Goals galore at Accy

Last updated : 23 March 2006 By Tony Scholes

Jay Rodriguez - involved in both goals
A young second string twice led and really should have come away with at least a draw but ‘Dale, having gone in front just past the hour were able to hold on to take all three points.

It was a very inexperienced Burnley side, a side that included two schoolboys from the Under-16 team and only two professionals, but they played some good football against a far more experienced Rochdale outfit.

We'd had a couple of chances before taking the lead with thirty minutes gone, the best of which fell to Rob Turner who got clear on the left hand side but saw his shot well saved by the Rochdale keeper.

The goal, when it came, was a well worked move down the right hand side involving Jay Rodriguez and Cayne Hanley. It was Hanley who got into the box and played a good ball in for Turner who in turn got it across to Danny Karbassiyoon coming in at the far post. Danny hit home with no mistake for his second reserve team goal.

We were in front for no more than ten minutes and their equaliser was a bad goal to give away. They found too much space in our box but goalkeeper Lee Matthews made a superb save to deny them only for the ball to rebound to a Rochdale player who made no mistake.

Shortly after there was confusion in the Burnley box as Matthews (wearing a yellow shirt and black shorts) came to catch a ball in the air under pressure from two Rochdale strikers (wearing yellow shirts and black shorts). Amazingly the referee had allowed this but how he quite worked out who it was that was using his hands is anyone's guess.

It was the last of the first half action and perhaps just about a fair scoreline but just twelve minutes into the second half, and with the big crowd of around thirty now dealing with the dropping temperatures, we got ourselves in front again.

Connor Smith, Karbassiyoon and Adam Kay were all involved as we worked the ball forward before the ball was played out to Rodriguez out wide on the right. His cross was pin point for Hanley who got there first and found the perfect header into the top corner giving the keeper no chance.

We couldn't hold the lead though and five minutes later the scoring was complete as the visitors scored twice. The first of them was a header following a left wing cross and the winner came after we gave the ball away in midfield and they broke clear and left Matthews helpless with a shot into the bottom corner.

The Clarets kept going and came close to equalising and twice in the closing minutes Rodriguez found himself with half chances but was unable to get his shots on target.

There was plenty to be please about though, firstly goals which have been in short supply for Burnley fans recently, and some good performances from some very young players in the side.

The teams were,

Burnley: Lee Matthews, Rob Henry, Jack Overson, Duane Courtney, Paul Casey, Jay Rodriguez, Connor Smith, Adam Kay (Ali Akbar), Danny Karbassiyoon, Cayne Hanley, Rob Turner. Subs not used: Mark Crossley, Dean Stott, Lewis Craig.


Rochdale: Danny Woodhall, Gary Brown, Michael Murray, Scott Warner, James McDonough, Jon Boardman, Lee Cartwright, Callum Warburton, Joe Thompson, Matthew Williams, Ben Kitchen. Subs: M Kay, L Rigby, T Coleman, K Liptrol, K Bowden.