Champions humbled by Burnley

Joe McKee - another two goals including a 30-yard stunner

We were hit by injuries but the size of our squad means it was by no means a weakened side. On the back of his goalscoring exploits last week Ben Woodhead was again in the nets and Neil Yadolahi returned in the centre of defence in place of Dean Overson. Ross Wilson and Shay McCartan were also rotated back in with Tommy Taylor and Adam Evans dropping to the bench.

We had the better of the opening exchanges and had two good headed chances for Joe Jackson and Steven Hewitt, but on both occasions the ball flashed past the wrong side of the post. With just over ten minutes on the clock we were awarded a spot kick when Wilson jinked across the area and was taken out. It was a stonewall penalty but the PNE players surrounded the ref anyway to dispute. Joe Jackson convinced Joe McKee that he was the man for the job and struck it low to the keepers right. The Preston stopper was equal to the task though and parried the ball away.

We continued to press and play good stuff and, in truth, PNE weren't giving us too many problems. The ref was turning a blind eye to some pretty tough tackling from both sides and Steven Hewitt found himself needing physio attention on two occasions.

We finally got the lead our play deserved around 25 minutes in. Ross Wilson attacked his full back down the left wing and skinned him easily. He looked up and cut the ball back to the on rushing McKee who slid in and smashed it past the keeper. McKee then doubled both his and the team's tally with a stunning strike. He picked up the ball on the left hand side and cut infield. He looked up and from fully 30 yards unleashed a rocket shot, beating the keeper all ends up and finding the back of the net.

Just before half time we also had two more goods chances. Joe Jackson outstripped the covering centre half and rounded the keeper, but saw his shot hacked off the line. Joe McKee was also unlucky when hunting his hat-trick as he danced into the box and rode two challenges only to see his dinked effort clawed away by the keeper.

The 2^nd half started with PNE on the front foot as they upped their tempo and tried to pull a goal back. They just couldn't find a way through though and we soon regained the upper hand. We extended our lead on around the hour mark. Steve Edwards won a thundering 50/50 on the left touchline and lofted a ball up front. Jackson controlled it on his chest and laid off to Wilson. He surged forward and slipped in Hewitt, who charged into the box and fired home.

It was all Burnley now and we added a 4^th through the deserving Wilson. A foul on the right wing saw McKee float a free kick over to the far post. Yadolahi rose highest and headed it back across goal, allowing Wilson to nod past the keeper. We took this as a cue to change things with Jackson, McKee and Lynch making way for Evans, Mullin and Love.

The game petered out with not much more by way of goal scoring chances. However, there was one other incident of note as the ref forced PNE to substitute their centre half Bailey Wright after he disagreed with a decision and called the man in black a 'ginger ****'. I'll leave it to your imagination what the stars have replaced. There were only 30 seconds left but it should have been a red and I guess this is one way of saving paperwork.

Team:- Ben Woodhead, Ed Williams, Steve Edwards, Neil Yadolahi, Alex Coleman, Steven Hewitt, Dave Lynch (Alex Mullin), Joe McKee (Archie Love), Ross Wilson, Shay McCartan, Joe Jackson (Adam Evans)
Subs not used:- Christian Thewliss, Tommy Taylor