Late goals give Clarets a draw

Last updated : 29 July 2009 By Tony Scholes
Richard Eckersley
Richard Eckersley - impressed as a second half substitute
There were just seven minutes remaining on the clock when the referee awarded us a free kick for a foul on Jay Rodriguez. Blake took the free kick from just a few yards outside the penalty box and I'd love to be able to tell you that he scored with a stunning strike.

It wasn't quite like that, his shot was on target but it took a deflection off one of the Accrington defenders and just about crept over the line and inside the post.

Suddenly we came alive and after a couple of other opportunities it was Thompson who latched onto a ball in from Blake and turned to hit home with a left footed shot from a central position.

We'd hardly looked as though we would fight back after going 2-0 down during the second half. The performance was reminiscent of the display at Queen of the South a year ago which was played just after the squad had arrived home for the United States.

Owen Coyle again opted for a 4-4-2 formation tonight. Diego Penny got his first pre-season start in goal whilst in front of him were three of our new signings. Tyrone Mears and Brian Easton were at full back with David Edgar partnered by Stephen Jordan in the centre of defence.

In the midfield Kevin McDonald and Joey Gudjonsson were flanked by Chris Eagles and Robbie Blake whilst up front Steven Fletcher was alongside Steven Thompson.

It had been a miserable night ahead of kick off with some very heavy rain, it seems to be a regular occurrence at this fixture, but at least someone saw sense finally and allowed tickets to be sold to those who arrived expecting to pay at the turnstile. Even so the attendance was not as big as in some previous seasons.

Sat in the main stand with Burnley playing from right to left in the first half I got a chance to see Easton, Big Sheena, at close quarters. I was impressed with his first half showing. His distribution wasn't always the best but he looked a more than competent defender.

In truth there wasn't too much to enthuse about in the first 45 minutes. Fletcher missed a headed chance and probably the closest we came was when their keeper made a terrific save to deny Jordan, and that would have been something special. Other than his own goal last season in the Ipswich home game he's never scored a goal at first team level.

Fletcher did have the ball in the net but bizarrely referee Jon Moss, who gave us a quite eccentric performance, pulled it back to award us a free kick in the centre circle. You can't make it up sometimes but I think Moss could have taken action against the Accrington players' determination to get souvenir shirts. It's coming to something when a friendly is marred by constant shirt pulling.

However, it was Accrington who got the ball in the net when it counted when Miles got in front of our defence and hit home.

Changes at the start of the second half allowed me this time to have a close look at the one other new signing I hadn't seen - Richard Eckersley. And he did impress me as did Jay Rodriguez whose only problem was causing the assistant referee much confusion with some very close offside calls.

But overall things didn't get much better, if at all, and the home side doubled their advantage. We were staring defeat in the face and in truth you really couldn't see any way of us getting back into the game.

Then came Robbie's free kick and a couple of minutes later when Eagles hit a shot over I dared to suggest we might even get a point. Yes a point, that would be novel in a friendly.

McCann also had an effort saved and then with just about a minute of play remaining came the equaliser from Thompson.

I know it doesn't matter result wise, but I did leave the Crown Ground much happier knowing we hadn't lost.

After the last goal there was just time for some fun in the stand. Someone on the back row, a Burnley fan wearing a home shirt, had hinted a few times that he wasn't going to have a quiet night.

I've no idea what his problem was but suddenly things turned a bit nasty, verbally at least. The stewards finally started to move in, presumably to remove him and his children. They were thwarted by the final whistle.

All over, Chester off, and now its League One opposition in the only home friendly this Saturday.

Jet lagged? Probably, but it doesn't matter, what we do now is only about getting ready for Stoke two weeks on Saturday. That's when we'll be playing Premier League football. It still sounds good doesn't it?

And never mind the jet lag, there was even more concern that one of our players had returned from America with some unfortunate illness. The team sheet for the game listed one of our substitutes as Reaco VD Schaaf.

The teams were;

Accrington: Ian Dunbavin, Peter Cavanagh, Dean Winnard, Darran Kempson, Phil Edwards, Luke Joyce, John Miles, Jimmy Ryan, Michael Symes, Paul Mullin, Robert Grant. Subs: Liam Richardson, Chris King, G King, Andy Proctor, Anthony Field, Lloyd, Peter Murphy, Chris Turner, Sean McConville, Alan Burton.

Burnley: Diego Penny, Tyrone Mears (Richard Eckersley 45), David Edgar (Clarke Carlisle 60), Stephen Jordan, Brian Easton, Chris Eagles, Kevin McDonald (Remco van der Schaaf 65), Joey Gudjonsson (Chris McCann 45), Robbie Blake, Steven Fletcher (Jay Rodriguez 45), Steven Thompson. Sub not used: Brian Jensen.

Referee: Jon Moss (West Yorkshire).