Young
Team
Burnley Youth 0 Tranmere Youth 1
Report by Becko
The youth team could not be faulted for effort,
but were ultimately beaten by a stronger, bigger, better organised team.
Although this was the semi-final of the
Lancashire FA Youth Cup, unless I’ve missed a round, there was only one previous
match. That was a 1-0 home victory over Rochdale, a match we barely deserved to win.
I’ve also seen the youth team lose 6-0 at
home to Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Youth Cup. The depressing result of all this is that
there appears to be a dearth of talent waiting to explode onto the scene and challenge for
a place in the first team.
I don’t want to be too critical, because
they were only young and may get better. I don’t know whether the team were 16 or 17
year old. That extra year can make a difference, but I think that if you were a really
talented kid you’d be standing out at that level.
It always seems to be the case that the
opposition players are about 4" taller and 1 stone heavier than us.
Burnley started off enthusiastically and played
some neat passing football. There was even an amount of thought and movement from a free
kick, indicating that they knew what they were doing. For about fifteen to twenty minutes
it looked like we might win. Unfortunately, it was rather like watching the first team, in
that you did wonder where a goal would come from.
As the half wore on Tranmere came more into the
game, and indeed they finished the half the stronger. The Tranmere keeper, who looked the
player with the most potential, only had one shot to save. He saved it well, but his
handling of crosses was superb and he commanded his defence well.
Tranmere took the lead about fifteen minutes
into the second half and were comfortable in soaking up what Burnley had to throw at them
for the last half hour. The young Clarets never gave up trying, but couldn’t get an
equaliser.
The best player in the Burnley team for me was
Earl Davis, the captain and centre half. He got a knock to the head, which bled heavily
and needed attention on a couple of occasions, but it didn’t stop him. The right back
Andrew Leeson was another who gave everything he could. Andrew Waine on the right wing and
Paul Barrett up front, although needing to fill out a bit, played well.
