Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Tom Ince - scored the second goal

Burnley began the game brightly and in only the 2^nd minute Joe Booth's delightful ball found Alex Taylor free on the left. Taylor's low shot was held at the second attempt by the home keeper with Neal Trotman ready to pounce.

The Clarets continued to dominate and neat passing through midfield was being matched by a well marshalled defence and keen front running by Kyle Lafferty. Despite being up against a solid, no nonsense pro in the shape of Tony Butler, Kyle was proving more than a handful with good link up play and lots of running.

Two good chances came Lafferty's way. Firstly when he latched on to a Chris McCann through ball and hit a fierce shot that was parried away by the keeper and was soon followed when he got on the end of neat build up play to side step the keeper and curl his shot goalwards only to be denied by a back tracking defender stretching to head off the line.

The home side just couldn't cope with the eager running and enthusiasm of a young Burnley side and even during their best spell midway through the first half Michael Hale and his back four snuffed out any potential threat.

Burnley's clearest chance then fell to Booth who headed wide from a Nicky Platt cross after finding space in the box. The miss wasn't to prove costly as minutes later and with half time approaching Hale collected a cross and his quick throw out was followed by a swift exchange of passes before KYLE LAFFERTY was put through one on one with the goalie. Kyle shimmied one way and calmly slotted the ball home for a deserved lead.

The second half saw only a brief glimmer of fight from the home side and it was a repeat of the first half with Burnley looking in control and impressive.

Even so Hale had to be alert on the hour mark when Burns was fed by Wellens and the big Burnley number one made a terrific one handed save to his right to tip the shot over.

As the game headed into its final stages Burnley doubled their lead when from a corner Trotman's powerful header was blocked by the keeper, a follow up shot appeared to cross the line. Blackpool only half cleared the ball to the edge of the box where TOM INCE convincingly found the bottom corner of the net with a left footed drive.

This sealed a fine 2-0 win with every Burnley youngster contributing. A good team performance highlighted just how well these lads know each other’s game. Hale was solid. Trotman and McCann did the simple things well and defended confidently. The midfield tackled and used the ball effectively.

Special praise though goes to Kyle Lafferty who had a tremendous game. He held the ball up, he harried, his touch and passing was good, he was never intimidated by being up against a tough centre half with bags of league experience and he was even back bringing the ball out of defence in the 92^nd minute. In fact, I 'cadged' a lift home with a couple of Blackpool FC officials and both were raving about the outstanding display by our number 9. He deserved it.

Teams:

Blackpool: Joe Abbott, Leam Richardson, Rob Clare, Steve Boyack, Phil Doughty, Tony Butler (Jonathan Goulding 60), Richie Wellens, Ciairan Donnelly (Jamie Milligan 60), Sean Paterson, Simon Wiles (Cabbar Bagdadi 75), Jamie Burns. Subs not used: James Foran, Sean Clancy.

Burnley: Michael Hale, Joel Pilkington, Paul Scott, Mark Yates (Cayne Hanley 57), Neal Trotman, Chris McCann, Marc Pugh (Tom Ince 75), Nicky Platt, Kyle Lafferty, Joe Booth, Alex Taylor. Subs not used: Martin Reilly, Rob Henry.

Fixtures and Results