BALTIMORE, Maryland April 8, 2014 - He joined the Claret in January, a window signing formerly with Brighton & Hove Albion. He became indispensible when Sam Vokes, Danny Ings, Kieran Tripier and Junior Stanislaus were felled by injury. Tonight, he scored the only goal of the match as Burnley edged ever closer to automatic promotion to the Premier League with a 1-0 win over homestanding Barnsley. The Claret scored on their very first attack down the pitch. Ben Mee, the Burnley defender, sent a pass down the left side to Michael Kightley, and the middie sent a curling and beautiful pass to Barnes, who headed toward the near post, beating Barnsley keeper Luke Steele.
The Burnley defense again shown brightly. And the large traveling crowd that followed the Claret to Oakwell Stadium roared their appreciation. For the game, Barnsley managed only five shots, not one of them on goal. Burnley had eight shots, and four were on target.
Great news for Burnley was the return of Danny Ings, who started and played until the 87th minute. By all accounts, he played well and narrowly missed at least once. Dean Marney was back, also. He had been suspended. He picked up a yellow card. Kieran Trippier suited up and was listed on the bench, but did not play. There was more fantastic news as the scores from other games came in. Queens Park, the closest pursuer of the Claret to start the evening, lost to Blackburn, 2-0. Leicester City also lost, and lost big. Brighton and Hove Albion routed Leicester, 4-1. Derby County was the only other relevant team to win, and by doing so they now become Burnley's closest pursuer. The Derby County lads downed Blackpool, 3-1. Millwall beat Wigan Athletic, 1-0. Watford shut out Leeds, 3-0. Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest drew at 3. Bournemouth edged Reading, 3-1.
These now are the up-to-date standings:
English Championship
1. Leicester City: 27 wins, 8 draws, 6 losses, 89 points
2. Burnley: 23 wins, 14 draws, 4 losses, 83 points
3. Derby County: 21 wins, 9 draws, 11 losses, 72 points
4. Queens Park Rangers: 20 wins, 10 draws, 11 losses, 70 points
5. Wigan Athletic: 19 wins, 10 draws, 12 losses, 67 points
6. Reading: 17 wins, 12 draws, 12 losses, 63 points
7. Brighton: 16 wins, 13 draws, 12 losses, 61 points (goal differential: 9)
8. Ipswich: 16 wins, 13 losses, 12 losses, 61 points (goal differential: 7)
9. Bournemouth: 17 wins, 10 draws, 14 losses, 61 points (goal differential: 1)
10. Nottingham Forest: 14 wins, 17 draws, 10 losses, 59 points (goal differential: 7)
11. Blackburn: 15 wins, 14 draws, 12 losses, 59 points (goal differential: 3)
12. Watford*: 14 wins, 14 draws, 12 losses, 56 points
13. Middlesboro: 13 wins, 16 draws, 10 losses, 55 points
14. Bolton: 12 wins, 15 draws, 14 losses, 51 points
15. Sheffield Wednesday: 12 wins, 13 draws, 16 losses, 49 points
16. Leeds: 13 wins, 8 draws, 20 losses, 47 points
17. Huddersfield Town: 12 wins, 10 draws, 19 losses, 46 points
18. Birmingham: 11 wins, 10 draws, 20 losses, 43 points (goal differential: -10)
19. Doncaster: 11 wins, 10 draws, 20 losses, 43 points (goal differential: -25)
20. Blackpool: 10 wins, 12 draws, 19 losses, 42 points
21. Charlton Athletic**: 10 wins, 11 draws, 18 losses, 41 points
22. Millwall: 9 wins, 12 draws, 20 losses, 39 points
23. Barnsley*: 8 wins, 12 draws, 20 losses, 36 points
24. Yeovil City: 8 wins, 11 draws, 20 losses, 35 points
All Teams have played 41 matches except *40 matches, **39 matches
What does this mean? Leicester City clinched a promotion position this past weekend. They have not clinched the Championship. Burnley, in fact, has now closed to with 6 points of first place, and with their win last night, combined with a loss by Queens Park, the Claret are now 11 points clear of the new third place team, Derby County, which also won last night. Burnley's win also eliminated Reading and Wigan Athletic from contention for the automatic promotion position. Only Derby County and Queens park have mathematical opportunities to catch Burnley. Burnley can eliminate Queens Park with one more win or one more loss by Queens Park. Burnley can also eliminate Queens Park if both teams draw this weekend. Derby County will be eliminated if Burnley can collect five more points over the last five games, or if Derby County fails to gain five points out of a maximum of 15 over the last five matches. The most points Derby can end the season with is 87 points. Thus, if Burnley gets five points over five games, they will eliminate Derby County.
Obviously, at this point in the season, the far bigger fight is for the four playoff positions. The teams that finish third, fourth, fifth and sixth enter a single elimination tournament with the winner getting the Championship League's third promotion. When Burnley played in the Premier League in the 2009-2010 season they got there by virtue of winning this tournament. Right now, Derby County, Queens Park, Wigan Athletic and Reading hold those four positions. But not even Derby has clinched a position in those playoffs. The fourth position right now is held by Reading with 63 points. No fewer than three teams are exactly two points behind Reading: Brighton, Ipswich and Bournemouth. Two other teams stand four points behind Reading: Nottingham County and Blackburn. And unpredictable Watford is hanging in there with 56 points. If any of these teams can make a run; that is, win three or four in a row, that will certainly get them into the playoffs.
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