Fleetwood Town’s Under-18s pulled off a brilliant comeback in their Professional Development League fixture away at Burnley on Saturday as they won the clash 2-1 at Gawthorpe Hall.
From what was a tough start to the day, due to them conceding from the penalty spot four minutes in, the young Cods showed the resilience needed to cancel out Burnley’s early opener and even push for a winner late on in the game.
The game settled down after this with chances coming at a premium until the half-time break – Crispin McLean had the only meaningful effort on goal in this time but his low shot from the edge of the box was stopped well by Lewis Forshaw.
Burnley seemed to struggle to create chances from this moment on as Mark Yeates’ side looked to work their way back into the clash and, around the hour mark, Mikey Lane and Jack Doherty both chances deflected wide from a stern home defence.
That pressure from Town paid off as the score was levelled up 20 minutes from time as a corner was played into a busy box and, in the middle of the scramble for the ball, defender Theo Butterworth was able to get a touch on it to net his first of the season.
It went from bad to worse for the Clarets as six minutes later, they went down to ten men after forward Luca Jackson saw red, and then they fell behind in the clash not long after that.
From a beautiful bit of play between Lane and substitute Dom Richmond, the latter was able to play an inch-perfect low-ball across the face of goal to Liam Roberts, who composed himself and slotted the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 2-1 with 10 minutes to go.
The young winger had the chance to double his tally for the game, and Town’s lead in the 89th minute as he latched onto a cross from full-back Rafaele Cirino, but his header went just over the bar and, with that being the last chance of the game, it meant Yeates’ young Cods had pulled off the comeback.
With four wins from five in all competitions now, the Under-18s will now set their sights on their next clash which will be against Hull City at Poolfoot Farm on Saturday 30 September.
Town XI: Bellizia (GK), Cirino, Hughes (C) (Slater 67’), Smith (Elmore 75’), Eccles, Butterworth, Daha (Richmond 60’), Jack Doherty, Lane, McLean (Namputu 60’), Roberts.
