BRILLIANT CORK IS BURNLEY’S EURO STAR
Jack’s extra-time strike takes Burnley through
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Over on BT Sport was Staten Island against Des Moines. The big one. Game two of baseball’s Little League World Series. There could only have been a handful watching. A handful more than would have turned this on, the broadcasters must have argued. Burnley could not shift the rights to emmanuel Adebayor’s return to england — not to subscriptions channels, not to terrestrial. There was not even a dodgy stream online.
Tv executives kept the loose change in their pockets and were quite right to do so. The european adventure has not really kicked off for Burnley. They will hope that the quite stunning winner last night, curling into the far corner of Istanbul Basaksehir’s net after leaving Jack Cork’s boot 25 yards out, serves to ignite it.
These were two goalless legs, two joyless legs masked by Cork’s brilliance in extra time. Sean Dyche’s team are not playing with freedom and, while solid defensively, are really struggling for goals.
‘A sublime goal,’ Dyche said. ‘We don’t get enough credit for stuff like that. We’re a work in progress in the top third. It’s always the hardest part. elsewhere we’re very organised, the tactical organisation was good.’
Dyche insisted this was a decent performance against quality opposition but the lack of interest in this third qualifying round was striking. Not just from the television:
(Burnley win 1-0 on aggregate) Basaksehir did not sell a single ticket at Turf Moor. The 15 or so huddled in the away end were friends and family of the team.
‘You’re not singing any more,’ they sang at the travellers as Cork wheeled away in celebration. Hopefully the feel of this competition will change for Burnley from here. Olympiacos are next. Things should ramp up a notch.
extra time was tense, finally y a sense of occasion. Adebayor almost equalised with a header, Joe Hart had to produce a stellar - save and the keeper, Mert t Gunok, ended up camped in n Burnley’s penalty area.
Hart was a strong positive again, as was record signing Ben Gibson on debut. The goalkeeper kept the second leg scoreless with a string of f decent saves, mostly from the Bosnian winger edin visca.
‘He was certainly the difference,’ bemoaned Basaksehir manager Abdullah Avi. ‘Our opponents prefer to play more long balls. I am thanking my players l for respecting the game.’
The Clarets did miss chances, Ashley Barnes the guilty man in normal time, fired into the sidenetting when clean through and then headed over the bar while unmarked right in front of goal. Dyche’s side only rarely stepped up the pace and, given they have scored only two goals in normal time in five matches, finding another way of breaking teams down is an obvious necessity.
Thankfully Cork managed it. ‘We have quality for those moments of quality,’ Dyche said.
BURNLEY (4-4-1-1): Hart 7.5; Bardsley 7, Long 7, Gibson 6.5, Ward 6; Lennon 6.5 (Gudmundsson 58min, 6), Hendrick 6, Westwood 6 (Cork 82), Taylor 6.5; Barnes 5.5 (Tarkowski 120+2) ; Vokes 6 (Wood 82). Subs
not used: Legzdins, Lowton, McNeil. Scorer: Cork 97. Booked: Long, Gibson, Ward. Manager: Sean Dyche 5.
ISTANBUL BASAKSEHIR (4-2-3-1): Gunok 7; Caicara 6, Da Costa 7, Epureanu 6, Clichy 7; Emre 6.5, Tekdemir 6 (Inler 92); VISCA 8, Kahveci 6.5 (Jojic 109), Frei 6 (Napoleoni 102); Bajic 5 (Adebayor 66, 6). Subs not used: Babacan, Attamah, Ucar. Booked: Kehvici, Inler. Manager: Abdullah Avci 6. Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Romania) 5.
Attendance: 16,583.