Burnley 1-1 Southampton: Late Controversial Gabbiadini Goal Rescues Point for Saints

Burnley drew 1-1 against Southampton on Saturday afternoon at Turf Moor.

Ashley Barnes opened the scoring for the home side in the second period, and in the dying minutes of the game Manolo Gabbiadini scored a controversial equalizer to rescue a point for the Saints.

Mark Runnacles/GettyImages

The home side began the better of the two in what was a very dull first half, but despite the dominance from the Clarets it was the away side who had the best opportunity of the first period. 

In the tenth minute, the Saints launched a rare counter-attack which saw Nathan Redmond slip in Dusan Tadic, and with the outside of his left foot the Serbian beat the keeper but was denied by Ben Mee who cleared the ball valiantly off the line.

The game was very scrappy and because of the determination of the home side to press the ball, the Saints were unable to implement their usual passing game and showed a lack of quality in tight spaces.

The second period was a vast improvement from that of the first, and it was Burnley who nearly opened the scoring, when Barnes beat his man in the air but from six yards out the Englishman miss-timed his header and the ball went wide.

It was the home side who continued to press on and it wasn't long before they opened the scoring through Barnes. After a save from Johann Berg Gudmundsson, the ball fell to Jeff Hendrick who headed the ball towards the goal and Barnes got to the ball before Alex McCarthy to give the Clarets the lead.

The goal seemed to wake up the Saints, and they should have equalized just moments later but Josh Sims' effort was brilliantly tipped onto the post by Nick Pope - who would have impressed the onlooking Gareth Southgate with his save. 

Southampton pushed for an equalizer late on and they had their goal with only a few minutes remaining on the clock.

The goal was surrounded by controversy as firstly the ball was overturned as the referee got in the way of a Burnley player, and secondly it seemed a foul by the goal-scorer Gabbiadini who got onto the knockdown from Guido Carrillo to smash the ball home.

Burnley end the game in frustration and are still without a win since the turn of the year, and as for the Saints they earned a massive point in their bid to avoid relegation.