Andy Cooke-ing up a cup upset!

ANDY Cooke's nose for goal, allied to a collective desire to fight for the cause, has given Burnley every chance of pulling off a cup upset at Turf Moor next Tuesday night.

Cooke hauled the Clarets back into this Worthington Cup first round tie when he poached an equaliser completely against the run of play.

But it took a combined effort after half-time to secure the result which makes the second leg a potential minefield for Neil Warnock's Bury.

Burnley pulled together and slugged it out toe to toe with their First Division opponents, having earlier threatened to surrender with barely a whimper.

The back four knuckled down to fight their corner and in midfield they started to win their share of tackles, which stopped the game going Bury's way.

Such was the turn-around that for the early part of the second half the visitors looked the more likely winners.

Glen Little came alive to show that he can do to Division One defenders what he is doing week-in, week-out at the lower level. And Cooke was denied a possible second from a clear run on goal by Andy Woodward, who should be filling in a lottery ticket tonight given the luck he demonstrated in escaping punishment completely.

While deficiencies remain in the Burnley side manager Stan Ternent, back on his old stamping ground, must be encouraged by the way his players responded to a situation that threatened to engulf them.

Nick Daws and Lenny Johnrose had completely dominated midfield in the first half and, up front, Andy Preece and Rob Matthews were given too much licence to make their presence felt.

Ternent made one switch at half-time when he replaced Michael Williams with Neil Moore but most of the Burnley side were unrecognisable as they transformed the game.

There had been no little effort up front where Cooke was partnered by Ronnie Jepson, making his full debut in place of Andy Payton who was not risked because of his hamstring problem.

But it wasn't until those behind them found the belief to give more positive support that Burnley carried any potency.

Jepson and Cooke worked tirelessly against Bury's three central defenders and were replaced five minutes from time by Kevin Henderson and Colin Carr-Lawton.

The three substitutes used were permed from five following a change in the competition rules which stretched Burnley's resources to the limit. Every available player, bar Mark Winstanley, was pressed into service and the only two that didn't feature were reserve keeper Craig Mawson and Mark Robertson who is easing his way back from injury.

His lack of match practice may have contributed to Moore being the one to come on in the centre of midfield, although Moore's defensive experience also came in handy as he never ventured over half-way and helped to shore things up.

But while Moore contributed to Burnley's improvement his presence in an unfamiliar position also highlighted Ternent's need to bolster his squad in that department.

Defensively there have also been question marks and Bury's 17th-minute opener showed that not all the answers are yet in place.

When Preece flicked on Steve Redmond's long ball there was every opportunity to snuff out the danger.

But Chris Brass failed to deal with the threat and, at the second attempt, Rob Matthews gratefully stroked the ball past Tony Parks.

A lack of authority threatened to undermine Burnley further before Bury produced a gaffe of their own to gift Cooke the equaliser 12 minutes later.

Redmond was the provider again only this time he shouldn't have been so generous. Jepson's flick-on was never going to reach Dean Kiely in the Bury goal but as Redmond watched Cooke nipped in to lob the ball neatly beyond the stranded keeper to get off the mark in clinical style.

Burnley somehow did enough to survive up to the break as Steve Blatherwick invariably made a priceless interception in the nick of time as Parks was tested only once by Preece on the turn.

And for Bury it represented a missed opportunity as Burnley came back out fired up and meaning business.

Little signalled their intentions with a storming run through the middle which ended with a Kiely save before the Bury keeper was given a stiffer test by Little again after he linked superbly with the ever-willing Jepson.

Woodward should then have seen the red card for hauling down Cooke after the Burnley striker had got away from him in pursuit of a Jepson ball over the top.

Bury's only riposte was a Matthews shot which grazed the outside of the post before they finished with a flurry to confirm that despite conceding home advantage with the scores level Burnley still have plenty to do to progress from the return leg. Their best effort however came from Blatherwick who was only inches away from sending a spectacular volley into the top corner of his own net which briefly stopped the hearts of the Burnley fans being urged on in their support by Ternent in the dying stages.

Match facts

Burnley (4-4-2): Parks; (from right) Brass, Blatherwick, Howey, Morgan; Little, C Smith, Williams (Moore 46), P Smith; Cooke (Carr-Lawton 85), Jepson (Henderson 85). Subs: Robertson, Mawson (gk). Goal: Cooke 29 mins.

Bury (5-2-3 manager Neil Warnock): Kiely; (from right): Woodward, Lucketti, Redmond, Swailes, Barrick; Daws, Johnrose; Matthews (D'Jaffo 75), Ellis (Rigby 67, Armstrong 77), Preece. Subs: Patterson, Blackwell (gk).

Goal attempts: Burnley 4, Bury 6.

On target: Burnley 3, Bury 3.

Corners: Burnley 0, Bury 7.

Off-side:Burnley 5, Bury 0.

Free-kicks against: Burnley 7, Bury 9.

Booked: None.

Referee: George Cain (Bootle) 5.

Attendance: 3,927.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.