U21 REPORT: COLCHESTER UNITED 1-2 BURNLEY

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A touch of magic from Torraj seals three points on the road for Clarets

2023-04-24T11:00:00.000Z

U21 REPORT: COLCHESTER UNITED 1-2 BURNLEY

A touch of magic from Torraj seals three points on the road for Clarets

2023-04-24T11:00:00.000Z

Renaldo Torraj’s stunning free-kick late on separated the two sides and earned Burnley’s U21 side three points in Professional Development League action away against Colchester United, running out 2-1 winners.

The Albanian youth international had been introduced early on in the second half, with the hosts levelling things up soon after to cancel out Tom Tweedy’s first half opener.

It had looked like the points would be shared until the tricky winger stepped up to arrow the set-piece home with inch-perfect precision, with the victory a first in the league for the Clarets in six.

Torraj was one of three to drop out of the starting 11 from last week’s draw at home to Bristol City as a trialist came into the side alongside goalkeeper Charlie Casper and full-back Alex Healy-Byrne.

First Half

Starting on the front foot at the JobServe Community Stadium, the Clarets trialist brought a smart stop out of U’s ‘keeper Ted Collins early on via a low drive.

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And 12 minutes in, courtesy of some nice build-up play, Healy-Byrne found space down the right to swing a cross to the back post where Welshman Tweedy was waiting to volley home, opening the scoring with his first goal for the Club.

Limiting Colchester to few chances at the other end, the closest they came in the opening 20 minutes was a Kaan Bennett strike which hit his own man and bounced behind for a goal-kick.

Joe Bauress then fired over from range before the hosts were denied an equaliser for a foul on Casper from a free-kick as Brad Ihionvien kicked the ball out of his hands and watched it trickle in.

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Casper would also be brought into action to tip a strike from Jaiden-Drakes Thomas over, while the Clarets’ trialist was again denied by Collins.

Second Half

A few minutes into the second half, striker Ihionvien fired wide from a matter of yards out, passing up a gilt-edged chance, as the ball fell to him from a corner when he looked to be in an offside position but the flag wasn’t raised.

The U’s though were on top, and despite a smart save from Casper to deny Oscar Thorn, they levelled through substitute Frankie Edwards two minutes after a double change from Burnley which included the introduction of Torraj.

With both sides now searching for a winner, Jez Davies had a low strike kept out by Collins while Bauress picked out Jack Turner from a free-kick, but the defender – who was ruled to be offside anyway – couldn’t convert in space.

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One of Colchester’s trialist should’ve handed the hosts a lead as he fired wide on the volley from point-blank range, while experienced defender Tom Dallison fired over on the volley from a corner.

Eventually, the winner came in spectacular fashion through Albanian Torraj. After Will Hugill had been felled, he stepped up and curled home a gorgeous strike into the adjacent corner of the net, bouncing in off the post and leaving Collins stretching with no chance of keeping it out.

With four minutes of the 90 remaining, five added were also played, but that proved to be the winner it deserved to be, keeping Burnley’s hopes of a top-two finish this term alive.

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The U21s return to action next Monday – 1st May – when Swansea City visit East Lancashire. Full details of this fixture will be confirmed shortly.

Burnley: Casper, Healy-Byrne (Williams ’57), Sassi, Turner, Grant, Bauress, Davies, Hugill, Trialist (Torraj ’57), Westley, Tweedy

Unused Subs: Moss, Gromek, Vaughan

Colchester: Collins, Yates, Trialist A (Bello ’90), Marshall-Miranda, Kazeem, Dallison, Thorn, Lowe (Marcel-Dilaver), Ihionvien (Trialist B ’71), Drakes-Thomas (Edwards HT), Bennett

Unused Sub: Chamberlain

Goals: Tweedy, ’12, Edwards, ’59, Torraj, ‘86