Burnley slumped to their first defeat of pre-season at the hands of Championship side Stoke City.
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Burnley closing in on permanent signing of Chelsea striker and ex-Everton and Fu...](https://www.burnleyexpress.net/sport/football/burnley-closing-in-on-permanent-signing-of-chelsea-striker-and-ex-everton-and-fulham-loanee-5254065 "Burnley closing in on permanent signing of Chelsea striker and ex-Everton and Fulham loanee")
Ben Wilmot’s first-half effort proved to be enough to separate the two sides in what was a disjointed, below-par display from Scott Parker’s side.
The goal in particular was a poor one to concede, as summer signing Max Weiss failed to deal with a corner, allowing Wilmot to steer home into the back of his empty net.
The Clarets huffed and puffed and otherwise lacked a bit of quality, especially through the middle and in the final third where they failed to create many clear-cut chances of note.
A physical friendly, that at times carried plenty of needle, saw referee Steve Martin bizarrely send off Burnley’s Josh Laurent for two yellows. Another fIVE bookings were also dished out, somewhat unnecessarily.
Despite the defeat and under-par display, which will only strengthen calls from supporters for more additions in the transfer market, there were still some positive performances on show - with the two full-backs Kyle Walker and Quilindschy Hartman arguably the pick of the bunch.
Parker named arguably his strongest starting XI for the game, taking absences into consideration. The bench, however, was made up entirely of youngsters.
Jaidon Anthony of Burnley and Junior Tchamadeu of Stoke City compete for the ball (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)placeholder image
Jaidon Anthony of Burnley and Junior Tchamadeu of Stoke City compete for the ball (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
The likes of Lyle Foster and a number of other senior first-team players weren’t involved, as they featured in an in-house game at Gawthorpe earlier this morning.
That came after the planned behind-closed-doors outing against Sheffield Wednesday was scrapped late last week, owing to the Owls’ off-the-field crisis, with their players essentially going on strike.
The likes of Connor Roberts, Bashir Humphreys and Zian Flemming are all understood to be carrying knocks.
Burnley’s Max Weiss, who got the nod in goal ahead of Vaclav Hladky and Etienne Green, had to deal with some early work, scrambling to deal with a vicious left-wing cross at the second attempt.
Jaidon Anthony had Burnley’s first attempt of the afternoon, firing wide of the upright after exchanging a quick one-two with Jacob Bruun Larsen on the counter.
On 13 minutes, following a lackadaisical start from the Clarets, Stoke took the lead with a really sloppy goal from Burnley’s point of view.
Weiss opted to come off his line to deal with a Stoke corner but failed to make a clean connection with the ball, leaving his goal completely unguarded - giving defender Ben Wilmot the simple task of turning home from eight yards out.
Burnley’s sloppy and disjointed start continued as Million Manhoef dragged a shot wide from the edge of their box after the visitors had been countered on far too easily.
On the half-hour mark, the game had to be momentarily stopped as the two sets of players embarked in some scuffles on the halfway line. It all began when Maxime Esteve shoved Divin Mubama as a receipt for an arm he took to the face a couple of minutes earlier. Matters worsened when, to the surprise of no-one, Hannibal and Ben Pearson got stuck into one another - but it was only the Burnley man that was cautioned.
A minute later, the travelling Burnley fans thought their side had equalised when a close-range Hjalmar Ekdal strike hit the net, but their cheers soon subsided when they realised it was only the side-netting as a Stoke defender made a vital last-ditch block.
With three minutes of the first-half remaining, the Clarets put together a well-worked move as Bruun Larsen hooked an effort over his shoulder and just over. The move all began with a drilled, pinpoint crossfield ball from Kyle Walker, who had been one of Burnley’s standout men.
Emerging unchanged for the start of the second-half, Anthony wasted a golden chance to equalise when he side-footed Hannibal’s deep cross into the ground, which resulted in the ball looping up and over the Stoke bar.
Having booked five players in the first 50 minutes of friendly action, the overzealous referee Steve Martin - somewhat unusually - branded a red card for Josh Laurent - the midfielder penalised for a second yellow for a rash challenge from behind.
Despite being a man down, Burnley got into some good positions during the final 20 minutes or so as they tried to force an equaliser.
At the other end though, Quilindschy Hartman was required to get across and make an important block as the Potters threatened a second, with space opening up through the centre of the pitch.
Stoke pushed for a second to make sure of the win late on, with Weiss required to make two saves to deny substitute Sam Gallagher in quick succession, albeit both were fairly routine.
The game otherwise fizzled out as the Clarets were unable to find a late equaliser to preserve their unbeaten run in pre-season.
TEAMS
Stoke: Johansson, Cresswell, Lawal, Pearson, Thomas, Tchamadeu, Manhoet, Seko, Wilmot, Junho, Mubama
Subs: Bonham, Fielding, Bozenik, Smith, Fawumni, Mears, Gallagher
Burnley: Weiss, Walker (Blackie), Ekdal, Esteve, Hartman, Cullen (Veevers), Laurent, Hannibal, Edwards, (Pouani), Anthony, Bruun Larsen (Westley)
Subs: Casper, Williams, Ashton, McMahon-Brown
Attendance: 4,825 (553 Burnley)
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