Clarets in the FA Cup
On Sunday 31st October 1999, a Paul Cook goal gave Burnley a 1-0 win at Barnet in the first round of that season’s FA Cup, a win that led to further ties against Rotherham United, Derby County, and that remarkable 1-0 win at Pride Park, and finally Coventry who beat us in the fourth round.
The Barnet tie was moved to the Sunday for live screening by Sky and, for the record, we lined up: Paul Crichton, Dean West, Steve Davis, Mitchell Thomas, Paul Smith (Gordon Armstrong ht), Glen Little (Ronnie Jepson 75), John Mullin, Micky Mellon, Paul Cook, Andy Cooke, Andy Payton (Alan Lee 75). Subs not used: Chris Brass, Paul Weller.
At the time we were fifth in what is now League One and playing in the first round of the FA Cup had become standard fare for Burnley. Only a year earlier we had gone out at that stage against Darlington but at least on this occasion we did win through.
What we could never have known then, or dared hope, was that eighteen years later we would never again have been required to enter the FA Cup at that stage. Promotion at the end of that 1999/2000 season to the second tier of English football ended our interest until the third round and it has remained so ever since.
The first round was played last weekend; the draw for the second round was made on Monday but we will have a four week wait yet to find out who our first FA Cup opponents will be this season.
I’ve done it before, although not for a few years, but I decided to take a look at the forty ties played to see how many former Burnley players were involved. Hopefully I’ve missed none but there were a total of twenty players, from one who represented us in the Premier League to a player who didn’t progress beyond the youth team. To add to that, six of our players currently out on loan were also involved.
Josh Ginnelly, one of those six loan players, was on the bench for Lincoln along with Cameron Stewart who was at Burnley on loan from Hull in the 2012/13 season. Ginnelly did get on for the last five minutes; Stewart wasn’t used as they lost 1-0 at Wimbledon.
Lincoln, as we know to our cost, reached the sixth round last season as a non-league club, but this time there will be no cup run for them. Wimbledon v Lincoln – I have to admit that tie did make me shudder remembering 1975 and last season.
Luke Hendrie has won himself a place in the Bradford City side now. He played throughout their 2-0 win against Chesterfield at Valley Parade (I really can’t remember all the different ground names now) while Shay McCartan, who moved there from Accrington last summer, was an unused substitute.
A Burnley player was replaced by a former Burnley player in the Northampton v Scunthorpe tie. Chris Long started the game and played for 85 minutes before being replaced by Dean Bowditch. It’s almost thirteen years since Bowditch was on loan at Burnley when he scored once, in a 3-1 win against Watford, in ten appearances.
Tom Anderson was in the much improved Port Vale team that beat Oxford 2-0. It was their fourth win in five games since a change of manager and Anderson has helped them to three clean sheets in those wins.
Alex Whitmore was an unused substitute in Bury’s 1-1 draw at Woking while, on Monday, Aiden O’Neill was one of three players with Burnley connections in the final game of the round between Chorley and Fleetwood.
Fleetwood had just fallen behind when O’Neill was substituted but they went on to beat Chorley 2-1 with a stoppage time winner. Former youth team captain Waqas Azam was on the bench for Chorley, although not called on, while Stephen Jordan, who was in Burnley’s first ever Premier League team, played the full game for Chorley.
The only ex-Claret to find himself on the scoresheet was Zavon Hines. He netted for Maidstone in a 4-2 win at Cheltenham, but he wasn’t the only former Claret to help his side into round two.
Matt Taylor was in the Swindon team that won 5-1 at Dartford and Alex MacDonald played for Mansfield in a 3-0 win at Shaw Lane with the beaten goalkeeper Jon Stewart, who was a Burnley signing from Bournemouth during Eddie Howe’s tenure at Burnley.
Richard Duffy, like Bowditch, a 2004/05 loan player, helped Notts County to a 4-2 home win against Bristol Rovers and Luke O’Neill was an 80th minute substitute for Gillingham in a 2-1 win against a Leyton Orient side managed by ex-Claret Steve Davis.
Pete Whittingham was an unused substitute for Blackburn as were both Dan Nizic and Luke Conlan for Morecambe. Both won, Blackburn beating Barnet 3-1 and Morecambe getting a 3-0 victory against Hartlepool.
Jay McEveley was in the Tranmere team that drew 1-1 at Peterborough, but for the rest it was an end to this season’s FA Cup with defeats.
Nathan Delfouneso, once preferred to Jay Rodriguez at international under-21 level, couldn’t help Blackpool; they went out 2-1 at Boreham Wood and Cameron Dummigan’s Oldham were beaten 3-2 at Carlisle.
Macclesfield, with Keith Lowe, were beaten 1-0 at Forest Green while Michael Kightly was involved in the same scoreline, in his case it was Southend losing at Yeovil.
Finally, Steve Jones, now aged 41, played the last 25 minutes as a substitute for Nantwich as they bowed out with a 5-0 defeat at Stevenage.
Twelve of those players’ teams won through, four more have replays while the other ten have gone out. More of them will have left the competition by the time we know our first opponents, and that will come with the third round draw on the evening of Monday 4th December.
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