A pretty frustrating game on many levels for me. I only got to see portions of the game, but from what I saw it wasn’t the finest of performances you’ll see from Aston Villa this year. Those International breaks are becoming quite tedious.

I missed the opening goal, but it came from a free kick floated in and headed by Caldwell. I saw a quick flash on replay and there’s a hint of offside about it. I did manage to see Villa’s equaliser – a ball floated to the back post by James Milner nodded in by Emile Heskey. Yes, Heskey rescued a point.

On the positive side, and quite unexpected I think, Stewart Downing not only made the bench, he also made his debut for the final 20 minutes in place of Steve Sidwell. Unsurprisingly, things looked a little improvised from there with Ash swapping to the right and Milner pushing into the middle to accommodate Downing on the left, but there’s encouraging signs. Downing’s first touch of note was to whip in a ball from the right with his left peg and the flight of the ball had the hallmark of quality that’s been a bit sporadic of late from the usual sources.

If the players were just starting to adapt to the new formation, they didn’t have long before MON threw a bit of Hail Mary by bringing Heskey on in place of Luke Young for the final 10 minutes. Yeah, it certainly took a while to work out where everyone was playing and, in all honesty, it didn’t look too clever. Still, it takes one moment to score, one chance and when Milner floated a hopeful ball from the right to the back stick, Heskey made sure he got on the end of it and nodded in for 1-1.

Villa looked like they might push on for a winner in the final minutes, but were made wary of Burnley’s ability to exploit the extra space on the break, so tempered their efforts a little.

I’ll put up a Statshack later, but on first glance, it’s a pretty even affair that justifies the scoreline. We may not have won this, but Burnley had a 100% record in the home games this season taking Man Utd and Everton’s scalps along the way. Under the circumstances, and with City & Liverpool in a stalemate, plus Arsenal losing, it’s not a bad day at all.

We’re fourth for now, although Tottenham host Wigan tomorrow so it may be short lived. I’ll take it.