Brilliant come back ensures cup progress

Last updated : 01 February 2005 By Tony Scholes

Cayne Hanley - played well up front
It all got off to a bad start for the young Clarets and we were a goal down after just eight minutes. Tranmere broke down the left, passes were not cut out, and it ended with them having a free shot on goal.

Michael Hale saved but could only palm it away to an oncoming forward who made no mistake to put the Wirral club one up.

If that wasn’t bad enough they doubled their lead after twenty minutes after a Tranmere player was allowed to run through the middle unchallenged and he was able to place his shot past Hale from the edge of the box.

It wasn’t looking good for the Clarets, 2-0 down and Tranmere were running the show but it was all to change and as the half progressed we turned the tables and started to get on top.

The passing game that has been the trademark this season was back and just before the half time break we were back in it at 2-1 with a goal from Martin Reilly.

The second half was all Burnley and was helped by the introduction of the fit again Kyle Lafferty shortly after the restart which helped our attacking play and gave Cayne Hanley the support he needed up front.

It was another defender, Neal Trotman, who scrambled the equaliser and then just a few minutes from the end Lafferty slipped the defender and slotted home a good goal to win it for the Clarets. All that was left was to run the clock down by taking the ball into the corner before the whistle signalled the win.


Tranmere run true to form, as things started to go against them they became over aggressive, it went worse once the Clarets had equalised. Parents of the Tranmere players were winding the kids up and incredibly their coach turned on the officials at the end, complaining about refereeing decisions and how his livelihood was at stake.


It was a good performance from the Clarets with Neal Trotman and Cayne Hanley the two outstanding players. Kyle Lafferty is back now, Alex Taylor is expected to be fit soon as is Ryan Townsend who has missed much of the season with a stress fracture. On the down side Darrell Avery will be out for some time with a hernia.


The Burnley team was: Michael Hale, Rob Henry, Neal Trotman, Chris McCann, Martin Reilly, Marc Pugh, Adam Jones (Kyle Lafferty), Joe Booth, Nicky Platt, Tom Ince, Cayne Hanley.

Following the win the good news is that we have got ourselves another home draw in the quarter-finals, this time against Doncaster Rovers and it will be played on Saturday 12th March.

The full draw is:

Burnley v Doncaster Rovers

Oldham Athletic v Wigan Athletic

Swindon Town v Wycombe Wanderers

Bournemouth v Queens Park Rangers


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