MAME MISS WAS KILLER
<M<IP B@:B# <M<IP >F8C# <M<IP >8D<# Howler sets clock ticking for Potters
MAME DIOUF’S crucial first-half miss cranked up the pressure on relegation-threatened Stoke.
How different things could have been had the Senegalese striker smashed in a sitter three minutes before half-time with his side already 1-0 up.
Stoke boss Paul Lambert put a comforting arm around Diouf but admitted afterwards it was a ‘huge’ miss.
Lambert believes his second from bottom side now have to win at Liverpool on Saturday to keep alive their hopes of a last-gasp escape.
“We got off to the perfect start by taking the lead but Mame’s miss was huge,” he said.
“I think he was caught in two minds and that’s what happens when you hesitate. We will never give up but we have to win at Anfield now – we just have to win.”
The result put a massive dent in Stoke’s survival hopes and they need look no further than Diouf ’s miss as the major turning point.
Dreadful
Having taken the lead thanks to Badou Ndiaye’s 11th-minute goal, they had a golden opportunity to put themselves in command.
Stoke carved Burnley open down the right flank and Moritz Bauer clipped over a perfect cross to find Diouf unmarked at the far post with keeper Nick Pope struggling to have any impact on what happened next.
What did happen next was that Diouf really couldn’t have done much worse.
His touch was dreadful and the ball bobbled away to safety and from that point something just told you that it might be crucial.
Lambert did his best to console his man as he walked off at half-time.
That act of compassion alone probably told Diouf everything he didn’t want to know – that he’d been guilty of a real howler which has pushed them closer to the drop.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche said: “Obviously that was a turning point in terms of the scoreline, but would it have been over at 2-0?
“I thought we were well worth at least a point and arguably their man of the match was their goalkeeper.”
Ashley Barnes, a pain in Stoke’s side all afternoon, bundled the ball home in the 62nd minute to put a whole different complexion on Stoke’s situation.
They were sick after seeing West Ham’s Andy Carroll whip two points from their grasp last week.
And with four points snatched from them in successive games, it looks increasingly likely that they will pay the ultimate penalty.
It had all started so brightly when Ndiaye chanced his arm with a shot from just inside the box and peeled away in delight as it took a deflection off Kevin Long and flew into the bottom corner of the Burnley net.
Stoke had to go for it, as Lambert had promised beforehand, so it was inevitable they would have to survive some scary moments.
Jack Butland was there when required with a string of fine saves.
He pulled out a cracking stop to deny Johann Gudmundsson from a free-kick and then kept the lead intact with a great diving save to keep out a James Tarkowski header.
But with just over an hour gone, Burnley’s effort paid off when Ashley Westwood dropped a great ball into the box which was nodded on by Tarkowski.
Butland parried but the loose ball was pounced on and the alert Barnes steered it into the net.
Stephen Ireland nearly came up with a winner for Stoke but his curling shot struck the outside of the post.