Scott Brown has no complaints with his Fleetwood team or the call that reduced them to ten men in their 1-0 FA Cup fifth round defeat against Burnley.
The League One outfit looked set for a brave, battling draw as the ten-men kept out Vincent Kompany’s Championship leaders until the 90th minute at Turf Moor. But their resistance was finally broken when Connor Roberts stabbed home from close range after yet another top stop from Cods keeper Jay Lynch.
Their task was made harder when teenager Cian Hayes was shown a straight red in first half stoppage time. He was judged to have gone in recklessly on Josh Cullen with a high boot. Despite the Irishman's protests, he was sent up the tunnel by referee Dean Whitestone. But the Clarets struggled to make their one-man advantage count until late on as Brown’s men put up stubborn resistance in a bid to force extra time. The hosts had 31 shots to the visitors' 1, but a single strike got the job done in the end.
It wasn’t to be though as Fleetwood’s best ever run in the FA Cup was brought to an end. Brown was proud though, and had no issue with the decision to send Hayes off. he said: "I couldn't be more proud of them.
I know they scored late on but we managed to frustrate them as much as we can. Our plan was to try and catch them on the counter with our pace.
"At the time, no complaints (with the red card). He's a bit naive but he'll learn from that"
The reward for opposite number Vincent Kompany was a trip to former club Manchester City in the quarter-finals. The Belgian captained the Citizens to the English premier League title more than once, and has a statue outside the Etihad. He'll be going all out to dump them at the last eight stage and make a return to Wembley for the first time as manager.
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