GRAHAM ALEXANDER’S first penalty miss in 19 attempts helped lowly City put the first dent in Burnley’s 100 per cent home record.
There were other important factors, such as the woodwork and City’s illustrious keeper David James, who denied the Clarets on several occasions.
But it could have been a whole lot worse for the home side had keeper Brian Jensen not pulled off a fine save from Jon Stead 16 minutes from time. Burnley’s Wade Elliott saw a header bounce off the top of the bar after that and Burnley had close on 30 attempts on goal in total, but manager Brian Laws won’t be putting skipper Alexander on the spot after his gaffe.
“I think we were all shocked to see Graham miss,” said Laws. “It’s a formality. When we get a penalty we expect a goal. He’s had a phenomenal record. He’ll be the first one back at it practising and when we get another penalty he’ll step up to take it.
“I certainly won’t blame Graham for missing a spot-kick.”
City boss Keith Millen was happy with a point, saying: “If you had offered us a clean sheet beforehand we would probably have taken it, but we maybe could have nicked all three points. It has given us something to work on and now we must keep improving.”
Alexander toe-poked his penalty wide in the 25th minute after Danny Haynes brought down Tyrone Mears. Burnley couldn’t have tried harder to make amends and Jack Cork, Jay Rodriguez, Chris Eagles, Chris Iwelumo, Danny Fox and Elliott all went close to extending that proud home record.