IAN Evatt was pleased to get a chance to have a closer look at some of Barrow AFC’s young talent when they faced off against Burnley Under-23s in yesterday’s Lancashire Senior Cup first round tie.

Several of the side which featured in Barrow’s 5-1 win over Ribbleton in the Lancashire Under-21 County League opener on Monday were involved in the match at Burnley’s Barnfield Training Centre.

They were mixed with a number of members of the senior team in the Barrow starting line-up and manager Evatt was pleased to get the opportunity to see how the club’s younger players shaped up with seniors around them.

“It’s a good start for us to have the under-21s and to win like they did (against Ribbleton),” said Evatt. “I’ll certainly learn a lot about them the more we can integrate them into the squad.

“Competitions like the Lancashire Cup and the under-21s league allows the club to mix them in with senior players who aren’t playing as much or are coming back from injuries and need minutes under their belts.

“It also allows me to have a look at different age ranges, which again is beneficial for me.”

The match itself saw the Premier League side’s under-23 outfit run out 4-0 winners though and the hosts got off to the perfect start, as Dan Agyei put the Clarets 1-0 up after just four minutes

Burnley doubled their lead in the 17th minute as Tinashe Chakwana ran onto a through-ball from Tunde Bayode and placed the ball past goalkeeper Joel Dixon to make it 2-0.

Chakwana, who was in the thick of the action, would soon double his tally for the afternoon, as he converted from close range following a decisive pass from Christian N’Guessan.

And Kai Smith wrapped up the scoring in the 82nd minutes when he pounced on a poor back pass and rolled the ball into the vacant Barrow goal.

Along with giving him the chance to run the rule over some of Barrow’s younger players, Evatt was able to use the game to give the likes of Dixon and recent signing Steve Jennings a run-out.

Jacob Blyth, who has been limited to fleeting appearances after suffering an injury in pre-season, played the full 90 minutes.