3:52pm Saturday 31st October 2009
By Sam Lee
A Graham Alexander penalty on his 100th appearance for the club separates the two sides at the break as Burnley lead Hull City 1-0.
It’s been a difficult week for the Tigers and their luck was out after only twenty minutes when referee Jones adjudged Stephen Hunt to have illegally brought down Tyrone Mears as the two tangled in the box, much to the fury of the Hull players.
And Alexander, who joins the likes of Jerry Dawson, Brian Jensen and Robbie Blake in the Burnley 100 Club, was at hand to coolly slot past Matt Duke in the Hull City goal, despite the stand-in ‘keeper’s best efforts.
Other than the penalty incident it was a fairly uneventful opening 40 minutes, with only a handful of efforts on goal between the two sides until a brief flurry before the break.
Hull could have taken the lead five minutes before the penalty incident had it not been for a smart save by the returning Jensen, while the Clarets’ best chance of extending the lead came when Wade Elliott forced a good save from Duke at his near post ten minutes before the break.
Hunt almost atoned for his misdemeanours but after he skipped past Mears and Chris Eagles his cross was well cut out by Clarke Carlisle.
Burnley pushed on for a second just before half time and nearly got their rewards when an Eagles drive was beaten away by Duke, but as Hull broke they almost got themselves back into the game when a quick free-kick threatened to catch the Burnley defence on the hop. Fortunately for the home side Steven Caldwell did well to snuff out any danger and Burnley lead by a single goal at the interval.
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