No goal for Payts as Clarets youngsters win

Burnley suffered a blow just before kick off when Neal Trotman picked up an injury in the warm up and was replace in the centre of defence by newcomer Chris McCann who is from the Republic of Ireland.

In the opening stages of the game we seemed to struggle to get to grips with the conditions with the wind, the slope on the pitch and with the ball bobbling about, and Colne could have gone in front.

They hit the bar with one effort and then forced Michael Hale into a good save but as the half progressed we were coming more and more into it.

The young Clarets played some excellent football on the difficult surface and were trying at all times to pass the ball and put together some excellent moves. And one of those moves led to us taking the lead on the half hour.

Cayne Hanley - scored a good goal

The build up came down the right hand side of the pitch with Joe Booth and Marc Pugh involved before a ball was played in for Alex Taylor to move onto and hit home. It was no more than we deserved and the lead could have been doubled on a couple of occasions before half time but a shot from Kyle Lafferty went just wide whilst Tom Ince saw his effort saved by the keeper.

It had been a good half from the Clarets after they settled down and given that they had played against both the wind and the slope. The Colne forwards, including that familiar face, had really had little change from Ryan Townsend and McCann.

The pattern continued in the second half and a couple of excellent efforts from Pugh and Nicky Platt had the Colne keeper scurrying across his line.

With just over ten minutes gone in the second half we made our first substitution with Cayne Hanley coming on for Taylor. Shortly afterwards Darrell Avery replaced Nicky Platt and then there were a number of other changes which saw some of the Centre of Excellence Under-16 players get on.

Hanley immediately began to cause Colne some problems with his control and pace and on a number of occasions he got on the end of crosses but was just unable to find the finishing touch.

He found it though with thirteen minutes to go when he controlled and turned superbly some twenty yards from goal before hitting it sweetly into the corner giving the keeper no chance.

Colne’s Webster was booked, although there seemed to be no apparent reason. Certainly not to Payts who, for all to see, asked the referee if he was taking the p***.

Payts - in action against the Clarets

It was just about the last action for the natural born Claret who was substituted and that left time for the home side to pull one back with three minutes to go. A ball from the left was played in to the near post where the forward turned well to hit home from close range.

There were no last minute worries and the game ended in a 2-1 win for the Clarets.

It is fair to say that everyone played well but the two central defenders, Townsend and McCann, were excellent and McCann is normally a left back. And Hanley again impressed as he always seems to do when he came on to inject some pace into the attack.

The final whistle blew and there was just time for Payts to sign a Burnley shirt for a fan, it was the 1999/2000 shirt with a number ten on the back. You see, Payts will always be a Claret.

The youth team now move onto the Dark side with a game against Ashley Hoskin’s Rossendale United next Tuesday at Dark Lane.

Burnley lined up today:

Michael Hale, Rob Henry, Ryan Townsend, Chris McCann, Adam Jones, Marc Pugh, Joe Booth, Nicky Platt, Tom Ince, Alex Taylor, Kyle Lafferty. Subs: Cayne Hanley, Darrell Avery plus members of the Under-16s.