Cruel defeat for youth team

Last updated : 22 July 2008 By Tony Scholes

It took the most unfortunate of own goals two minutes from the end of normal time from central defender Dan Brown to give the SPL club's youth side a 1-0 win. There was little Dan could do, he had no option but to play the ball and to keep it out would have been very difficult.

There was a sighting of a former Claret in a flash convertible car ahead of kick off but he chose not to bother with the game and didn't even have a word for anyone of those from Burnley be they supporters, players or coaches.

Youth reports from Gawthorpe often make reference to the weather and this should be no different. It was played in almost Mediterranean style heat for the healthy contingent of Burnley fans who made their way north of the city and at least one of them was thankful for the use of sun block provided by Vince Overson and Andy Farrell.

This was expected to be a big test for our lads and so it proved against a good side, but we were up to the task and held our own against our hosts. The early exchanges saw the home side press forwards but we defended well and they didn't really create much.

It took a while for us to get into our stride, but when we did we played the ball well through the midfield where Chris Anderson and Oliver Devenney linked up well and we came close to scoring on a few occasions.

It was goalless at half time but Rangers really came at us in the early part of the second half and came close to taking the lead a couple of times, hitting the woodwork on one occasion. But again we came back at them and had a sustained spell on top when we came just as close as a shot from Dominic Knowles beat the keeper with the post coming to their rescue.

It all looked to be ending 0-0 until that own goal which deflated our lads, but they needn't be so after an excellent performance. Now they head for games against Partick Thistle (Thursday) and Motherwell (Saturday) before their trip to Scotland comes to an end.

The team was: Stef Ritchie, Ben Hoskin, Dan Brown, Chris Lynch, Jake McEneaney, Dil Chaggar, Chris Anderson, Oliver Devenney, Michael King, Dominic Knowles, Liam Newman. Subs all used: Dan McDonald, Alex-Ray Harvey, James Craggs, Wes Fletcher.