If there were ever fears of Burnley’s clash with Spurs being an example of “After the Lord’s Mayor Show” for the Clarets, their own leader Ben Mee ensured the procession continued. The Burnley captain spent the game flinging himself around to stop Spurs scoring before heading the winning goal to earn his side a second successive victory to boost their survival hopes.
Prior to his goal, Mee had dived across his own goal to head away a Dejan Kulusevski shot targeting the bottom corner. The captain is the beating heart of the club after more than 10 years at Turf Moor, a man on a mission to ensure he does not end his anniversary season as a Championship player, as shown by his chest pumping celebrations.
Mee should have doubled the lead at the same back post he had previously been so clinical at, this time from a corner as he poked a shot goal, receiving it back to volley across the area to a waiting Jay Rodriguez who was only able to lift the ball over from six yards out, not that it mattered as Spurs had no answer in the closing stages.
The swirling wind and rain implied perfect conditions for Burnley to build on their win at Brighton but it was Spurs that started the brightest, buoyed by defeating leaders Manchester City. Within a minute of the whistle Harry Kane found himself in space on the right-hand side of the area, giving him the time and space to send in a dangerous, low cross which deflected off the outside of James Tarkowski’s boot into the side-netting, though many inside the ground feared it had gone in.
There was a pace and energy rarely seen from Burnley this season; Spurs’ defence did not enjoy being put under pressure, giving away a needless corner while trying to pass it around in their own area, while Ben Davies did not welcome the physicality of cult-hero-in-the-making Wout Weghorst, much to the crowd’s enjoyment. It was a night made for longer studs as the weather saw the ball hold up in gusts and players slip repeatedly in soaking conditions.
Burnley enjoyed great spells of possession without the ability to find a way through the Spurs midfield block, forcing to waste the ball with a direct pass aimed at Weghorst which never came to anything.
Not that Spurs fared much better as they struggled to find any space behind the trademarked Burnley back four, who diligently went about their business as the English centre-back pairing of Tarkowski and captain Ben Mee kept England captain Kane quiet in front of the watching England manager Gareth Southgate.
When Spurs did finally force Mee out of position, Emerson Royal was gifted space on the right wing, only to waste it by cutting inside before swinging his left boot to send a shot high and wide from the edge of the box, ensuring Spurs ended the opening 45 minutes without testing Nick Pope.
That changed quickly after the break as Mee scythed down a marauding Son Heung-min on the right wing. The South Korean peeled himself off the turf to swing in a free-kick for Kane to attack with vigour, only for the striker to see his header cannon off the crossbar inches above Pope’s outstretched hand
It was that moment that created urgency within Spurs after a slow opening half. Son looked more eager to run at Burnley’s defenders, forcing them to backtrack at speed on the squelching surface. There was more space to exploit for Spurs and almost two perfect opportunities to open the scoring, only to see Erik Pieters and Mee intervene at the last second.
Pope finally had to make a save in the 64th minute as the ball crisscrossed the box until Emerson Royal laid it off to Ben Davies to have a prod at goal but the goalkeeper threw out a left fist to divert the shot wide.
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Hugo Lloris, too, suffered a rude awakening after a long night of keeping the rain out of his eyes, as Rodriguez finally received the service he demands but his powerful downward from a perfect Dwight McNeill cross was palmed to safety by the Spurs goalkeeper.
He was not able to do anything minutes later as Mee held off the challenge of Cristian Romero to head a deep free-kick to the back post across the goal to give Burnley the lead.x
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism