Seven former Clarets join Burnley out of the FA Cup

Last updated : 10 January 2012 By Tony Scholes
A substitute appearance for Glen Little

David Edgar, Ben Mee, Charlie Austin, Marvin Bartley and Junior Stanislas all made their FA Cup debuts for Burnley and there were seven former Burnley players who also found themselves going out of the competition with another eleven winning through to the next round and ten living to fight another day.

Some of those players were involved in unexpected good results and it is only right we start there, and no better place to start than with a player who joined the Clarets back in the 1996/97 season and made an FA Cup debut for us in a penalty shoot out win against Walsall in Christmas week 1996.

On Saturday Glen Little was named as a substitute for Wrexham and was introduced with 12 minutes remaining of their game at Brighton. By that time the score was already 1-1 and that's how it finished with a replay now set for the Racecourse Ground.

A real FA Cup hero on Sunday was a goalkeeper who never got as far as the pitch at Burnley. Brian Laws, having seen Diego Penny in one reserve game, moved quickly to get Nicky Weaver in as cover for the remainder of the 2009/10 season.

Weaver was a big Sheffield Wednesday hero as he made a magnificent penalty save to deny West Ham's Sam Baldock which allowed the Owls to go on and win the tie 1-0 with a late Chris O'Grady goal.

Two ex-Clarets came on as substitutes in the same game in what was another upset. Jon Harley made a rare Notts County appearance from the bench as they won 2-0 at Doncaster for whom John Oster, recently out injured, was also used as a substitute.

Two players in one game had nothing on the Barnsley v Swansea City tie at Oakwell where four former Clarets were involved. Both Jay McEveley and Stephen Foster started for Barnsley with Andy Gray coming on as a substitute. They were all losers though, going out 4-2 to the Premier League club who listed Nathan Dyer amongst their goalscorers, one of two ex-Clarets to score an FA Cup goal this weekend.

The other was Dean Bowditch who scored MK Franchise's goal in their 1-1 home draw against QPR for whom Neil Warnock  was in charge for the last time. Luke Chadwick was also in the home starting line up whilst Bradley Orr was an unused substitute for QPR.

In a disappointing lunchtime game at St. Andrew's there were another three who have worn the Claret and Blue, and three who all featured for us in the Premier League. Wade Elliott started the game for Birmingham who drew 0-0 against Wolves. The game also saw the introduction as substitutes of Steven Caldwell (Birmingham) and Steven Fletcher (Wolves).

Chris Eagles was in the Bolton side that drew at Macclesfield. Robbie Blake, who plays very little football these days, was a substitute but not called upon.

There were two more at Middlesbrough as they beat Shrewsbury. Rhys Williams played the whole game and Danny Coyne came on during the second half as a substitute. It was Coyne's first appearance since September in Middlesbrough's Carling Cup exit at Crystal Palace.

Other winners were Phil Bardsley who was in the Sunderland team that won 2-0 at Peterborough, Danny Fox and Jack Cork who were both in Southampton's 2-1 winning team at Coventry, Kevin McDonald played for Sheffield United in a 3-1 home win against Salisbury and Chris Iwelumo came on as a substitute for Watford in their 4-2 home win against Bradford City.

Shane Duffy, who played once for Burnley last season, is back at Everton after a loan at Scunthorpe and was an unused substitute in their 2-0 Goodison Park win against Tamworth who included Duane Courtney in their side.

David Nugent was the only other ex-Claret to get on the pitch. He played for Leicester in their draw at Nottingham Forest and there were two others who were named as substitutes who, like Duffy, were not called on during defeats. Leon Cort was one, in Charlton's 4-0 defeat at Fulham with Keith Lowe an unused substitute for Cheltenham as they went out 2-0 at Spurs.