In many ways, it would be pleasant to be able to berate the players for lack of effort, commitment, determination, concentration, focus, and everything else. That’d be easy, a simple solution. But the problems are more fundamental, albeit that they’re problems that we’ve overcome until now. To an extent, this was a more encouraging ninety minutes than Gillingham – for one thing, the result wasn’t just down to our own failings; for another, there was a definite, strong (and, yes, faltering) reaction to the possibility of defeat. However, the result makes that largely irrelevant…and, with a series of away games to come, the revival must now be sudden and decisive rather than patient and hopeful. It has to happen. And we have to make it happen.
Goals in either half from Heidar Helguson and Tommy Smith sunk 10-man Burnley.
BSAD report: For much of the game, the defence was less an accident waiting to happen than a catastrophe in progress – the individual performances were generally sound, but the unit was a haphazardly-assembled flat-pack – and various other parts only functioned in fits and starts too. Really, though, you can’t escape the fact that, for a side without a win in four games, this was an extraordinarily eager, aggressive and whole-hearted performance.
