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The Clarets welcomed back James Salisbury, Joel Pilkington and Paul Scott after injury, but still had Gary Carter and Adam Jones sidelined. Sean Blakey missed out too following a recent knock; so with Matthew O’Neill also absent with the first-team squad, Terry Pashley’s options were limited. Nevertheless, the Clarets were able to field an experienced side at this level.
Rochdale were without last week’s hat-trick hero Rory Patterson, promoted to first-team duties, but this didn’t seem to deter the Dale forwards who caused the Clarets’ defence problems throughout the game.
Burnley (in 4-4-2): James Salisbury; Danny Pitham, Ryan Townsend, Liam Eves (capt.), Paul Scott; Stephen Richardson (Marc Pugh 48), Richard Chaplow (Darrell Avery 70), Joel Pilkington, Mark Rasmussen; Rhys Carpenter (Robert Grimes 57), Damien Hindle. Sub not used: Michael Hale.
Burnley started brightly and confidently, passing and moving well. However, Rochdale soon began to force the Clarets back into their own half. The midfield started to struggle to keep possession, and so the forwards were given little opportunity to add to the 17 goals the Dale keeper had conceded in the last four games.
Neither side had mustered a decent attempt on goal in the first half hour, until within the space of a minute both sides went close. First a Rochdale lob was just over, and then Damien Hindle missed with a header when in a good position.
Shortly after it was 1-0. In the 35th minute Dale broke well down the right. When the low cross came in the Clarets’ defence failed to deal with it and a Dale forward scored easily from 10 yards.
This seemed to spur the bottom team in the division on, leaving the Clarets in a state of disarray for the remainder of the half.
Five minutes later it was 2-0. On his 19th birthday Captain Liam decided to flout the convention of receiving, not giving, presents on this special day when, under no pressure, he decided to pass the ball straight to the feet of Big Nathan, an unmarked Rochdale striker, who promptly bore down on goal. Salty did well to save the first shot, but could do nothing about the follow up.
Salisbury then pulled off another great save; Rochdale missed an easy chance; Ryan Townsend was booked for a late challenge, but the Clarets somehow survived with just a two-goal deficit at halftime.
During the interval, Pash, never one to come first in a shrinking violet competition, ensured that the air surrounding his youthful charges matched the blue of their shirtsleeves.
The young Clarets started the second half in a more determined mood, but again struggled to create any clear openings. Rochdale, clearly under instructions from coach Colin Greenall to keep it tight and not do anything stupid, seemed content to sit back and rely on quick breakaways. From one of these Big Nathan struck a Claret post, but it wasn’t until the 62nd minute that Hindle forced the goalie into his first save.
Substitute Robert Grimes then had a good effort saved, and the Clarets did produce a couple of half chances, but a 25-yard blaster from Danny Pitham in the dying seconds which went just over was the closest they came to scoring.
Rochdale were clearly delighted with their first win of the season, but for the Clarets it was a day to forget. Next Saturday they will face one of their sternest tests of this campaign when they travel to Tranmere. They will need to be on top form against yet another strong youth team that the Wirral club have assembled.
(P.S. I am indebted to Liam’s dad for providing an update on the first few minutes of the game.
The Football League’s website had the game starting at 10:30. Rochdale told me on Friday that no, it was an 11 o’clock kick off, and this was later confirmed on Burnley’s official website. The game actually started at 10:45 with hardly any spectators present. By 11, about 50 people had arrived, most of whom had missed a good 15 minutes of the game. No explanations or apologies were offered.
For heaven’s sake, this was supposed to be an official match between teams of two professional football clubs, not some kickaround in the park! What next? Jumpers for goalposts?
Yet another example of the shambolic way so-called professional football is run in this country.
