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Last season only an inspired performance by goalkeeper James Salisbury kept the score down but even so we were beaten 5-0 in what was described by coach Terry Pashley as a poor performance.
Tonight though he has major problems with his team and there will be as many schoolboys in the line up as there will players already on the Turf Moor staff.
Some of the usual youth league squad are now too old and that rules out such as Salisbury, Liam Eves, Matthew O’Neill and Damien Hindle but things are even worse than that with a number of players out with long term injuries.
Central defender Gary Carter picked up an injury against Crystal Palace in the FA Youth Cup defeat and he will be out for a total of three to four months with that injury, it proved to be a broken shoulder.
His central defensive partner Danny Pitham is out with a stress fracture of the shin and Adam Jones has suffered a cruciate ligament injury. Meanwhile Sean Blakey is recovering from an operation on a fractured cheek bone. He collected that injury in the recent defeat against Stockport but it was only when he suffered numbness in his face a few days later that the extent of the injury was realised.
Pashley hopes to have Rhys Carpenter fit though and Richard Chaplow is back after illness but it will be a struggle to get a strong side out.
The team is: Michael Hale, Steve Richardson, Paul Scott, Darryl Avery, Neil Trotman, Ryan Townsend, Marc Pugh, Richard Chaplow, Robert Grimes, Rhys Carpenter, Tom Ince. Subs: James Heywood, Matthew Evans, Patrick McFadden, Lewis Jordan, Joe Cardle.
Kick off is at 7:00 p.m. tonight at the Turf and if you have a free evening please come down and give the lads your support. They need it and they deserve it, after all they will be wearing the Claret and Blue shirt.