A game of two sides is the best way to sum up today’s 3-2 for the Clarets in our first pre-season game at Accrington, and it was the new boys getting in on the goals as we came from behind to eventually secure victory.

The Clarets lined up in the first half with Jensen in goal, a back four of Courtney, McGreal, Sinclair and Branch. The midfield consisted of Wade Elliott, Adam Kay, Micah Hyde and Garreth O’Connor, with Kyle Lafferty and Gifton Noel-Williams up front.

The first half performance was poor to say the least, with only Micah Hyde and Kyle Lafferty able to come out of the half with any credit. Stanley raced into a two-goal lead through Andy Mangan and David Brown.

“Stanley are back, Stanley are back,” was the cry from the Clayton Terrace, while the Coppice Terrace looked decidedly glum. It was a typical Burnley performance that we saw many times last season, with plenty of huffing and puffing, but little in the way of shots on goal despite the hard work from Lafferty.

The second half saw the Clarets ring the changes as the Beast continued in goal, with Duff, Foster, Thomas and Harley now taking the defensive positions, Mahon, McCann, James O’Connor and John Spicer in midfield. Up front was Andy Gray and the impressive Steve Jones who between them caused the Stanley defence a whole host of problems.

Suddenly, things started to happen for us, and it was a great run from Jones that brought us a free kick in a very dangerous position. Jones had expertly skinned a couple of Stanley defenders before being flattened just outside the area, dead centre. Alan Mahon curled a fantastic free-kick which was tipped onto the bar, only to fall to Andy Gray who stooped to head home.

At the mid-point of the second half it was Mahon involved again, putting a brilliant ‘Spicer at Luton’ ball through to the on-rushing Steve Jones to calmly slot home for a deserved debut goal.

So, back to two-all, but the best was yet to come. Another free-kick for Alan Mahon, this time a little further out, but again central, and the Irishman curled an absolute beauty past the Stanley keeper. That goal was worth the entrance money alone.

The first half team certainly threw up some concerns, and let’s not get too excited; this was only a pre-season game at the league’s newcomers. But the performances of Kyle Lafferty, Alan Mahon, Steve Jones and to some extent Brian Jensen and Micah Hyde showed that some of the signs are there.

Thank God we pulled it round in the second half, or it could have been very depressing to be a Burnley fan tonight after the first half’s performance. 3-2 to the Clarets, let’s hope we can show more positive signs, as in the second half, at Bury.