Burnley U21s 4-1 Reading U21s: Match Report

05/02/2025 09:56

The Royals suffered a heavy defeat in their final game of the Premier League Cup.

Burnley's youth ran out 4-1 winners over a overall poor Reading side in their final game of the Premier League Cup on Tuesday evening, which leaves the Royals bottom of their group after only one point from six games.

I returned to the Lancashire FA County Ground in Leyland for the second year in a row, but this time to see us face the Clarets instead of Blackburn Rovers. However, the scoreline and performance this year were nearly as condemning as the 4-2 loss suffered in January 2024.

Still, it was a lovely day out at least. I arrived at Leyland Station, which is just further down the line than Horwich Parkway - that many Reading fans will no doubt have used to visit Bolton Wanderers. Rain on arrival couldn't dampen spirits as I headed into the nearby Wetherspoons, aptly named "The Leyland Lion", for some pre-match food. Good prices, good service there, would highly recommend.

As early evening came and darkness fell on South Ribble, I walked the short journey to the ground, a fairly standard step three or step four non-league setup, with a stand containing a few hundred seats. I spotted the Reading team coach and was pointed where to go by a man who I can only assume was the Reading coach driver, presumably because sporting my 2023/24 home shirt made me look like a player.

Hell, even a lingering steward when I arrived at the players' entrance was about to let me in before I explained I have nothing to do with the team and staff. Eventually, the turnstiles appeared around a corner. £5 entry later and I was in.

Although I was quite literally the first person there aside from staff and players, it presented the opportunity to network around a little bit. I exchanged brief nods with Burnley coach and ex-player Jack Cork, as well as a few other of the home side's staff. A big thank you must go to the Claret's club photographer who kindly pulled some strings to provide me with a lovely printed team sheet.

Michael Gilkes, current academy manager, was also on the scene. I had a really good chat with him - he is a lovely guy and he took great interest in what I was doing there, even saying my support and presence there "made his day"! Hey, that's his words, not mine.

We talked January transfers and academy successes, agreeing that we did well to keep hold of so many players in the transfer window, as well as about the amazing feats of some of our graduates. Also on the scene was under-21s kitman Harry, who was another great guy. He very kindly came to me at the end of the game, invited me out to the team bus, and pulled out one of those lime green training tops and gave it to me, which was absolutely amazing, and I very much appreciate it!

There truly are so many good people working in the club, and it's such a shame that a select few at the top have to destroy such an incredible culture and mentality we have at Reading among the hard-working employees and players.

Anyway, you probably want to hear about the game a bit now. It started in the worst possible fashion, with Burnley cutting through the team like a hot knife through margarine, Joao Mendes blasting the ball beyond Coniah Boyce-Clarke from the left wing for 1-0.

Reading were overrun in midfield early on, but the game settled down a lot more after the opening 10 minutes, with both sides enjoying longer spells of possession.

The equaliser came soon after though, as Burnley's ball-playing went wrong. Jay Senga intercepted a pass high up the pitch and smashed it in at the near post to restore parity. 1-1.

The shouts of ever-vocal captain Michael Stickland and manager Peter Scott echoed around the sparsely spectated ground as both sides looked to gain the lead. Nothing more than half chances ensued until just before the break, when Reading's Boyd Beacroft badly misjudged a lofted through ball, leaving Burnley's number nine to slot it into the corner of the net for 2-1.

Half time: Burnley 2-1 Reading

The half-time whistle blew, and during the break I had the pleasure of chatting to the agent of Charlie Wellens too, who'd travelled up to watch his client play. Wellens has suffered with injuries during his time at Reading, yet managed to put up good numbers last season. Personally I'm surprised at his lack of first-team game time so far - unsurprisingly, his agent agreed.

There were no half-time changes for the Royals, as Scott looked to the starting XI to be the difference makers. However, in possession we were wasteful on the ball early on, getting away with an awful lot of sub-par defending, but Burnley were not clinical in front of goal and failed to punish us on multiple occasions. We did respond well on the counter-attack though.

On one of those times, standout performer Ashqar Ahmed was set free by Wellens down the right wing and, following a tussle with Burnley full-back Joe Ashton, Ahmed was very unnecessarily slammed against the advertising hoardings by Ashton. It's the kind of collision that immediately had the physios running and the on-site paramedics on the scene as he appeared to be in some pain, but thankfully, Ahmed was fine to continue after treatment.

Reading hit back at Burnley as Tyler Sackey found space on the right, with his pulled-back cross agonisingly close to finding a man in blue and white. Two substitutions arrived as Verrell George and injury-induced absentee as of late Shay Spencer entered the fray. Scott also switched system to a five at the back, with Emmanuel Osho and Beacroft as the wing-backs.

From here on in though, it was one-way traffic in favour of the home side. An initial goal was ruled out by the linesman's flag, and Burnley continued peppering the box with crosses that we could not deal with. Eventually, their sustained pressure paid off and they extended their lead with an easy back-post header from a quality delivery. 3-1.

Boyce-Clarke denied Kamarni Ryan impressively with a one-on-one save to deflect the ball around the post, but it was clear Reading were running out of steam as the game went on. Ryan for Burnley made it 4-1 and put the game to bed late on.

Although Reading were already out of the competition prior to the game, Gilkes assured me they were there to win. However, the players couldn't deliver a similarly ambitious result. Burnley won fair and square, meaning they ended the night topping the group.

Nevertheless, it was a brilliant day out and I'd highly encourage anyone reading to get down to a few under-21 games, whether that's at the SCL, Aldershot or further afield.

There's some great people in the setup. Scott's side haven't quite hit the heights of last year's achievements, but for me the function of a successful youth side is to produce successful footballers.

And they've certainly done that well enough.