U21S MATCH REPORT: CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-4 BURNLEY

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Masara’s hat-trick seals come-from-behind victory

2024-03-18T17:00:00.000Z

U21S MATCH REPORT: CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-4 BURNLEY

Masara’s hat-trick seals come-from-behind victory

2024-03-18T17:00:00.000Z

Masara’s hat-trick seals come-from-behind victory

Halftime substitute Vernon Masara scored a hat-trick and assisted another goal as Burnley U21s overturned a two-goal deficit to beat Crewe Alexandra on Monday afternoon.

Alex Healy-Byrne kick started the comeback before 16-year-old Masara stole the show with three goals, two of which came in the final eight minutes.

It was a quick turnaround from Friday’s 4-0 victory at Coventry City and Burnley manager Andy Farrell made four changes to the starting XI at the Mornflake Stadium

Logan Pye and Joe Ashton came into the defence, with Michael Parker playing on the left of the front three alongside Mikey O’Neill.

U21S MATCH REPORT: CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-4 BURNLEY - Image 1

Calum Agius, who was in the Railwaymen’s first-team squad at the weekend, gave the hosts a 7th-minute lead by dinking the ball over Sam Waller having been played through.

It was 2-0 with 25 minutes on the clock with Agius on target again. This time he created a chance for himself and found the bottom left corner.

Tom Tweedy thought he’d found an immediate response for the Clarets after strong wing play from Joe Bevan, but the referee deemed that there was a foul in the goalmouth scramble.

Burnley continued to press forward with O’Neill, McDermott and Tweedy all working Crewe ‘keeper Mikolaj Lenarcik, but they went into the interval with work to do.

U21S MATCH REPORT: CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-4 BURNLEY - Image 2

Scholars Noah Adekoya and Masara were introduced at halftime and it didn’t take long for the latter to have an impact.

The forward wriggled his way into the penalty area and his blocked shot fell to Healy-Byrne to finish into the bottom left corner in the 52nd minute.

Masara then found the back of the net himself to draw the Clarets level, with his powerful shot from 12 yards past Lenarcik before he could react.

Farrell shuffled his pack further, introducing Renaldo Torraj and Burnley pushed hard for a winning goal in the final 20 minutes.

Their perseverance eventually paid off in the 82nd minute when Masara struck again, finishing calmly when one-on-one.

The winger then scored a sixth goal in his last four U21s game to seal the win in the 89th minute, dribbling the length of the Crewe half before finding the bottom right corner.

U21S MATCH REPORT: CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-4 BURNLEY - Image 3

Another victory has not affected Burnley’s place in the U21s Professional Development League table, however, the Clarets are now closer to 5th-placed Barnsley with games in hand.

AFC Bournemouth visit Turf Moor for a 12pm kick-off on Friday 22ns March, and Burnley season ticket holders can gain free entry.

For full details on the fixture, please CLICK HERE.

Burnley: Waller, Healy-Byrne, Ward, Pye (Adekoya 46’), Hugill, Bevan, McDermott, O’Neill (Torraj 69’), Tweedy (Le Fondre 83’, Francis-Burrell 88’), Parker (Masara 46’), Ashton

Crewe Alexandra: Lenarcik, Billington, Sant, Nolan, Trialist A, Trialist B, Allport, Moore, Woodcock, Finney, Agius

Subs: Dancey, Williams, Perry, Parry, Jaita

Goals: Agius 7’, 25’, Healy-Byrne 52’, Masara 65’, 82’, 89’