Published: Tuesday, 29th January, 2008 23:26
Blues suffer third straight loss
By Observer Sport
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Southern Football League
Division One South & West
Burnham 1, Winchester City 3
BURNHAM FC lost their third game in a row on Tuesday night as their New Year slump continued at home to Winchester City.
City skipper Dave Allen gave an impressive performance, scoring twice and setting up the third as he led the Hampshire side to just their second away win of the season.
After falling behind to an early goal, Burnham rallied well but failed to take advantage of a dominating spell leading up to half-time.
Their opportunity was missed and Winchester went 3-0 up before the Blues finally made an impression on the scoresheet through new signing Craig O’Connor in the 89th minute.
It started badly from the word go when centre-back Ryan Wharton, who had looked a bit fragile during the pre-match warm-up, pulled up with injury and had to leave the pitch for treatment.
Winchester took advantage of his absence to score the opener after six minutes. Confusion reigned in the home penalty area after a cross from the right and skipper Dave Allen was given time and space to place the ball past helpless Blues goalkeeper Jon Beames.
Wharton was replaced and Ryan Bird moved to centre-back to accommodate the introduction of Leon Yarnie, allowing Burnham to set about getting back into the match.
And they initially did a good job. Yarnie and O’Conner were causing trouble up front while Daryl Jones and Chris Owens began to make good headway down the left flank.
Jones came very close to equalising when he hit a first-time half-volley from the edge of the area that beat Winchester stopper Clint Davies hands down but fizzed just over the crossbar.
Yarnie should have done better when he sprung the off-side trap and muscled his way through on goal, but failed to finish.
And Jones had Burnham’s best chance of the half when a dummy run from Yarnie created a gap for him to cut inside and place a low shot to the left of Davies, who pulled off a tremendous save.
However, during this spell of Burnham dominance Winchester, and especially Allen, always looked dangerous on the counter-attack.
Richard Gregory should have doubled the lead after 44 minutes when the Blues back four showed an uncharacteristic lack of composure under pressure.
And predictably Allen did make it 2-0 in the fourth minute of injury-time at the end of the first half. He ran down the left wing relatively unchallenged and unleashed a bullet of a shot that cannoned off the far post and gave Beames no chance once again.
The second goal was a crucial blow to Burnham, who had been on top for most of the game, but failed find the same form in the second half.
They worked hard to get back into the match, but quickly began to tire and all hopes of a comeback ended when Simon Goodrham was sent-off for a second bookable offence after a mis-timed tackle born of frustration.
A rare mistake from Beames allowed Winchester substitute James Knight to grab their third goal of the night after the goalkeeper spilt a shot from Allen.
Burnham did find a consolation when substitute Jordan Dowdican powered through the middle and played O’Connor in for a simple finish in the closing stages.
The Blues will be hoping to get their season back on track when they welcome Farnborough to The Gore on Saturday.
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