A pleasant afternoon in picturesque Fulwood

Last updated : 22 July 2002 By Peter Heywood

Anthony Shandran - started up front alongside Damian HIndle
This gave the locals evident satisfaction for being on the receiving end of a similar scoreline almost exactly twelve months ago.

The Lightfoot Lane complex is one of sport’s more appealing sites. Picturesquely situated in a wooded area to the north of Preston it houses various facilities, including Preston Grasshoppers RUFC, squash courts, 5 a side pitches and a golf course. Indeed Fulwood’s ground, including two pitches, also doubles as a driving range - fortunately not today though.

Unlike our last visit, made in sweltering conditions, the game was played in perfect weather. With the thermometer registering a pleasant 20°, the grass so green that Tom Jones would be glad to lay ’neath it, and under a sky as blue as Hank Williams the teams took to the field, with Burnley lining up in 4-4-2:

James Salisbury; Joel Pilkington (capt), Danny Pitham, Gary Carter, Paul Scott; Mark Rasmussen, Sean Blakey, Steven Richardson, Matthew O’Neill; Damien Hindle, Anthony Shandran. Subs: Liam Eves, Earl Davis, Richard Chaplow, Andrew Waine, Andrew Leeson.

Of immediate interest was the appearance of the enigmatic Shandy. Not considered for the Isle of Man, and a veteran amongst the other youngsters, it looked like he was being given a run out in the absence of Rhys Carpenter. Disappointingly, it seems that the young Welsh international schoolboy has sustained a recurrence of his back injury, and may be out until Christmas.

Two of our new scholars were also on display: the central defensive pairing of Danny Pitham and Gary Carter. Londoner Gary had impressed in the away game at Oldham whilst on trial last season, but this would be the first sighting of Coventry-born Daniel.

The first quarter of an hour or so was fairly even. In just the 5th minute Shandran cut inside on a strong run and put in a fine drive which was just inches wide. Argentina look-alikes Fulwood responded with a lob over Salisbury, which Pitham, covering well, hacked off the line.

However, Fulwood gradually began to take control in midfield and the Clarets had to defend in depth, relying instead on breakaways. This is when Carter and Pitham really began to take the eye. Carter dealt confidently with everything, and showed composure and skill on the ball. His passing was particularly impressive. Not for him the aimless boot upfield; instead he put in a series of 30-40 yard accurate and constructive passes to feet. Pitham too was sound and confident on his debut, also looking at ease with the ball.

The Clarets had a couple of narrow escapes when Fulwood forwards twice shot over when in good positions, but credit to Salisbury for making them hurry the shot. At the other end Burnley rarely threatened until right on halftime, when a Rasmussen cross was headed just wide by Hindle. (Ras had a fairly quiet game, but it was good to see that he’d been spending the summer putting in some serious training on his hairstyle!)

No score at the interval then, but Burnley could consider themselves somewhat fortunate not to be behind.

All this changed as soon as the second half began. No doubt having suffered the first earbashing of the season from Terry Pashley, the Clarets dominated possession from the kick-off. Within a matter of seconds Knocker O’Neill had a goalbound shot headed away for a corner, the first of many as Burnley laid siege to the Fulwood goal.

Scott had a 20-yard thunderbolt tipped over before changes in the line-up were made after 10 minutes of the half. Chaplow, Davis, Leeson, Waine and Eves replaced respectively O’Neill, Shandran, Pilkington, Rasmussen and Scott. Unusually, Earl played the remainder of the game up front as TP presumably did not want to disrupt the promising Carter-Pitham partnership.

The pattern of play continued the same though as the Fulwood goalie came to the rescue of his side twice with good saves from Chaplow. Waine too shot just wide, and it seemed that a goal was inevitable.

The goal duly arrived, only at the wrong end! Fulwood had caused a couple of anxious moments with isolated breakaways, but these had been well dealt with by covering defenders. However in the 79th minute the defence failed to clear a loose ball and a shot was driven low into the net past a possibly unsighted Salisbury. Jubilation ensued amongst the Fulwood faithful, but he soon calmed down. Burnley continued to press forward for the remaining ten minutes but disappointingly failed to create any further chances.

A 1-0 defeat then in quite a good game played in an excellent spirit. The result of course was disappointing, as was the lack of clear-cut chances created in the match, particularly in the second half dominated by Burnley. However there were several positives, including the full debuts of our two new scholars. With Earl Davis and Liam Eves probably holding down regular reserve team places, and with Earl surely pushing for at least a place on the first team bench, Carter and Pitham look like more than adequate replacements in central defence. Richard Chaplow continues to impress with his quick-thinking and distribution, and Scotty Mark 3 seems to get stronger with each game.

Although officially a reserve friendly, the next outing for most if not all of the squad is at Nantwich on Wednesday evening when the young Clarets come up against Nigel Gleghorn’s Dabbers.

Not a pretty sight, I can assure you!