Team
Marshall,Hall,Fox,Ward,Thornton,Osbourne,Best,Tabb (Simpson 70),M.Hughes,Mifsud,Gray. SNU Dann,Birchall,Andrews,Konstantopolous
Burnley
Jensen,Alexander,Carlisle,Caldwell,Harley,Elliott,O'Connor,Gudjonsson (Randall 58),McCann,Akinibiyi (Spicer 88),Lafferty (Blake 77)
SNU Unsworth,Kiraly
Ref A.Bates Booked McCann
Att 9779
Goals Chris McCann (19), Steve Caldwell (84)
Man Of The Match Kev Thornton and Danny Fox took the pick of the votes.
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STARTING LINE UP
Chris Coleman made only one change with Kevin Thornton starting in place of the concussed Stephen Hughes
Best Mifsud
Gray Thornton Tabb M.Hughes
Fox Hall Ward Osbourne
Marshall
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CITY SUPPORT
We very rarely travel to Burnley in huge numbers and a midweek trip to Turf Moor,saw a turn out of around one hundred and eighty hardy souls, including one from Kent and one from Cambridgeshire.
Thankfully,the traffic on the M6 was flowing and we had time to catch up with some of the City support and mingle with the home fans in the cricket club by the ground.
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A case of new manager,same rubbish and a dubious refereeing decison saw City crash to a 2-0 defeat at Burnley.
Against a Burnley side which did not field Andy Cole,who was bailed last night for an alleged attack on his wife,Chris Coleman made one change with Kevin Thornton starting.
With the rent a Burnley stewards upto their usual and expected pettiness in the first half, the Sky Blue support started off in good voice.
There was plenty to sing about as some neat play and some route one stuff won a couple of corners.
But in the 19th minute,we were mortified by one of the worst refereeing decisions I have seen in years. If Ian Holloway,who was watching Preston v Stoke, had seen it he would have exploded into a rage far worse than on Saturday.
The ball came across from a corner. Up rose Kyle Lafferty who batted the ball in a manner, that would have done a beach volleyballer proud. He pushed the ball with such force that Ward had to clear off the line. Unfortunately, the ball only reached Chris McCann who rammed the ball back into the net.
Referee Anthony Bates was only feet away from the incident and how he missed something which most of the 9,779 crowd saw was totally unbelieveable and worthy of further investigation.
It looked worse on the big scoreboard plonked in the David Fishwick Stand, next to where the City supporters were housed.
That set the tone for the evening. Julian Gray did get the ball in the net but was offside when some good work from the yellow booted Leon Best founded.
We might was well make the best of it was the view of some of the City support towards the rear of the away stand, bored at the woeful fare on offer from two poor sides.
We started singing songs about former players whilst dishing out abuse for Ade Akinbiyi and giving Canley kid Graham Alexander some light hearted stick.
If you want a positive from this,it was the amount of possession that City had. However,possession means nothing if you can't put the ball in the net.
Elliott Ward got in a 50th minute header and in the 61st minute,the busy Kevin Thornton carved his way into the penalty area.
A shot didn't look on and the midfielder went to ground with Mr Bates waving play on.
Four minutes later,Michael Mifsud got free down the right and hit a shot which Brian Jensen dived to his left to push round for a corner.
Jay Tabb,who had a game well below his usual standards, was replaced by Robbie Simpson but it changed nothing for Chris Coleman's side.
With six minutes left, the City support were heading for the exits as Owen Coyle's side added a second goal.
One time target Steve Caldwell was allowed all the space he wanted to plant home a free header from a cross.
Simpson wasted a good chance at the death but it was not City's night and they recorded their first defeat under Chris Coleman.