League Cup Semi-Final, Second Leg: Burnley 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs win 6-4)

[funster]

I tell you what, I can't remember what I wrote at this time last year, but I bet it wasn't much like what I'm about to write now. After the sparkling performance against the Arsehole at this stage a year ago, and the thumping we dished out (which on the night could have been even heavier), I was elated. Much, as I suspect, every Spurs fan would've been.

A year on and how things have changed. Yes, we made it back to Wembley for the second year in a row, but man, a more different story than the one against the Gooners you couldn't have even imagined.

Leading 4-1 from the first leg, thanks largely to a second half capitulation from the visitors at The Lane, not even the most optimistic of Burnley supporters could have imagined what was to unfold. I read somewhere that the bookies were offering 100-1 against Burnley overturning the deficit. About right really. There's no way you should concede a three goal advantage. Of course, we're past masters at that, so my own thoughts on the build-up were that we'd need to be strong for what was likely to be an initial onslaught, and if we held out, we'd probably be fairly safe.

Hmmmmm..... so much for that thought!

Turf Moor makes for a long trip away midweek. Especially from my neck of the woods. We chose to drive up from London because the pathetic public transport options late at night, and the fact that I had to be back in London the next morning, meant there was no other real option.

Heading up there, while we were on one of the motorways that begins with a '6' - there are lot of them in that area! - we were passed by a mass of police cars escorting what must have been Britain's most wanted man (or woman). Rolling roadblock, probably eight (maybe more police cars), with a prison van at the centre. Bit of excitement for an otherwise tedious journey.

As we got closer, the rain started falling more heavily, the wind began to pick up, and we were even greeted with snow on the ground. Not in Burnley itself, but around and about. This was going to make for a far from comfortable experience.

Arriving at Turf Moor I was impressed by the size of the ground. Really rather big considering the relative size of Burnley. Near enough full, although probably the first leg score and rank weather accounted for a few empty seats.

The team news was no surprise. Everybody had expected Gomes to be rested so Alnwick started. BAE was back in the starting eleven, and we'd clearly gone one up front with Defoe all on his own. Bit disappointing, but considering the aggregate score and fixture pile-up that's approaching, entirely understandable.

The first few minutes didn't suggest we'd be bombarded straight away, and the best chance for Burnley came from the most ludicrous backpass I think I've ever seen. BAE decided - under no pressure - to chip it back to Alnwick who did an excellent job to get a fingertip on it to send it wide for a corner. Unbelievable. 4-1 up from the first leg and you try gifting them goals they don't even merit.

Cue a heated arguement behind me as one bloke gave BAE serious stick, while the other attempted to justify the fact that he was better at left back than Bale. I had to side with the latter really, but even so, its no understatement to say this was a shocking, shocking backpass. Reminded me of that Lee Dixon backpass years ago when keeper's could still pick up the ball on opening day at Highbury when he managed to brilliantly chip David Seaman!

Decent chances, though, were actually proving rather hard to come by. With 15 minutes on the clock, the BAE backpass had been the best chance, and while Defoe was looking totally isolated up front with Modric completely unable to get up in support (meaning our efforts at playing long balls led to absolutely nothing), we hadn't conceded. I was quietly pleased by this. I had expected Burnley to throw the kitchen sink at us, but a third of the way through the first half and we still had that 4-1 aggregate lead.

Incredibly even Bentley - who was starting at right wing - looked committed. He'd been in for some hard tackles and looked like he wanted to close down, earning him plenty of stick from the Burnley fans. They don't like Blackburn much. He showed his 'commitment' by making what I thought was a terrible tackle and rightly got a yellow card! Now, there's commitment, and there's stupidity. It was a poor tackle, and with plenty of the game still to play, it looked like he'd have to wind himself back in or risk being red carded.

Overall, though, the blood and guts I'd expected wasn't really there. There was a half-chance here, a half-chance there. The balance of chances was certainly in Burnley's favour. We looked incapable of getting hte ball forward to Defoe at his feet, or supporting him from midfield. That central midefield position that had been such a pain on Sunday against Portsmouth - non-existent as it was - was just repeating the same trick again.

All that said, between them, Woody and Dawson looked solid enough to prevent any real dangers in the centre of defence. Not pleasing on the eye, but it was getting the job done.

The tedium was temporarily alleviated when the big screen flashed up a couple of mugshots. "If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of these men, please call xxxxxxxxx". Nice. An advert for Burnley's most wanted! Temporary respite from the lack of anything overly exciting happening on the pitch.

Admittedly, the conditions were wretched. Certainly not helping with a good game of football with the rain lashing down and the wind blowing hard. Even so, this was proving to be disappointing as far as a semi-final went, although I suspect the view was if we kept it like this it was 'job done'.

The biggest weakness up until the half hour - if you leave the centre of midfield aside - for us appeared to be the right wing. Whereas on Sunday we'd been poor down the left, this time it was the right. Probably due in part to Gunther and Bentley playing there for the first time in ages, but Burnley were stringing plenty of moves together down that side. Eagles looked good attacking that wing, and a prime example of how bad we looked there was when we basically allowed him to run unchallenged having advanced up the wing and across the line. Just as well it led to nothing.

Then it all changed.

A free kick awared to Burnley, a fair distance out, and as Alnwick lined-up the two man wall it was clear he wasn't happy with the positioning. We could see he was trying to get the wall to shift further to give him a better chance of covering the angle. He probably indicated this three or four times, but never, it would seem, loudly enough, or with enough authority for anybody to take notice. Result? He was badly positioned as the ball was well struck by Robbie Blake and Alnwick got nowhere near it.

An utterly, utterly rubbish goal to concede. The wall was in the wrong position. Alnwick didn't correct it. He was in the wrong position as a result, and it sailed past to give Burnley the faintest sniff.

Completely avoidable goal. No bloody wonder Gomes has been playing while carrying an injury.

The Burnley fans celebrated, but it wasn't ecstatic. They knew there was plenty of ground to cover yet.

What then followed up until half time was a return to the theme of the previous half hour - not much. OK, so we were solidifying ourselves again and at least avoiding letting them capitalise on this small glimmer of hope.

The conditions, as I said, were bad, but even so there were some inexcusable tackles. While Bentley had rightly been booked earlier, how the ref failed to book any Burnley players after two very poor tackles down the right in quick succession, first on Modric, then Bentley..... well, inconsistency there.

Still, half time came and at one down on the night, this was still a perfectly fine position to be in. As the Spurs bench trudged off it was strange to see Tim Sherwood suited and booted while the rest of the staff were in their Spurs pitchside jackets. Clearly not his colour.

The rain kept lashing down, but that didn't stop a bit of half time entertainment taking place. First some cheerleaders. Too young for me to have an interest. Then what looked like a game of assorted blokes trying to chip a ball through a giant doughnut. Kinda like that game that used to be on Soccer AM. Maybe still is? Don't get Sky any more!

I was freezing! As if the rain and wind wasn't bad enough it was bloody cold too. Such are the things you go through when travelling with Spurs. So, half way there, and as the teams emerged again it was a case of trying to keep Burnley at bay again.

Didn't look like the team wanted to heed that message as we allowed an early, potentially dangerous deep cross. Honestly. What were they playing at?

Our own attacking performance level seemed to be on the way up though. Bentley released Defoe who cut inside, played a short ball to Modric on the edge of the box, and he displayed great skill to hold it up amongst a load of Burnley players on the edge of the box, turn and get a shot away. Shame it was too high. Would've been a great goal.

The off pitch excitement continued with a firework spinning into the ground and landing on the pitch! Think it came from outside the ground, but couldn't really tell. It was about as exciting as the few chances there'd been in the game up until then.

At stages it looked like Burnley were beginning to get frustrated. The keeper and one of the full backs had a bit of an arguement at one stage, but sadly no punches were thrown!

Burnley, though, kept going. Even with a two goal deficit, they looked like they were just going to keep going till the end. At one point both Woody and Daws were caught out of position, and it needed Zokora to get back and cover superbly to tackle and prevent another Burnley chance.

It was a better second half. Bentley was seeing plenty of the ball and the fact that their keeper clearly had no right foot served to make me think it might get a bit more interesting if he has to deal with many backpasses that side. He didn't.

We traded a few chances, our best one being an offside decision against Defoe when Huddlestone - who had seemed completely non-existent until then - played in a lovely ball with the outside of his foot.

Then we had to make a couple of substitutions. One enforced with an injury to O'Hara meaning Bale came on and started playing left wing. The second with Pav thrown on for Modric.

Bale created a lovely chance not long after he'd been on. Superb cross that found Bentley in a good position only for him to shoot against the post. Just as well for him that he was offside. The Burnley fans enjoyed giving him some more stick.

Since he came on, Bale was getting well involved. He should have done better when he was released into the box only to shoot against the side netting. Should at least have hit the target if he was going to have a pop, or squared if he wasn't.

Another chance followed not long after. This time a long ball over the top that Defoe ran on to thanks in large part to some very poor defending, but couldn't beat the keeper to it. Which surprised me, because I thought he was easily favourite to get there considering how big the Burnley keeper - and I don't mean tall - looked.

Then Zokora had a go at hitting a ball straight back from the halfway line. Of course, he was never going to score.

At least we had started to create more chances. Unlike the first half, it looked like we may actually offer some attacking threat, while Burnley's performance level pretty much remained as it was.

So we did just what we didn't need and conceded another goal with probably twenty minutes still to play.

As they broke down the middle, Huddlestone inexcusably turned his back and offered no challenge which allowed them to work the ball to the left far too easily. Then Robbie Blake made Gunther look at complete tit by jinking left and right, effectively leaving him for dead and sliding the ball across the six yard line for the simplest of tap ins.

For ****'s sake! What the **** were we doing?! Having created a few half chances, all of a sudden the utter cack we displayed in central midfield and on the right side of the pitch looked like it may cost us.

The celebrations this time from the Burnley fans were more vocal and our own singing - which of course had displayed the exemplary support we always give away from home - began to die down.

This was unbelieveable. A three goal lead now cut to just the one, and with Burnley having the away goal too. The only saving grace was that we still had a one goal advantage, but it was going to make for a very testing final twenty minutes.

We created another half chance with Pav well positioned on the left side of the box but shooting wide from a corner. The chance he had that followed soon after was a really poor miss. A chance to put the tie beyond Burnley and he scuffed it. Bale was played in on the left by Defoe, slid the ball across, and Pav..... well, Pav just scuffed it. The disappointment in the away contingent was clear. That should have been curtains.

Surprisingly, even now Burnley didn't seem to be throwing the kitchen sink at us. Without doubt they had the better of the possession and the momentum was with them, but even after poor defending by BAE, Dawson was there to slide and clear.

As the minutes ticked away we wasted another chance to put the tie beyond Burnley with Defoe not managing to get on top of the ball ahead of the keeper.

Then it went completely pear shaped. A long deep free kick with probably two or three minutes to go, and really, a chance to just deal with the set piece and run the clock down a bit more. Burnley had had plenty of free kicks and corners, but actually, none of them had come to very much. The hope was that the same would happen now.

No chance. Alnwick came, dropped it, and the shot ended up with the ball in the back of the net.

3-0.

All of a sudden, from a 4-1 first leg lead the tie was back at 4-4. This time, understandably, the Burnley supporters went nuts. Strangely, most of the Spurs supporters seemed to sigh a sign of knowing rather than vent their frustration. It was almost like we knew this was going to happen.

What Alnwick was doing is quite simply beyond me. Having cost us the first, he should have claimed that free kick easily, but dropped it right on the foot of the Burnley player.

This was awful. Now all those squandered half chances were going to count for an awful lot. The lack of any solidity in central midfield and the piss poor efforts on the right wing were looking like they were really going to cost us.

Extra time beckoned and even then we looked like we wanted to make a good fist of throwing in the towel. Thankfully the ref blew and as the chants of "Wem-ber-lee!" switched from our section to the home sections, there was this resignation that tonight was going to be an embarrassing night.

As the first period of extra time started, the couple of opportunities that presented themselves actually fell to us. Dawson swung it in from the right wing - yes, really, Michael Dawson on the right wing! - and while Huddlestone struck it reasonably well, it wasn't going to bulge the net.

Then Pav got himself another chance, picking the ball up on the left, but the save was all too easy.

The final substitution saw Taarabt on for Gunther and moving to the central position that Zokora had occupied. Zokora switched to right back, or so it seemed. For much of the time it looked like Dawson was having to cover at centre half and right back! Whether Zokora didn't much fancy right back or was just poorly positioned, I don't know, but it wasn't good enough.

Taarabt got involved pretty much stratight away. We all know he likes to see the ball, some would class it as greedy, but at least it meant we had somebody in a central position not afraid of picking it up and doing something with it! His first good run led to a chance for Pav only for him to overrun it and the ball across just went straight to the keeper.

Another Taarabt run, an even better one this time, with him showing some strength to hold off three Burnley player, led to a chance for Bale. A poor shot.

Most of the chances were ours, but there was never the confidence there to think - "Yeah, we're going to win this". Largely because, I think, the momentum was still with Burnley, and with the scores level on aggregate, it was going to be curtains for us.

Burnley didn't really offer too much threat, but there were a couple of quick moves that required first Zokora to provide good cover, and then for Dawson to clear. In the latter case, Daws was absolutely fuming that nobody in the centre of the pitch got anywhere near the ball. Rightly so.

So, first period of extra time over, still no sign of us scoring. With only ten minutes left Pav crossed to Bale only for him to shoot straight at the keeper.

This was ridiculous. We clearly had more chances from the second half of normal time onwards, yet we hadn't got anywhere near scoring. I just stood there thinking to myself this was it. With no sign of where the goal was going to come from I was beginning to resign myself to an embarrassing exit.

The minutes were ticking away, and the more they did, the more it looked like Burnley were going to be celebrating. Their supporters were certainly getting themselves worked up for it, and with two or three minutes to go, even the most die hard of Spurs fans must have been resigning themselves to this.

A three goal lead completely squandered through some awful goalkeeping and a total lack of effort in the centre of midfield, as well as poor play down the right, and inability to convert the half chances we did have.

It was awful.

Then, incredibly, with probably two minutes to go a Spurs move down the left with Bale squaring to BAE who'd made a great run into the left side of the box and he snicked it first time into the centre for Pav to apply the killer touch that had been so badly lacking in every effort he'd had before that!

GOAL!

****ing hell!

GOAL!

Yeeeeeeeeesssssss!

We were back in it, and the Spurs faithful standing behind the goal went absolutely and utterly nuts!

I don't think I remember celebrating a goal as much since Woody scored at Wembley, that was how big a relief it was!

The celebrations were so great that even I ended up running down the steps to the pitchside to celebrate with the players!

Even with my frozen toes I still got myself down there and celebrated like a maniac. Somewhere along the line I remeber getting my arm around some bloke who did likewise as we jumped up and down like maniacs.

Bloody hell.

Where had that come from?

Suddenly the tie had turned right back around again, and now, with just a minute or so to go, we were back at Wembley. The Burnley fans knew this as a fair few started to leave, and as they did, bang! Another one!

This time a move down the right, a lovely diagonal ball on the ground (I think from Pav) saw Defoe advance, easily keep the ball shielded from the defender in front of him, open up and slip it into the far corner of the net!

GOAL! GOAL! GOAL!

Two in little more than a minute!

That was it. The game was done. We'd lost on the night, but somehow we'd managed to get two right at the very end.

From a position of total and utter humiliation, we'd rescued the tie, if not our esteem, and booked our place at Wembley.

The celebrations were nothing like those that we experienced at The Lane a year ago. That night the Arsehole had been despatched and then some. Against Burnley, a performance that barely merited anything, that had looked like it was going to make us all cringe, had somehow managed to book our place at Wembley for the second season in a row.

Burnley were out on their feet. The stuffing clearly knocked right out of them. This was unexpected. A game where, even though they had created very few chances, the tie had been turned right around, saw a final twist, and not one they'd have wanted.

As we left I noticed that I'd absolutely smashed the crap out of my knees, shins and calves, and that my feet were still completely frozen. The Spurs celebrations were mad, but we all knew we'd snuck it when we really shouldn't have.

I'll take the luck any which way it comes.

This was a dreadful performance. A position of utter superiority squandered through poor goalkeeping, lack of effort, particularly in the centre of midfield, poor play down the right, and awful finishing. Burnley should never have been allowed to get anywhere near us, yet they were within two minutes of possibly one of the greatest cup comebacks of all time.

The Burnley fans were understandably disappointed. We knew not to celebrate too much. It would have been in very poor taste.

As it was, we satisfied ourselves with the fact that we were going back to Wembley while mocking the ineffectual performance that went so far towards scaring the crap out of us.

Feel sorry for Burnley? No. Not really. Don't think they'd have felt sorry for us if the positions were reversed and you need to take what you get in whichever way you can. I don't like qualifying in the manner we did, but I'll take it.

That four hour drive home that meant getting back to London at 3am would have been a complete bastard had we gone out. As it was, it went quickly enough, and thoughts turned to Saturday at OT and the likely embarrassment that faces us there.

Deep breath..... and sigh.

[funster]

Burnley_away :: V210109_1942.flv video by funster_photobucket - Photobucket

[Ekad]

Great write up mate!

[thfcire]

brillant report i feel like i was there with you mate i will be at wembley coys

[KTBFFH]

yes yes, i agree, this is a good point