Burnley 1 Aston Villa 1: Lisa Smith's big match verdict

Nov 23 2009 by Lisa Smith, Birmingham Mail

RICHARD Dunne wasn’t the only one left feeling he had missed out on a major prize this week.

Just ask the Burnley fan summoned pitchside at Turf Moor to be presented with the keys to a shiny new motor at half-time only to be told an error meant he hadn’t won it after all.

Dunne, just like that hapless fan, must feel the world is against him having been cheated out of his place at the World Cup Finals next summer by Frenchman Thierry Henry.

But his pain after that crushing handball was at least eased by team-mate Emile Heskey, whose late equaliser for Villa means Dunne might not have the world at his feet next summer but he might just have Europe.

Villa moved into fourth place in the Premier League – for 24 hours at least – thanks to the supersub’s 86th-minute header which cancelled out a ninth-minute opener from Burnley skipper Steve Caldwell.

Villa last won at Turf Moor 73 years ago and it looked like they were going to have to wait at least another season after Owen Coyle’s highly-organised side laid into them almost as harshly as the driving wind and rain.

The visitors looked all at sea from the opening minutes and were punished on nine when a Robbie Blake free-kick was whipped into the six-yard box and neither Dunne nor Brad Friedel dealt with it.

Up popped Caldwell to slam it home from short range to send the Burnley fans into raptures, perhaps sensing Villa might be joining Manchester United and Everton in their list of top-drawer scalps.

Villa struggled to deal with the pressure on the pitch and from the fans off it as Burnley’s biggest home crowd of the season really got behind the Clarets, who reached the top flight through the play-offs in the summer.