OWEN Coyle will obviously be the centre of attention at Turf Moor tonight but, take it from me, he will be as focused on his job as he is for any other game.
I know Owen personally and I know the way he works. He’s the ultimate professional and he won’t let anything distract him. His preparation for this game will be no different than if he was preparing to play one of the Premier League’s top clubs.
There will be changes to the team, we know that, but Burnley can take it as read that they’ll be facing a group of players full of confidence after doing so well at Aston Villay.
Going a goal behind on a ground where they have had some terrible results in recent seasons, they faced a real test of character, which they passed with flying colours.
What a way for Kevin Davies to score the 100th goal of his career and when you look at the number of good chances we had on top of that, nobody could have complained if we’d come away with all three points.
Martin Petrov, Stuart Holden and Matty Taylor all tested Brad Friedel and on another day we could have been celebrating a win – even though we didn’t get the run of the green with some of the refereeing decisions.
We should have had a penalty when Stephen Warnock took out Chung-Yong Lee and I’ve had a good look at the video and Villa’s goal should have been disallowed.
It was subtle and it was clever, but Stephen Ireland ran into the wall just as Ashley Young took the free kick – and that was precisely where the ball went, beating young Adam Bogdan’s dive.
Even so there were some good perfrormances. I especially liked the way Stuart Holden put himself about. The kid’s a good, honest pro, a good player, a good battler and he covers every blade of grass. I got a sweat on just watching him.
Tragically, we lost one of our most avid fans in 87 years old Gordon Gregg who collapsed just before kick off at Villa Park and, despite the efforts of paramedics, sadly died.
Gordon was a long-time season ticket holder and a Travel Club regular and the sympathies of everyone at the club go out to his family.
On a lighter note, I’m delighted to say we picked up our first trophy of the season on Friday night. Myself, David Lee and Lancashire and England cricketer Saj Mahmood won Paddy McGuiness’s Question of Sport at the De Vere Whites Hotel where the club gave terrific support to the charity event organised by Amir Khan to raise funds for the Gloves Community Centre and the Variety Club children’s charity.
Well done Team Khan for putting on an event that raised £30,000 on the night.
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