In an eagerly anticipated boxing day clash, the clarets gained a welcome and deserved three points against a side, like ourselves, pushing for a play-off position. Before kick off, there were the inevitable boo's, and some applause (notably for Ade), from a healthy Stoke contingent, as the players entered the field in readiness for battle.

The game kicked off at a reasonable tempo, with both sides having their share of posession, but with very few clear cut openings. Stoke's on loan player, Gallagher, had a couple of speculative efforts that didn't trouble the solid Jensen. (As you can imagine the said player was roundly booed every time he touched the ball, surely not because he comes from our neighbours! lol) The potential threat of the in form Sammy Bangoura, wasn't really seen, which was mainly due to the fact that McGreal & Sinclair were well on top. Burnley's main threat was coming from the right hand side in the form of the recalled & rejuvenated Wade Elliott, who was to go on and be named man of the match. A couple of times he beat his man, both going round him to the byline, and also by going inside, with some neat interchanging from front two. But alas we could not make the breakthrough, although Noel-Williams beat the keeper with a looping header that came back off the bar. Half time 0-0, was a fair reflection of events so far, although Burnley were not helped by some strange refereeing decisions, from a man and his assistants who were having an awful game.

The Second Half took a while to get going, with both sides conceeding posession far too easily. But gradually Burnley started to dominate, and it was no suprise when we did take the lead. It was great build up play between Elliot & Duff, this time, instead of coming inside, Elliott pulled the ball back into the path of Duff who played the ball into the box causing panic in the Stoke defence. With Gifton getting up and heading it back across goal he gave Akinbiyi the easy job of putting the ball in the net. As the home fans went wild, Akinbiyi's celebration was very muted, as a sign of respect to his previous team. For the next 10 minutes Burnley totally dominated and should have put the game out of reach. Another excellent cross found Branch in the box, but his downward header bounced off the floor and agonisingly over the bar, with the keeper beaten. As Stoke tried to look for a way back into the game Burnley's defense stood firm, especially Sinclair & McGreal, who were awesome yet again. Noel-Williams was holding the ball up and laying it off very well, usually to the right side where Elliott was providing an ever dangerous threat. Akinbiyi was running the channels to great effect, never giving the Stoke defence a moments peace. You could see Stoke's players were getting irritable, as they could not get any penetration whatsoever. Bangoura seemed to be having an on-going spat with Sinclair, which simmered throughout, and eventually led to a "handbags" stand-off after the final whistle. Also Duberry seemed to be inciting the JH stand with numerous gestures, which the linesman could plainly see, but chose not to bring to the ref's attention. The game petered out with Burnley intelligently playing out time in the corners, bringing on Thomas for Branch, and standing firm against a side who looked like they believed they couldn't get anything from what time remained.

So it finished a well deserved 1-0 to the clarets, who continue their steady progress up the league, and once again occupy a play-off position. But it didnt finish there! At the final whistle, Bangoura was in a rage, and had to be held back by team mates, and was gesturing he wanted "words" with Sinclair in the infamous Burnley tunnel. This also helped to inflame the rather sad Stoke fans who were gathered round the tunnel entrance. It also appeared on object was thrown from the crowd which caused injury to a BFC member of staff. What a shame a small minority put a dampener on what otherwise was a terrific day for the clarets.

With Steve Cotterill at the helm, things certainly look bright for Burnley F.C. Lets hope the healthy sized crowd that witnessed todays game will be back for more and cheer the lads on in a promotion push.

UP THE CLARETS

"All in all though, I felt we deserved our win and could maybe have had another goal in the second half.

"Bangoura has slapped Frank Sinclair across the face when he went to shake hands with him. What's that for?"

"I thought after the first fifty minutes then the game would be a draw but then we made a mistake and we gave it away. But my players have never let down since I came and that was no different today. They gave everything and were so competitive for every ball."

"We played well in the first-half and Burnley played well in the second-half. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's football."

"I have never seen anything like in football. (Refering to the after match brawl!) We will look at the video and see what can be done."