Pitch To Blame For Performance

Steve Bruce has blamed the Turf Moor pitch for the performance today, although he’s delighted with the result.

‘It was never going to be a classic game because of the swirling wind, freezing cold and bobbly pitch.

‘We had the worst possible start, but after that we showed what it takes.

‘Defensively we didn’t start right and I thought we were sloppy.

‘The defenders who have had lots of pats on the back recently weren’t out there for 15 minutes and it gave Burnley a lifeline.

‘After that I thought we were very comfortable and we were rarely troubled apart from the one chance that Clem cleared off the line in the last couple of minutes.

‘I thought it was in but Clem has got a great clearance in.

‘He’s come in when I needed him and I thought he’s played really well and he was all over the pitch and he’s looking a good player again.

‘Up front I thought Bendtner and McSheffrey were sensational and they gave us that little bit of extra quality which won the match for us.

‘I’m delighted for DJ because he runs on to the pitch and scores a goal in ten seconds which is quite unbelievable!

‘At the start of the season everybody was questioning why I was playing him when we’d spent £3m for Cameron Jerome.

‘ But DJ was scoring goals and he’d scored two hat-tricks in pre-season and he got the nod.

‘Then unfortunately he got a knock and he’s had to sit out the last month.

‘He’s not happy about it, but his time came today because Cameron Jerome was ill before the game.

‘He’s taken it and now he’s given me something serious to think about.’