The Burnley Professional Development League match against Queens Park Rangers was moved from Leyland to the Turf this afternoon and our young players put in an excellent performance against a team who made it four wins from four at kick-off.
Before the game we were talking about previous games we have played at home in this Championship and in Premier League 2 and commented that so often we never seem to play as good as any away ground we play on. .
That wasn’t the case today and I think it was the best performance I’ve seen at this level for a while. We fully deserved the 3-0 win, with striker Joe Westley taking the honors with a hat-trick.
The team showed only one change from the team that had won 4-1 at Colchester in the previous match, with new signing Logan Pye making his third appearance, albeit first under his own name, since signing for Manchester United.
He replaced Brad Grant and Joe Ashton moved to the left-back position.
Always looking like the better team, Burnley came close to scoring an early goal only to be denied by Matteo Salamon’s alert goalkeeping, but there was nothing they could do as we scored about three minutes from half-time when Westley tackled an Alex Healy. -Byrne comes in from the right side and taps inside.
If we played well in the first half, we did even better in the second half. With Lewis Richardson constantly in evidence, it was probably a surprise that goal number two only came with twenty minutes remaining.
Richardson finds Basilio Rieno Socoliche wide with a great ball and the latter’s cross is deflected by Westley and with that goal we feel like we have definitively closed the game. Soon after, QPR were down to ten and I think this will be the easiest decision any referee can ask.
QPR substitute Hamzad Kargbo took a kick to Socoliche on the touchline; he was truly horrible. Referee Oliver Noonan didn’t hesitate for a moment and received the red card.
We just needed one more goal to complete the afternoon and what a goal it was, once again from a cross down the right flank, this time from Richardson, with Westley completing his hat-trick with a stunning diving header.
Westley will rightly receive the praise, but this was exceptional team work from the Clarets. The teams were;
Burnley: Charlie Casper, Alex Healy-Byrne, Logan Pye (Tom Tweedy 55), Dan Sassi, Joe Ashton, Basilio Rieno Socoliche (Marley Leuluai 82), Will Hugill, Jez Davies, Kian Le Fondre (Vernon Masara 72). Unused substitutes: Sam Waller, Callum West.
QPR: Matteo Salamon, Harry Murphy, Casey Shann, Samuel Sackey, Henry Hawkins, Jaden Ogwuazor, Bryan Ifeanyi (Alfie Tuck 63), Rafferty Pedder, Alfie Lloyd (Hamzad Kargbo 60), Steven Bala, Kieran Petrie. Unused Substitute: Harry Cant.
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