The Clarets face Premier League opposition in the 4th round of the Carling Cup on Wednesday night with Aston Villa the hosts at Villa Park. In a bizarre coincidence almost five years ago to the day we played Villa at Villa Park in the same competition. That night though (Tuesday 25th October) we lost 1-0. Villa came out winners thanks to a 22nd minute goal from striker Kevin Phillips, but Burnley were desperately unlucky to not force extra time or even take the tie as Villa were less than convincing in the main.
Steve Cotterill, manager at the time praised his team following our unlucky defeat stating:
‘I thought we were unfortunate. I thought we played well in the second half. We had to be tactical in the first half. We couldn’t open the game up because we might have got picked off and we didn’t want Kevin to have many more chances.
‘I thought we were terrific. We were disappointed to lose in the end but sometimes those extra bits of quality can kill you off.’
Burnley had previously beaten Carlisle United and Barnsley both at home in the earlier rounds to earn a tie at Villa Park. On the night Cotterill selected the following side:
Jensen, Sinclair, Duff, Lowe, Harley, Elliott, J O`Connor, McCann, G.O`Connor, Spicer, Akinbiyi
Danny Karbassiyoon and Duane Courtney also made rare appearances for the Clarets in this match coming on from the bench along with Gifton Noel-Williams.
We have of course played them at Villa Park since that night but just the once. In fact it was only last season when we played them in the Premier League clash back in February this year. Most Clarets fans though will want to forget that game since we finished up losing the match 5-2 despite Steven Fletcher putting the Clarets 1-0 ahead in the first half. If you want to recall that match you can do so by clicking this Match Report link from our archive:
Burnley Fell to Spell from Hell
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