Source: Team_Talk
Clarets come back to shock City
Graham Alexander's penalty and a Steven Fletcher effort put Burnley on course for their first top-flight away win since April 1976 but Shaun Wright-Phillips pulled a goal back two minutes before half-time and Kolo Toure and Craig Bellamy seemed to have set the stage for a City win in 15 raucous minutes either side of the break.[LNB]However, after spending almost all the second period on the back foot, Burnley found a final burst of energy three minutes from time.[LNB]Substitute David Nugent crossed for Fletcher, whose nod back invited Kevin McDonald's gleeful finish and drew boos of derision from City fans at the end as their team slipped out of the top four.[LNB]On Monday, the Blues fly out to Abu Dhabi for a friendly with the United Arab Emirates and promotional work in a place which is now a home from home.[LNB]Mark Hughes wanted three points to cushion the landing and impress his new owners, who have spent £200million on the Eastlands outfit so far.[LNB]With Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor returning from injury, there appeared little chance of resistance from Burnley but,[LNB]as owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak are quickly learning, there is far more to the Premier League than merely spending fortunes on players.[LNB]The squad Owen Coyle has assembled cost a fraction of the one Hughes has at his disposal, but what they lack in star quality they go some way to making up for with endeavour, team spirit and an eye for an opportunity.[LNB]And it was with a sense of purpose that Alexander drilled home the penalty after Joleon Lescott had handled Tyrone Mears' right-wing cross.[LNB]Any sense that was a fluke was quickly exposed, as was Wayne Bridge's defending, when Fletcher doubled the visitors' lead.[LNB]Bridge has not quite delivered since his £10million move from Chelsea last January and speculation suggests Hughes has not abandoned the idea of bringing in a replacement.[LNB]Certainly a video of Burnley's second will not be on any showreel for the England international, who found himself upfield and totally helpless as Robbie Blake's quick free-kick opened up City.[LNB]Of the three men who filled the left-back area Bridge was supposed to be patrolling, it was Chris Eagles who received the ball. Fletcher's run was timed to perfection and the cross made his finish easy.[LNB]Few of City's expensive recruits were impressing.[LNB]Wright-Phillips was one and it was no surprise he was the man who struck two minutes before the break, his shot flicking off former City defender Stephen Jordan to raise hopes of a successful second-half comeback.[LNB]Within 13 minutes the seeds of a revival had reached full bloom, Burnley's marking coming under question on both occasions.[LNB]First Lescott got behind Clarke Carlisle at the far post to reach a Gareth Barry free-kick and steer it into Toure's path.[LNB]The City skipper was coming in as Burnley's defenders were rushing out. The ensuing tap-in was simplicity itself.[LNB]City's third was not quite a replica but the cross from Wright-Phillips, who had been sent galloping into the box by Stephen Ireland, was from the same side.[LNB]And Bellamy was also in oceans of space as he fired home the fifth goal of a very impressive season.[LNB]The Welshman set up Carlos Tevez as Burnley struggled to cope but the Argentina star was off target as he arrived at pace and tried to turn the ball home.[LNB]When Adebayor just failed to reach Martin Petrov's cross there was a sense Burnley would have one last opportunity to salvage themselves. McDonald did not let his team down.[LNB][LNB]
