Defeat for under-23s on a wild night in Leyland
In conditions hardly suitable for good football, the under-23s went down 1-0 tonight against Stoke City at Leyland, a third successive defeat in Premier League 2.
On a bitterly cold night with the strongest of winds blowing, life became more difficult for the young Clarets when Max Thompson was sent off with just eleven minutes gone. It looked a more than harsh red card from my vantage point, but referee Lewis Smith had no hesitation in sending off the Burnley player for a high foot.
Despite the loss of a player, we looked the more likely in the first half. The two central midfielders, Mark Helm and Ben Woods, both had chances and lone striker Joe McGlynn got onto a through ball, took it round the goalkeeper but saw his goal bound effort headed away.
But as half time approached, Stoke were the beneficiaries of another decision when the referee awarded them a penalty from which Douglas James-Taylor scored to give the visitors the lead.
Behind at half time, but despite having a lot of the play in the second half we just couldn’t conjure up that chance to get us back into the game with Stoke, with former Claret Kevin ‘Rooster’ Russell in charge, offering even less. It seemed inevitable long before the end that there would be no further goals leaving Stoke to win the game 1-0.
The teams were;
Burnley: Sam Waller, Ethen Vaughan (Owen Dodgson 70), Jake Rooney, Bobby Thomas, Jacob Bedeau, Finlay Armstrong, Dara Costelloe (Calen Gallagher-Allison 82), Mark Helm, Ben Woods, Max Thompson, Joe McGlynn. Subs not used: Harry Allen, Harry Williams.
Stoke: Nathan Broome, Matthew Baker, David Okagbue, Lewis Macari, Tom Sparrow, Tom Curl, Ibrahima Sy, Patrick Jarrett, Kieran Coates, Emre Tezgel, Douglas James-Taylor. Subs not used: Robbie Hemfrey, Ted Cargill, Josh Roney, Max McCarthy.
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