Burnley Bore Draw Ends Town’s Run

Jonathan Douglas was the surprise absentee in this one and in came Luke Hyam for his first start of the season.

The first half lacked any real cohesion but the home side edged it with a greater threat going forward as the Town defence held firm.

Burnley had won their last three home games before this and their last two by four clear goals so Town always knew that if they got something at Turf Moor it would be a great achievement.

At the back of Mick McCarthy’s mind must have been that away record, which has seen the blues win their last five matches on their travels, prior to this battle of the play-off contenders in the very heart of Lancashire today.

Up front the blues had Daryl Murphy and Freddie Sears with Brett Pitman once again on the bench.

Ryan Fraser was replaced by Tommy Oar for the last thirty minutes as the management team tried to freshen things up but this was a game of few real chances and the longer it went on, the more likely it seemed that it would end in a goalless draw.

Brett Pitman also joined the fray in the closing stages, as manager Mick McCarthy decided to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to continue this incredible away run.

The reality however was that this game always seemed destined to end in a rather tame bore draw and so it was to prove.

As I suggested even before a ball was kicked, a draw at Turf Moor is a creditable result – especially when one considers that the home side score plenty of goals and are in the top six and the blues defence has been seen to be vulnerable on many occasions.

I am sure that Mick McCarthy will wax lyrical about how important a point is away from home and in this case he certainly has a point!

His mantra has always been that when we get to May we may realise just how important these away points are and after our magnificent performances around the country, this is a good point against a side that is one place above us in the table.

I suspect the reason that McCarthy decided to introduce attack-minded players in the last third of the game was twofold.

He would obviously have loved to have continued this amazing away record and he was also aware that a victory over the side just above us would have meant that the blues leapfrogged the clarets in the table.

In the end, it was not to be but come the end of the season this away draw may be a lot more valuable than perhaps it seems now.

Burnley team Heaton (c), Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward, Kightly,(Boyd 70) Jones, Barton, Arfield,(Taylor 89) Vokes, Gray.( Hennings 89) Subs: Gilks, Duff, Boyd, Taylor, Darikwa, Ulvestad, Hennings.

Ipswich Town team: Gerken, Chambers (c), Smith, Berra, Knudsen, Skuse, Hyam, Bru, (Pitman 64) Fraser,(Oar 59) Sears, Murphy ( Varney 73). Subs: Bialkowski, Malarczyk, Parr, Maitland-Niles, Oar, Varney, Pitman.

The Referee: Peter Bankes from Liverpool.

Attendance : 16,307

Frank Weston