The verdict on Burnley’s 1-1 draw with Wrexham

The long, long wait for a win drags on - we’re now at 210 days and counting - but this was a small step in the right direction.

For perhaps the first time this season, Burnley actually resembled a team. There was structure, there was balance and there was an element of control.

That was especially the case during the first-half at the Racecourse Ground last night, as the Clarets produced their best football of the season so far.

The problem is, and as Nicky Hayen continues to point out, this is a team that is unable to put a 90-minute display together.

They lost their way a little bit in the second-half and were pegged back. They could have lost it after that, but equally they could easily have snatched it themselves at the death, so a point was about right.

That does little to end the anxiety over Burnley’s painful wait for a victory, but start performing like this on a more regular basis and it’ll only be a matter of time.

There will be no getting carried away though, no celebrating a 1-1 draw away at Wrexham, a result that lifts them off the bottom of the Championship table and up to the dizzy heights of 23rd.

This is nothing to celebrate. But given what we’ve already had to witness so far this season, it’s something. It’s a start.

We thought that might have been the case after that improved second-half performance last week against Middlesbrough. It felt that at least provided Burnley with a platform and some foundations to build from, but then they went and served up that capitulation against Bristol City.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that Burnley’s best displays so far this term, that aforementioned second 45 against Boro and the first half against Wrexham, both came with Max Alleyne playing as a number six.

It just brings discipline to Burnley’s midfield - a player that actually doesn’t have to do much, just stays in his position, cuts out anything that comes near him before playing a simple pass to someone nearby. The Josh Cullen role, basically.

Of course Burnley are missing a player of Cullen’s ability, but it seems absolutely integral to the way Hayen wants to play.

The presence of Alleyne in front of the back four freed up Ugo Raghouber to play slightly further forward and he subsequently enjoyed his best Burnley display to date, playing some really silky stuff and earning some admiring glances from the Wrexham fans sitting around me in the press box.

Josh Laurent, meanwhile, was pushed so far forward he was almost the most advanced at times. But it worked, because of his powerful, driving runs and his ability and willingness to lead the press, which we possibly saw for the first time this season.

I won’t hear a bad word said about Laurent by the way, he’s the type of player and character Burnley badly need in their team. Someone that will run all day, give their all and genuinely cares. You can hang your hat on him.

After making 14 changes in the space of just three games, Hayen appears to have stumbled on something with his line-up and this structure.

That’s not to say the personnel remains perfect. I don’t think playing Connor Roberts at left-back gets the best out of him, while Aaron Ramsey was a little sloppy playing slightly out of position on the right flank.

But when you’ve got players like Cullen, Jacob Bruun Larsen and Dastan Satpayev to come back, plus Jamie Vardy to come in, you can see the makings of a good side here.

Elsewhere, I don’t think Zeki Amdouni will ever be the best lone striker out there, but he did well and took his goal - his first for Burnley since 2024 - in clinical fashion. It only seemed to buoy him too, playing with more zip and tempo afterwards. There were some lovely touches of the ball too.

Now this performance was far from perfect, so there’s still a lot of work to be done. But it was the first green shoots.

Burnley looked vulnerable dealing with Wrexham’s crosses all night long, so it was no surprise to see the home side level via that route. Burnley, who tired during the second half, which remains a problem, were opened up too easily down their left, leading to one Wrexham wing-back swinging in a cross for their other wing-back to head home, having climbed above Kyle Walker in the centre.

You feared a Wrexham onslaught and another painful comeback win for the opponents, but it never really transpired. The remainder of the game seemingly petered out, barring a two or three-minute basketball match in stoppage-time, when both sides seemed to realise the three points were actually there for the taking.

But a point apiece was fair. Neither did enough to assert their dominance.

For Burnley, it was better. It was something, at least. Baby steps, but steps forward all the same.

You feel this could be a long road back for the Clarets, so we have to take what we can at the moment. But unlike last week, they can ill-afford to follow it up with another poor display. This has to be the bare minimum.