More injury woe as reserves win

Last updated : 30 September 2009 By Tony Scholes
Steven Thompson
Steven Thompson - scored both goals
First Chris McCann, then Martin Paterson and tonight the worst possible news greeted our arrival at Accrington that last season's youth and reserve team captain Chris Lynch had suffered a cruciate ligament injury playing for Chester on Sunday and is ruled out for the rest of the season.

Tonight saw Guerrero limp off in the closing seconds of the first half after pulling up with a hamstring injury and less than twenty minutes into the second half Jay Rodriguez went down at the far end with what is believed to be a twisted ankle.

I wasn't sure whether I'd turned up at Accrington or a reserve game or whether I'd walked into a war zone tonight. The stewarding was way over the top that it was laughable. I've never seen so many stewards at a reserve game marshalling the supporters where it appeared that home and away supporters were being segregated, not as though I saw any Hull fans.

Who on earth was responsible for this over the top fiasco will have cost someone a lot of unnecessary money, particularly given the attendance was just over 400.

Burnley's team of defenders, six of them in all, saw both David Edgar (centre) and Christian Kalvenes (left) line up in the midfield in a 4-4-2 formation and the first half was one of Burnley domination almost from start to finish.

The first few minutes were fairly even and Diego Penny punched one cross away but that was just about the only time he touched the ball in active play during the first 45 minutes as Burnley took the game to Hull with Guerrero lighting up the game time and time again.

The only goal of the half came midway through when Rodriguez got down the right and crossed into the box. It fell loose and Edgar was first there to play it into the path of Steven Thompson who hit his shot into the bottom corner past Hull keeper Matt Duke.

Twice Jay came close himself when played in, firstly by Guerrero and then by Richard Eckersley. It seemed only a matter of time before the second came but Hull decided that the best way to stop our little Ecuadorian was to take him out. That led to a yellow card.

The crowd were on their feet almost every time he went close to the ball but as we checked our watches at the end of the half he pulled up with what was very clearly a hamstring problem.

We played out the half with ten men and for the start of the second half Wes Fletcher was on in his place.

It was fairly even stuff at the start of the second half and we made two more changes just before the hour. Firstly Chris Anderson came on for Kevin McDonald and then Alex-Ray Harvey replaced Steven Caldwell who had come through an hour unscathed.

We paid for all the early substitutions too. Just a couple of minutes after the third one we were down to ten men when Jay went down on the goal line at the covered end and eventually a stretcher had to be taken round to take him back to the dressing rooms.

That left us to play with ten men and for most of the time we were still comfortable enough. Then with fifteen minutes remaining a break down the left and a cross from Craig Fagan found Bryan Hughes who headed home with the entire Burnley defence appealing for offside.

Whether he was or not, the assistant looked perplexed and I'm sure was concerned that he might have got it wrong. There was every chance given his poor positioning.

A draw looked likely but Thompson had other ideas and scored a stunning solo goal. He picked the ball up just inside the Hull half and went on a sensational run before ending it with a powerful left foot striker into the top corner that Duke had no chance of keeping out.

Overall it was deserved, certainly given our first half performance, and even the rain eased off for us as we left the ground.

That's two wins out of three now and we travel back to Merseyside next week to play Liverpool at Prenton Park, home of Tranmere Rovers. And there is every chance this one could be screened live on Liverpool TV.

Tonight's teams were;

Burnley: Diego Penny, Richard Eckersley, Michael Duff, Steven Caldwell (Alex-Ray Harvey 60), Brian Easton, Fernando Guerrero (Wes Fletcher 45), David Edgar, Kevin McDonald (Chris Anderson 58), Christian Kalvenes, Jay Rodriguez, Steven Thompson. Subs not used: Jonathan Lund, Ben Hoskin.

Hull: Matt Duke, John Leonard (Lee McArdle 72), Nathan Hanley, Nicky Featherstone, Steven Mouyokolo, Sonny Bradley, Bryan Hughes, Tom Cairney, Ryan Kendall, Craig Fagan, Will Atkinson. Subs not used: Billy Ward, Yan Ekra, Darragh Satelle, Daniel Wilkinson.

Referee: R Joyce.

Attendance: 401.