Livramento scores in Burnley draw
Tino Livramento scored the first goal of his highly-promising career as Southampton shared the points with Burnley in a chaotic contest at St Mary’s.
Saints struck twice in quick succession either side of half-time, as Livramento headed home Nathan Redmond’s corner to cancel out Maxwel Cornet’s early opener, before Armando Broja’s second goal in two games briefly put the hosts in front.
But Burnley quickly responded through Cornet’s second of the game, leaving Saints to rue chances not taken – particularly in the first half when Redmond missed from close range and Mohamed Elyounoussi and Livramento both hit the woodwork.
Ralph Hasenhüttl opted for one change to the side that secured Saints’ first Premier League win of the season last time out against Leeds, preferring Theo Walcott to Moussa Djenepo, while Ché Adams returned to the squad as a substitute.
Walcott twice darted in behind the Burnley defence early on – once flagged offside, before his low shot had the sting taken out of it by a sliding challenge after Livramento had fed the ball into his path.
But it was Burnley who took the lead on 13 minutes through summer signing Cornet, who timed his run to get a glancing touch on Matthew Lowton’s right-wing cross, heading the ball home via the far upright.
It was the only opportunity the visitors created in the first 30 minutes, while the Saints threat came mainly from Livramento – always an outlet down the right.
His crossing for Broja twice threatened to open up the Clarets, but on both occasions last week’s match-winner was crowded out by the defence.
Then another ball in from the right, this time from stand-in skipper Oriol Romeu, was headed speculatively goalwards by Elyounoussi, who saw the ball loop beyond goalkeeper Nick Pope and just glance the post on its way wide.
Hasenhüttl has often praised Burnley in the past for being clinical – they may not create a huge amount of chances, but they tend to convert the ones they get, the boss has observed.
They looked a threat when some slick interplay on the edge of the box resulted in a first-time shot from Chris Wood that was deflected on target by Mohammed Salisu, forcing Alex McCarthy into emergency action down to his left.
The Clarets tend to be compact and tough to break down, so chances to counter-attack are few and far between.
But Redmond led the charge 10 minutes before half-time, spotting Walcott in space on the far side of the box and picking him out wonderfully, only for the former Arsenal man to rush his shot and drag it wide.
An even better chance followed for Redmond. Broja held the ball up well, turned and crossed superbly, but his partner could not apply the finishing touch, screwing the ball wide from just a couple of yards out, though the cross did take a slight touch off Charlie Taylor on the way through, which may have been enough to influence the finish.
Then Livramento burst into the box in typically enthusiastic style, checked back on to his left foot and sent a curling shot towards the far corner that bounced against the inside of the post and somehow stayed out.
The pressure was building and the equaliser duly arrived four minutes before the interval, as Redmond proved more effective in providing for his teammates – following up his assist for Broja against Leeds with a teasing corner met by Livramento, whose powerful downward header bounced up into the net.
Having finished the first half well on top, Saints set about continuing where they’d left off, and Broja took advantage of a rare lapse from James Tarkowksi to turn the game around.
The England international played a sloppy pass out of defence straight to Ibrahima Diallo, who deserves great credit for his speed of thought to release Broja first time, allowing the Albanian to get a march on the retreating Tarkowski and bury a low shot into the far corner that left Pope no chance.
Burnley had hardly been in the game since taking the lead, but their recovery was impressive.
Cornet headed against the post, albeit from an offside position, before stunning the home crowd with an instinctive finish to drag his side level.
There seemed little on when the ball arrived at the feet of the Ivorian, with Jan Bednarek on his back, but he cleverly allowed it to bounce across his body and dispatched a vicious first-time shot for which McCarthy was not set and dived too late to stop.
Suddenly Burnley had their belief back in an absorbing contest. Ashley Westwood sent a low drive fizzing just past the post as the Clarets sensed a first league victory of the season was in their sights.
Hasenhüttl introduced Stuart Armstrong to rapturous applause with 16 minutes left, and Adams soon followed.
Both substitutes made an impact, with Armstrong’s cushioned header blazed over by Livramento before Adams sent an awkward header in the same direction, but neither team was able to give an entertaining spectacle a memorable finale.
