U21S MATCH REPORT: BURNLEY 4-1 WATFORD

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Two goals in each half down the Hornets at Turf Moor

2025-04-22T14:55:15.180Z

U21S MATCH REPORT: BURNLEY 4-1 WATFORD

Two goals in each half down the Hornets at Turf Moor

2025-04-22T14:55:15.180Z

Two goals in each half down the Hornets at Turf Moor

16-year-old Kian McMahon-Brown scored twice as Burnley U21s beat Watford 4-1 to earn a fourth straight win in all competitions on Tuesday afternoon.

Fellow first-year scholar Troy Savage and Tommy McDermott were also on target on a successful day at Turf Moor.

Manager Andy Farrell named a fairly young squad that included seven U18s, with four starting and three on the bench.

Four changes from Friday’s win at Crewe Alexandra saw first-year scholar Connor Edwards keep goal, while Joe Ashton returned to the defence.

Northern Ireland youth international Savage earned his first U21s start in central midfield and Republic of Ireland forward McMahon-Brown led the line.

Midfielder previews U18s play-off semi-final

Following his brace in the U18s’ 5-1 win over the Hornets on Saturday it took just two minutes for McMahon-Brown to net here, latching onto McDermott’s through ball to dink home.

Savage then made it 2-0 with 15 on the clock, sweeping the ball into the top left corner from roughly 12 yards.

Burnley continued to put their foot on the gas and came close to a third soon after, but Joe Bauress’ effort went narrowly wide after excellent footwork from Julien Vetro.

After the initial storm the match started to become more structured, with the Clarets settling into their shape and managing the ball well.

They came closest to netting again before half-time when Tom Tweedy swung a dangerous free-kick into the area, but it narrowly avoided the head of Ashton.

Our third goal did come eight minutes after the restart when Pimlott outmuscled his man and crossed for McDermott to finish high from close range.

It could have been four before the hour and Pimlott was involved again, winning a penalty for captain Bauress to take.

However, the midfielder’s spot-kick was saved well in the bottom right corner by Samuel Morris.

U21S MATCH REPORT: BURNLEY 4-1 WATFORD - Image 2

Watford then pulled one back with a 66th minute penalty of their own, with Nickson Okoson sending Edwards the wrong way after a foul by Alex Healy-Byrne.

Farrell then made a triple substitution that was in the works before the goal when Savage, McDermott and Tweedy made way for Brandon Ly, Adam McCoy and Joao Mendes.

The Hornets were in the ascendency at this point as Joshua Keyes twice took aim but pulled both shots wide.

It certainly wasn’t one-way traffic though as Mendes hit a post at the other end after a well-worked move.

Our final two changes saw Zach Johnson replace Vetro shortly before Noah Adekoya took the place of Hamzat Balogun, with Farrell aiming to sure up the three Professional Development League points.

The Clarets weren’t about to sit back though and after Bauress and McCoy both worked Morris in the Watford goal, McMahon-Brown completed the scoring when he produced a similar dinked finish to his first goal with the last kick of the match.

After 29 outings Burnley now have 53 points, leaving them five points ahead of 3nd-placed Hull City with two matches to play.

Burnley: Edwards, Balogun (Adekoya 81), Pimlott, Healy-Byrne, Ashton, Bauress, Vetro (Johnson 78), Savage (Ly 67), K. McMahon-Brown, McDermott (McCoy 67), Tweedy (Mendes 67)

Watford: Morris, Mullins, Eames (Watkiss 62), Sikiru (Valencia 46), Kamga, Georgiou, Gould (Garcia-Romero 34), Awker (Lawson 46), Adeyemo (Okoson 62), Fraser-Grante, Keyes

Goals: McMahon-Brown 2’, 90+5’, Savage 15’, McDermott 53’, Okoson 66’