Brentford 0 Burnley 3

Last updated : 25 January 2003 By Footymad Previewer

A spirited Brentford performance could not prevent them going down 3-0 to First Division Burnley in this frenetic FA Cup fourth round tie at a packed Griffin Park.

Brentford opened the brighter and on four minutes an Andy Frampton cross from the left was met by Jay Smith in the box, but his header was directed well wide of the post.

Up the other end on 12 minutes Robbie Blake saw his 30-yard free-kick turned aside at full stretch by Bees keeper Paul Smith.

The Bees almost opened the scoring on 33 minutes when an inswinging free-kick by Stephen Hunt was met by Leo Roget in the box and his goalbound header was brilliantly tipped over at full stretch by keeper Marlon Beresford.

Almost on the stroke of half time, Blake for the Clarets saw his near-post effort well saved by the Bees keeper.

The visitors took the lead six minutes after the break when Graham Branch broke away from a defensive position and played the ball across to the right flank where Bees defender Frampton dithered on the ball and Blake dispossessed him and ran on to fire home low into the bottom corner of the net.

Three minutes later the Bees almost equalised when Jay Smith saw his header brilliantly tipped over by the Burnley keeper.

At this point the Bees were completely dominating proceedings and on the hour mark Scott Marshall headed over from a Michael Dobson free-kick and twice in the space of a minute, Marshall saw his effort cleared off the line and almost immediately Rowan Vine's header was cleared off the line.

Twenty minutes from time, sub Mark Williams fired high over the bar from a good position in the box and on 77 minutes Hunt was played onside and just missed the target as the keeper came out.

On 82 minutes the Bees almost equalised, a Williams cross from the right was met by Vine and his goalbound header hit the left-hand post and Hunt following up saw his close-range effort blocked by the keeper.

Burnley scored two late goals, firstly on 86 minutes when sub Glen Little picked up the ball after an Ibrahima Sonko mistake and fed Paul Cook, who fired home from 15 yards.

A minute from time, the ball broke to Little in the box and he slotted the ball home from close range to complete the win.