If Phil Brown does have the Pickford’s van parking outside his door in the next seven days, it was a deeply unsatisfactory way to exit. The Tigers were second best in all ways at Burnley, despite the home side’s evident limitations, and it was a most unappetising experience.

The players are, apparently, “one million per cent” behind Brown, according to the manager himself. Sorry, but they’re not. If they were, they’d have more heart, more desire and, frankly, more basic rudimentary footballing ability. Some of the stuff we witnessed at Turf Moor was beyond shocking…

We weren’t helped by the referee, who awarded a comically unwarranted penalty to Burnley in the first half and then ruled out a gorgeous equaliser from Geovanni after the break for a reason that seemed tenuous at best. The Brazilian never recovered from the injustice and lost his head to the extent of a red card quickly afterwards. Burnley soon got a second and that was conclusively that.

But inept officiating only told a bit of the tale. The lion’s share of blame falls at the feet of … well, probably not the manager so much. Not this time. He picked the players and tactics, yes. But hang on – professional footballers aren’t fools (which is a bold statement, admittedly) and they knew that Brown was hanging by a thread. They needed to dig out a professional performance, to work hard, maintain possession, be creative and proactive and show they were not prone to shirking responsibility for all that’s gone wrong. They needed to care.

They failed.

Kamil Zayatte and Anthony Gardner were very good in defence. They can be absolved. Matt Duke, starting a Premier League game for the first time since the atrocity at Middlesbrough of last season (by the way, anyone heard anything from Marlon King since that game?) can also hold his head up.

The rest need to take a good look at themselves. Only a short second half spell was anything approaching acceptable.

Brown picked Kamel Ghilas ahead of Bernard Mendy, which was extremely welcome, in the only outfield change from last week’s coma-inducing draw with Portsmouth. Ghilas wandered more centrally than normal to support Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, whose isolation in recent weeks has been a real concern. Geovanni was deployed in the showbiz libero role, collecting the ball in deep positions and spraying it into spaces and to feet. Ghilas, however, still kept going wide too much and Geovanni’s new position simply did not work. As ever, he ended up zigzagging about rather than finding the right pass as more often than not nobody was giving him an outlet to free the ball.

Zayatte made a brave clearance early on which involved a mighty smack to his head but he dusted himself down after treatment, while Gardner made three superb clearances in the opening stages which kept a busy Burnley team at bay. Relatively featureless stuff from both sides, but Burnley were penetrating City’s penalty area and not vice versa.

One chance was made when Dean Marney instigated a counter attack that sent Ghilas wide, and he cut inside and fed Seyi Olofinjana, who shot low and on target but didn’t test Brian Jensen at all.

Then the first wretched decision by referee Mike Jones. Tyrone Mears was heading for the byline and Stephen Hunt made a cursory attempt at a challenge, no more, which somehow sent the Burnley player flying. As overblown and false a reaction from Mears as you could ever imagine, but the ref bought it. Protests on the pitch were long, off it they were ferocious, but to no avail. It doesn’t help that Graham Alexander happens to be an exceptional penalty taker, and he duly put the ball to Duke’s right, though our heroic reserve keeper with a knack of stopping spot kicks guessed correctly and got close.

Oh, it was a sickener. City were poor anyway, but to go behind to such a tragically bad decision really smarted. It also didn’t instil any renewed determination within the City players to show that they could overcome adversity (as if they didn’t have enough adversity to overcome in the first place, without an awful referee piling more on). Mr Jones then gave Burnley a free kick on the edge of the Tigers box with equally head-scratching logic, but Gardner got in the way of Wade Elliott’s shot, using a knee to block and, fortunately for us all, not injuring it in doing so.

City countered again, with Ghilas charging wide once more but his hanging cross was clutched by the beefy Jensen as Marney challenged. It wasn’t close to worrying Burnley, but it was as close as we were going to get. Burnley broke City’s tender offside trap soon afterwards with the fey Chris Eagles galloping down the right, but his ball to Robbie Blake was miscontrolled and the chance went from excellent to unlikely, and indeed the eventual spooned shot was too high.

Two corners were then forced and City dealt with each in a less than convincing manner, before Eagles went through the inside right channel and forced a smart pushout from Duke, with Elliott inches away from reaching the rebound with the net empty in front of him.

So, it wasn’t good at all, and one wonders what Adam Pearson, whose name was sung joyously by the City fans as soon as the game had kicked off, made of it all as he (presumably) watched from the directors’ box. Still, there was another half to come, Burnley were handy but still susceptible, and the only goal we’d conceded had come via a penalty that never was. The mercies were indeed small…

The restart garnered a surge in resourcefulness from City and the equaliser should have come immediately. Vennegoor of Hesselink went wide to collect the ball and skipped gaily and lightly through two challenges to make serious room for a chance. He fed Olofinjana who had an obvious shot before him but the Nigerian chose, probably through utter lack of confidence, to feed Ghilas to his right and although the chance was still present, it was not as glaring and the shot was beaten out by Jensen. It was the only proper, nailed-on chance City made from open play, and it should have been taken.

Elliott headed wide from Blake’s corner as Burnley attempted a response, but City were already planning changes. Sensing that one extra attacking body was a risk worth taking, Brown put Bernard Mendy on in place of the struggling Paul McShane. Mendy is a liability but he can turn in a useful cameo from the bench every so often, even from right back. McShane was most unhappy and slung his water bottle away in disgust, endearing himself to nobody whatsoever in the process. Vennegoor of Hesselink, again devoid of both service and support, made way simultaneously for Jozy Altidore.

City began to work a little harder and the signs were good. A corner was forced, and when Hunt’s kick was semi-cleared, Marney shot low and on target but it was blocked, with one or two voices claiming a hand was involved. Altidore then laid off a tidy ball to Mendy, who weaved from the right back position all the way to the edge of the box before loosening a fierce shot which was spilled and then grasped by Jensen as Ghilas closed in.

Hunt was then fouled on the edge of the box, and Geovanni curled a glorious shot round the wall and in via Jensen’s fingertips and the post. It was his first free kick in ages that hadn’t been skied and it looked wonderful. But the celebrations were shortlived as the referee blew for something. A foul, obviously, but where and by whom remains anyone’s guess right now. Geovanni protested and got booked. Head gone completely, the Brazilian wildly put studs through an opponent shortly after the game had begun again and saw a second yellow. Still 1-0, but with ten men and no source of creativity, it felt like game over.

Brown threw Nick Barmby on for Hunt and City attacked again thanks to one of Zayatte’s barmy runs and a ball to the overlapping Altidore, whose cross was dangerous enough for Clarke Carlisle to glance away as three City players all prepared to throw themselves at it. But then a counter left the midfield for dead and Alexander had room and time to thunder a fine low drive beyond Duke and secure the win for the home side.

The Burnley fans sang “sacked in the morning…” at Brown, a song familiar to the Tiger Nation from when Brown’s fine side of two years ago directly proved to be the swansong opposition for a number of gaffers. Burnley could have made the scoreline even more scathing when sub Fernando Guerrero sprinted down the left but took a bit too long in deciding whether to cross or shoot, and ended up putting the ball over the bar without it being obvious what he eventually wanted to do.

City forced a late corner which was headed away to Andy Dawson, whose left foot shot hit the base of the post and went wide. Four minutes were added and the game, and possibly the lifespan of this manager, came to an end.

We await the news on Monday with interest, obviously, but also with trepidation. Some of the more mongish elements of City’s support can’t wait to see the back of Brown and offer no credit or praise to the man at all. On current form, both of his team and himself, he deserves little but we’re not savages, and we recognise a job well done. But when Burnley, a team playing in our image of 12 months ago, win with some ease courtesy of little more than a big heart and a willingness to put in the effort, you know something is really amiss. Brown claims he’ll not just be in charge for Stoke’s visit to the KC next weekend, but for as far away as next season. So, so sorry to say this Phil, as the lump in the throat grows, but we really hope you’re not. (MR)