By Longsider
February 22 2005

Press reports of our match against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday. We have reports from the Independent, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Times.

"Clarets Say No To Bad Language". If there was an award for football's most futile advertisement, it was the one displayed at Turf Moor the day Burnley played Blackburn Rovers. It is usually ignored on most match-days and for this fixture swearing was the least of their worries on a day when spite from the stands overflowed menacingly on to the pitch.

If those who believe Burnley versus Blackburn produces a unique kind of poison required proof, it arrived when a fan with nothing more than a T-shirt and an intense dislike of anything in blue-and-white to sustain him against the February chill, ran on to the pitch determined to take a swing at Robbie Savage. He did not quite succeed, although he found himself squaring up to Steven Reid and was eventually dragged off by half a dozen police officers. He was the third intruder on to the pitch and by far the most dangerous.

In these temperatures the bald, rather ungainly, streaker threatened nobody and appeared grateful to be hustled into a pair of blue underpants. A man who came on waving the St George's banner did so during the interval when the only people on the pitch were a couple of blokes dressed as bumble bees kicking a ball to each other in the name of half-time entertainment.

With the sound of a police helicopter clattering overhead, the Blackburn manager, Mark Hughes, attacked the quality of the security Turf Moor had provided for the bitterest tie the FA Cup is likely to stage this season.

"For three people to encroach on the pitch during a match is poor," he said. "Those stewards and police should have been more aware of what was going on because it should not have been up to my players to have sorted out the situation. The man came on the pitch wanting a fight and, God forbid, he could have been carrying a knife."

As someone who used to run Old Trafford cricket ground before coming to Turf Moor, the Burnley chief executive, Dave Edmundson, replied that experience had taught him that nothing could stop someone absolutely determined to come on to the pitch in the name of either taking off their clothe or violence. The Burnley midfielder, Jean-Louis Valois, also had a coin thrown at him as he went to take a corner in front of those who had travelled east on the M65 past a banner declaring: "Welcome to Hell".

After all the build-up, some of the football, especially in the first half, was a vision of purgatory. "I don't know whether it was even a decent game because you get wrapped up in it all," the Burnley manager, Steve Cotterill, was honest enough to remark afterwards. "I am not saying we went out to avoid losing but it was important not to get beaten on our own patch."

The nearest Burnley came to losing was when Morten Gamst Pedersen twice saw free-kicks turned aside by Brian Jensen and then had a point-blank header blocked by Lee Roche's body, although Hughes felt the full-back - the third Cotterill employed in the tie - used his arm.

In a perverse kind of way, the result suited both sides. Unlike Aston Villa and Liverpool, Hughes' side were not humbled here and Blackburn's supporters would point out that the last time Burnley came to Ewood Park, they were destroyed 5-0.

The replay a week tomorrow will, however, add to Burnley's already considerable income from cup games this season, while they both avoided defeat and retained their self-respect. Too many times when faced with their bigger, now nouveau-riche neighbours, Burnley have failed to do either.

Burnley (4-5-1): Jensen; Sinclair (Oster, h-t), Cahill, McGreal (Roche, 77), Camara; Duff, Hyde, Whittingham, Grant (Branch, 87), Valois; Moore. Substitutes not used: Coyne (gk), Pilkington.

Blackburn Rovers (3-1-4-2): Friedel; Neill, Todd, Nelsen; Tugay (Reid, 64); Emerton, Savage, Pedersen, Johansson; Gallagher (Thompson, 83), Dickov (Johnson, 73). Substitutes not used: Enckelman (gk), Mokoena.

Referee: M Dean (Wirral).

Booked: Burnley Camara, Hyde. Blackburn Todd, Savage, Pedersen.

Man of the match: Pedersen.

Attendance: 21,468.

 

Burnley (0) 0 Blackburn (0) 0

Daily Telegraph

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes delivered a stinging condemnation of the security measures at Turf Moor after this powderkeg East Lancashire FA Cup derby was marred by three separate pitch invaders and a coin thrown at the Burnley midfielder Jean-Louis Valois.

Less than 24 hours after Manchester United's fifth- round victory at Everton was tainted by missiles thrown at goalkeeper Roy Carroll, this colourless 0-0 draw took a sinister turn when a spectator walked on to the pitch and approached the Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Freidel in second-half stoppage time.

Stewards and police had already failed to prevent a fan racing on to the pitch to taunt the Rovers supporters at half-time and events took a farcical turn when a streaker was allowed to perform a breakdancing routine just yards from the incredulous Hughes in the second half.

However, the confrontation between the spectator and Friedel had to be defused by Blackburn players as the stewards strolled on to the pitch lacking any kind of urgency, an issue which prompted a furious response from Hughes.

The Rovers manager said: "The guy who came on at the end seemed to be looking for a fight and for all we know, he could have been carrying a knife or something like that.

"The stewards and police should have been more aware of what was going on because it should not be up to my players to sort out the situation. That is very poor and I feel that all of the incidents should be looked at. I've not seen this sort of thing for a long time."

The man hit out at a female police officer as he was led off the pitch and FA officials have confirmed that the incident will be reviewed in consultation with Burnley today. However, the Burnley chief executive Dave Edmundson claimed that his club did all they could to prevent the venomous atmosphere from spilling on to the pitch.

He said: "Both clubs thoroughly discussed the policing and we tried to play down the hostility between the two clubs, but something like this was always likely to be bubbling under.

"It's always disappointing when things like that happen, but if people are so determined to get on to the pitch, then there is little that can be done to stop them. You cannot legislate for everything."

Edmundson confirmed that a coin was thrown at Valois in the first-half and security is now likely to top the agenda once again when the two clubs meet again in next Tuesday's Ewood Park replay.

Considering the frenzied build-up to this game and the talk of bitterness, hostility and pure hatred between claret and blue-and-white, it was perhaps too much to ask for the game to live up to the pre-match billing.

According to Hughes, this mill-town tussle ranks alongside Barcelona versus Real Madrid in terms of passion. Actions failed to speak louder than words, though, and the game ultimately proved to be a huge let-down. It is unlikely that there will be a rush in Catalonia or Madrid to get hold of tickets for the replay.

Both defences snuffed out the attacking threat on offer and set-pieces proved to be the only outlet for the two teams. Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen twice saved well from Morten Gamst Pedersen free-kicks, while Friedel had to wait until the 83rd minute before he was forced into action by Mo Camara.

Burnley manager Steve Cotterill said: "Neither team wanted to lose and I think that came through in the end. The pitch was bobbly and it was windy, so it wasn't a great spectacle for people watching."

A classic it wasn't, but football is not the talking point after this game.

Match details

Burnley (4-5-1): Jensen; Sinclair (Oster 44), Cahill, McGreal (Roche 79), Camara; Duff, Grant, Hyde, Whittingham, Valois; Moore (Branch 87).
Subs: Coyne (g), Pilkington.
Booked: Hyde, Camara.
Blackburn (4-4-2): Friedel; Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Johansson; Emerton, Tugay (Reid 65), Savage, Pedersen; Gallagher (Thompson 82), Dickov (Johnson 73).
Subs: Enckelman (g), Mokoena.
Booked: Todd, Pedersen.
Referee: M Dean (Wirral).

Daily Mail

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes expressed his fears that Robbie Savage could have been confronted by a knife-wielding fan after the goalless FA Cup fifth-round draw with Burnley at Turf Moor.

During the closing five minutes of injury time a Clarets supporter made his way on to the pitch and immediately ran up to Wales international Savage with fists raised, but backed off when the midfielder received support from team-mates, and was eventually tackled to the ground by police.

It was one of four incidents which took place during a hostile game, and the Football Association are almost certain to investigate. Two other supporters made their way on to the pitch, one during half-time, while the second was more comically a break-dancing male streaker.

More seriously, was the fact a coin was thrown at Burnley winger Jean-Louis Valois from the end housing the Rovers supporters as he squared up to take a corner.

Following on from last night's incident when Manchester United goalkeeper Roy Carroll was struck by a coin during his side's 2-0 win at Everton, this was yet another case of the game being brought into disrepute.

Hughes, though, was particularly disappointed with the pitch invaders bearing in mind the intense police and stewarding presence due to the bitter rivalry between the two sets of fans.

"For three people to encroach on the field of play was careless and it should be looked at," said Hughes.

Hughes: 'It shouldn't happen'

"In this day and age it shouldn't happen. I know I've not seen it happen for many years. Sometimes it's difficult if people are determined, but sometimes stewards and the police have to be more aware of the potential of that. But they were slow to react.

"God forbid, the guy who came on wanting to have a fight with somebody, had had a knife."

Burnley chief executive Dave Edmundson was adamant the club had taken every precaution in trying to eliminate such incidents.

There were 600 police on duty inside and outside the ground, notably including a mounted force, while there were also dog handlers and a helicopter in constant evidence during and after the game.

"There will be a match report by the ground security officer, as well as a debrief with the police," said Edmundson.

"It's always disappointing when things happen like they did, but if people are determined to get on the pitch then they are always likely to get through.

Burnley chief: 'You cannot legislate for everything'

"You cannot legislate for everything. It's a very difficult job to ensure things do not happen.

"There will always be a security issue when people square up to players. We have seen it before with Blackburn's reserve keeper Peter Enckelman. But you are never able to have everything in place.

"I didn't think there was a hostility to the game, but there was always that sort of incident likely to be bubbling around underneath the surface.

"We have to look at it and we will deal with it. We have shown in the past when there has been a conviction or a breach of ground security regulations, we apply life bans."

Blackburn will now be favourites to reach the last eight after gaining a replay, which will now take place at Ewood Park on Tuesday, March 1.

Rovers had the better of the chances against their Championship opponents, in particular with Morten-Gamst Pedersen forcing two good saves out of Brian Jensen from free-kick situations.

"We have come through a difficult tie," added Hughes. "A number of Premiership teams have learned to their cost that this is a difficult place to come if you do not approach it in the right manner.

Cotterill delighted

"I thought we did that and I am pleased we have got them again at Ewood Park."

Burnley boss Steve Cotterill was delighted to have avoided defeat, and he said: "I think it was a fair result.

"There are two teams out there who didn't want to get beat and I felt it was going to take a mistake or a bit of individual brilliance to win the game.

"The only time we got a little bit of momentum going was when the lad who wanted to fight everybody came on.

"We had pinned them in for five minutes, but he came on and wanted to fight everybody along the touchline."

Then with a touch of humour, Cotterill commented: "It must have been a cold day out there looking at the streaker. Did you see the size of that?"

 

Cotterill sees bright side Times

IT IS MORE THAN A QUARTER OF A century since Burnley have beaten Blackburn Rovers so there was an understandable satisfaction for Steve Cotterill to see his team, from the middle of the Coca-Cola Championship, keep yet another clean sheet, their seventh in ten games, against their Barclays Premiership neighbours to take a shared place in today’s FA Cup quarter-finals draw. As helicopters whirred overhead and all police leave was cancelled in this part of East Lancashire, as a streaker break-danced on the sandy pitch and another pitch invader threatened to fight Robbie Savage, there was simply too much at stake to cast aside the shackles and go for broke. Burnley’s renaissance since Cotterill took charge last summer has been built on pragmatism and the manager was not about to break the mould yesterday. “I thought both teams didn’t want to lose today,” he said. “That seemed to be the order of the day. Premiership teams always shift the ball around that much more quickly, they’ve always got that cutting edge, so you have to make sure you don’t open yourself up to them. We didn’t want to get beaten on our own patch.” That was the bottom line: joint ownership of bragging rights and a piece of the action in the quarter-finals draw were too much to lose. “I don’t know if it was a good game or not,” Cotterill added. “I’m not sure it was a spectacle. I know we weren’t happy with aspects of our game in the first half but Blackburn are a Premiership club and we knew we had to play well to match them.” It was not until seven minutes from time, when Mo Camara beat two men and drove inside from the left wing to shoot from an acute angle, that Brad Friedel had to make a save. Blackburn were not exactly gung-ho themselves, Morten Gamst Pedersen heading over Savage’s free kick early on and twice forcing excellent saves from Brian Jensen from free kicks, while Paul Dickov shot wide when clean through, but they did attack with more penetration. “I felt we had the better of the chances and created more,” Mark Hughes, their manager, said. “All in all, though, it was a good job well done. Premiership clubs have learnt to their cost that this is a difficult place to come.” Both Aston Villa, in the Carling Cup, and Liverpool, in the third round of this competition, have been beaten at Turf Moor this season and Burnley will feel they are far from out of this tie. The inter-passing of Tony Grant and Micah Hyde in the centre of midfield was top quality while Gary Cahill and John McGreal provided a defensive shield of Premiership calibre. “I’ve just been trying to cheer the lads up in the dressing-room,” Cotterill said, “and I said, ‘Come on, when was the last time Burnley were in the FA Cup quarter-final draw?’ The answer came back ‘two years ago’, so that killed me stone dead.”