Gabbiadini strikes to salvage draw for Saints
Manolo Gabbiadini’s first goal since mid-October rescued a much-needed point for Southampton as a
game that had offered little drama produced an unexpected finale 20 seconds from the end of normal time.
A far-post cross from substitute Josh Sims was met by Guido Carrillo who headed back across goal for Gabbiadini, who barged defender Kevin Long aside, before burying the ball into the roof of the goal from six yards.
Referee Bobby Madley turned down Burnley appeals for a foul and the frustration for home manager Sean Dyche was all too evident after Ashley Barnes appeared to have won the game for his team after 67 minutes.
Aaron Lennon’s left-wing cross was met by Johan Berg Gudmundsson whose far-post volley drew a spectacular reflex block from goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, the ball sitting up invitingly for Jeff Hendrick who looked certain to head home the rebound.
But McCarthy recovered well and looked poised to block that effort before Barnes’ showed lightning reflexes to react first and head in from point-blank range.
It was an admirable piece of finishing, and a rare bright point on an otherwise instantly forgettable Turf Moor afternoon.
England manager Gareth Southgate certainly might have questioned the wisdom of his attendance at Turf Moor during a first half which reflected the two teams’ recent poor runs of form. Over the last 10 games, no Premier League team has a worse record than Burnley and their five point and zero wins, while Southampton visited Lancashire with just one win from their previous 14 games.
Little wonder, therefore, that neither goal was particularly threatened in a tepid 45 minutes that never looked like threatening Turf Moor’s status as the Premier League ground to have witnessed fewest goals 19 from the opening 13 league fixtures.
That might have changed had Gudmundsson done better with his header from an early Stephen Ward cross but he steered it well wide of the Southampton goal.
And, after Wesley Hoedt half-cleared a Matt Lowton free-kick, Lennon’s volley presented McCarthy with an easy catch in the Southampton goal.
Having started the afternoon in the relegation places, Southampton at least threatened occasionally on the counter-attack as the first half wore on, primarily through the pace and guile of Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic.
After 12 minutes, Redmond’s through ball presented Tadic with the chance of a shot which appeared to have Nick Pope beaten until defender Ben Mee blocked with an outstretched boot.
The pair combined again, this time Tadic finding Redmond in space, for the visitors’ only other first half sight of goal which saw the Saints attacker test Pope with a left-foot shot from the edge of the area which the Burnley keeper gathered comfortably.
Burnley’s dramatic loss of form since the heady days of summer and autumn when they flirted with the leaders in the top flight, has not been helped by a long injury-list which even extended to manager Dyche this week when he tore a thigh muscle on the team’s warm weather training trip to Portugal.
But they still showed glimpses of the play that has Dyche’s side comfortably positioned in the top 10. In a late first half attack, Ashley Westwood’s long pass down the right was crossed, first-time by Lowton, and laid off by Ashley Barnes for Lennon who should have done better than strike his effort directly at opponent Oriol Romeu.
The second half offered little initial sign of an improvement in the fixture’s entertainment value although a 55th minute Southampton corner initially looked promising as James Ward-Prowse picked out Redmond whose effort was blocked by Ward.
Burnley responded, with Gudmundsson’s excellent pass offering Jeff Hendrick a half chance only for goalkeeper McCarthy to beat him to the ball with an important intercepting touch.
They retained the momentum when Westwood’s cross hung invitingly and Barnes jumped impressively
only to head wide a few minutes later.
The opening goal eventually forced Southampton into a more adventurous approach with substitute Sims bringing a fine save from Pope who dived to touch his strong effort onto the post.