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A roses match in the summer sun, thankfully with no Boycott, then between Burnley and York City in the Merit League Second Division. The young Clarets were expected to win it with their visitors currently rooted to the bottom of the league.
Not only was there an Australian in the Clarets squad but also a Turk on the subs bench. The Aussie was 16 year-old Ryan Townsend whilst the Turk, who had to settle for a place on the bench, was Karim Allen who is now living in this country.
Just before kick off one of the assistant referees was spotted wearing glasses but he joked before the game started that he had heard all the jokes before. Nobody told him that it was the brick wall he was talking to.
It wasn't to be a classic game of football by any means, in fact there were some dire passages of play, but the Clarets always looked the better side. In fact we started quite well and took the game to York but moves seemed to break down before they had really got going.
That all changed though after twenty minutes when Mark Rasmussen got through on the right beating a couple of defenders before cutting into the box and hitting a shot into the bottom corner. York seemed to have no answer and just eight minutes later it was 2-0 with the simplest of goals. It came from a long kick from our keeper James Salisbury that was allowed through for Paul Barrett to run on to. He hit home but it has to be said the York keeper did just about nothing to try and prevent the goal, neither staying on his line nor coming out to put Barrett under any pressure.
I think it is fair to say that was just about it for the action and I cannot recall, there were a couple of efforts and the York keeper did have to make a couple of good saves in the second half but this was probably the least entertaining youth game of the season.
We were never in danger though and it is difficult to recall a single attack from York that threatened a goal but being fair to them they did break things up and prevented us from putting them under any real pressure.
Back to the Aussie then and he played at the back alongside Earl Davis. He looked good, dealt with everything at the back both in the air and on the ground, and did everything asked of him. At just 16 he looked promising.
The Turk did get on for the last twenty minutes and his arrival brought about much debate on the touchline. Some thought he was Rhys Carpenter back from injury whilst Clarets Mad remarked on his likeness to Frank Casper. He went into midfield and had a couple of good runs but got not too many opportunities to impress.
The warm weather may not be conducive to good football but it certainly makes Gawthorpe a very pleasant place to visit and here's hoping the good weather lasts until the next home game against Grimsby next Tuesday.
The Burnley team today was: James Salisbury, Andrew Leeson, Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington, Earl Davis, Ryan Townsend, Mark Rasmussen (Robert Grimes 72), Andrew Waine (Karim Allen 70), Damian Hindle, Paul Barrett, Matthew O'Neill.
