keeping us in the game. With Bury so much on top, more goals looked inevitable but it was still 2-1 in their favour when Neil Warnock made a double change midway through the half, introducing Rob Matthews and Gordon Armstrong. Both would play a part.
With twenty minutes remaining, an error from Moore allowed ARMSTRONG to take the game out of our reach and eight minutes late, fellow substitute MATTHEWS, also got the better of Moore far too easily to complete the scoring.
Ternent was not pleased and claimed we’d well and truly had our backsides slapped. He said after the game: “I’ve not learned anything I didn’t know about the squad here. This side has no confidence. The same things have happened too often in the past here, and we have got to do something about it. I need help to do that, and we will need to bring people in, although I’m not sure if we will be able to.”
He added: “We have millions of injuries but that is what happens when you play against better sides who are fitter, tougher and stronger. Changes were forced on me, but I have no complaints. We were well and truly beaten by a side I built. Most of them are my players, and I know what they are capable of, so it didn’t surprise me. It’s good to see Bury progress, they deserve it.”
The result saw Burnley exit the League Cup at the first time of asking for the first time in six years.
The teams were;
Burnley: Tony Parks, Chris Brass, Neil Moore, Steve Blatherwick, Lee Howey (Colin Carr-Lawton 37), Steve Morgan (Kevin Henderson 53), Glen Little, Paul Weller, Paul Smith, Ronnie Jepson (Mark Robertson 34), Andy Payton. Subs not used: Craig Mawson, Michael Williams.
Bury: Dean Kiely, Andy Woodward, Dean Barrick, Steve Redmond, Chris Lucketti, Nicky Daws, Chris Swailes, Mark Patterson (Gordon Armstrong 65), Laurent D’Jaffo (Rob Matthews 65), Lenny Johnrose, Andy Preece. Sub not used: Tony Ellis, John Foster, Nigel Jemson.
hree former and four future Burnley players found the net in the second leg ties, four of which were played in the following week. David Reeves led the past players with a goal for Chesterfield in their win against Rotherham and Junior Bent was on the mark for Blackpool who won at Scunthorpe. Completing the former players, Paul Shaw netted for Millwall in their draw with future Claret Dele Adebola scoring the Birmingham goal. Others who went on to play for Burnley who scored in these games were Ade Akinbiyi whose Bristol City lost on the night at Shrewsbury but went through on aggregate, Phil Gray in Luton’s win at Oxford and Wayne Thomas although his Torquay side went out at Crystal Palace.
Biggest winners were Manchester City. They beat Notts County 7-1 (9-1 on aggregate). A word of warning for Burnley, Shaun Goater scored two of their goals.
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