Burnley U21s 3 Brentford B 2: Young Bees knocked out of Premier League Cup | OneFootball

Brentford B were knocked out of the Premier League Cup at the round of 16 stage as they fell to a 3-2 defeat to Burnley Under-21s.

Despite late goals in both halves from Kyrie Pierre and Michel Boni, a hat-trick from Kian McMahon-Brown was enough to sink the young Bees.

Andre Grey had the first sight of goal when Ethan Laidlaw found him in the box from left-wing back but the Burnley defenders swarmed as he got his shot off on six minutes.

Laidlaw then went close himself, cutting in off the left and curling an effort just over the bar with Oisin Cooney rooted in the Burnley net.

Vernon Masara had the Claret's first effort, firing over from the edge of the box from a counter attack on 17 minutes.

It was the home side who did take the lead when Joseph Wheeler-Henry's backpass didn't have enough on it and Kian McMahon-Brown was able to round Marley Tavaziva and finish into an empty net to make it 1-0 on 24 minutes.

It went from bad to worse for the young Bees when Matas Klimas brought down Brandon Pouani inside the box and the referee pointed to the spot on 37 minutes.

McMahon-Brown stood up to take the penalty and Tavaziva made a strong save on the initial effort but couldn't quite close down the angle on the rebound and Burnley doubled their lead.

As the half approached its climax, Pierre pulled a moment of magic out the hat to cut the deficit in half for Sam Saunders' side.

Riley Owen floated the ball in and Pierre brought it down on his chest, then swivelled and stretched to place his volley into the bottom left corner to make it 2-1 in the last action of the half.

Tavaziva was called into action early in the second period when Zachary Johnson found space on the right but the Bees' keeper saved at his near post.

Beau Redknapp, who replaced Klimas at half-time, then went down the other end and clipped a cross on to the top of the crossbar as the game opened up.

On 52 minutes, Burnley restored their two-goal lead; McMahon-Brown completed his hat-trick at the near post after a cross from Masara.

The west Londoners reacted well, Owen drawing an excellent diving save from Cooney with a curling effort that looked destined for the bottom-right corner minutes later.

On 72 minutes, Owen's deep free-kick found Conor McManus who headed back across goal but Redknapp couldn't squeeze the ball through the barrage of Burnley defenders.

With seven minutes left on the clock, Boni gave the Bees a lifeline as Trialist A latched on to an excellent Redknapp through ball to run in behind and tee up the striker to smash home to make it 3-2.

McManus had a good chance to level on 86 minutes but the ball bounced up at an awkward angle on the half-volley.

In the sixth minute of injury time, Laidlaw put a tantalising ball across the face of goal which Trialist A made contact with at the back post but could only hit the side-netting.

Boni then went close as well with seconds to play but it ended in a narrow defeat that sees the Bees knocked out of the competition they reached the final of last year.

A disappointing night but Saunders' side have a week on the training ground now to put it right against Charlton Under-21s on Tuesday 17 February at Wheatsheaf Park (7pm kick-off GMT).

Burnley: Cooney, Blackie, Pimlott, Egan-Riley (Stanley 74), Campbell, Brierley, Johnson, Clark, McMahon-Brown, Pouani (Savage 73), Masara

Substitutes: Leuluai, Scanlon, Derbyshire

Booked: Clark 66

Brentford: Tavaziva, Wheeler-Henry, McManus, Klimas (Redknapp 46), McKnight, Owen, Mawene (Trialist A 57), Grey, Boni, Pierre, Laidlaw

Substitutes: Wolfheimer, Honor, Asemokhai

Booked: Wheeler-Henry 75

Sam Saunders on positives despite Premier League Cup exit

Sam Saunders was proud of his side's reactions when going down by two goals twice in the game as they exited the Premier League Cup in a 3-2 defeat to Burnley Under-21s.

"It was a tough game, a competitive game. I felt that they started the better but without hurting, and their goal came from a mistake from us in possesion. I take responsibility in that, I'm asking the lads to play," he said.

"The whole team were positive and kept going. I thought Ethan Laidlaw was brilliant today and we had 3 or 4 moments to level the game. I said to the boys if we took one of those chances I think we would have gone on and won the game in extra time.

"The positives were the reaction and character. When things aren't going your way, showing up and standing up to be counted are things that can get you a career so I'm really glad to see that from the boys today."