Burnley Reserves 1, Oldham Athletic Reserves 2

HIGHLY rated teenage striker Anthony Shandran celebrated his new contract at Turf Moor with another goal in the Avon Insurance League last night.

But his second-half strike wasn't enough to prevent a strong Burnley side from slipping to their third defeat of the season.

And to make matters worse for the Clarets, striker Andy Cooke collected a fifth booking of the campaign to land a one-match ban.

Boss Stan Ternent gave on-loan forward Paul Robinson his first start in a Burnley shirt and also gave Cooke, John Mullin and Ronnie Jepson, who are likely to be on the bench at Birmingham City on Saturday, a run-out.

But Burnley, who are third in the table, quickly went 2-0 down to two early goals.

Matthew Tipton put the Latics ahead when he latched onto a short back-header from Gordon Armstrong and Ryan Sugden then doubled the visitors' lead with a smart shot on the turn.

Cooke then looked to be upended in the box but instead of winning a penalty it was the Clarets man who went into the referee's book.

Things improved after the break for Burnley when Shandran came off the bench and showed his eye for goal when heading home a Brad Maylett cross to pull one back within five minutes of the re-start.

And the Clarets then dominated the game as they looked for an equaliser.

But despite a number of close calls, solid goalkeeping by David Miskelly kept the home side at bay.

Burnley: Paxton, West, Devenney, Brass, Armstrong, Heywood, Maylett, Jepson (Kevan 46), Cooke (Shandran 46), Robinson, Mullin (Williamson 46).