The Longside Reference

Wembley wembley were the famous Burnley FC and were going to wembley.

 A dream come true following the disatorous season previously ,who would have thought a year ago when Burnley's very existence was in jeopardy that one year on we would walk out at wembley .

It seemed as the whole of Burnley descended on the capital to play Wolves ,the irony of it is these founder members of the inaugural football league season 100 years ago, are now  playing in the lower league tournament in the football leagues centenary season, 81 thousand supporters who were at wembley, no corporate sponsors , no freebies for wannabes just true supporters in Claret and Blue and the Gold of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves along with Burnley were seen as the elite in Europe in the late 50s and early 60s, the Molineux club saw the same hard times as Burnley dropping from the 1st division to the 4th division in consecutive seasons between 83/84 and 85/86, Wolves crowds also deserted them as crowds dropped to below 4000.

But just as Brian Miller turned the fortunes around for Burnley, Graham Turner did the same for Wolves. 1987/88 season saw Wolves sweep aside the league winning the Fourth Division Championship with the goalscoring feats of Steve Bull and Andy Mutch , Bull who was deemed surplus to requirements at fierce rivals West Brom, smashed the clubs goalscoring record held for 41 years by Wolves great Dennis Westcott, his half century of goals will take some beating.

So on to Wembley and the game history will forget but will always be fondly remembered in the tales of success for both Burnley and Wolves. The game itself was an equal affair as both burnley and Wolves attacked ,with the match statistics pretty even.

The breakthrough came in the 23rd minute as Robbie Dennison's precise corner found Bull on the back post to head back across goal for strike partner Andy Mutch to head low past keeper Chris Pearce who got one hand to it but failed to keep it out. Just before the goal a little ice cool arrogance by Burnley midfielder Paul Comstive as he chipped the ball over Steve Bull's head on his own by-line straight into Keeper Pearce's arms.

The rest of the game was a blur as both teams intent on not losing ,Floyd Street was immense at the back for Wolves as were defensive pairing Steve Davis and Steve Gardner holding 53 goal machine Bull at bay.

It was Steve Gardner who's foul on Nigel Vaughan which gave Wolves the killer goal , a delightful free kick from Dennison lifted over the wall and into Pearce's near post, the goal ended Burnley's hope of taking the trophy home.

Burnley used one  sub late in the second half bringing on veteran winger Leighton James(Ashley Hoskin unfortunatly never made it of the bench on the day), but it was all in vain as Wolves held on to take the Trophy home to the Black Country ,and start a new beginning that would see Wolves amongst the top teams again.

Victory was denied Burnley as the better team won, but victory was too Burnley's from a team that  "refused to die".

A parade awaited Burnley on there return as thousands of fans lined the streets, for return of the conquering heroes.

Burnley Team & Officials kitted out in Wembley suits