Clarets still unbeaten in Merit League

Cayne Hanley - scored the third goal

With Ryan Townsend away following his international dreams, Chris McCann dropped back into defence with Nicky Platt coming into the middle of the park. Marc Pugh was also given the opportunity to rest weary legs as Cayne Hanley took up a wide right berth.

Not for the first time this season the Clarets set off like a house on fire and were ahead within two minutes. A free kick on the left hand side was floated in towards the near post and Alex Taylor, running across the face of the goal, connected with a back-header and diverted the ball past a wrong-footed keeper.

Following the early goal however, the Clarets struggled to put their foot on the ball and control the game as they should have. The ball was bobbling on a very dry pitch and this, coupled with a driving wind, disrupted the play of the home side.

Hartlepool looked to hit long balls to get in behind the Burnley defence and on ten minutes appeared to have succeeded. The Pool striker chased a through ball down and was clattered by Michael Hale just on the edge of the box, the keeper picking up a booking for his troubles.

The free kick came to nothing but the visitors felt they had found our weakness and soon another long ball found the striker again, who was clearly in an offside position. There was, however, no flag and the youngster brought it down well, but could only find the post.

With around half an hour on the clock Kyle Lafferty had the ball in the back of the net, though this was ruled out for offside. Almost directly from the resultant free kick the ball arrived at Neal Trotman who played a sweet ball out to Hanley on the wing. The young forward surged down the wing and sent over a dangerous cross, just missing Taylor at the near post but finding Lafferty at the back, and from close range he made no mistake.

Five minutes later saw Hartlepool get themselves back into the game. Tom Ince was bundled off the ball in the midfield and the ball was clipped forward into the Burnley box. Hale lost his footing momentarily, preventing him from closing the attacker down and when the ball was crossed the Pool forward stole in between McCann and Trotman to stab it home.

With half-time approaching Ince went on a strong, mazy run on the left wing. After beating several opponents he swung a cross onto the head of Lafferty, who flicked on for Hanley, allowing him to smash home from an angle.

The second half started with more of the same, though the Clarets initially struggled with the final ball. Pugh entered the fray in place of Lafferty and he won a throw on the right. This was launched into the box and Burnley were denied a clear penalty for handball, but it was not to matter as the ball bounced out to Ince who fired in a scissors kick from ten yards.

Hartlepool had seen the game go beyond their reach and so made a substitution introducing a diminutive striker. I for one can’t understand why he didn’t start. He totally changed the style of the Pool play with his close control, speed and hard tackles.

Hale was forced to react well to tip over a dipping volley and Platt had a minor scuffle with the new addition as he was tackled late. With 25 minutes gone the substitute broke into the box and went down under challenge from Hale.

The air was thick with calls of ‘cheat’ but the ref awarded the penalty, though spared Hale a second caution. The penalty was dispatched easily but the dubious decision affected the game.

The contest became a little niggly at this point as both teams left feet in tackles or hit their opponents a little harder than may have been needed. The nippy sub hit the post again for Hartlepool and Burnley made a couple of substitutions as Booth and Henry both left the field after some hard challenges.

As the game wound down, Pugh forced a good save from the Pool keeper, but the clarets had already done enough, winning the game 4-2. Their next game is a re-arranged match at Chesterfield but it is expected to be the U-16 team who make the journey as the youth team prepare for the Bank Holiday Monday cup match. For some of these lads it could be the last time the wear the claret and blue. After the season they’ve had they deserve your support so get yourselves down to the Turf and cheer them on.

Team: Michael Hale, Rob Henry (Tom Blackler), Martin Reilly, Neil Trotman, Chris McCann, Joe Booth (Dale Underwood), Nicky Platt, Tom Ince, Cayne Hanley, Kyle Lafferty (Marc Pugh), Alex Taylor.

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