Ings strike ends Burnley’s 35 years of hurt
THE man in the chicken costume was waving his arms about so much you feared he might take off. All around him, pandemonium reigned. Those who had discarded their shirts positively wobbled with delight.
This was as good as it gets for Burnley fans. For one month short of 35 years they had waited to beat the old enemy in the oldest derby in English football. On April 14, 1979, Art Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes was top of the charts.
The songs that echoed around Ewood Park yesterday were not quite so wholesome, it has to be said. The East Lancashire derby is about as tribal as it gets.
This one was even more fraught than usual because Burnley are bidding f or automatic promotion to the Premier League, Blackburn for a play-off place.
For a while it looked as though the marathon wait would continue after Jordan Rhodes put Blackburn ahead in the 24th minute, turning to steer the ball into the bottom corner.
Rovers fans spilled out of the Riverside Stand and streamed down the touchline to goad their bitter rivals, 4,500 of whom were massed in the Darwen End. The Clarets faithful had made the 14-mile journey under heavy police escort and helicopter surveillance an hour before kick-off.
Blackburn’s joy turned to despair in the space of six second-half minutes. Burnley captain Jason Shackell bravely got on the end of Ross Wallace’s free-kick to head past Paul Robinson, before Burnley’s top scorer Danny Ings rolled in his 25th of the season to spark utter delirium behind the goal.
‘As brave as a chicken,’ was Burnley manager Sean Dyche’s peculiar description of Shackell’s goal. Appar- ently this was because the defender had his eyes closed and not a cheeky reference to Blackburn owners Venky’s. The Indian poultry farmers are blamed for their club’s decline. Hence the costume worn by t hat Burnley fan and the appearance of a live chicken on the touchline.
Just before half- time a plane circled overhead with the message ‘ 35yrs who cares? 20pts Venky’s 4ever’.
The turning point of the game came nine minutes after the interval when Rhodes had a great opportunity to score a second but hit a post. ‘Massive,’ Dyche admitted. ‘I turned to my coach Tony Loughlan and said, “That’s it, that’s what we’ve been waiting for”. Moments like that change the feel of a game.
‘I’m delighted for the fans. They’ve waited a long time for this, the board as well because t hey’ v e been Burnley fans forever.’
Blackburn manager Gary Bowyer looked bereft. ‘People will write us off from the play-offs because of today’s result but that’s not the right thing to do,’ he said.
As he spoke nearly an hour after the final whistle, you could still hear the Burnley fans celebrating en masse outside.
Even promotion wouldn’t taste as sweet as this.