Knowles brace wins it for Clarets

Last updated : 21 April 2011 By Tony Scholes
Dominic Knowles
It was a much needed victory with anything but ending our hopes of winning the totesport.com League title that we lifted in our last season of 2008/09. We remain a point behind Preston who have a game in hand and our only chance will be to beat them next week and hope they don't win their other game against Accrington.

It was strange to see a Burnley team in white at Turf Moor and this is the first away game I can recall a Burnley team playing at home since an FA Cup tie against Hyde United in 1983, another game we won 2-0.

It's fair to say this was, at times, a hugely uninspiring game but Burnley were, without any doubt, the better side throughout the game. Too often the quality of the ball into the box was lacking, and when it was good enough we just couldn't get on the end of things and more than once balls flashed across the box with no one able to get a touch.

At half time the score was still 0-0 but we finally broke the deadlock early in the second half. Knowles got onto a ball in the box, took it round Stanley 'keeper Dunbavin and hit a shot high into the net.

Wes Fletcher came close to doubling that lead within a minute but saw Dunbavin save and for much of the remainder of the half the talking point was the withdrawal of Chris McCann on the hour. I suppose you always worry when you see a player returning from injury brought off but there appeared to be no problems and Chris spent much of the remainder of the game doing a warm down.

The second goal came late in the game as James Taylor played the ball to Knowles on the edge of the box and he drilled in a low shot to complete the scoring.

It wasn't the last of the chances and only the Accrington player will know what he was doing in front of the cricket field stand goal. The ball came across to him and all he had to do was head it into an empty net from around five yards out.

Inexplicably, he opted to try and volley it and volley it he did. It went out for a thrown in front of the Longside some 20 yards or so from the corner flag. Now that takes some doing.

So another win, but alas it looks as though it is too late with Preston clear favourites for the title.

The teams were;

Accrington: Ian Dunbavin, Andrew Harrison, Tom Smyth, Karl Dailey, Ben Whitcombe, Alan Burton (Bevan Burey 49), Nick Walker (Jamie Larner 82), Andrew Parkinson (Josh O'Connell 82), Ray Putterill, Craig Lindfield, Rory Boulding. Subs not used: Matthew Lawler, Antony Field, Connor Hobson.

Burnley : Josh Cook, Nik Kudiersky, Chris Lynch, Tom Anderson, Louis-Rae Beadle, Joe McKee (Steven Hewitt 16), Chris McCann (Archie Love 60), Michael King (James Taylor 83), Ross Wilson, Wes Fletcher. Subs not used: Craig Mawson, Ed Williams, Alex Mullin, Adam Evans.