By The Longside
July 28 2004

Burnley drew 1-1 with SV Wacker Burghausen in Austria last night. Graham Branch was the scorer for the Clarets. Here is a brief match report with comments from Steve Cotterill

After two changes in venue, the game against SV Wacker Burghausen took place at the Voralpenstadion in the town of Vöklabruck. Around a hundred Clarets turned up to watch and were vocal throughout the game.

It was announced before the game however, that four players would be out injured - Ian Moore, Joel Pilkington, Paul Scott and skipper Robbie Blake. Blake could probably have played but Cotterill did not want to take that chance.

The team was as follows in a 4-5-1 formation.

Burnley:

Coyne,
Roche, Camara, McGreal, Sinclair, Duff,
Chaplow, O’Neill, Hyde, Grant (c)
Branch.
Subs: Yates, Jenson

Branch played up front on his own, playing well against a poor referee and a tough German defence. He scored the only Claret goal on the 13th minute after another of Camara's runs down the left wing allowed Branch to latch onto the cross and take the lead with a header. Branch had two other great chances in the first half and could have easily made it 3-0. Chaplow also had a good opportunity from a free kick; it just deflected away from the post.

Good performances came from a Sinclair McGreal partnership in defence and great passing from Tony Grant in midfield.

The first half certainly went our way, Coyne did not really have any pressure put upon him but the German side did their best to change this in the second half.

The only change at half time was Coyne off for Jenson.

Jenson had the pressure piled on him with numerous chances for Wacker Burghausen to equalise. They did equalise on second attempt in the 64th minute, Camara failed to clear and Geissler struck the ball into the back of the net.

Jenson kept us in the game soon after though, safely holding onto a tricky headed shot and five minutes before the end making a good save from the Bundesliga 2 club's best chance of the night.

We could have taken the lead once again from a cross, Roche sent the ball just wide, but both teams left with a draw.

Teams

Burnley: Coyne (Jensen, 45) Roche, Camara, McGreal, Sinclair, Duff, Chaplow, O’Neill, Branch, Hyde, Grant (c). Sub not used: Yates.

SV Wacker Burghausen: Gospodarek, Herzig, Schmidt, Vukovic (Katior, 76) Rosin (Hertl, 58) Reißinger, Popovic (Younga, 58) Forkel, Everaldo, Junior (Wiesinger, 58) Geisler.

After the match, Cotterill had this to say:

“In the first half I thought we were quite good.

“We could have been 3-0 up within the first 20 minutes and I thought we dominated the first half.

“In the second half we lost our pace and I thought we looked a little leggy and very tired.

“But that’s pre-season and we’ve got to push them more – we’re fitter now than we were last night.

More of his thoughts can be found on the official website, with the club's own match report at http://www.burnleyfc.com.