Welcome back to Turf Moor and the potentially epic journey of Burnley FC conquering English football with a band of Irishmen, some B’s and the odd Frenchman.  Towards the end of the previous episode, we had fallen into a slump and began descending Division One faster than the Pepsi Max roller coaster, see handy graphic below. 

We begin with a home tie against Man City, the roars have been few and far between since the first six or seven games of the season and it looks like they won’t be coming back for a little while longer.  In a dull game, we can’t score but Uwe does.

When you are struggling to score, the last thing you want to do is travel to Pride Park and face Mart Poom, the man can be near unbeatable at times. Luckily, Derby must be low on confidence after relegation from the Premier League and we are helped by a McIntyre red card, however a 4-1 lead with 10 minutes to go is nearly not enough, we do our best to throw it all away, but we manage to hang on for a much needed three points.

Away to QPR next, they have signed Nigel Martyn from Leeds, and he is an absolute fu*ker in goal, 17 shots, 10 on target, he only concedes one, and of course they score two.

After Nigel puts in a MOM performance we play Stockport at home, followed by Portsmouth away and finally Huddersfield at the McAlpine.  In all three of those games the opposition keeper gets the MOM award. We beat Stockport 1-0 but lose the other two.  The Portsmouth game was the League Cup third round, and I completely forgot that it was only a single legged tie, I even said to myself after we lost, “Oh it will be alright, we will smash them at home” only to be shocked when I saw the “We are disappointed in the League Cup exit page”.  Times are tough and it’s starting to affect me. (In the game, I’m ok otherwise).

We head to Oxford, Phil Whitehead is in goal, he plays and 8 but doesn’t get MOM.  In fact, it is all going well and at halftime as we lead 2-0.  The second half is one to forget though, the game teases us into thinking we might hold on to a 2-1 win before Stuart Massey pops up in the 90th minute to make it 2-2.  We can’t catch a break at the moment, the low confidence is really having an effect on us.

Port Vale are our next opponents. We beat them in the League Cup earlier in the season, however within the first 10 minutes we are down 0-1 and then Freddy Nee misses a penalty.  However, he redeems himself with two fine goals and we manage what has become a rare home win.

Birmingham are second in the table and we are 8th, so there is limited optimism when we travel to St Andrews.  However Freddy is at it again, another two goals and a surprise come from behind victory, we haven’t won two in a row since Queen Victoria was on the throne!

With the momentum building we travel to Upton Park to face the team we beat 5-0 on the opening day, that feels like a while ago now.  There were two whole shots on target in a game where nothing happens.

Fortunately Reading come to town the following weekend and Sal Bibbo is much more open to conceding some goals.  Finally, a home result worthy of a Turf Roar.

I once won the FA Cup with Burnley when I was in Division 1, one of my main tactics in that save was to buy quality players who were transfer listed because they weren’t playing.  That save I had no rules to follow, so there were a lot more potential targets, however I’ve had my eye on David Connolly for a while, he had been playing for Feyenoord and has scored five in eight for Ireland.  As soon as I discover he wants to leave I pounce, spending a clean mill on the man.  His stats aren’t great, but he is fast and can shoot so it’s worth a shot.  Inexplicably the moment he joins his moral becomes low, WFT Dave mate.

I switch to an attacking 4-4-2 formation but adjust the arrows and play direct, we have 21 shots against Swindon and score four goals, including one from new but slightly sad Dave.

Hoping to exact revenge against Norwich we play them off the park but just can’t score, disappointed!

After Christmas at home with the family, King Kyle comes in on Boxing Day and hands in his transfer request.  It’s a sad day but I can’t say no, there is no way he could cut it in Division 1, but he was an absolute hero for a season and I love him for it.

Something is a building, Wiki rivals Bolton can’t even hit the target and new boy Dave scores the only goal, it should have been more, but a win is a win.

Something might be building, however what we are not building is a cup run.  At home to third division Swansea Johnny Candles decides to play in a blind fold and lets in every single shot they have.  At least I was expecting the disappointed board message this time.

It’s another Wiki rival in the league, Bradford come to the Moor and boy do we roar against them.  Freddy and Dave get the goals, Freddy with a six minute hat trick! All of this despite Kerns getting sent off in the third minute.

We end the episode away at the Valley.  Dave scores again in a comfortable 2-0 win, it’s been a serious turn around in the last half of the episode.  Since losing to Huddersfield on October 31st we haven’t lost a match in the League having won seven and drawn three, 24 points from a possible 30.

The 10-game unbeaten streak has lifted us back up to 3rd, only three points adrift of leaders Derby and one point from automatic promotion.  Hopefully we haven’t just reached the top of the rollercoaster before another inevitable drop.

Join us next week for the final 16 games, will Freddy and Dave keep scoring, was 4-4-2 (attacking, direct) the answer all along?