Match Reports
Burnley 1 Istanbul Basaksehir 0 (Agg 1-0)
The Clarets are only one more win away from the group stages of the Europa League after again saving the best until last to earn another extra-time win.
By Richard Jolly at Turf Moor
Good things are supposed to come to those who wait and after Burnley had waited 51 years for a European campaign and 283 minutes for a goal of any kind, they got a wonderful reward. Jack Cork scored a glorious goal to finally defeat Istanbul Basaksehir in extra time and mean Burnley’s prize for the grind of a long night is a glamour trip to Greece to face Olympiakos in the Europa League play-off round.
Burnley’s first taste of European football in more than half a century has brought more grind than glamour as like Aberdeen before them, Istanbul Basaksehir took the Clarets to extra-time at Turf Moor. Neither Sean Dyche’s side nor the Turkish team could find a goal in the first 180 minutes of a hard-fought tie between two very different but evenly matched sides.
Those few hardy souls saw a much-changed Burnley team with Sean Dyche, normally a great advocate of continuity in selection, bringing in six players. Ben Gibson was granted a debut after his joint club record £15 million move from Middlesbrough, while Ashley Westwood captained the Clarets for the first time in the absence of Tom Heaton, Ben Mee and the substitute Jack Cork.
An extra-time goal from the substitute Jack Cork took Burnley into a final play-off against Olympiakos to try to claim a place in the Europa League proper, mercifully saving this most tepid of encounters from the farce that would have been a penalty shoot-out.
Based on the 90 minutes that preceded Cork’s goal, it would have been interesting to see if either of the sides could have worked up any enthusiasm for a win. A low-tempo fixture drifted inexorably towards extra time with no one apparently willing to step up the pace to force a result, until Burnley finally broke the deadlock seven minutes into the overtime period.
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It looked for a while as if Chris Wood and Jeff Hendrick might have missed the chance to strike by passing the ball around the penalty area rather than shooting, but when it was laid back to Cork he made no mistake from 20 yards.
Other than that there was almost nothing to get excited about. The TV executives who decided against screening the game made the right decision. The most memorable moment of a limp evening came shortly after Cork’s goal when the Burnley crowd broke into a chant of “You’re not singing any more”. Amusing, because there were no more than a dozen Turkish fans present and they had not uttered a peep all night.
“We made six changes and still managed to beat a good side,” Sean Dyche said. “It shows our squad mentality, we were still pressing after 97 minutes and that’s how we got the goal.”
In normal time Burnley created the first clear-cut opening when Ashley Barnes got away with a rather obvious shove on Alexandru Epureanu on the touchline and decided his luck must be in, advancing into the penalty area to shoot selfishly into the side-netting with teammates waiting in the middle. A weak clearance by Mert Gunok was pounced on by Phil Bardsley, who kept his rising drive on target from outside the area, only for the goalkeeper to redeem himself with a diving save.
Confronted by a team of limited ambition, Dyche’s slightly-less-than-full-strength side struggled to make the most of early dominance, enjoying plenty of possession but not really carving out any chances.
In particular they failed to offer any penetration down the flanks, essential to bring the best out of Barnes and Sam Vokes, and would have been embarrassed had Basaksehir managed to snatch the lead. The visitors had two excellent chances to do just that, first when Hendrick was dispossessed to allow Edin Visca a shot from the edge of the area, then when Kerim Frei found a way round the back of the home defence to give Visca a second chance from closer range. Joe Hart was equal to both, making two important saves in the closing minutes of the first half, though neither was as vital as the diving stop he made in the final seconds of extra time to deny Basaksehir a winner. “We tried everything but we couldn’t beat an experienced goalkeeper,” the Basaksehir coach, Abdulla Avci, said.
Burnley should have gone ahead at the start of the second half when Ashley Westwood arrowed in a cross from the left to an unmarked Barnes, yet from an inviting position on the six-yard line in front of goal the normally reliable striker put his header over the bar.
Basaksehir sent on Emmanuel Adebayor midway through the second half while Burnley kept Wood back until eight minutes from the end. The former did have a late chance, from a cross from the right, but shanked his shot into the crowd in a manner that would have been familiar to anyone who saw him in action for Arsenal, Manchester City or Spurs.
His style has often been euphemistically described as languid. On this occasion he was far from on his own.
Over on BT Sport was Staten Island against Des Moines. The big one. Game two of baseball's Little League World Series.
There could only have been a handful watching. A handful more than would have turned this on, the broadcasters must have argued. Burnley could not shift the rights to Emmanuel Adebayor's return to England - not to subscriptions channels, not to terrestrial. There was not even a dodgy stream online.
TV executives kept the loose change in their pockets and were quite right to do so. The European adventure has not really kicked off for Burnley. They will hope that the quite stunning winner on Thursday night, curling into the far corner of Istanbul Basaksehir's net after leaving Jack Cork's boot 25 yards out, serves to ignite it.
Jack Cork rifled in a 97th-minute winner to keep Burnley on course for the group stage
The midfielder had netted in the previous round to break the deadlock against Aberdeen
MATCH FACTS Burnley (4-4-1-1): Hart 7.5; Bardsley 7, Long 7, Gibson 6.5, Ward 6; Lennon 6.5 (Gudmundsson 58, 6), Hendrick 6, Westwood 6 (Cork 82), Taylor 6.5; Barnes 5.5 (Tarkowski 120); Vokes 6 (Wood 82) Subs not used: Legzdins, Lowton, McNeil Manager: Sean Dyche 5 Istanbul Basaksehir (4-2-3-1): Gunok 7; Caicara 6, Da Costa 7, Epureanu 6, Clichy 7; Emre 6.5, Tekdemir 6 (Inler 92); Visca 8, Kahveci 6.5 (Jojic 109), Frei 6 (Napoleoni 102); Bajic 5 (Adebayor 66, 6) Subs not used: Babacan, Attamah, Ucar Manager: Abdullah Avci 6 Ref: Istvan Kovacs (Rom) 5 Att: 16,583 MOM: Visca
These were two goalless legs, two joyless legs masked by Cork's brilliance in extra time. Sean Dyche's team are not playing with freedom and, while solid defensively, are really struggling for goals.
'A sublime goal,' Dyche said. 'We don't get enough credit for stuff like that. We're a work in progress in the top third. It's always the hardest part. Elsewhere we're very organised, the tactical organisation was good.'
Dyche insisted this was a decent performance against quality opposition but the lack of interest in this third qualifying round was striking. Not just from the television: Basaksehir did not sell a single ticket at Turf Moor. The 15 or so huddled in the away end were friends and family of the team.
'You're not singing any more,' they sang at the travellers as Cork wheeled away in celebration. Hopefully the feel of this competition will change for Burnley from here. Olympiacos are next. Things should ramp up a notch.
Extra time was tense, finally a sense of occasion. Adebayor almost equalised with a header, Joe Hart had to produce a stellar save and the keeper, Mert Gunok, ended up camped in Burnley's penalty area.
Joe Hart has kept a clean sheet in three successive games for the first time since March 2016
Hart was a strong positive again, as was record signing Ben Gibson on debut. The goalkeeper kept the second leg scoreless with a string of decent saves, mostly from the Bosnian winger Edin Visca.
'He was certainly the difference,' bemoaned Basaksehir manager Abdullah Avi. 'Our opponents prefer to play more long balls. I am thanking my players for respecting the game.'
The Clarets did miss chances, Ashley Barnes the guilty man in normal time, fired into the side-netting when clean through and then headed over the bar while unmarked right in front of goal.
Dyche's side only rarely stepped up the pace and, given they have scored only two goals in normal time in five matches, finding another way of breaking teams down is an obvious necessity.
Thankfully Cork managed it. 'We have quality for those moments of quality,' Dyche said.
Jeff Hendrick (left) shares a joke with ex-Arsenal and Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor
