CHRIS Waddle celebrated his first managerial victory today as the Clarets joined the Premiership big guns in tomorrow's Coca-Cola Cup second round draw.
Waddle saw the Clarets clock up a hard fought 2-1 victory over Lincoln City - his first senior win as Burnley manager - as Andy Cooke and a David Eyres penalty booked the Turf Moor men through 3-2 on aggregate.
But Burnley had to battle all the way against a physical Lincoln City side who had striker Lee Thorpe sent-off 10 minutes from time.
Waddle, who played as a sweeper, said: "That was the sort of performance we have been waiting for and I am very pleased to get my first win.
"We played some good football. Our passing was excellent and we struck up an understanding out there.
"I thought we had enough chances to have equalled Nottingham Forest's first round score against Doncaster (8-0). Their goalkeeper made a number of very good saves but we also had some bad misses of our own. You know what you are going to get against Lincoln. They fight and they have great team spirit and they can make life hard for you.
"The manager gets them very wound up and they are a very brave and cavalier side. We had the tonic of an early goal which was an important factor.
"Cookey's goal calmed the nerves and everybody seemed to enjoy the performance." Waddle had words of encouragement for striker Paul Barnes who had a miserable night in front of goal - missing several chances and having a first half penalty saved by Lincoln's goalkeeping hero John Vaughan.
Waddle added: "That is the way it goes for strikers sometimes.
"The main thing is that Paul doesn't get out of the way when he is not finding the net.
"If he misses one he will go back for the next one. He could have had five, like he did against Stockport County last season, but the ball just did not run kindly for him."
On Barnes' penalty miss, Waddle added: "I'm not the best person to ask about penalty misses but Barney has joined my club now.
"I just turn away when we get a penalty because I'm not going to take one, so I can't really blame anybody.
"I just left the decision to the players, but Paul was obviously very disappointed that he didn't score.
"The main thing is that we are through to the next round and we are off the mark with a good win. I'm very pleased for all the players and our fans"
Burnley Reserves are in Pontin's League action against Shrewsbury Town at Gay Meadow tonight. Jamie Hoyland, Gerry Harrison and Marco Gentile are all expected to feature.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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