Under-23s back in action today at Barnsley
Having played and, undeservedly, been beaten by Sheffield Wednesday four days ago, the under-23s are back in action this afternoon with an away game against Barnsley.
We go into the game in third place in the table, three points behind both Birmingham and Leeds, while Barnsley are currently ninth with just Hull behind them. A win for Burnley would, draw us level with them both although would leave them with two games in hand on us. It is one of only two games being played in the north group today and any result would not affect Barnsley’s position.
The home game against Barnsley ended in a 4-1 win for the Clarets with goals from Tinashe Chakwana, Jordan Cropper (pictured), Dwight McNeil and Josh Benson. We know that McNeil won’t be involved today and neither will Jimmy Dunne and Ali Koiki who have both gone out on loan in the past two days. Dunne played on Monday in what was a rare appearance in a claret and blue shirt, but Koiki has been a regular in the team this season.
Anthony Glennon is also a left-back, but he’s been filling in recently in the centre of defence in the absence of James Clarke and Oliver Younger. I don’t know the situation with Clarke in terms of his injury but Younger is set to be out for a few more weeks yet.
Barnsley will include Jordan Barnett in their side who last season was at Turf Moor. He also played in the home game at Curzon Ashton. The former Penistone Church player said ahead of today’s game: “Quite a few of my mates still play for Burnley, so it’s going to be a difficult game but hopefully we’ll win the battle. There’s a bit of rivalry and banter, the right-back has told me he’s going to smash me, so that’ll be an interesting battle!”
Our good run at the end of last season took us off the bottom of the league on the last day with Barnsley finishing with the wooden spoon. That good run included a 3-0 away win against the Tykes when Cropper and Chakwana(2) got our goals.
Today’s game is being played at the Oakwell Training Ground which is adjacent to their Oakwell ground. Kick off is at 2 p.m.
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