It's the first time in eight years that we haven't reached the third round of the competition. The last time, in 2006 against Hartlepool, also came courtesy of a 1-0 home defeat with the winner coming 12 minutes from time from the penalty spot after a foul by our captain and central defender.
Last night, against Sheffield Wednesday, it was Jason Shackell, and on his 100th Burnley appearance, and in August 2006 the guilty party was Wayne Thomas who added received a red card for his troubles, a decision that met with very little disapproval from the home fans in the stands.
For last night's game I think we all knew there were going to be changes to the team that had started the two Premier League games, and there were. In the end Sean Dyche made a total of seven changes with only Kieran Trippier, Shackell, Scott Arfield and David Jones remaining from the team beaten at Swansea.
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| Jason Shackell gave away the penalty on his 100th Burnley appearance |
I fully understand the manager's need to do this but invariably it does contribute to providing a disjointed performance. We've seen such examples in recent years at Grimsby and at Hartlepool and just a couple of years ago when we played Plymouth at home and won through only because of the Beast Show in the penalty shoot out.
Having said that I could report on how disappointing we were and how uninspiring a ninety minutes it was, but I could also report on the fact that this was a game we really should have won.
Ross Wallace and Michael Kightly occupied the wide positions. Neither I thought did anything like enough and the poor quality of their delivery into the box was a major concern all night. Having said that, when the pair combined in the opening minutes we really should have gone in front.
There was certainly nothing wrong with the ball played in by Wallace from the right to Kightly but last season's loan player, making his first start of the season, was unable to get any sort of shot on goal.
The game never really seemed to settle into any sort of pattern but generally it was the Clarets who looked the most likely, although Wednesday did hit the bar when a ball was diverted by Kevin Long.
Ashley Barnes had probably the best chance of the half but headed wide and that was it for the first half which had hardly offered much to entertain the crowd of just under 5,000.
We did up our game at the start of the second half with the play virtually heading in the direction of the Wednesday goal, but we were never really able to create too many real chances and Chris Kirkland was certainly having an easier time than he'd had on his previous visit.
Matt Taylor came on for Jones. The midfielder had received a knock and with Dean Marney also ruled out that's a concern for Saturday.
Dyche said after the game that he thought we should have had three penalties. I'll certainly agree with one of them and I was stunned when referee Geoff Eltringham didn't point to the spot for a foul on Barnes.
But he did with just over 12 minutes remaining when Shackell, needlessly, challenged Jeremy Helan down our left of the penalty box. Even from the other side of the ground it was clear that Eltringham had got this one right and Atdhe Nuhiu stepped up to score with a shot down the middle.
We threw on both Danny Ings and Lukas Jutkiewicz and we had most of the play for the remainder of the game without ever really threatening a goal and it was no surprise at the final whistle to see us exit the Capital One Cup.
We'd enjoyed a good game against Chelsea and played really well in the second half at Swansea, but it was clear that the Capital One Cup was very much less of a priority this season. Even so, this was a very disappointing performance. I don't often take issue with Dyche's comments but I couldn't even begin to agree with his positive assessment of this game.
So, no cup run this year in the Capital One, with our next cup tie to come in January when we enter the FA Cup. It's the old cliché - we can now concentrate on the league.
The teams were;
Burnley: Matt Gilks, Kieran Trippier, Kevin Long, Jason Shackell, Stephen Ward, Ross Wallace, Scott Arfield, David Jones (Matt Taylor 60), Michael Kightly (Danny Ings 82), Marvin Sordell (Lukas Jutkiewicz 83), Ashley Barnes. Subs not used: Tom Heaton, Steven Reid, Michael Duff, Ben Mee.
Sheffield Wednesday: Chris Kirkland, Liam Palmer, Kamil Zayatte, Tom Lees, Joe Mattock, Jacques Maghoma (Stevie May 63), Giles Coke, Jose Semedo, Jeremy Helan, Chris Maguire (Atdhe Nuhiu), Gary Madine. Subs not used: Keiren Westwood, Glenn Loovens, Rhys McCabe, Paul Corry, Rafael Floro.
Yellow Cards: Chris Maguire, Giles Coke.
Referee: Geoff Eltringham (Tyne & Wear).
Attendance: 4,979.