Burnley boss Owen Coyle has told journalists of the terrifying moment when he realised last night's Carling Cup exit at the hands of Championship side Barnsley could be labelled a "cup shock". The Premier League new boys came unstuck against Mark Robins' Tykes on an evening of true northern grit at Oakwell that saw 14 Burnley players injured by no-nonsense tackles and scores of fans get hypothermia while bleating incomprehensibly at events on the pitch.
With the two sides having had similar fortunes in football's recent history, it was perhaps not immediately apparent that the result was in fact an enormous feat of giant-killing for Barnsley.
"It seemed just like a normal defeat to me," Burnley manager Coyle growled this morning screwing up his tear-stained cheeks.
"But I woke up in a cold sweat at 5am and it hit me that technically we had been giant-killed. I sent an email to the FA and they confirmed that this was a 'fairytale David and Goliath story.'
"Obviously I'm gutted and also stunned because you do tend to expect cup shocks to involve an unglamorous side upsetting a team of recognisable world-class stars, here it was more a case of functional underachieving Championship players narrowly beating functional overachieving Premier League newcomers."
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