Youths win point with the youngest of teams
Saturday saw Burnley travel to Sheffield Wednesday in the U18 Professional Development League and against all the odds came away with a point against a team that kicked off the game with two points more than us and two places higher in the league.
It was a remarkable achievement by Tony Philliskirk’s team which was without so many players due to injury and under-21 calls and I can’t recall ever seeing such a young team play in a game at this level for us previously.
The team included just two second year scholars, goalkeeper Lewis Forshaw and Lucas Wane. They were joined by first year scholars Logan Carlin, Zach Johnson, Jack McEvilly, Oliver Pimlott and Benji Wetshi. That left four remaining places to be taken up by under-16s who were Murray, Anwar Murtesa, Corey King and Blackie. On the subs bench was second year scholar goalkeeper Jon Ander Vilar Robinson alongside a trialist and three more under16s, George Brierly, Joe Wilcock and Puani.
This team came from a goal behind to draw level early in the second half with a goal from Wetshi (pictured) and then had to play the final half an hour with ten players after McEvilly had been sent off.
The point even lifted us a place in the table having moved ahead of Hull who had no game. We’ve admittedly played more games than any other team in the league other than runaway leaders Birmingham but recent results, despite the loss of so many players, have been more than encouraging.
Birmingham extended their lead at the top to eight points. They won at Fleetwood while Barnsley were surprisingly beaten by Sheffield United yesterday. Crewe, like Hull behind us on goal difference, won at Peterborough but it was Wigan’s day, their 3-0 win against Coventry was their first victory of the season and it even lifted them off the bottom of the table as they moved a point ahead of Peterborough.
Bristol City, in the south, retained their nine point lead at the top with a win against Charlton which was Charlton’s first defeat of the season. They dropped to fourth in the league with Cardiff, courtesy of a big win at Colchester, moving ahead of them. Watford won at bottom of the league QPR to retain second place.
Burnley are back home this weekend against Sheffield United. With the under-21s not in action until Monday it might allow for us to field a more experienced team. It’s one of just five games being played this week, four in the north, including Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday on Friday, and just one in the south.
The League Tables and our Fixtures and Results can be found within U21/U18 Stats on the top menu.
Last Week’s Results
North
Saturday 11th November
Fleetwood 1 Birmingham 2
Peterborough 3 Crewe 5
Sheffield Wednesday 1 Burnley 1
Wigan 3 Coventry 0
Monday 13th November
Sheffield United 3 Barnsley 0
South
Saturday 11th November
Bournemouth 1 Ipswich 0
Bristol City 3 Charlton 2
Colchester 1 Cardiff 6
QPR 1 Watford 3
Swansea 2 Millwall 4
This Week’s Fixtures
North
Friday 17th November
Barnsley v Sheffield Wednesday
Saturday 18th November
Burnley v Sheffield United
Coventry v Peterborough
Crewe v Hull
South
Saturday 18th November
Bournemouth v Charlton
Burnley Goalscorers (League)
3: Vernon Masara, Lucas Wane, Callum West
2: Jack Bates, Logan Carlin, Zach Johnson, Jack Rogers
1: Adam Abbas, Adam McCoy, Ben Wetshi
Burnley Goalscorers (Cups)
2: Zach Johnson
1; Vernon Masara, Oliver Pimlott, Lucas Wane
League Tables
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Birmingham | 12 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 27 | 16 | 27 |
| Barnsley | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 18 | 19 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 13 | 18 |
| Burnley | 12 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 17 | 16 |
| Crewe | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 27 | 16 |
| Hull | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 22 | 29 | 16 |
| Coventry | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 28 | 15 |
| Sheffield United | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 18 | 10 |
| Fleetwood | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 17 | 14 | 9 |
| Wigan | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 5 |
| Peterborough | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 14 | 31 | 4 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Bristol City | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 10 | 28 |
| Watford | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 28 | 15 | 19 |
| Cardiff | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 24 | 17 | 16 |
| Charlton | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 14 | 15 |
| Millwall | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 15 | 12 |
| Bournemouth | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 21 | 12 |
| Swansea | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 18 | 23 | 12 |
| Ipswich | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 25 | 20 | 11 |
| Colchester | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 38 | 9 |
| QPR | 10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 15 | 37 | 6 |
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