Sheffield Wednesday gave themselves the perfect tonic for their midweek
Worthington Cup semi-final at Blackburn by picking up three priceless points at
Turf Moor to stun promotion-chasing Burnley.
The struggling Owls, with their thoughts firmly on fighting against relegation
into the Second Division rather than a return to the Premiership, were full
value for their win as they made the Clarets pay for a lack-lustre performance.
And to compound Burnley's misery, it was the Owls recent signing Shefki Kuqi,
a target of boss Stan Ternent, who struck an injury-time winner, his first for
the Yorkshire side.
The Clarets, with first-choice striker Gareth Taylor back in the side after an
ankle injury, began brightly and Ian Moore looked to have broken through after a
neat four-man move only for the referee's assistant to flag for offside.
Taylor then went close in the 10th minute, but an alert Kevin Pressman in the
Wednesday goal smothered his effort.
But if the Clarets thought it was going to be all one-way traffic, Terry
Yorath's side gave notice of their attacking intent when Kuqi turned in the box
and fired narrowly wide.
And in the 21st minute Wednesday should have gone in front.
A bad defensive slip-up by Burnley skipper Ian Cox let in Paul McLaren, but
the Owls midfielder shot wide from an acute angle when in the clear.
A swirling wind was making playing conditions increasingly difficult and in
the 32nd minute, Yorath's men stunned the home side.
A hopeful punt into the Burnley area fell to Kuqi and his air shot confused
Nik Michopolous, leaving McLaren to atone for his earlier miss and gleefully hit
home from barely four yards.
Ternent changed his formation at the interval, bringing on speedy right winger
Brad Maylett for left-back Graham Branch and switching Alan Moore to the left
flank.
But the home side almost gifted Wednesday a second goal within a minute of the
restart when Arthur Gnohere's under-hit backpass set up Kuqi.
Fortunately for the Clarets, Michopolous was quick to react and charged down
Kuqi's effort.
The Burnley boss' switch failed to inject any more invention into a side badly
missing the creativity of star winger Glen Little, still sidelined with
hamstring problems.
The Clarets were also becoming increasingly frustrated by Wednesday's off-side
trap as time and again Ian Moore and Taylor were pulled up by the officials.
When the home side finally pierced the Owls' backline in the 65th minute,
Taylor's weak back-flick from Maylett's cross was easily gathered by Pressman.
Wednesday' Marlon Broomes was stretchered off with a leg injury in the 70th
minute after a midfield scramble.
And barely a minute later, the home side almost drew level.
Dean West's cross from the right found an unmarked Kevin Ball at the far post
and he teed up Taylor well only for Pressman to save bravely at the Welsh
international's feet.
But Burnley were thrown a lifeline in the 75th minute when Ashley Westwood
needlessly handled a West cross in the penalty area.
Taylor cooly despatched the penalty into the roof of the net past Pressman to
draw his side level.
Burnley suddenly found their feet and almost added a second within a minute
through Maylett, but his low effort was well parried by Pressman.
Ternent threw on Greek Under-21 international Dimitri Papadopolous for Ian
Moore on 81 minutes in a last bid for a winner.
But it was Taylor who almost added a second when he latched onto a deflection
in the area only to see Pressman again block his effort in a full-blooded
challenge.
The veteran Owls keeper remained prostrate and despite intensive treatment was
stretchered off with an ankle injury to be replaced by Sean Roberts.
With seven minutes injury time added on, Burnley pressed for a second goal,
but Wednesday held out stoutly and took the lead again in stoppage time.
Cox failed to clear Leigh Bromby's through ball and Kuqi made no mistake as he
fired home superbly from 10 yards with his right foot.
And with the Clarets pushing for another equaliser Wednesday got a penalty in
the dying seconds when Gnohere pulled down Kuqi after he had broken through.
But Gerald Sibon's weakly-struck penalty was well saved by Michopolous. His
miss did not matter though as the referee immediately blew his whistle to give
the Owls three priceless points.
Teams:
Burnley: Michopoulos, West, Branch (Maylett 45), Cox, Gnohere,
Ball, Grant, Briscoe, Alan Moore, Taylor,
Ian Moore (Papadopoulos 81).
Subs Not Used: Cennamo, Armstrong, Cook.
Booked: Gnohere.
Goals: Taylor 77 pen.
Sheff Wed: Pressman (Roberts 86), Broomes (Geary 70), Haslam,
Westwood, Bromby, McLaren, Soltvedt, Sibon, Hamshaw (Quinn 82),
Kuqi, Ekoku.
Subs Not Used: Bonvin, Maddix.
Goals: McLaren 33, Kuqi 90.
Att: 16,081
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook