Burnley blog: Huge gulf in cash but not in class

4:10pm Tuesday 10th November 2009

By Stephen Cummings

On hearing that six goals had been scored at Eastlands, any Burnley supporter otherwise engaged on Saturday afternoon would have automatically assumed that the Clarets were on the end of their customary hiding from the boys in laser blue.

That Burnley led by two goals at one stage and summoned sufficient spirit, skill and character to keep persevering right to the death, will have delighted Clarets supporters more used to seeing Shaun Goater filling his boots.

Sure, there were a couple of negatives. It’s a shame that Burnley couldn’t preserve their two-goal advantage until half-time, and the second half witnessed some regrettable defending. But had you offered any Clarets supporter a point at 2.55pm, you would have had your hand bitten off.

Given the yawning chasm of disparity between Burnley and City’s respective budgets (the £7m squad versus the £200m squad), Eastlands was an unlikely venue for the Clarets to chalk up their first away point.

Lest we forget, this was a City outfit whose goalkeeper cost more than Burnley’s entire squad.

And while Mark Hughes was able to field a front three of Bellamy, Tevez and Adebayor (combined cost, £64m), Fletcher (pictured) and Blake were procured for £3.25m and we could only afford to borrow David Nugent. Good luck to Mark Hughes in explaining that away to Sheikh Mansour in Abu Dhabi this week.

Naturally, the national spotlight focused on City’s embarrassing failure to sweep away their down-at-heel neighbours.

This was a shame. Because the real story to emerge from the Clarets’ first top-flight away win since Johnny Rotten was a lad, was one of courage. The courage not to be cowed in the face of overwhelming odds, the courage to go toe-to-toe with City’s glitterati and the courage to stick to your principles, get the ball down and produce some daring and enterprising football.

Not many teams this season will go to Eastlands and play as openly as Burnley did.

Fewer still will score a brace of picture-book goals into the bargain. The Clarets’ third: a peach of a cross from Nugent, superb awareness from Fletcher and a beautifully-timed run and finish from McDonald, will live long in the memory.

With roughly a third of the season gone, Burnley can be delighted with the story so far.

Tough times undoubtedly lie ahead but results like Saturday’s can only boost the confidence of manager, squad and supporters.