BARNES STORMER IS WORTH THE WAIT
ASHLEY BARNES’ marathon wait for a goal will undoubtedly feel worthwhile if his winner contributes to Burnley beating the drop.
Barnes, surprisingly thrown into the breach late on by manager sean Dyche ahead of Andre Gray and Patrick Bamford, thumped home Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s cross in added time to end 21 months without a goal.
The 27-year-old had to endure his fair share of pain during that time — a cruciate ligament injury sidelining him for much of last season and a sore hamstring has restricted his participation this campaign.
he said: ‘it’s a great relief and fantastic to score again after being out all that time. But i never got down throughout it all. i know i can score goals at this level. i’ve done it before when we were in the Premier League.’
indeed, two years ago this week, Barnes made the decisive contribution in Burnley’s first top-flight win under Dyche. The 1-0 success over hull came at the 11th attempt. This time they have four wins in 11 games and twice as many points.
england’s interim manager Gareth southgate was in the stands to witness Barnes’ late heist after a Wilfried Zaha-inspired Palace wiped out a 2-0 deficit — following goals from sam Vokes and Gudmundsson — through Connor Wickham and Christian Benteke. Zaha has not played international football for more than three years but Palace boss Alan Pardew said: ‘After this performance i would suspect he’s in Gareth’s thinking.’ still, he was not named in southgate’s latest squad last night.
SUPER STAT: Burnley have only scored 11 times in the league this season but the tally has been shared by eight players.
BURNLEY (4-2-3-1): Heaton 7; Lowton 6, Keane 6, Mee 7, Flanagan 6; Marney 8, Defour 7 (Tarkowski 74min, 6); Gudmundsson 7, Hendrick 6 (Barnes 85), Arfield 5 (Boyd 65, 6); Vokes 7. Subs not used: Robinson, Kightly, Gray, Bamford. Booked: Marney.
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-2-3-1): Mandanda 5; Ward 6, Dann 6, Delaney 6, Kelly 6 (Fryers 59, 6); Cabaye 7, McArthur 6 (Ledley 87); Townsend 7, Puncheon 7 (Wickham 59, 7), Zaha 8; C Benteke 7. Subs not used: Hennessey, Tomkins, Flamini, Lee. Booked: Delaney, McArthur. Man of the match: Dean Marney. Referee: Anthony Taylor 7.