Burnley 1 Newcastle United 1

George Boyd goal helps Burnley out of bottom three against Newcastle

Burnley 1 Newcastle 1

Burnley
George Boyd 34
Newcastle
Papiss Cisse 48


George Boyd opened the scoring for Burnley against Newcastle after Danny Ings set him up. 

Burnley climbed out of the bottom three with a point against Newcastle, though a third win in four games eluded them through letting a half-time lead slip. With the teams just above them losing, three points would have been of immense value, but Papiss Cissé pounced to cancel out George Boyd’s opener early in the second half and the home side had to be satisfied with merely extending their unbeaten run.

“There were good signs from us again, we know we can play,” Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager, said. “But this is a relentless, unforgiving division and we have to turn nearlys into actuals. We had a real big chance for 2-0 just before the interval and that might have swung it for us.”

Alan Pardew acknowledged his patched-up side’s first-half display had been lacklustre. “It was hard to watch, I was pleased to see our fans stayed for the second half,” the Newcastle manager said. “Burnley close you down, you have to take more risks against them than we were doing. We took risks in the second half and it worked. We put Rémy Cabella on for his technical ability and we got a reward. He’s only an eight stone Frenchman but he played like a rugby prop forward.”

Mobile phones and the internet were new and barely-acknowledged inventions the last time these two sides met. This was not only the first-ever Premier League encounter between Burnley and Newcastle, thanks to the latter spending a season in the Championship when the Lancashire club came up last time under Owen Coyle, it was the first meeting of any kind since 1983, when both teams were in the old Second Division.

It was Burnley who were relegated 31 years ago, despite possessing players of the quality of Martin Dobson and Trevor Steven. Relegation has inevitably haunted their dreams this season too, though two wins and a draw in their last three games at least lifted Dyche’s side off the bottom and Danny Ings’ goals have permitted a degree of optimism about the future. The Burnley striker was quickly into the action here, reading Scott Arfield’s reverse pass into the area in the opening minutes and bringing the first save of the game from Rob Elliot. Newcastle attacks were more sporadic, though Tom Heaton had to make a save from Sammy Ameobi seconds after Ashley Barnes wasted a chance at the other end and Cissé should have done better than fire high into the Jimmy McIlroy stand from Yoan Gouffran’s far-post knockdown.

By the half-hour stage the running total of chances created was much more evenly shared, and it could be argued Newcastle should have taken the lead when a strong run by Mehdi Abeid took him through Burnley’s back line and all the way into the penalty area, only to place his shot too close to the goalkeeper. Instead Burnley took the lead with a handsome strike on their next attack. With his back to goal Ings guided a header back to Boyd from the edge of the visitors’ penalty area, and from just inside the D the midfielder looked up and beat Elliot with a perfectly- struck left-foot shot. Ings and Boyd were also involved in the move right at the end of the first half that saw David Jones blaze a shot over the bar when clear on goal.

They were left regretting that profligacy when Newcastle scored at the start of the second half. Alan Pardew made a double substitution, sending on Steven Taylor and Cabella, and the winger struck lucky almost immediately. From Cabella’s blocked shot, the ball ran for Daryl Janmaat to cross, and Gouffran’s flick helped it into the path of Cissé in front of goal. Burnley were sliced wide open in a way they had not been throughout the first half, and when the ball reached the striker there was never any doubt that he would find the target for his fifth goal of the season.

Predictably Newcastle began playing with more confidence and authority after that, and Michael Keane was booked for halting Massadio Haidara’s flying run down the left wing by illegal means. Burnley suffered a further setback when Stephen Ward had to depart on a stretcher following a collision with Gouffran and spent most of the rest of the game on the back foot. Marney put a shot over near the end but it was a hopeful, rather tired effort from distance. Missing several first-team regulars, Newcastle, too, were tired at the close, Emmanuel Rivière conjuring a late chance for Cissé to steal a winner but the striker fell over before he could shoot.

Guardian