Opinion: Heroic Brighton display signals a coming of age for Burnley stopper James Trafford

It’s been a brutal welcome to the Premier League for the 21-year-old, who had played no higher than League One prior to his move to Turf Moor.

The criticism that came his way at the beginning of the season was to be expected in many ways. When the goals are going in, there’s nowhere for a goalkeeper to hide.

The Clarets have only kept one clean sheet this season, which came in the recent 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United, while they’ve shipped an alarming 34 goals in their 16 games.

Obviously that’s not all down to Trafford. Burnley’s defensive frailties, especially during the opening weeks of the campaign, were a team failure, not down to any one individual.

But Trafford himself has come out and admitted the step up to the Premier League has been a tough one. The calls for Arijanet Muric to regain his number one jersey have not gone away.

But even Trafford’s fiercest critics will surely concede he’s been improving as the weeks have gone on. But what happened at Brighton was something else.

The hosts produced an alarming 29 shots, 11 of those on target. Yet the Seagulls came up against a shot stopper in inspired form.

Trafford made 10 saves in total, but that particular statistic could easily be misleading. You’d be forgiven for thinking most of them were routine stops, but that wasn’t the case at all.

In fact, a good six or seven of them were incredible. Trafford didn’t just win Burnley a point, he was seemingly on a one-man mission to ensure his side didn’t suffer a fifth straight defeat on the road.

On the right track

That in itself is progress. Trafford’s improving performances mirror those of his teammates too.

While it’s fair to say Burnley rode their luck in this particular fixture, there can be no doubt that Vincent Kompany’s side are heading in the right direction.

Win, lose or draw, they’re at least remaining competitive in games. They’re staying in them and giving themselves a chance. It might not sound like much, but it’s a far cry from the opening weeks of the season where they were shipping threes, fours and fives and often finding themselves out of games as early as 20 or 30 minutes in.

At the Amex, the Clarets had to show a bit of everything. During the first-half, they showed their tactical awareness to remain defensively disciplined while still offering a threat going the other way.

The first 20 to 30 minutes was some of the best football they’ve played so far this season. It was mature and confident and they resembled a side that finally looked at home in the top flight.

Inevitably, Brighton fought their way back and enjoyed spells of pressure, but the Clarets stood firm and defended resolutely.

In many ways, the first-half was a carbon copy of the one we witnessed at Molineux in midweek, where an encouraging half ended on a sour note. But on this occasion, it was Burnley who edged their noses in front on the stroke of half-time – and some goal it was too.

Stepping up

Kompany asked for someone to step up in Luca Koleosho’s absence and 19-year-old Wilson Odobert did exactly that, marking his start with an excellent goal. Not only that, the exuberant winger offered a threat all afternoon and was often Burnley’s biggest dangerman.

While the first-half was a generally even affair, the second was very much one-way traffic. Brighton introduced Kaoru Mitoma off the bench and he changed the whole complex of the game.

The visitors struggled to get to grips with him all half, yet they did everything in their power to keep their door shut. They held out until the 77th minute, when Simon Adingra finally found a way past Trafford, and a late, gut-wrenching winner appeared inevitable. But Trafford had other ideas.

As it was, the Clarets were delighted to hold out for a point. And so they should, it’s only the second point they’ve gained against a side that didn’t join them in winning promotion from the Championship last season.

Not only that, Brighton are a top, top outfit. One currently playing in the Europa League and going great guns in the Premier League once again. In many ways, the Seagulls are a club Burnley should aspire to be like, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

There is an element of slight regret that Burnley couldn’t hold out for the win, but if we’re being brutally honest Brighton more than deserved to draw.

With the benefit of hindsight, things could have been a whole lot different had Jay Rodriguez stuck away his golden chance at the start of the second-half, when he somehow managed to drill a close-range shot, from as far away as three or four yards, straight at the stricken goalkeeper who was laid out on the floor.

But Brighton had chance after chance themselves and will have regrets of their own. Instead, we should just praise the Clarets for picking up a useful point and highlight the progress they’re making.

Will it be enough? Who knows? There’s still a long, long way to go and the sides in and around them down at the bottom continue to pick up results themselves.

All Burnley can do is look after themselves. At the start of the season they weren’t even giving themselves a chance, now they very much are.

Now it’s time to start turning these encouraging displays into more consistent results, starting with the small matter of Sean Dyche’s Everton up next…