HUDDERSFIELD Town went down 2-0 to Championship rivals Burnley in a behind-closed doors development match.
A team including Ian Bennett, Calum Woods, Murray Wallace, Keith Southern, Scott Arfield, Anton Robinson, Sean Scannell, Adam Hammill and Jimmy Spencer were beaten by goals from Luke O’Neill and Sam Vokes.
It was a useful run-out for Southern as he prepares to return from a three-match ban at Hull on Saturday.
Bennett made a good save from Vokes’ close-range header five minutes before the break but couldn’t prevent right-back O’Neill netting with a low shot 10 minutes into the second half.
Clarets keeper Brian Jensen thwarted Arfield, then Spencer, after Hammill had opened up the visitors’ defence.
But Vokes was in determined mood, and the former Bournemouth and Wolves man hit the woodwork with a header then a shot before drilling in the second goal six minutes from time.
James Burke and Matt Crooks, who are both on loan to Evo-Stik (Northern Premier) League club Radcliffe Borough but continue to train with Town on non-match days, came on as substitutes in the second half.
Borough’s Division I North game at Salford City last weekend was called off, but the pair hope to figure at home to Prescot Cables this Saturday.
Jordan Sinnott was due to make a second loan appearance for Altrincham last night after making his debut in Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat by Gainsborough, but their Blue Square North derby at Droyslden was postponed.
l Tony Mowbray admits Middlesbrough’s quest for Capital One Cup glory will count for nothing if they do not win promotion back to the Premier League.
Town’s Championship rivals head to top-flight Swansea in the quarter-finals tonight dreaming of repeating their League Cup triumph of 2004.
But Mowbray insisted: “While it’s nice to have a cup run, get the plaudits and potentially get to a semi-final, televised games and heighten the profile of your club, the bottom line come May is, if you don’t finish in the top two or the top six, giving yourselves a chance, it’s a wasted season.”
