Townsend double salvages point for youths

Ryan Townsend - scored both goals

With the squad depleted, due to injuries and departures from the youth setup, the clarets adopted the system used regularly by the first team, with a five man midfield and lone striker. Alex Taylor was again absent with medial ligament damage and Cayne Hanley was absent with a back injury so Kyle Lafferty was given the thankless task of competing alone upfront. Also missing from the squad was Darrell Avery who has now left the club.

The clarets kicked off playing into a driving wind and despite this they had the best of the opening exchanges. With no more than a minute on the clock Burnley had taken the lead through a Ryan Townsend header from a left wing corner. By the time five minutes had passed they could have extended their lead further with two efforts from Chris McCann.

Darlington then took control of the game and a combination of effective pressing and the awful weather stifled the creativity of the clarets. After just over half an hour the visitors got their reward when Townsend and his opponent jumped for a long free kick. The ball looked to hit both together and flashed towards goal sneaking past Michael Hale and just going inside the post.

The second half started with expectations that the Clarets would use the advantage of the wind in their favour and dominate Darlington. It looked as though this may have been the case when Lafferty broke through early on but could only hit the base of the post when one-on-one.

Burnley then had a succession of chances with Pugh forcing a good save and Lafferty being denied when an Ince cross was just cut out by a retreating defender. The clarets looked to increase their attacking options with a substitution and change of system as well but the breakthrough just wouldn’t come.

With nearly half and hour of the second half gone the visitors won a corner. The defence clearly anticipated a deep ball due to the stature of their opponents. The driven low ball to the front post, therefore, surprised everyone except the diminutive striker who poked home from close range.

Things were looking bleak for Burnley at this point as they just seemed to lack the guile to break down Darlington. However, with just over five minutes remaining a Joe Booth free kick was floated into the box and onto the head of Ryan Townsend who looped the ball over the keeper for his second of the game.

The Clarets could consider themselves fortunate to escape with a point as, perhaps with one eye on next weeks cup fixture, too many of the lads were just not on the ball. There will also be a worry over Captain Neal Trotman who limped off in the first half with a knock.

Team: Michael Hale, Rob Henry (Tom Blackler), Martin Reilly, Neal Trotman (Connor Smith), Ryan Townsend, Joe Booth, Nicky Platt (Rob Turner), Chris McCann, Tom Ince, Marc Pugh, Kyle Lafferty.

Youth Team Fixtures

League Table (currently before weekend games)