Barnes Equalizer Earns Point for Burnley, Sends Stoke Closer to Relegation
Stoke are now winless in eleven games as they threw away a first half lead to draw 1-1 with Burnley and remain mired in relegation trouble.
Paul Lambert made two changes from the Stoke side that drew at West Ham on Monday, with Peter Crouch rewarded for his goal with a rare start. Glen Johnson returned to the side after injury in place of Kurt Zouma. Burnley were unchanged from their defeat to Chelsea.
Stoke got off to the perfect start as they took the lead just after the 10 minute mark. Mame Biram Diouf laid the ball of to Badou Ndiaye on the edge of the box, and he showed fine composure to shift the ball onto his right foot before finding the corner of Nick Pope's net with the help of a deflection.
Ashley Barnes and Xherdan Shaqiri exchanged shots wide of the mark as the game continued in a surprisingly open fashion. The stadium broke out in applause after 18 minutes in support of Ryan Shawcross, whose father passed away less than 24 hours before the game.
Diouf stooped to head a Shaqiri cross into Pope's hands as Stoke continued their positive start. The two keepers are competing to be England's number one for the World Cup and Jack Butland made the best save so far as he flung himself to his right to push away a Johann Berg Gudmundsson free kick.
Stoke then wasted a golden opportunity to extend their lead. They broke at pace and Shaqiri fed the ball wide to Moritz Bauer, whose cross towards Diouf was inch-perfect. The Senegalese just had to put his laces through it and it would have been 2-0, but he tried to take a touch and allowed the chance to get away.
A deserved ovation greeted the half time whistle, but it could have been so much more comfortable for Stoke.
Butland was called into action to push a Jack Cork header over the crossbar as Burnley started the second half on top. From the resulting corner, James Tarkowski's bullet header was destined for the bottom corner until Butland intervened once more with two firm palms to push the ball away.
Burnley got the equaliser their improvement merited when Matt Lowton's cross found Tarkowski at the back post. Butland thwarted him once more, but as he tried to push the ball away Ashley Barnes managed to bundle it across the line for his sixth goal in eight games.
Lowton then fired a shot goalwards from a half-cleared corner and Stephen Ward volleyed over the bar, with the whole momentum of the game having shifted in the Clarets' favour. Shawcross headed wide from a Shaqiri corner as the game ticked into the final 15 minutes.
With just over two minutes left on the clock Stoke went within inches of a crucial winner as Stephen Ireland hit the outside of the post. Butland then denied Gudmundsson before the Icelandic midfielder fired wide as Burnley came close to the three points.
The draw means that Stoke are still four points adrift of safety, and with a trip to Anfield to come next week, the Potters may find themselves needing to win their last two games of the season to stand any chance of staying up.
