Burnley moved into the Champions League places after a late goal from substitute Ashley Barnes was enough to hand them a 1-0 at home to Stoke City.
Not the most exciting of games as neither side produced much, and seemingly heading for a 0-0 bore draw, it wasn’t until the 89th minute that Barnes clinched the vital victory for the Clarets.
The three vital points lifts Sean Dyche's side into fourth place for at least 24 hours ahead of Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, who all play tonight.
For Stoke, their drab season continues. With 15 games played they have amassed only 16 points, and losing four of their last five Premier League games, manager Mark Hughes will be getting nervous about his future.
The Potters began the game well and could have scored in the first few minutes. Peter Crouch with the chance but he was unable to latch onto a wayward James Tarkowski clearance at the back post as Nick Pope pushed the ball clear.
Pope saved the home side again a few minutes later, this time collecting a strong shot from Kurt Zouma after a Xherdan Shaqiri corner.
Stoke probably had the best chance of the half just before the half hour mark. Shaqiri slipped in Mame Biram Diouf down the right-hand side of the box. Dioufgot onto the ball, but was closely guarded by Tarkowski, but the forward found space to fire a shot, which just skimmed the corner of the crossbar.
Burnley, hadn’t done much for most of the half but they grew into the game and ended the first half strongly. With five minutes of the first half remaining, Scott Arfield saw an effort blocked by a melee of bodies in the box and the ball fell kindly to Johann Berg Gudmundsson, whose curling effort went wide of the goal.
The second half was just as dour, and it took until the 69th minute for the first real chance, with Steven Defour latching onto a poor Kevin Wimmer clearance and taking a touch before firing a powerful volley, but it was straight down the throat of Stoke keeper Butland.
Crouch could have won it for Stoke just before Burnley scored. With 3 minutes remaining the former England striker had space on the left side of the box, but as he went to shoot, Crouch slipped and lost control on the slippery surface and his effort went just over the crossbar.
And just as it seemed Burnley had spurned a great chance to move into the top 4, up popped Barnes who finally found the back of the net. Jack Cork played the ball forward to the striker at the edge of the box, and he played a one-two with Arfield before hammering the ball into the back of the net, to send Burnley’s supporters into wild celebrations.
Sources:
www.bbc.co.uk
www.skysports.com
www.itv.com
