Published: 22-07-17

22-07-17 - Harriers 0 Burnley 1

Burnley take it easy against the Harriers

The Harriers took on Premier side Burnley today in a game that see’s them now halfway through their pre-season programme and at the stage when opinions on how the squad will look begin to take shape.

With just the one un-named trialist on show in the number 5 position it was still a little worrying to see Sam Austin again being employed in the full back berth when we should really be trialling proper full backs for that job.

As it was we did ok, if not very adventurous, against our much higher placed opponents. They, in turn, didn’t raise their game much above training ground levels and looked composed and assured throughout without threatening Brandon Hall overmuch. The only goal came just before the break when Ryan Croasdale gave away a needless free kick on the edge of the area that Robbie Brady dispatched slickly into the net.

Before that we had seen chances fall for Daniel Nti, in his first outing so far, but they had been dealt with easily by the second string Burnley keeper Nick Pope, and also Liam Truslove going close just after the goal as we tried to get back into the game.The former Derby County star, Jeff Hendrick, should also have got his name on the board but Hall kept him out superbly when he dived across his area to flip the ball away for a corner.

We made a couple of changes for the second period with Josh Webb coming in at full back to enable Austin to play further up the park and also an un-named trialist in place of Nti. Hall also made way for the trialist known as Conor Hudnot at the same time

Manny Sonupè should have drawn us level just minutes in when he struck the base of the post but that was that in terms of chances for us. A load more trialists came on including the mysterious Junior at number 21.

The totally isolated Joe Ironside ignored the offside flag to pop the ball into the net to cheers from the Harriers faithful while Ashley Barnes did the same for Burnley but made more of a fuss over the decision seeing as he had been played onside by trialist #5.

Ten minutes from the end we finally had something to remember when Matt Lowton smashed the ball against the underside of the bar and down onto the line from almost on the bye-line. ‘Junior’ saw his header well saved by Pope a minute from the end and that was it.

It’s all to do with getting fit and gelling together but wouldn’t it be nice to see us trying to make a bit more of an effort occasionally.