Millers overcome Clarets in Youth Alliance Cup clash...
Rotherham United’s Academy advanced into the third round of the Youth Alliance Cup with a 2-1 win over Burnley at Graham Solley Sports Centre on Saturday.Goals from Kuda Muskwe and Darnelle Bailey-King ensured the Millers’ youngsters would be in the hat for the next round despite Andrew Nugent’s reply for the visitors.
Academy manager Garreth Barker was delighted to see his team progress against a strong opposition but maintained that preparation was positive ahead of the clash with the Clarets.
“Burnley are logistically and financially a fantastic academy and have always produced very good teams and we knew that it was going to be a tough game,” Garreth told www.themillers.co.uk.
“I told the players and the staff that would be the case and we knew what to expect.
“However, the lads are high on confidence at the minute after a good result and a good week of training under their belts. We went into it with the mindset that we’d go and impose our game on our home pitch.”
Muskwe notched his second goal in as many games with a well-placed header to give the Millers an early lead in the tie before Bailey-king added a second before the interval.
“We were 2-0 up by the break and it was particularly pleasing to see two of our second years get the goals,” Barker beamed.
“Kuda found the net for a second week running with another header, which I would argue was better than his goal last week.
“It’s come from a deep ball and he has risen above everyone in the box to power a header across the goalkeeper.
“We continued from there and it had been end-to-end from with Burnley keeping Laurence in goal busy as well as us testing their goalkeeper who represents England in the age group.”
Bailey-King then put daylight between the teams with the Millers’ second as he anticipated a ball over the top before applying a cultured finish to make it 2-0.
“Our second has come when Darnelle has gambled on the bounce of the ball and raced in behind the defender, before slotting it under the ‘keeper who didn’t even have time to set himself.”
Nugent pulled one back from the spot for Burnley but the hosts defended resolutely to earn their place in the next round.
“We conceded a penalty which came about as a bit of pressure because they did put us under some in the second period but we held on for a 2-1 win."