QPR 0 - 1 Burnley

The London Underground didn't stop us from seeing our fourth away win of the season...

By: Steven Tattersall

"We are a bigger club than Burnley" - Matthew Rose (QPR defender), The Sun's Soccergoals supplement 21/10/2000

Hopefully Stan saw this and left a copy in the dressing room.

"... John Mullin's strike earned a 1-0 win at Queen's Park Rangers in a match which they [Burnley] controlled from start to finish"

- Geoff Brown, Independent on Sunday 22/10/2000

Hard to believe, but it's true. It was hardly a great performance, but the Clarets did more than enough to handle a team who consider themselves to be slumming it in the First Division. How times change.

A trip down the M11 and the Tube ride in from Epping left the Anglia Clarets about 90 minutes early for the game. Loftus Road is a strange ground, sandwiched in amongst BBC buildings and council estates, which gave it a very odd atmosphere.

CROUCH PENNED

On a gloomy day, the Clarets lined up as (4-4-2/4-5-1/3-5-2):

Mihopoulos

Thomas Davis Cox Briscoe

Ball Weller Mellon Cook

Payton Branch

Subs: Johnrose (Cook 79), Mullin (Branch 66), Robinson (Payton 81)

QPR: Harper, Warren, Darlington, Carlisle, Perry (Murray, 74), Rose, Langley (Koejoe, 73), Wardley, Peacock, Connolly, Crouch Subs not used: Miklosko, Dowie, Heinola

No Cooke - are the rumours of his reserve-team bust-up on the mark?

Most of the early attention focussed on Peter Crouch, who appeared to be the world's first Genetically Modified Footballer. Although dismissed by most of the travelling support as little more than a human pair of stilts ("f**king freak" was the general consensus), Crouch was still blessed by no little skill on the ball, although he was well marshalled by Davis and Cox for most of the game. The early play was cagey as it seems to be in most games Burnley play these days, but chances were few and far between. We didn't seem to miss Glen Little too much, except with his ability to hold the ball for a more than a split second.

Burnley were content to soak up pressure and largely counter on the break, and the first good chance fell to Mellon, who reaped the benefit of Briscoe sneaking round the back of the QPR defence and cutting an (admittedly bobbling) ball back. Micky appeared to have the ball in the back of the net before Harper flashed across his goalmouth to parry the ball away.

There was another good chance when the Clarets hit on the break. The ball was fired forward quickly to a marauding Mellon - in one of the best performances I've ever seen him put in - feeding the ball to Cook(!) haring down the right wing. His measured ball through fed Payton, whose shot was well saved by Harper.

QPR did come more into the game in the latter stages of the first half. Gerry Francis shuffled the pack, putting an extra man into the midfield, pulling back the right back leaving Briscoe in no-man's-land, and pushing the left back forward to pressure Weller back. This gave them more possession, but their only decent chance was an overhead kick from a partially cleared corner, which Mihopoulos parried away reacting well. I think he made it a bit more spectacular than it deserved, but he looked very impressive. Despite not knowing a word of English he looked to have a better line of communication with the back 3/4/5 than Crichton ever has done.

Half time. A bizarre competition involving a football, a pole, dizziness and the QPR mascot as goalkeeper kept everyone warm. (I can't begin to explain)

Stan sorted out the tactical switch by pushing Briscoe more into midfield and almost switching to a back 3 himself. One of the beauties of the current Burnley side is their ability to largely defy any broad formational style. It's not quite Total Football, but it's not far off. Long gone are the days of "give it to the winger". Kevin Ball, who has come in for stick for being negative (hi Jez!) played about 4 different positions, as did Mellon. And Cook. And Cox.

A digression here. Like many others I've been prone to criticising players in the past, and Mellon and Branch have probably borne the brunt in the past season or two. In this division though, they look like naturals. I still don't think Branch's natural position is as a forward, but his running was excellent in order to give an outlet to the defence in the early second half. Mellon's game suits this level of football perfectly; No longer does he charge forward on the break only to have no-one to pass to - there's always an outlet somewhere. Some of the breaks from defence were quite breathtaking.

It wasn't perfect - Payton had an off-day, and we didn't kill the game of particularly well, being guilty of conceding possession too easily. I think this may be due to lacking Blakey.

Back to the game. An odd substitution that appeared defensive with Mullin on for Branch. Surely that wouldn't work. But with Burnley very comfortable, we scored. I can't really describe the buildup, owing to being sat in row D and having my line of sight obscured by those in front standing up. It was Davis whose early through ball from deep in the opposing half looped past the QPR backline, and MULLIN who had ghosted past his marker in the inside-right position. Although it looked like he had taken it too far, but he slotted it coolly under the advancing Harper and didn't even look surprised as he celebrated in front of dozens of delerious and crowd-surfing Clarets supporters (look carefully at the TV replays, you can spot me very near Mullin).

Twenty minutes left, one goal up away from home. Time for a frantic backs-to-the-wall heartstopper? Not a bit of it, as QPR surrendered their unbeaten home record quite tamely. Paul Robinson came on but appeared to be singing from a different hymn sheet from the rest of the team - he looked more interested in impressing the manager than helping the team. I suspect this might not work with Stan.

PARADISE GAINED

So, four away wins before November. The highest league position I've ever known as a Burnley supporter. I'm beginning to find it hard to complain about anything. Is this Paradise syndrome?

Still, bad times could still be just around the corner. The next months see a glut of away games and matches against opposition in the Top Ten, so by Christmas we could be in a crisis situation. Best make the most of it while it lasts...

Up The Clarets Steve

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