Burnley 3 Exeter City 1.

Saturday 17 April 1993.

Referee:

Att: 7332

City did not deserve this after all their hard work, having to play the last hour with only ten men. City started brightly, Storer's shot going just wide and after this Heath was booked for what looked like an elbowing offence. Shortly afterwards, Brown fouled Heath and then stupidly kicked the ball away. Whether the ref booked him for the foul or for kicking the ball away, I don't know.

City had been matching Burnley, Jepson going close with a looping header as he fell backwards. However, they were then reduced to ten men when Brown again caught Heath with a late challenge. This was the start of a farcical couple of minutes. The ref firstly took an age to produce a card (maybe he'd forgotten that he'd already booked Brown.) He looked at Heath lying prostrate on the deck (deserved an Oscar, this) and finally produced the red card. Brown walked over to the bench and said something to Bally as two City players remonstrated with the ref. He then walked back on, as if to say "Are you sure?" before walking off, on the pitch, to the applause of the City fans. He shook hands with the 'keeper and acknowledged the faithful few. The man in black (Mr David Shadwell) added on some two minutes for this fiasco.

Burnley took the lead when Heath spotted Miller off his line and sent a delightful chip over his head, just before the interval. Andy Cook did not appear in the second half, Bally sending on McIntyre and dropping Danny Bailey back to a more defensive role. Strange though it may appear, it seemed to work. On the hour, Bailey sent McIntyre away down the right and his delightful cross found Jepson, who scored with a close header, just beating the 'keeper to the ball. Boy did he celebrate!

The goal gave City the edge they needed and they looked fairly comfortable, but disaster struck just six minutes later. White failed to tackle Francis and allowed him to cross. Daniels found himself too close to the goal and stuck a foot out. The ball cannoned off the defender and the ball found the bottom right hand corner of Miller's goal.

City pushed forward and Storer was unlucky to see his flying header go just wide. Four minutes from time Jakub, who looked offside, crossed for Heath to beat Miller with a low shot, his 22nd goal of the season.

So there you have it. Three goals that should not have been and an idiot of a referee. Full marks to City, who played well with only ten men for much of the game. Jepson was also booked for rashly kicking the ball away.

City: Miller, White, Cook (Mcintyre), Bailey, Daniels, Brown, Bond, Minett, Jepson, Storer, Hodge (Dolan)

Attempted 7,322