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Oldham and that means goals
They beat us in this competition in March last year, that one was 3-2 after extra time. A few weeks later we won a penalty shoot out in the Youth Alliance Cup after a 5-5 draw, then earlier this season the league game ended 5-4 in favour of the Clarets.
Today was another of these classic encounters between the top two in the league and one where the Clarets were never behind although Oldham certainly held the upper hand during a spell in the second half.
Gawthorpe threw just about everything at us this afternoon, warm sun, biting winds, driving rain and some winter cold, only the snow was missing. But we were soon warmed up when we took the lead with an excellent goal. The ball was played up to striker Rob Turner with his back to goal and Rob, held it up superbly against the strong Oldham defender before laying it off for Jay Rodriguez who smashed home a superb shot into the corner.
We thought we looked set to double the lead when Turner went down in the box and the assistant flagged for a penalty, but the referee waved away the claims from Burnley and overruled his assistant and in no time at all Oldham drew level.
It came from a corner that Lee Matthews struggled with in the swirling wind and they were able to scramble it home. At that point we should have been in front and we soon were again. This time Turner, once more taking the ball with his back to goal, turned his defender and made no mistake from inside the box, placing his shot low into the corner of the net.
Oldham were getting more into the game and a raid down the right hand side led to their second equaliser. We were pulled across leaving the left winger in acres of space and he made no mistake when the ball came across.
That was it for the first half, apart from one ugly incident when one of the Oldham players clashed with Matthews who had already grabbed the ball on the ground. The visiting player received a yellow card and he could think himself lucky.
The weather was deteriorating in the second half, and the pitch was cutting up, but the Clarets came storming back to reclaim the lead again. Cayne Hanley got his shot in, it was deflected and the eagle eyed assistant spotted it had crossed the line.
It was then that Oldham really came into the game and for a while they dominated. Huge credit has to be given to the way we defended during this spell. We got tackles in, we got blocks in and restricted them in terms of clear cut chances.
They did equalise again, from the penalty spot after Matthews had brought down their forward, and then they thought they had won it only for the goal to be disallowed for offside. It was all too much for their mouthy and abusive centre half who had questioned just about every decision all afternoon and this time the dreadfully weak referee finally showed him a yellow card.
I think, stood on the touchline, we were all hoping for a result in ninety minutes, but we were subjected to thirty minutes more in the cold. I thought Oldham might just be favourites now but it was not to be and we were the stronger side during the extra thirty minutes.
It did look as though it would be heading for penalties, that was until a good move led to us going in front for a fourth time. It was a good build up and just as we thought Rodriguez might try a shot from outside the box he played it out wide to substitute Ali Akbar and his cross was met by Turner who headed in our fourth and his second of the afternoon.
Surely it was all over now, surely they wouldn’t come back a fourth time. And they didn’t but there was time for the Clarets to add a fifth. Again Turner was involved and his progress was stopped at the expense of a penalty. Nicky Platt brought it to an end by crashing home the spot kick.
The last two or three weeks have been a disappointment for the lads after such a good season, and it has seen us go out of two cup competitions. Thankfully they went through in this one, and in the end deservedly so, despite the abusive nonsense coming from some of those who were supporting Oldham.
We had to scrap at times, all good teams have to do that, but we played some good football as well, and we can now look forward to the next round.
The Burnley team was: Lee Matthews, Rob Henry, Jack Overson, Tom Blackler, Paul Casey (Dean Stott), Dale Underwood (Ali Akbar), Nicky Platt, Adam Kay, Jay Rodriguez, Cayne Hanley, Rob Turner. Subs not used: Mark Crossley, Ashley Young, Alex McDonald.