Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox give their take as Albion draw 1-1 at Burnley.
John Swift fired Albion ahead in the first half with a stunner - before Burnley hit back three minutes later when Joe Wildsmith spilled a ball to the feel of Zian Flemming.
Adam Armstrong went close for Albion with both sides hitting the bar as the spoils were shared.
John Swift fired Albion ahead in the first half with a stunner - before Burnley hit back three minutes later when Joe Wildsmith spilled a ball to the feel of Zian Flemming.
Adam Armstrong went close for Albion with both sides hitting the bar as the spoils were shared.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Buggies fans welcome to Express and Start.com. My name is Jonny Truery. I'm here at Turf
00:12Mall with Buggies correspondent Lewis Cox. I've put in another top performance on the
00:18road against one of the championship big boys. A very, very good point here at Burnley. I'll
00:24do a Thunderbolt from John Swift and then a Howler from Joe Wildsmith. At the other
00:30end, Coxie, another very good point. Could, could, maybe not should, but could get all
00:36three. No, it wouldn't be. It could have, yeah. Or am I being greedy? No, no, maybe.
00:41Maybe. But, you know, we're a bit excitable, aren't we, Jonny? And we can forgive you for
00:45that because I share it, you know. They were really good tonight, weren't they? I'm sure
00:50there were probably 1,200, 1,500 travelling buggies in that stand there. Well, they were
00:55feeling it. You could hear them all night, really, but certainly towards the end. Very,
00:59very good value for that point. As you say, it could have been all three, but it could
01:04have also been all three to Burnley, couldn't it? It could have gone either way. I think
01:09unsurprisingly, defences came out on top, I would say. And that's nothing against the
01:16midfield and attack of both sides. Credit, you know, it's no surprise when it comes to
01:21Burnley, their defensive record's a joke, isn't it? Now, 11 goals conceded in the league
01:26for them this season and Albion's defensive record, by and large, has been good, albeit
01:31they're now not under a defensive manager, aren't they? We've had a switch in mentality,
01:35they're now an attacking side, an offensive side. It came out of the go, didn't it? Yeah,
01:39like at Leeds recently, but it was a bit of a different game, wasn't it? And the point
01:43I'm getting on to, and I think the real noteworthy discussion point of tonight, yes, you're
01:47right, a wonder goal really and a terrible error from the keeper, but the real talking
01:51point tonight is the side we saw, the five changes, the change of system, an almost unrecognisable
01:57bench. We thought we might see an interesting team tonight, a couple of changes. Obviously
02:03there's a suspension for Furlong, stuff like that, resting Bartley, but we saw a real surprising
02:09side I think, didn't we? And a system change, a pretty big one, with Diakite in the back
02:14three, who's typically a midfielder, and how good was he? And how good were Albion in that
02:18shape? And how, not just Diakite really, I think you could go throughout the side. Obviously
02:23Joe Wildsmith in goal, we'll get on to it, has had a bit of a night to forget in that
02:26one moment, otherwise pretty untested. Adam Armstrong up top, I think like the weekend,
02:31worked hard, didn't have, obviously scored a penalty the weekend, didn't have a goal
02:34to show for it, had one good chance, didn't he? He is working really hard off the ball
02:41and he's a vital cog within this, but the rest of the outfield players, I thought to
02:46him, man, superb.
02:47Yeah, it kind of again showed the progression under Mowbray, that Albion had come here,
02:51and not disappointed with the point, but like we said it could have been more. You mentioned
02:55the selection there, Cox, the fans were going, man, before the game, what's Mowbray doing?
03:00There was always going to be a reason behind it, and he's outlined that there was knocks,
03:03you know, Tom Fellows didn't travel tonight because he had a family bereavement, Tammy
03:07Banner, he's picked up a little bit of a knock in training, so it did move it around, Diakite
03:11at the back, I'll admit, I wasn't overly enamoured by the selection on that, but what it did
03:17show is, at times, early in the season, we kind of, well I did, went on and on about
03:23the depth, and then after a while, you're kind of like, Albion's squad's not got a lot
03:27of strength in depth, but it showed that they've got versatility in depth, you've got someone
03:32like Isaac Price arguably playing a bit of a wing-back role tonight, you've got Ousmane
03:36Diakite going into the back three, and was absolutely superb, you know, we'd have added
03:39a brick if you'd have launched it on from the back of the goal, just did really, really
03:45well, and they just showed that, even though they had to make them changes, they've come
03:51to, you know, some of the best defensive record in the league, and given them a real skin.
03:55Yeah, I mean, let's have it right, Albion have scored a bit of a one in a hundred goal,
03:59that's the best goal I've seen John Swift score for Albion, I'm pretty sure it'll be
04:03Albion's goal of the season, it was the technique, it was almost out of the Cristiano Ronaldo
04:08playbook, wasn't it, a bit of that in-step dip right into the top left corner, James
04:13Trafford couldn't move, so John Swift isn't going to score one of those every game, Albion
04:19aren't going to score one of those every game, and Albion weren't peppering the back line
04:23at that point, but they'd made a decent start, and Burnley couldn't take that opener away
04:27from them, however, you know, it's a shame, isn't it, it's a shame the way the Burnley
04:34goal came about, Burnley weren't made to work hard for that.
04:37Let's just talk about Wildsmith, there's been a couple of errors you can put in his corner,
04:43Timo Bray's backed him, but tonight, Wildsmith will know more than anyone, I've just spoken
04:48to the fans about that, he knows that that was a really, really bad error, he's almost
04:52dropped it twice, almost, he's dropped it and then fumbled it into the path of Fleming,
04:57Tony Mowbray's thrown his backing behind him in there, which, it didn't surprise me that
05:02he's come and done that, but will there be a question in Mowbray's mind, he's talked
05:06again there about Josh Griffiths pushing Wildsmith all the way in training, I would be surprised
05:11if that question doesn't cross Mowbray's mind in the next few days, he's not going to publicly
05:14come out and hang his goalkeeper out to dry, but that is a big one, I don't think it will
05:20have a bearing on Albion getting into the play-offs or not, because I think it will,
05:24however, confidence challenge, yeah, however, got question marks, yeah, and it rubs off,
05:31the goalkeeper's shaky defensively, it rubs off on the defence, I think there's maybe
05:36a question, well let's say, ultimately Wildsmith, who's number one at the moment, spent at least
05:43the first half of the season as number two, now that's no shame to be Alex Farmer's back-up,
05:48but he wasn't brought here as a number one, I think it's fair to say, yeah, he'd been
05:54a number one previously at Derby, lower level, when he was up in the championship, played
05:59a bit for Sheffield Wednesday, but wasn't permanently number one there, so, look, there's
06:05that, and then when Josh Griffiths was recalled after the Palmer sale, I think most of us,
06:10I think ourselves, reported and thought that Griffiths would get it, and Mowbray's said,
06:16and I understand, he said, look, Wildsmith's been in the building since Mowbray was appointed,
06:23he's been in all the training and all the meetings, he knows what we want, we know what
06:28we believe he can do, and he went with him, and there's been a couple of, yeah, this isn't
06:34the first unfortunate one for Wildsmith tonight, as you've said, but Mowbray has been steadfast
06:39behind him, and we've just asked him in a press conference there, and he's done likewise,
06:44which is really interesting, I think, yeah, but privately, obviously Tony Mowbray will
06:49be aware of the situation, Tony Mowbray's said multiple times, because he keeps getting
06:52asked about the keeper situation, actually, he said, we're the best women in the world,
06:56he says, I haven't seen Josh Griffiths play live, you know, you see him at Bristol Rovers,
07:00he knows how highly everybody rates Josh Griffiths, everybody at the club, England Youth International,
07:06I think he knows they've got one for the future, one in the long term that's going to be the
07:11number one, and the big question for me is when does he come in, and I think Albion's,
07:17I think Tony Mowbray's ideal is that Wildsmith is the number one for the rest of the season,
07:22I do, do I think that's going to be the case, I'm not sure, I think it will remain the case,
07:29Wildsmith, until there are more errors, I don't think it happens on the back of tonight,
07:33on what Mowbray's just said, I think, people will watch this and ask why, why does Mowbray
07:38want Wildsmith to be number one for the rest of the season, it's a great question really,
07:43is the summer a good place for a young keeper like Josh Griffiths to start out, might Albion
07:48look in the window in the summer, I think at this point, after at least two errors from
07:55Wildsmith now, were you to drop him and put Griffiths in, which I don't think Wildsmith
08:04could have too many complaints, I don't, however, what happens to Albion's season,
08:10and to Griffiths, if Griffiths has a bad start, a bad second game, drops one in, where are
08:15you at then, type thing, that's one school of thought I think, I'm not saying that's
08:20what's going on, but Mowbray's put his faith and trust in Wildsmith, he likes him as a
08:24keeper, what he sees in training, what he mainly sees out on the pitch, in the bar today,
08:28I think his press at the back end of last week, Tony Mowbray, he said, look for now,
08:33Joe Wildsmith's number one, now if he keeps dropping them in in games, then he won't be,
08:38so Mowbray's going to be willing to change, but he's just repeated down there hasn't he
08:43in the press, look, just for dropping one in today, there won't be change, he sees it
08:49as there's got to be errors in games, in a run of games, or a run of errors that will
08:55really lead the head coach to change, and that's the big debate at the moment isn't
08:58it, because the point I was trying to make before, I sort of forgot the point I was making
09:02was that, look yes, John Smith scored a worldy tonight, a one in a hundred shot, but were
09:09it not for Wildsmith's error, I'd have been winning this tonight, don't they, and that's
09:14a shame, because performance could have merited it, and look it's not all on Wildsmith, it's
09:19not, there weren't too many shots for him to save, but everything else he did well,
09:23crosses, he got good punches on them I would say, decent with his feet, it's that one huge
09:30error, and it was a huge error wasn't it, because the shot from the left back Perez
09:33had nothing on it, the left back's weaker foot, it was right at him almost wasn't it,
09:38and it's so frustrating really, however let's not allow ourselves to be too frustrated and
09:44think about shoulda, woulda, coulda, would have had a win, were it not for that, because
09:47it doesn't work like that does it, and it's just a shame, the lead didn't last for very
09:52long, and the striker's work to win any game wasn't it, ultimately, I'd be amazed if there's
09:58a better goal scored by Albin than that this season, a pure class really, and backs up
10:03exactly what Tony Mo we said about John Swift last week didn't it, look he's out of contract,
10:07he may well leave in the summer as probably expected, but at the moment for this playoff
10:13chase, he will get selected, because like at Leeds where he was very good tonight, he's
10:18got quality to win us games, and get Albin in the playoff, so that's why John Swift,
10:22Grady Dengarne, and others will continue to be selected, otherwise yeah, fascinating team
10:26selection tonight wasn't it, you've ran through a few there, obviously the furlong suspended
10:30situation, Barley just being rested, managed, cautious, sort of rotated, hopefully fine
10:36Saturday, Banny the new boy's got a little niggle, and obviously we send our best wishes
10:41to Tom Fellows and his family on the news of that family bereavement, which is obviously
10:46very sad to hear, so yeah, a night full of things to talk about isn't it, but what we
10:52said at the start, Albin really good, I just think, and we said it on our way down didn't
10:57we, and funnily enough I heard Tony Bomer-Brown talk about it on the radio as I was heading
11:01down from the stand here, I think some of it's growing and brewing isn't it, I tried
11:06to say that to Tony Mo just then, he sort of agreed, he kind of made the point that
11:12look I took over a team in sixth and now we've just gone fifth tonight, we're still
11:15sixth today, and I get what he's saying, but he made the point that we've changed, which
11:20obviously is a clear change in style, and he made the point, and the biggest line I
11:25thought was that players are believing and buying into it now, the start was a bit hard,
11:30caught between what to do, previous managers' ideas, but now we're seeing it, certainly
11:37we're seeing shoots of it, we're seeing the start of it, and yeah, long main walk
11:42continuing.
11:43Hopefully indeed a lot to talk about, we've got a baggage broadcast tomorrow where we'll
11:46cover the rest of it, but for tonight, final score here at Turf Morgue, Burnley 1, Albin
11:501, you know where to go, all the rest of your reaction is on expressandstyle.com.
12:06Burnley didn't have hardly any clear-cut chances all night, the goal, Joe Wildsmith
12:22with a mistake, he's dropped it, he'll know how big of an error he's made, but that's
12:26two or three errors now, is there a question mark for a change there?
12:31I think there probably is. Against Leeds, I thought, well, everybody can make a mistake,
12:40but yeah, tonight, he should have held it, but then if Derek Heater had been more switched
12:47on, if he'd have been further forward, then he was playing the guy onside, but yeah, Keeper
12:53should have had that easily.