By Longsider
May 10 2004

Burnley ended the season with another defeat yesterday but for once nobody cared as the fans were more interested in thanking Stan Ternent for the last 6 years. It was always going to be an emotional day and it started with the news that Glen Little was to be made captain for the game in his final appearance in a Burnley shirt. The teams came out to a fantastic ovation before an even louder ovation was given to Stan when he emerged from the tunnel.

There were a couple of changes to the side that had been beaten at Rotherham the previous week with Ian Moore coming back into the side at the expense of the injured Lee Roche. McGregor played at right back with Branchy moving back into the heart of the defence, this allowed Moore to take his usual role up front.

The Clarets started the better of the two sides and should have taken the lead sooner than the 10th minute when Mark McGregor headed against the bar after connecting to Glen Little's cross. We got our deserved lead shortly afterwards and it was an excellent team goal. Paul Weller did well on the left when he beat his man with ease before playing a lovely ball to Chaplow, Chappy twisted his defender and rolled the ball across the goal where Little had the simple task of converting the ball. What a way to end a fantastic 8 years for Little, no-one has been a bigger figure in the success of Stan, over his 6 yeard period, than Little.

Burnley continued to take the game to Sunderland and Robbie Blake almost doubled the lead when his free-kick was brilliantly saved by Myhre. The Mackems drew level in the 38th minute when Gary Breen headed in Sean Thornton's cross. Little, Blake and Moore all had chances to restore the lead before the interval but failed to take any of the chances presented to them.

The 2nd half was a much poorer game of football with Sunderland the more dominant side. Robbie Blake had our only real chance but missed from 6 yards, although to give the keeper his credit, it was a brilliant save from Myhre.

We were made to pay minutes later when Sunderland scored to secure the points. A cross from the right was headed against the bar by Marcus Stewart and the rebound fell to Kevin Kyle who nodded in the ball in front of the 4000 Sunderland fans. The goal sparked huge celebrations in the Sunderland end with hordes of Mexicans, St. Trinian's, Elvis and Spiderman leading the conga. In a typical fashion the stewards tried their best to ruin the party.

For the final few minutes the Burnley fans found their voices with chants of 'Stan Ternents' Claret and Blue Army' ringing round the ground. The final whistle was met with the usual pitch invasion before they were cleared off the pitch. Stan and the players were given a superb final round of applause.

So that's it for another season, we've survived and once again we can look forward to another season of 1st Division football. We don't know who the new manager will be but if he has half the success of Stan then we'll have some more good years ahead of us.

Goodbye Stan, Goodbye Glen and as the fans sang yesterday......YOU'LL AlWAYS BE A CLARET.

Burnley:
Jensen, McGregor, Camara(Scott 83), May, Branch, Little, Chaplow(O'Neill 78), Johnrose, Weller(Chadwick 74), I. Moore and Blake.

Subs: Abbey and West

Sunderland:
Myhre, Williams, Babb, Bjorklund, Breen, Thornton(Clark 76), Whitley, Robinson, Oster, Byfield(Stewart 45), Smith(Kyle 45).

Subs: McLean and Ramsden

The referee was Keith Hill(Hertfordshire)