BURNLEY'S youth team made it three wins out of four in their merit league campaign with a 4-2 defeat of Carlisle United at Gawthorpe on Friday afternoon.

Manager Terry Pashley was absolutely delighted with the way the young side overturned a half-time deficit and he confessed: "It could have been more.

"We were 2-1 down at half time after conceding two goal to long balls, one of them straight down the middle so that was disappointing.

"But Damien Hindle had kept us in the game with a goal after 30 minutes and their second came against the run of play so I was confident we could turn things around."

That is exactly what happened as the Clarets took charge after the break and netted three times through Liam Eves, Richard Chaplow and young trialist John Alexander.

"John is only 15 and he has recently been released by Newcastle United and I wanted to have a look at him in a game," said Pashley.

"He played at centre forward alongside Damien and I was pleased that he got his goal. I have seen him playing in his own age group and it was a big step up for a youngster to suddenly be playing at under-19 level.

"He really stuck at it as I played him for just an hour because it was hard for him physically. But having seen him in action it will help us to make a decision on whether to take him on for next year."

Once again it was a young side named by Pashley and he said: "We played extremely well in the second half. We scored three times but it could have been more."

Next stop for the youth side is an away game at Shrewsbury on Saturday which will mean another early start for the lads.

"I am not sure what sort of team we will put out at the weekend because it depends how many of the lads play for the reserves at Port Vale tomorrow," he said.

"Hopefully the players who have been playing at the higher level will get another chance but if not they will need to play on Saturday to keep them match sharp."

Pashley is also hoping to be able to see his two injured players back in action sooner rather than later.

"Rhys Carpenter should be back training next week and Robert Grimes will be a bit later than that," he said. "The problem for Robert is he has had a couple of little setbacks but hopefully he will be okay soon."