Rampant Wanderers reached the final of the Lancashire FA Professional Youth Cup as a five-goal beating of Burnley gave Julian Darby’s side the chance to retain the trophy, writes Pete Oliver.
Toby Ritchie led the way with a hat-trick as the young Whites out-played a below-strength Clarets’ line-up to make it to the final for a third season in a row.
Burnley, with an FA Youth Cup fifth-round tie to follow on Friday, played an under-age line-up and were ruthlessly taken apart by the goal-hungry Whites as Lucas Kirkpatrick and Latrell Lewis also got on the scoresheet to give Wanderers a 4-0 half-time lead.
Ritchie then nodded in after the break to complete his treble as Wanderers backed up their penalty shoot-out win over Blackburn Rovers in the last eight by taking another scalp to set up a final showdown with either Preston North End or Blackpool.
“They might not have been full-strength, but they are a Category One academy and a Premier League club with everything that goes with it,” said delighted boss Darby.
“It was a terrific performance from our boys. We’ve now come from 3-0 down to beat Blackburn and got past Burnley to have a chance to win the competition again, which is something to look forward to later in the season.
“That’s four clean sheets in a row as well and we’re finding a bit of momentum. There were some great finishes and we could have won by more. At 4-0 at half-time I said to them make sure you get the next goal and they did that and won really well.
“The league is perhaps more about development football and we want to do well in that. But in cup football it’s about finding a way to win. We did that for three rounds in the FA Youth Cup before losing with 10 men against Stevenage and we’re through to the final of this, so it’s a good way to learn.”
Wanderers could have been ahead inside the opening minutes at Burnley’s Gawthorpe training ground as Alfie Healy shot just wide and Sam O’Neill saw a header cleared off the line.
Skipper O’Neill then had to make an important block at the other end but once the Whites’ early pressure paid off there was no looking back.
Ritchie thumped home the opener and with Wanderers a constant threat from set-pieces, Kirkpatrick pounced to volley into the top corner after the Clarets had again failed to clear.
Ritchie then ran through to tuck away number three before Lewis pounced on a wayward pass from the back to slot home the fourth goal with another polished finish.
Against the wind in the second half Wanderers were less dominant but were never in any danger as they secured another shut-out and capped an impressive morning’s work when one of several dangerous breaks saw Lewis cross perfectly for Ritchie to nod home at the far post to complete his treble.
Wanderers: Lomax, Thomas (Fakhy 55), Healy (Best 65), Sixsmith, Evans, O’Neill, Mawditt, Kirkpatrick (Hopkinson 75), Lewis (Ogboru 65), Ritchie (Clement 65), Nuttall.