Youth game – pure farce

Last updated : 05 April 2004 By Mark Walton

The first problem was the pitch, it was clear for all to see that it fell well below regulation standards. It was quite obviously junior size and far too small for the two teams to play on. For some reason the referee gave it the all clear and the Clarets kicked off, playing into a very strong winds.

The Clarets had some good early chances and on seven minutes Rhys Carpenter headed just wide from a beautifully floated free kick from scholar Nicky Platt and kept up the pressure by playing good counter attacking football. On ten minutes Tom Ince forced a good save from the Halifax keeper.

However, Halifax did catch Burnley on the break a couple of times but there efforts lacked the final finish but on fifteen minutes they forced a corner down the left hand side.

The ball was floated in and was somehow met by the Halifax striker surrounded by three Burnley players plus the keeper and he turned the ball nicely into the roof of the net to make it 1 – 0 to the home side.

The Clarets kicked off and started to work the ball well down the channels with Ince and Joe Booth both showing good form.

However, they were again caught a little flat footed by the pressing Halifax midfield and had to force a rushed pass back to Michael Hale, the young keeper swung his leg at the ball but it bobbled, went under his foot and just rolled narrowly wide.

Burnley won the ball back and counter attacked from the corner and the impressive Rob Henry put Carpenter clean through.

At this point the assistant referee flagged and the referee blew for offside but it was not offside. Neither was it the reason for the assistant flagging.

He finally waved the referee over and explained that he had just pulled his hamstring and couldn’t carry on.

After a lot of deliberation with the two managers, the referee then wandered over to ask the crowd if anyone was qualified to run the line. Unfortunately no one had the required qualifications and the referee had no other option but to call the game off, much to the disgust of the Halifax players.

The game will now have to be rearranged for a later date but will almost certainly be played at a different venue, with Pashley set to report the state of this pitch.

The Clarets Lined Up – Michael Hale, Rob Henry, Neal Trotman, Gary Carter, Danny Pitham, Joe Booth, Darrell Avery, Adam Jones, Nicky Platt, Tom Ince, Rhys Carpenter.

Youth Team Fixtures and Results