Late goal takes under-23s to top of the league
An injury to Tinashe Chakwana in the second half of today’s home game against Nottingham Forest in the Professional Development League resulted in seven extra minutes being added, but we’d gone beyond that into the eight minute when Dan Agyei scored to give us a 4-3 win and take us top of the league, at least until tonight when Bolton play will go back into first place if they avoid defeat.
There are always goals in our games at this level. That’s a total of 60 (36 for and 24 against) in the first thirteen games and we’ve now scored 18 in our last four games that have brought us four successive victories.
With Steve Stone in charge for the first time, and us fielding a very youthful side, we conceded a goal after just six minutes, and this after a bright start, when Yassine En-Neyah got in and fired a low shot past Adam Bruce and into the corner.
If Stone was looking for a reaction, he very definitely got it. Within two minutes, Dwight McNeil got in a shot from outside the box which hit the post before rolling into the net. All square and five minutes later we were in front . Chakwana was gifted the ball by Anel Ahmedhodzic and made no mistake. It wasn’t Ahmedhodzic’s afternoon. With just 18 minutes gone, Liam Bossin saved from Agyei but the ball bounced off him and into the net.
We were 3-1 up and totally dominating proceedings and although we didn’t add any further goals, the play continued very much in the same way for most of the first half. But things changed three minutes before the break when Jake Taylor hammered home a worldy from around 25 yards and it meant we went into the half time break with just a one goal advantage despite having dominated almost from start to finish.
The second half was very much a different story. Our passing was nothing like as crisp, we struggled to create and there was much more of a threat from Forest. That threat led to a 64th minute equaliser when we conceded a fifth penalty in the last three games. This time there was nothing goalkeeper Adam Bruce could do to keep out Alex Mighten’s spot kick and it was all level at 3-3.
Just a few minutes later, Forest keeper Bossin came out and collided with Chakwana who stayed down for some considerable time. Eventually he was able to get up and walk off, apparently with nothing more than a bad headache, but the time he was down led to a dramatic finish.
Forest had begun to look the more likely but we got to the 90 minutes at 3-3 with the fourth official confirming that seven minutes would be added on. The closest we came to a goal was Bruce saving well to deny Gboly Ariyibi, the American winger who had a trial with Burnley a few years ago.
Forest then won a corner on the left which led to another when Oliver Younger (pictured), who I thought had an outstanding game, cleared. I looked at the watch and there were just seconds remaining which meant, surely, a guaranteed point if we could clear from the corner.
We did more than that. We got the ball out and down the left. By now we’d crept into the eight minute but Tunde Bayode met the cross with Agyei managing to turn it home from close range. We still had to endure another couple of minutes before the referee blew the final whistle but when he did it was another win, another four goals and a climb to the top of the league, for now.
The teams were;
Burnley: Adam Bruce, James Clarke, Oliver Younger, Anthony Glennon, Ali Koiki, Tunde Bayode, Mark Howarth, Josh Benson, Dwight McNeil, Dan Agyei, Tinashe Chakwana (Marley Blair 71). Subs not used: George McMahon, Ed Cook, Cricky Conn-Clarke, Rob Harker.
Nottingham Forest: Liam Bossin, Jayden Richardson, Danny Preston, Jake Taylor, Anel Ahmedhodzic, Alex Iacovitti (trialist 58), Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel, Tyrese Fornah(Joe Coveney 89), Yassine En-Neyah (Kieran Hayes 63), Alex Mighten, Gboly Ariyibi. Subs not used: Jordan Wright, Ethan Stewart.
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