Our under-21s returned to winning ways with a hard-fought victory over Burnley at Meadow Park on Friday night.

The breakthrough eventually arrived courtesy of a moment of individual brilliance from Brando Bailey-Joseph, whose superb solo effort proved enough to overcome a resilient Burnley side.

What happened

We started brightly and almost took the lead inside the opening 12 minutes. Charles Sagoe Jr showed excellent skill to beat his defender before delivering a teasing cross to Andre Harriman-Annous, whose header struck the post and bounced safely into the goalkeeper’s hands.

Soon after, Louis Zecevic John had a sight of goal but fired his effort over the bar as we continued to apply early pressure.

After the interval, we picked up where we left off. Harriman-Annous twice went close in quick succession, first forcing a smart low save from Oisin Cooney, before seeing another effort kept out moments later after shooting straight at the Burnley keeper with the goal inviting.

Our persistence was finally rewarded with 20 minutes remaining. Bailey-Joseph showed great determination to drive past his marker before curling a superb finish into the far corner to give us a deserved lead.

Bailey-Joseph continued to cause problems and nearly set up...