SAM VOKES stole all three points in a Burnley burglary.
The Clarets had not managed a single effort on target until substitute Vokes headed in Johann Gudmundsson’s cross with less than 10 minutes to go.
Up to that point, a Pope had ignored the prayers of the home fans for a goal at St Mary’s. Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope had made three decent saves to stop the home side earning a reward for their dominance of possession and territory. But visiting boss Sean Dyche showed more ambition by bringing on Vokes and Ashley Barnes with 25 minutes to go and had his reward. The Saints, yet again, were booed at the final whistle. Saints were much the better side in the first half, although that wasn’t saying a great deal.
The game had to wait until the 34th minute for its first shot on target, when Sofiane Boufal’s volley forced a save out of Nick Pope. James Tarkowski then made a vital block on a shot from Ryan Bertrand, who was having plenty of joy down the Saints’ left, and Pope made another near-divine intervention to stop Nathan Redmond opening the scoring.
Chris Wood was back from injury for Burnley but the Kiwi striker might as well have already been in New Zealand preparing for his country’s World Cup play-off.
The Clarets were one dimensional, at best, going forward and had only two off-target shots by Gudmundsson to show for the opening 45 minutes. There was plenty of effort from Dyche’s men and some committed defending, but precious little quality in their passing or creativity.
Little changed after the break. Manolo Gabbiadini should have done better than head the ball wide from a Cedric cross, then Pope produced an outstanding save to keep out Maya Yoshida’s shot after a corner was half cleared. Southampton boss Mauricio Pellegrino brought on Charlie Austin for the ineffective Gabbiadini at the same time as Burnley’s double change, and later introduced Shane Long as well.
But it was Vokes who broke the deadlock and the tedium.
From The Sun
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