MATCH FACT SCRAP HAPPY Rodriguez winner can’t make an ugly game beautiful
JAY RODRIGUEZ provided the only moment of quality to decide a game so ugly it should have been played in the dark.
The only illuminating moment within 90 minutes of utter bleakness came 60 seconds from the end of normal time when the Burnley striker headed Ashley Westwood’s cross past Aaron Ramsdale.
But to say the goal rescued the match would be overstating it. It talked it down from a high ledge.
It was so bad it lready has its place in the Premier League’s hall of shame. The total of just five attempted shots was the lowest recorded for a game since the statos started recording 15 years ago.
Until Rodriquez struck, it would have been the blankest, bleakest, stalest stalemate in top flight history.
Still, if you complain to Burnley boss Sean Dyche he will simply tell you to come back at the end of the season, by which time he reckons the 10,000 who suffered will have forgotten they were ever here.
“You have to find a way in awkward matches,” said Dyche, who gained his 50th victory in the Premier League which lifted Burnley into the top 10.
“We all analyse these games, but no one cares at the end of the season. People only care how many points you’ve got.
“It was fading away to an ugly 0-0 draw which happens, but we nicked it with a fine moment of quality.
“It was an odd, stop-start, niggly game, with low level fouls. We found a way of getting an ugly win, but they are as valuable as anything in this division.”
Of those five alleged goal attempts, not one had been on target until Rodriguez – on as a 74th minute substitute climbed above Bournemouth’s defenders to head his fourth goal of the season.
Even then, it needed a VAR check to prove that the striker had not headed the ball against his arm before it found its way into the bottom corner.
This was match for connoisseurs of petty fouls, of aimless passes, and frustrated challenges. Six players were given yellow cards – two from Bournemouth and four from Burnley, a two-toone ratio that probably reflected the Clarets more physical approach.
One early challenge by Ashley Barnes on Cherries skipper Simon Francis, did not even result in a booking, although on another day, VAR officials might have decided that a stray boot to the head was a straight red.
Cherries manager Eddie Howe claimed: “I don’t think it was a great challenge.
“I would need to see it again but my initial view is that it wasn’t a great one. I don’t know what part of Ashley has hit Simon – it’s one of those things. You have to get on with it.
“It was a very, very scrappy game. My biggest disappointment is how we played with the
■ Burnley have registered two wins in their last three away Premier League games, as many as they managed in the 14 before that (D6 L6). ball – especially in the first half. We weren’t fluid and there were too many negative passes and not enough risks taken.
“That’s always how the games go against Burnley. It’s how they play. They are very good at what they do and there’s no criticism there. They are strong.
“But when we had the ball we should have done more. We didn’t open them up enough or ask enough questions of their defenders and that’s cost us.”
For Dyche, Rodriguez’s winner was reward for the patience he has had to shown since jing the club in the summer.
Dyche added: “Jay Rod is learning and picking up how we operate. He’s a clever player.
“I’m delighted for him and the lads were buzzing afterwards.”