( 0 ) ( 0 )
L.Conway
C.O'Neil 2

Villa left it very late to eventually take maximum points against a very hard working and determined Burnley side, who came intent on taking something from the game.

From the start Villa put their opponents under pressure with Sean Parkin testing the keeper with a free kick after only three minutes. Two minutes later the home side came even closer as a through ball from Rick Wood released Craig O'Neil who cleverly beat the offside trap before chipping the
keeper, only for his effort to hit the post. Craig O'Neil was proving a handful for the Burnley defence and came close again on ten minutes with a low shot which flashed just wide.

The visitors did not trouble the Villa defence until fifteen minutes when keeper Dave Bibby had to be alert to turn a low shot around the post. Euxton immediately hit back as Craig O'Neil saw his low shot from the edge of the area saved by the Burnley keeper. For the rest of the half it was Villa
pressure, but to be fair to the visitors they worked extremely hard to contain the Villa attack. On thirty minutes Mick Bradshaw came close with a shot over the bar. Five minutes before the break David Heald drove into the Burnley box only to see his effort saved. Villa arrived at the interval
still looking for the breakthrough that their overall play deserved, but conscious they were playing very focused opposition.

It was much of the same from the resumption of play, Villa attacking and Burnley working hard to thwart them. With fifty three minutes gone Villa had the ball in the net, a header on by David Heald was turned in by Liam Conway, only for the effort to be ruled offside. Burnley then had their best spell of the game forcing consecutive corners, but the Villa defence held firm.

The Villa pressure was increasing with more and more attempts on goal. Pete Ryder saw a fierce shot blocked after sixty five minutes. Five minutes later Liam Conway again had the ball in the net, following good work by David Heald only for the effort to again be disallowed. The same player came close again on seventy three minutes when he headed wide from a great cross from John Winstanley.

So it continued, but as the minutes passed it looked more likely that Burnley would take a point from the game. Everything changed on eighty nine minutes, a ball driven into the box was turned into the net by Liam Conway, from this point two things happened, the visitors became despondent and the
home side rampant. A minute later Craig O'Neil broke into the box and beat the keeper with a low shot into the bottom corner. He repeated this moments later to score his second and Villa's third of the game.

Burnley will feel disappointed at the final score given their hard working display, but in fairness to the Villa, they hit a post and had two goals disallowed before finally making their breakthrough.

Team - Bibby, Wood, O'Loughlin, ( Ryder ) Crombie, Winstanley, L.Conway,
Bradshaw, ( Southern ) M.Conway, Heald, Parkin, ( Thompson ) O'Neil.