Jake Parker and Michael Smith fired Fleetwood Youth’s to a 2-1 win at home to Burnley in the North West Youth Alliance.
by Sam Gilliland Jake Parker and Michael Smith fired Fleetwood Youth’s to a 2-1 win at home to Burnley in the North West Youth Alliance.
The young midfielders scored either side of half-time to secure the win, despite the visitors scoring a penalty late on.
Parker stepped up to give Town the lead in the 38th minute, despite seeing his penalty saved by Clarets keeper Conor Mitchell, when he tucked away the rebound.
The lead was then doubled on the hour mark by England Schoolboys talent Smith, who fired in from long range.
Burnley earned a penalty of their own with two minutes to go after a foul on Khius Metz inside the box, which was converted by Lewis Nutall.
The young Cod Army held on for an impressive win against a Burnley side who had played Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup just 48 hours before.
Youth team coach Mark Bowley was pleased with the result, despite the late slip-up.
He said: “It was a great result for the boys and a deserved win.
“We gave away a silly penalty right at the end but the football that the lads played throughout was really good.
“Burnley came here on the back of a great FA Youth Cup run where they beat Manchester United, and narrowly got beat on Thursday night.”
Bowley also believes that the success of youngster Jamie Allen, who has made two appearances for the first-team recently, has given the other academy players a boost.
“It was superb for Jamie (Allen) to get through to the first-team. He’s done well in training and games for us, and it gives the other lads a real buzz.”
The Youth team face a quarter-final cup tie next at home to Wrexham on January 19th, and Bowley added: “We go into the next match full of confidence as we are now three games undefeated.”