Eardley in mood for cup revenge

MAN ON A MISSION . . . Neal Eardley (near side) is confident of victory tonight.

ATHLETIC will be confident of pulling off a surprise result in tonight’s Carling Cup second-round tie against Burnley.

The two sides have made contrasting starts to the new campaign – whereas John Sheridan’s men are off to a flier, the Clarets have yet to win a league game.

Burnley kicked off with a 4-1 thumping at Sheffield Wednesday and 3-0 home defeat by Ipswich before restoring their dignity with a weekend draw against Crystal Palace.

They are next to bottom of the Championship and, as Athletic stand proudly at the top of League One, the clubs are separated by just two places.

Burnley must still rank as favourites, but Boundary Park defender Neal Eardley is looking forward to tonight’s revenge mission.

Athletic went down 3-0 at Turf Moor last season and have a chance to make amends after being drawn against the same opponents in the same round.

Athletic won their passage with a derby success at Rochdale, where they drew 0-0 after extra-time before edging through on penalties.

Eardley took responsibility for the first spot-kick and wouldn’t be afraid to repeat the dose against Championship opposition.

He said: “To get Burnley away wasn’t the best draw because we would have preferred a team from the Premier League.

“But we’ll concentrate on Burnley, hopefully beat them and then get Premier League opposition in the third round instead.

“We did all right against them last season and were unlucky to come away with the result we did – it definitely flattered them.

“If it went to penalties I would step up again. At Rochdale the gaffer asked us who fancied taking one, and I felt confident of scoring.”

Eardley, Chris Taylor, Danny Whitaker and Lee Hughes were all successful in the first-round shoot-out, while goalkeeper Mark Crossley played his part with a save.

And Eardley added: “I don’t think any of our players were nervous about penalties because everybody who took one felt they would score.

“Rochdale made it a tough game. We were down to 10 men and they utilised their spare player well, but we deserve to be here playing Burnley.”

Athletic took 3,397 supporters to Rochdale – giving them around 59 per cent of the total gate – and there should be another healthy following for the clash at Turf Moor.

But Burnley manager Owen Coyle, despite his early problems, can choose from a squad which is brimming with quality players.

Recent additions include striker Martin Paterson, who joined from Scunthorpe for £1million, rising to a club-record £1.3million based on appearances.

And while the fee they paid for Manchester United winger Chris Eagles was officially undisclosed, it was thought to be a similarly hefty amount.




CARLING CUP ROUND TWO

Tonight – Bolton v Northampton; Burnley v Athletic; Cardiff v MK Dons; Cheltenham v Stoke; Coventry v Newcastle; Crewe v Bristol City; Hartlepool v West Brom; Ipswich v Colchester; Leeds v Crystal Palace; Middlesbrough v Yeovil; Preston v Derby; QPR v Carlisle; Reading v Luton; Rotherham v Wolves; Southampton v Birmingham; Swansea v Hull; Watford v Darlington; Wigan v Notts County.

Tomorrow – Blackburn v Grimsby; Fulham v Leicester; Huddersfield v Sheff Utd; Nottm Forest v Sunderland; West Ham v Macclesfield.