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Mark McGregor, a regular reserve team captain in the past, led the team tonight on his return to action and partnered Ryan Townsend in the centre of the defence and we got off to a reasonable start although without threatening the Bradford goal.
But it was the visitors who nearly took the lead on the quarter hour and they really should have done but the shot was poorly struck and Michael Hale was able to save. Nicky Summerbee should have done better with a shot he hit high and wide but in between the Clarets almost scored themselves but Gary Carter had his effort blocked.
In the last real piece of action in the first half McGregor came to the rescue with a goal line clearance and the half time whistle went with the score at 0-0 and that overall had been a fair reflection of the first half.
After a bright start to the second half we then had to contend with a period of Bradford pressure and it was during this period that they took the lead and could have had more but for the goalkeeping of Hale.
The goal though was a bad one from our point of view, from a corner that we could have cleared and Flynn was able to steer it home through a ruck of players.
A seventh defeat looked on the cards but after missing one chance Carpenter proved to be the hero with that header and finally the Clarets are off the mark.
The teams were,
Burnley: Michael Hale, Danny Pitham, Mark McGregor, Ryan Townsend, Gary Carter, Marc Pugh, Darrel Avery, Joel Pilkington, Tom Ince, Rhys Carpenter (Alex Taylor 85), Matt O’Neill. Subs not used: Ross Preston, Curtis Aspen, James Heywood.
Bradford: Clint Davies, Paul Reid, Jake Wright, Frazer McCugh (Michael Standing 60), Daniel Ellis, Craig Bentham, Nicky Summerbee (Patrick Bannister 60), Tom Penford, Kevin Sanasy (Daniel Ekoku 81), Luke Cornwall, Liam Flynn. Subs not used: Sam Denton, Luke Richardson.
Burnley’s Fixtures and Results