Burnley sailed through to the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup with an emphatic 7-0 win last night against Blue Square Bet North club Boston United at their Jakemans Stadium, York Street.

A Jason Gilchrist hat trick was the main feature of what proved to be an outstanding performance from the young Clarets, taking the run of wins to ten games, but  I think there is just cause to spare a thought for a Boston side who had done so well to reach this stage and who gave it all against tough opposition.

Jason Gilchrist gives Burnley the lead

It was my first visit to the former Football League ground and I was pleasantly surprised. There are certainly several grounds currently staging league football that don't come close to this one. There was also a very friendly welcome from the locals with some thanking us for making the long journey into deepest Lincolnshire.

Boston have had a fantastic run in the competition this season. Their achievement cannot be underestimated and is akin to the sort of run that Tamworth have had in the FA Cup.

We were always going to be favourites to win this one and we were able to name a full strength side with Alex Mullin preferred to Adam Evans on the right of midfield in a 4-4-2 formation.

There were no 'Red Sox' in sight as the game kicked off with the Clarets immediately taking the game to Boston. We could so easily have got an early lead but twice home goalkeeper Mark Hipwell kept his side level with good saves, first from Steven Hewitt and then expertly to deny Shay McCartan.

Cameron Howieson headed over an Aryn Williams cross as the Clarets started to dominate. However, the goal didn't come and Boston did come into the game somewhat more although without ever really threatening us.

Aryn Williams celebrates the second with Steven Hewitt - Tom Anderson is in background

You sensed that it might just need a first goal for Burnley and so it proved. That opening goal came via Gilchrist 11 minutes before half time. McCartan played the ball into him inside the box and he turned well before getting his shot away into the bottom corner.

Burnley pushed for a second and it nearly came from the same source. McCartan superbly played the ball through for Gilchrist but this time he had to watch has his lob over the goalkeeper was hacked off the line.

The second goal wasn't far away and it duly came on 41 minutes although quite who scored it remains something of a mystery. It came from a free kick on the left hand side taken by Steven Hewitt which he played into the box.

Now there was definitely a deflection that took the ball past Hipwell but the question is who got the last touch. My first thought was that it was a defender but Williams, who was right in there, certainly turned claiming the goal for himself.

It has gone officially to Hewitt, so perhaps the two of them will need to sort it out between them. One thing for certain was that Burnley took a 2-0 lead into the interval although I don't think any of us could have expected the explosion of goals and incident that was to hit us in the second half.

The first action of the half almost saw Boston get themselves back into it but Alex Coleman cleared and once Burnley got moving again the game was just about over in a ten minute spell.

Shay McCartan comes close to getting a goal

We scored a third goal in the 53rd minute and incredibly our seventh went in just eleven minutes after that with Boston also reduced to ten players after the intervention of the assistant referee.

It was breathtaking stuff and difficult to keep up but it was Howieson who got number three with, for me, the best goal of the game. It was a superb move as we worked the ball forward with the ball eventually played out to Williams. He pulled back a brilliant ball that was headed home by New Zealander Howieson to just about put the tie beyond Boston.

Three minutes later it was 4-0 as Jordan Nuttell turned an Alex Mullin header into his own net and goal number five came within a further two minutes as Mullin got himself on the scoresheet when McCartan, whose performance deserved a goal, played another outstanding ball to set up the midfielder.

If that wasn't bad enough for Boston, 5-0 down, they then saw Charley Sanders sent off after a challenge with Williams. Despite the incident being close to the referee, he didn't see it, and neither did I as I was too busy reporting goals number four and five on the message board.

The assistant referee saw it and, having spoken to the referee, Sanders was ordered off for an alleged elbow.

The action didn't stop and on 62 minutes Gilchrist got his second and Burnley's sixth with a header from a Luke Conlan cross. Ahead of the restart, Charlie Holt came on for Williams who was still receiving treatment, and we went straight down and got a seventh with Gilchrist heading in his hat trick goal after a Hewitt effort had come off the bar.

Alex Mullin scores Burnley's fifth

We made two more changes, one of which saw Gilchrist come off, and the game seemed to peter out without any further addition to the score.

It really was an outstanding performance from the young Clarets and it was one which pleased coach Terry Pashley. "I don't think we expected that when we came down but the lads have been playing very well and consistently for a number of weeks now," he said.

"I did believe that if we got the lads playing as we know they can then we could have got a result, but I don't think anybody had predicted that. There were a few nerves at first, which is to be expected, and we didn't use the ball quickly enough, but once we got the first goal and then the second, which was a little bit fortunate, and those quick three goals in the second half it was game over.

"After the sending off the game died a little bit but you have to keep your concentration, keep trying to be professional and do the right things and it was a case of job done. It was a great result, puts into the next round, which was our aim, and we go into the New Year still in three cup competitions."

The Burnley team received a warm ovation from the home fans at the end of the game, and there was an excellent attendance of 492 which is probably more than there would have been had the game been played at Turf Moor.

Those fans knew just how well their team had done to reach this stage of the competition but also how tough it was for them last night against a Burnley team who are currently in such good form.

The teams were;

Boston United: Mark Hipwell, Niall Delahoy, Lewis Sturman, Jordan Nuttell, Charlie Rossington (Todd Devlin 80), James Reed, Elliott Price (Jordan Lote 80), Jake Beauchamp, Joe Briers (Stuart Whitaker 57), Charley Sanders, James Tricks. Subs not used: Scott Langan, Jake Platten.

Burnley: Josh Cook, Aryn Williams (Charlie Holt 63), Alex Coleman, Tom Anderson, Luke Conlan, Alex Mullin (Adam Evans 69), Steven Hewitt, Archie Love, Cameron Howieson, Shay McCartan, Jason Gilchrist (Lewis Nuttall 67). Subs not used: Callum Jakovlevs, Jack Errington.

Referee: Steven Meredith.

Attendance: 492.

Clarets Mad would like to thank Boston United Football Club and in particular John Blackwell and Craig Singleton for kindly granting permission to use the photographs attached to this report.