The Sunday Times May 1, 2022 7BURNLEY
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May 7Aston Villa (h)
May 15Tottenham (a)
May 19Aston Villa (a)
May 22Newcastle Utd (h)Burnley produced a stunning late
comeback to send out another
powerful signal that they have no
intention of being relegated from the
Premier League, despite being
written off by many after the sacking
of Sean Dyche two weeks ago. It was a
third win in a row under the
caretaker manager, Mike Jackson. As
for Watford, this was a record 11th
home league defeat in a row and they
are all but down.
They led for much of the game,
after an early James Tarkowski own
goal, but two goals in the final seven
minutes from Jack Cork and Josh
Brownhill completed a remarkable
turnaround. Burnley are five points
clear of third-bottom Everton, who
play Chelsea this afternoon.
“The games are emotionally
charged at the moment, it is just
about finding a way of winning
them,” Jackson said. “That is this
group, that is what they do.”
The club’s owners cannot take all
the credit for the revival, particularly
since they were intent on bringing in
a permanent replacement, which did
o’t happen. Jackson, however, has
done a brilliant job in, as he puts it,
“reminding this group what they are
about”.
It was Watford who caught the eye
with a bright opening and within
eight minutes they had taken the
lead. Kiko Femenía sent in a cross
from the right that was flicked on to
Juraj Kucka at the far post. His shot
crashed off the underside of the
crossbar, bounced off the helpless
Tarkowski and ended up in the back
of the net.
Burnley struggled to keep
possession and in the 13th minute
Kucka was again given space. This
time his shot was well blocked by
Tarkowski, who clearly had shrugged
off his earlier misfortune. Burnley
attempted to bustle their way back
into the game with Brownhill sending
a ferocious shot from the edge of the
penalty area just wide and Dwight
Burnley’s great escape within reach
McNeil making a great surge into the
box. Or so the referee Craig Pawson
thought, as he awarded a penalty in
the 28th minute when the winger
became sandwiched between
Moussa Sissoko and Hassane Kamara.
Pawson was quickly contradicted by
VAR Stuart Attwell, who informed
him the infringement had occurred
just outside the box and McNeil’s
effort from the free kick was weak.
Burnley started the second half
brightly, committing players forward
in numbers that would have been
rarely seen in the Premier League
under Dyche. They found some realBrownhill flanked by Cork, right, and McNeil, celebrates his goal that gave Burnley a third successive victory under JacksonPaul Rowan
Vicarage Road
ROB NEWELL/CAMERASPORT/GETTY IMAGES
WATFORD
Tarkowski (og) 8 1
BURNLEY
Cork 83, Brownhill 86 2LEEDS UNITED
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May 8Arsenal (a)
May 11Chelsea (h)
May 15Brighton (h)
May 22Brentford (a)EVERTON
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TodayChelsea (h)
May 8Leicester City (a)
May 11Watford (a)
May 15Brentford (h)
May 19Crystal Palace (h)
May 22Arsenal (a)RELEGATION
RUN-INWATFORD
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May 7Crystal Palace (a)
May 11Everton (h)
May 15Leicester City (h)
May 22Chelsea (a)purpose when Ashley Barnes
replaced the ineffective Wout
Weghorst on the hour.
Burnley were now starting to
dominate as Watford sat deeper and
became more wayward with their use
of the ball. Aaron Lennon, who had
missed a great opportunity at the
beginning of the half, had a volley
blocked for a corner. It was hit to the
far post where Barnes smacked a
header that Foster somehow
managed to tip on to the crossbar.
Eight minutes from time, Burnley
equalised when Charlie Taylor was
given too much space down the leftafter a pathetic attempt at a tackle by
Kucka, and he flashed in a great cross
which was met with an equally
impressive header from Cork.
Delight turned to delirium for the
travelling supporters in the 86th
minute when Matej Vydra laid the
ball off to Brownhill, who slammed it
low into the net.
“There is a massive fear factor
which has been here since before we
came in,” Ray Lewington, the
Watford assistant manager, said.
“With half an hour gone they
dropped off and tried to protect the
lead. That allowed balls going into thebox and you are playing Russian
roulette then.”
Lewington was standing in during
post-match media duties for Roy
Hodgson, the manager, who was in
the dugout but feeling unwell.Star man Jack Cork (Burnley).
Watford (4-3-3): B Foster 8 — K Femenía 6,
C Kabasele 6, Samir 7, H Kamara 7 — M Sissoko 6,
I Louza 7, J Kucka 6 — I Sarr 7, João Pedro 6,
E Dennis 6. Booked Kucka.
Burnley (4-4-2): N Pope 7 — C Roberts 7, N Collins
7, J Tarkowski 6, C Taylor 8 — D McNeil 7, J Cork 8,
J Brownhill 7, A Lennon 6 (M Lowton 89) —
W Weghorst 5 (A Barnes 60, 7), M Vydra 7 (D
Stephens 90). Booked Collins, Tarkowski.
Referee C Pawson. Attendance 20,738Norwich are already relegatedSam Surridge scored a hat-trick as
Nottingham Forest hit five goals to
remain firmly in the hunt for a
return to the Premier League.
It is 23 years since Forest last
played in the top flight and they
are potentially only two wins
away from promotion.
This emphatic result kept
them three points behind
Bournemouth in second
going into their trip to
the Vitality Stadium on
Tuesday night to take
on Scott Parker’s side.
With a better goal
difference, a win in that game
and then away to Hull City on
Saturday would help Forest
complete a promotion miracle,Forest stay
hot on the
heels of
Parker’s
men
given that they started the season
with one point from seven games.
Chris Hughton was sacked, Steve
Cooper took over and Forest have
been on a roll ever since.
“We go into that game full of
confidence, winning games and
scoring goals,” Cooper said. “That’s
exactly what you want. This was a
brilliant win. It was 5-1 but it could
easily have been double.”
With the City Ground a sea of red,
Forest began in a hurry, and they
could have been in front well before
the ball finally ended up in the away
side’s net midway through the first
half. Under pressure from Jack
Colback in dealing with Djed
Spence’s low cross, Cyrus Christie
ended up on the floor and unable to
keep the ball out despite trying to
stop it with his hand.
The initial call from referee
Graham Scott was a penalty and red
card, but with help from the fourth
official, the goal was given and
Christie stayed on with a yellow.
Swansea crafted a fine equaliserwhen Matt Grimes picked out
Michael Obafemi in the area and the
young striker’s close control and
finish was excellent.
But three goals in 21 minutes after
the break rewarded Surridge’s
persistence. First, the striker headed
in James Garner’s corner and the two
players combined again to round off
a sweeping move with Surridge
curling home. Surridge then
hammered home a rebound after Joel
Latibeaudiere’s deflected cross had
come back off the bar.
Alex Mighten, the substitute,
completed the scoring, to the sound
of “AFC Bournemouth, we’re coming
for you” from the terraces.Star man Sam Surridge (Nottingham Forest)
Nottingham Forest (3-5-2): B Samba 6 — S Cook
6, J Worrall 7, S McKenna 6 — D Spence 7, R Yates
7, P Zinckernagel 7 (J Lolley 70, 4), J Garner 8, J
Colback 7 (R Laryea 83) — B Johnson 7, S Surridge
9 (A Mighten 76, 6).
Swansea (4-2-3-1): A Fisher 8 — C Christie 5, J
Latibeaudiere 5, K Naughton 6, R Manning 5 (O
Ntcham 57, 4) — F Downes 6, M Grimes 6 — C
Congreve 5 (J Paterson 57, 4), R Piroe 6 (J Fulton
78), H Wolf 5 — M Obafemi 6. Booked Christie,
Latibeaudiere. Referee G ScottSurridge’s second-half
hat-trick boosted Forest’s
promotion hopes
Adam Lanigan Real Madrid beat Espanyol 4-0
yesterday to be crowned La Liga
champions, making Carlo
Ancelotti the first manager to win
the title in all five of Europe’s
major leagues. Ancelotti has also
won titles in Italy’s Serie A (AC
Milan), France’s Ligue 1 (Paris St
Germain), the Premier League
(Chelsea) and the Bundesliga
(Bayern Munich). The win gave
Real a 17-point lead over Sevilla
who have four games to play. Real
claimed their 35th title thanks to
two goals from Rodrygo and one
apiece from Marco Asensio and
Karim Benzema.
Villarreal, who host Liverpool in
the Champions League semi-final
second leg on Tuesday, were
beaten 2-1 by Alaves.ANCELOTTI MAKES
EUROPEAN HISTORYNOTTINGHAM FOREST
Christie (og) 22, Surridge 48, 52, 69, 5
Mighten 84
SWANSEA CITY
Obafemi 28 1