Back to the Turf as under-23s take on Forest
This afternoon’s home game against Nottingham Forest gives us a chance to go to the top of the league with a victory although it will be a tough game against a Forest side who are currently in first place.
We are one of two unbeaten teams in the north group of the Professional Development League but starting the season with four draws before the recent wins against Charlton and Ipswich has left us in fourth place, a point behind Leeds and two points behind both Hull and leaders Forest with Forest having a game in hand.
Our main threat in terms of goals has come from Ali Koiki who has been playing further up the pitch on the left hand side this season. He’s scored six of our ten goals, which includes two from the penalty spot, while Forest have their own goalscorer in Brennan Johnson who has netted five of their thirteen goals. The 18-year-old midfielder, whose dad David played for Burnley on loan from Forest in 2002, has already made his first team debut.
Forest have twelve points from their opening five games. They kicked off the season with wins at Bristol City and at home against QPR before losing at Millwall. They’ve since followed that up with further wins against Cardiff at home and most recently at Ipswich.
This fixture last season was played in November last year at Curzon Ashton and was Steve Stone’s first game in charge as under-23 boss. We went a goal down very early in the game but responded well and quickly. Within two minutes we were level through Dwight McNeil with a shot that went in off the post.
And it didn’t take long to go in front with Tinashe Chakwana taking full advantage of a defensive mistake to score. The mistake came from Forest’s Anel Ahmedhodzic who then scored through his own goal to give us a 3-1 lead and there was less than twenty minutes gone.
Forest did pull one back with a worldy right on half time and the game changed after the break and it was no surprised when they levelled, their third goal coming from the penalty spot.
Soon after the goal, Chakwana went down in a collision with the Forest goalkeeper and stayed down for some considerable time before being able to walk off. That led to seven minutes of stoppage time with Forest, by now, very much on top, but it was Burnley who got the winner with Dan Agyei scoring just beyond the seven minutes to give Stone a winning start.
Six of the team who played that day, including the used substitute, are no longer with the club while a seventh has now become a first team regular. Our team was: Adam Bruce, James Clarke, Oliver Younger, Anthony Glennon, Ali Koiki, Tunde Bayode, Mark Howarth, Josh Benson, Dwight McNeil, Dan Agyei, Tinashe Chakwana (Marley Blair).
Today is our fourth home game of the season and the third at Turf Moor. Season card holders are admitted to the Bob Lord Stand free of charge on production of their season card, non-season ticket holders will need to purchase a ticket from the ticket office. Admission prices have not been confirmed but for the last game they were £4 adults, £2 concessions.
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