Egan strikes as Burnley injuries bite
The bad news keeps coming, but so do the good results for Burnley: the paradox of Project Restart. Ben Mee and Jack Cork have added to Burnley’s injury woes, and the pair might not play again this season, one that could end with their team qualifying for europe. It has been a strange few weeks and yesterday Burnley just ran out of puff. The lack of real options on their bench proved the difference. They looked like hanging on to their lead, but the pressure told and it ended 1-1, a result that keeps both teams interested in the european jostling. That Burnley are even in that conversation is miraculous. John egan squared it up with 10 minutes left, arrowing a half-volley high into Nick Pope’s net from a free-kick similar to the one from which James Tarkowski had given the hosts the lead. Sean Dyche, who has made just six substitutions in four matches, could not call on additional energy when he really needed to, and that was Burnley’s undoing. The nine on the bench were kids and senior players lacking fitness — hardly conducive to winning matches when they are coming around so quickly. That they are winning any is testament to Dyche and his group. Losing Mee — an inspirational leader recently, particularly given the premature birth of his daughter, Olive — and Cork is a huge blow. Mee had featured in 70 consecutive top-flight matches before this. ‘Ben has a thigh strain and it won’t be a quick turnaround,’ said Dyche. ‘Corky has a reasonably serious ankle injury and surgery is looking likely. It’s not ideal, but nothing has been. ‘I’m really proud of the players. We’ve got to our second-highest points total (46) at this stage. We just haven’t got the group we hoped to have.’ All that makes Burnley’s season quite something — to even go close to those chasing continental qualification. The opener was built on quality delivery. Dwight McNeil’s wand found Jay Rodriguez, whose flick met Tarkowski’s run on the wrong side of Oli McBurnie. From there, the stand-in captain beat Dean henderson. Wilder put Burnley’s dominance at the end of the first half down to the drinks break, a strange sight at a windswept Turf Moor. ‘It is a time out,’ Wilder said. ‘A tactical time out. The game has been turned into four quarters. I was delighted to have my Bovril after 22 minutes. I have never had a Bovril in July.’ Before all that, Pope saved well from McBurnie and left a wicked cross that almost knocked over his off stump. ‘Too easy,’ Pope cried. McNeil should have wrapped it up before egan’s equaliser, shooting wide with only henderson to beat. That gave the Blades an extra wind, and Ben Osborn’s cross was helped on by Sharp for egan to hammer home his first Premier League goal. ‘It should’ve been his 10th this season, not his first,’ Wilder said. ‘I’ve been quite critical of John, he gets himself into great positions.’