The B Team landed another piece of silverware as a Daeshon Lawrence goal gave the young Whites the LFA Senior Cup, writes Pete Oliver.
Lawrence completed a memorable few days as he followed his first-team debut at the weekend with the winner at county HQ. His first-half strike made it a notable double for the 18-year-old who had also scored one of the goals to help the youth team win the LFA Youth Cup earlier this month.
Lawrence had been left out of the U18s on Tuesday morning as they wrapped up the EFL Youth Alliance table to keep him fresh for the final against a youthful Burnley line-up.
The Clarets – led by ex-Wanderers’ striker Tony Philliskirk – didn’t include the U21s who will be involved in their Premier League Cup semi-final at Queens Park Rangers 24 hours later.
But Wanderers, also facing a busy fixture schedule, did give some late game time off the bench to three of the players who had helped the youths gain the win they needed earlier in the day as Andy Taylor’s side also ended their season on a high.
With just a single-goal margin Wanderers couldn’t relax on the way to winning the trophy for the first time since 1991. But in front of watching first-team boss Steven Schumacher it was a game they controlled - helped by the experience and nous of player-coach Andrew Tutte - bar the absence of at least a second goal.
Luke Hutchinson had only one save to make, albeit an important one, as he did well to keep out a fierce strike from Vernon Masara when the scores were level. And the only goal of the game came nine minutes later when Lawrence broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time.
Luke Matheson’s probing pass gave James Westwood the chance to cut in and when his shot was blocked, Lawrence pounced to tuck away the rebound from close range to continue his prolific campaign.
Wanderers had enjoyed most of the ball and looked to press home their advantage after half-time as Lawrence again went close from a Dubem Eze cross and Noah Halford headed just wide from a corner.
The Clarets rode out that spell of pressure to stay in the contest but they rarely threatened an equaliser and it was Wanderers who went closest to a second goal and a more comprehensive victory as Conor Lewis and David Abimbola both went close before the Whites got their hands on the cup.
“The best way to finish the season is with a trophy. It's not the FA Cup, but it's still a trophy and that was a message I gave to the players before the game,” said B Team boss Taylor.
“I said that in your career you don't often get a chance to win a trophy, so let's go make the most of it, let's give it everything we can and let's go and play with the freedom and try and come away with a win, and we did.
“To a man at the end I thought they were dead on their feet. You could tell there was a lot of tired bodies but they dug in and got the win and now we celebrate.”
Wanderers: Hutchinson; Toole, Hogan, Weston; Matheson, Halford (Leigh 78), Tutte, Westwood (Rice 87); Lawrence (Abimbola 78), Isong (Fleury 78), Eze (Lewis 65), Substitutes: Litherland, Smith.
Burnley: Edwards, Stanley, Wilcock, Adekoya (Blackie 56), McEvilly, Morison (So 60), Johnson, Brierley (Scanlon 60), Masara (Derbyshire 71), McCoy, Pouani (King 71). Substitutes: Feeney, Okonkwo.
Pictures: Ben Livingstone
Watch a full interview with Taylor and match-winner Daeshon Lawrence later on Wanderers TV