Comeback counts for nothing

The Clarets defence watch as an effort from Oldham goes over the bar

But we could have been coming home after the first fifteen minutes after a rather odd looking Burnley line up were outplayed, went two behind and the game could well have been out of reach had Oldham taken their chances.

Mark Crossley was strangely preferred in goal to Michael Hale who spent the match on the bench, and he had a poor afternoon that ultimately cost us, whilst the line up was difficult to fathom.

With Darrell Avery not included Chris McCann was again played in midfield and that meant Jack Overson came in at centre half. Further up the pitch we started with Kyle Lafferty in a wide right position whilst Marc Pugh took up a position in centre midfield in a 4-5-1 formation.

It certainly looked to confuse the players and the start could not have been worse. We were uncertain at the back and I’ve never seen such as Neal Trotman and Martin Reilly play as badly as they started this game.

They weren’t helped with the dreadful indecisive goalkeeping that was causing us untold problems. An early goal looked certain but the first two chances were missed and they then hit one against the foot of the post before finally taking the lead after ten minutes.

Five minutes later it was 2-0 and it looked all over as we struggled to get any sort of grip on the game.

We did have a half chance shortly afterwards as Lafferty almost found Tom Ince with a ball from the right but then we finally decided to put right what we had got so horribly wrong and reverted to 4-4-2.

Lafferty went up front with Pugh going out onto the right and from that moment on we looked a totally different side. Almost immediately we came close to pulling one back but the Oldham defender did superbly to clear off the line from Pugh who chipped in a shot from the right hand side.

Cayne Hanley - both goals for the Clarets

That was the last chance of the first half, we were improving, but that was nothing to the second half performance when we were for spells the only side in it.

It was the Oldham keeper who was the one under pressure and how he was up to the task. He made a couple of good saves and was also more than once thankful to his defenders who blocked shots.

Surely we had a chance of getting back into this game and with 68 minutes gone we finally pulled one back. It came from a free kick and Cayne Hanley turned to hit home from close range.

It was all Burnley now and shortly afterwards Hanley, who hadn’t scored a goal all season for the youth team, added his and Burnley’s second. He picked up on a loose ball and chipped it in from the edge of the area.

What a comeback and it could have been even better. With the fourth official holding up the board to show three extra minutes the Oldham keeper made a brilliant save to tip over a deflected McCann shot.

It looked a goal all the way but the save took the game into extra time where Burnley continued to dominate. Smith, in goal for Oldham, made two more excellent saves from McCann either side of the half way point in extra time and little was being seen of Oldham.

Then with ten minutes to go we took off our best player on the day Kyle Lafferty. He’d had turned in a brilliant performance, the best player on the pitch for me, and the player looked as bemused as I was as he left the field.

Less than two minutes later and Oldham scored the winner and sadly it came from some poor goalkeeping from Crossley. He’d struggled all afternoon with balls into the box and he failed to collect one more and the ball run loose and after a scramble the home side hit it home.

There was to be no second comeback and just as we did last year we have gone out of this competition to Oldham in a match that went to extra time, last year’s being in the final.

The few Burnley supporters there, our club ensured the numbers would be low by failing to advertise it, gave the lads a standing ovation at the end. They deserved it and but for that awful start we would have won this game.

The teams were,

Oldham: Smith, Jacobs (Eardly 63), Lomax, Lever, Booth, Taylor, Baguley (Spencer 84), Wolfenden, Hall, Barlow (Kelly 116), Taylor. Subs not used: Holness, Smalley.

Burnley: Mark Crossley, Rob Henry, Neal Trotman, Jack Overson, Martin Reilly, Kyle Lafferty (Rob Turner 110), Marc Pugh, Chris McCann, Nicky Platt, Tom Ince, Cayne Hanley. Subs not used: Michael Hale, Dale Underwood, Ali Akbar, Connor Smith.

Fixtures and Results