Burnley throw away 4-1 lead to lose 5-4

Burnley inexplicably threw away a 4-1 lead to lose 5-4 Cardiff City after conceding four goals in the space of just 29 minutes.

With 64 minutes on the clock in the Welsh capital, the Clarets led by three goals, but still somehow conspired to lose in a game that summed up many of their season’s ills.

It’s just the latest in a long line of games that has seen them drop vital points from winning positions: 23 in total.

But this has to be the most absurd, having looked home and hosed thanks to goals from Andreas Hountondji, Marcus Edwards, Largie Ramazani and a Cardiff own goal.

In truth, Cardiff had been the better side for much of the game, producing x shots on goal and an Expected Goals (xG) of over 5.

But the Clarets took full advantage of their suicidal high line time and time again, taking a seemingly dominant lead, which should have been more than enough to see out the win - which would have been only their second of the season.

It leaves them rooted inside the Championship’s bottom three ahead of the November international break and now FIVE points adrift of safety.

Celestini made just one change to his side from Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw with QPR, as Jaydon Banel came in for Jamie Vardy.

The striker dropped down to the bench, where he was joined by the returning Zeki Amdouni - appearing for the first time since injuring his ankle at Watford last month.

Anel Ahmedhodzic was the man to drop out of Burnley’s squad as a result of Amdouni’s return.

Ben Amos, Jordan Beyer, Bashir Humphreys, Shurandy Sambo, Hannibal, Jacob Bruun Larsen, Dastan Satpayev, Mike Tresor, Ashley Barnes, Armando Broja and Michael Obafemi all either injured or unavailable.

As for Cardiff, they made two changes from their 3-3 draw with Scott Parker’s West Ham on Wednesday night.

The Bluebirds were screaming for a penalty as early as the second minute when Rubin Colwill went to ground inside the box under pressure from Burnley’s Reo Hatate.

The Cardiff man appeared to be felled by an inadvertent tangle of legs, although it was unclear how much contact there was.

The Clarets then hit back with a more than presentable chance of their own, as Kyle Walker set Largie Ramazani free down the right.

The winger got to the byline and looked to pull the ball back to Marcus Edwards, but Cardiff’s Alex Robertson did well to get his body in the way and intervene.

The lively start continued, as Joel Bagan tried his luck with an effort from long range for Cardiff, but Gregoire Coudert did well to claw away with both hands.

Robertson then curled narrowly over from the edge of the box following a quick give and go as the hosts looked for an early opener.

While Cardiff had started the brighter in terms of chances created, Burnley breached their backline on a second occasion inside eight minutes as Andreas Hountondji got in behind, only to fail to pick out the run of Ramazani.

The hosts really ought to have edged their noses in front when the in-form Jack Moylan side-footed narrowly over after ghosting past Igor Julio to meet a teasing cross.

Coudert opted to play a short pass out from the resulting goal kick and, with the ball returning to him, almost proceeded to gift Cardiff a goal as he almost allowed it to trickle over his own line, before desperately scrambling back to clear.

Burnley remained under the cosh, as Coudert was forced to save with his legs from Perry Ng’s back post header.

But much like QPR in midweek, it was Burnley who took the lead very much against the run of play as Andreas Hountondji netted his second goal for the club.

The forward, playing up top on his own in the absence of Vardy, capitalised on some hesitant Cardiff defending to race onto Hatate’s lofted ball over the top, before settling himself to slot past the stricken goalkeeper.

In terms of their overall performance, Burnley had been second best, but somehow they found themselves two goals to the good before the half-hour mark.

Marcus Edwards doubled their lead with a well-taken finish, shifting the ball onto his right foot and slotting home following good play by Jaydon Banel down the left.

It meant that Burnley had scored twice from their two shots on target.

Edwards then squandered a huge chance to make it three as he raced clear through on goal, lofting the ball over the goalkeeper but crucially just over the bar too. Ramazani then had a rasping drive well tipped over as the visitors looked to capitalise on the huge space in behind Cardiff’s backline.

Burnley were unable to maintain their two-goal lead until half-time though, shipping a soft goal four minutes before the interval.

They failed to deal with an inswinging corner, as Kyle Walker headed the ball straight to Rubin Colwill inside the six-yard box, but his close-range effort deflected in off teammate Ollie Tanner.

Given Tanner was virtually on the goalline, there was a certain whiff of offside, but the officials didn’t spot it and allowed the goal to stand.

A two-goal half-time lead would have been generous for Burnley, but to concede so late would have been especially frustrating - putting a completely different complexion on the second half.

The Clarets were incredibly fortunate not to be pegged back inside the opening 60 seconds of the second half as Hjalmar Ekdal produced a remarkable clearance off his own line.

The Swedish international desperately scrambled clear as Moylan side footed towards an empty net after Coudert had got across to make a diving save from a back post header.

Burnley remained a constant threat on the counter though, as Ramazani and Hountondji both broke free on two separate occasions - the latter skewing well wide when he really ought to have slipped the ball across to the unmarked Banel.

The Clarets finally capitalised on more poor Cardiff defending to make it 3-1, Ramazani the beneficiary of the home side’s ludicrously high line to fire high into the top corner - much to the travelling fans’ delight.

Aaron Ramsey, off the bench alongside Josh Cullen just before the hour mark, then went close with another chance on the counter, as he saw a shot in the box well saved by Nathan Trott.

But it wasn’t to matter, as a moment or two later the midfielder saw his pullback turned into the back of the net by Cardiff’s Robertson as Burnley made it four.

Celestini reacted to the goal by making a further two changes, with ex-Swansea man Connor Roberts and Oliver Sonne entering the fray.

Within moments of their entrance, Cardiff had a goal back in frankly ridiculous circumstances, as Ramazani’s attempted clearance ricocheted off the back of a Bluebirds man straight to Yousef Salech, who stabbed home to make it 4-2.

Chances continued to come and go as Hountondji fired over, via the aid of a deflection, as Burnley broke at pace and precision from back to front.

But the drama really ensued when, with 15 minutes still remaining, Cardiff pulled it back to 4-3 from the penalty spot.

It appeared a soft awarding on first viewing, with Roberts the man penalised for an apparent shove on Salech as the Cardiff man looked set to head home at the back post.

Moylan took the resulting spot kick, sent Coudert the wrong way and picked out the top corner to reduce the deficit to one.

You felt as though Burnley would need to add a fifth to put this one to bed, as they didn’t have the control to stop Cardiff from scoring again.

That’s exactly what transpired eight minutes from time when the Bluebirds, 4-1 down only 17 minutes ago, made it 4-4.

It was that man Salech again, heading home from eight yards in off the underside of Coudert’s crossbar.

As we headed into the TEN minutes of stoppage time, the game remained finely poised, but Ramsey wasted a golden chance to restore Burnley’s lead when he was denied by Trott, when he really ought to have picked out the corner.

But it was Cardiff who would go on to win it as Alex Robertson, son of former Claret Mark, thundered a 25-yard strike into the top corner.

Saying that, Burnley still had a chance to level in this topsy-turvy, balmy game, as Ramazani’s long-range strike was tipped over.

The game finished briefly after nearly all 22 players, plus a good chunk of subs, got involved in a mass brawl, where only a player apiece was booked.

TEAMS

Cardiff: Trott, Ng, Fish, Bagan, Bielik (Scanlon), R. Colwill, Robertson, Ashford, Tanner (Salech), Willock, Moylan (J. Colwill)

Subs not used: Tyrer, Turnbull, Tankiewicz, Kpakio, Holt, Perrett

Burnley: Coudert, Walker, Ekdal, Igor, Pires (Roberts), Laurent, Hatate (Cullen), Edwards (Ramsey), Ramazani, Banel (Sonne), Hountondji (Amdouni)

Subs not used: Weiss, Alleyne, Raghouber, Vardy

Referee: Oliver Langford