Cold and dark, but a 5-2 win

It was officially our away game and so we were in our sky blue kit for this afternoon fixture. Alan Mahon was in the side alongside reserve team regulars Diego Penny and Remco van der Schaaf, whilst the rest of the side was made up of the young professionals and apprentices.

The first quarter of the game saw both sides take and then lose the lead with a scoreline of 2-2 with just under twenty minutes on the clock. Burnley were the first to striker with an opener from the impressive Adam Kay.

He finished well but within no time we were behind. Penny should certainly have done better with Accrington's equaliser when he was beaten on the near post but there was nothing he could do when Craig Mahon, Alan's nephew who is on loan from Wigan, gave the home side the lead.

That lead lasted no time at all, a couple of minutes at the most, and this was definite goalkeeping error, similar to that from Kelvin Davis that led to our second goal on Saturday against Southampton. He failed to deal with the ball and there was James Craggs to head in from all of a yard out.

Burnley weren't going to let their hosts back in the game again and just past the half hour we went in front for the second time when Kay played Jay Rodriguez in for his 7^th reserve team goal of the season.

By half time it was four and a second from Craggs, latching on to a ball from Alex MacDonald and we were so close to a fifth when the goalkeeper tipped Jay's shot onto the post.

There was plenty to talk about at half time, but it mainly centred on the four goals, the news of Allardyce's appointment at Blackburn that was just filtering through, and how cold it was getting.

Some of us were prepared but others arrived believing they would be able to watch the match from inside, only to find it all locked up and having to sit coatless in the stand.

There wasn't quite as much to warm us either in the second half. We did get a fifth which brought Craggsy a very much deserved hat trick, getting in on the end of rebound off the keeper to finish.

Watching became more difficult as the light began to fade, but there was no further scoring and the Clarets romped home to a 5-2 win before we all got home as quickly as possible to get out of the cold.

It was a good performance, other than that short period when we conceded the two goals. Kay played well in the midfield whilst Mahon impressed on the left, but there were good performances all over the pitch and none more so than that of James Craggs, the hat trick hero.

The teams were;

Accrington: Ian Dunbavin (Josh Molloy 45), Daniel Hutton, Adam Strode, Chris Turner, Alan Burton, Zak Riley, Craig Mahon, Joe Roberts, Jamie Clarke, Robert Grant, Bevan Burey. Subs not used: Harun Bhatti, Tom Riley, Adam Black, Jordan Neild.

Burnley: Diego Penny, Dan Brown, Nik Kudiersky, Chris Lynch, Alex-Ray Harvey, Alex MacDonald, Adam Kay, Remco van der Schaaf (Chris Anderson 74), Alan Mahon (Michael King 71), Jay Rodriguez, James Craggs (Dominic Knowles 76). Subs not used: Gabor Kiraly, Dil Chaggar.