Reserves Beaten Again

By Longsider
December 11 2003

The reserves suffered another defeat yesterday at the hands of Stoke City. The defeat leaves the Clarets bottom of the Premier Division and now face an uphill struggle to avoid relegation.

Ronnie Jepson fielded a stronger team than normal thanks to the injury list easing within the First Team squad.

Dean West, David May and Paul Weller all played in the game whilst the 1st team bench warmers, Matt O'Neill and Joel Pilkington, played as well.

In the first half Rhys Carpenter and O'Neill both had good chances but failed to convert them. Stoke took the lead shortly before half time thanks to Laurence Hall.

Goodfellow doubled Stoke's lead shortly after the restart before David May had a header cleared off the line. May and Weller were substituted with Saturday in mind so it was a case of the side trying to keep the score respectable.

The team have a break now for Christmas and will not play a game until the New Year. That game will be against Huddersfield Town and its imperative that the side have a good start to the year otherwise the 'r' word will become a probability instead of a possiblity.