Burnley U21s v Bristol Rovers
Pre-season, St Andrews Elite Performance Facility, Friday 31 July 2026, 1pm KO
Bristol Rovers will complete their pre-season fixture schedule on Friday afternoon when they face Burnley U21s at St Andrews Elite Performance Facility.
The fixture against the Clarets comes just two days after they started their trip to Scotland with a 3-0 victory over Dundee, with Jack Aitchison, Shaq Forde and Riley Harbottle scoring in a comprehensive victory.
The Pirates have had a successful pre-season, with their only defeat coming against Sky Bet League One outfit Leicester City. Before their victory over Dundee, Steve Evans' men had already beaten Weston-super-Mare and Salisbury, and drawn with Portsmouth and Forest Green Rovers.
Burnley's talented U21s team lifted the Premier League Cup last season, beating Sunderland in the final at the Stadium of Light.
Read everything you need to know about the fixture below...
Tickets...
This fixture is behind closed doors; more information is available here.
Opposition…
Burnley lifted the Premier League Cup at the end of last season after beating Sunderland in the final. The Young Clarets had lost in the semi-final of the competition the year before. However, after winning against West Bromwich Albion at the same stage of the competition last term, they knew they were only one triumph away from silverware.
They had to go and beat Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and did exactly that, with goals from Ellis Clark and Kian McMahon-Brown either side of half-time giving them a two-goal lead before the Black Cats netted a consolation. However, Burnley had a more difficult time in the Premier League 2, finishing bottom of the table, earning 13 points from 20 matches.
Burnley beat Nelson in their first pre-season match, with a youthful side earning a 3-0 victory. New signing Jiaming Zhang broke the deadlock before Warren Taylor bagged a brace. Andy Farrell's men then fell to a narrow 2-1 loss to Flixton.
In their most recent outing, the Young Clarets beat Padiham, with Michael Mellon, Zach Johnson, Brandon Pouani, and Zhang all finding the back of the net.
Previous Meeting…
Written by Keith Brookman...
Rovers take on Burnley in their final pre-season game on Friday, and whilst it’s a fact that it’s the Championship’s U21 side we face up in Scotland, we’re taking a look back at previous matches against the Turf Moor outfit.
We’ve met on 26 occasions in the league with Rovers winning nine of those games and Burnley eight, whilst there’s been nine draws and both sides have scored 31 goals.
It wasn’t until 1976/77 that our paths first crossed in the league, and both games that season ended in 1-1 draws, at Turf Moor on November 25 1976 and at Eastville on April 16 1977.
We recorded our first league win against them on April 21 1979, when goals from Vaughan Jones and Steve White secured a 2-0 victory at Eastville, watched by a crowd of 5,947.
Burnley recorded their highest win against us, by four goals to nil, at Turf Moor, in February 1982, while our highest win against them was by the same scoreline in April 1985.
Our paths crossed twice during our ten-year exile at Twerton Park, in 1993/94 when both sides recorded 3-1 home wins, and in 1995/96 when Rovers were 1-0 winners on both occasions.
Burnley’s first visit to The Mem came in November 1996 when they ran out 2-1 winners, while the return fixture at Turf Moor the following February ended in a 2-2 draw.
In January 1999 there was a remarkable seven-goal thriller at The Mem in which Burnley were 4-3 winners. Steve Davis gave the visitors a 15th-minute lead, the first time Rovers had conceded in 508 minutes of football, but Jamie Cureton equalised 10 minutes later only for Graham Branch to restore Burnley’s lead on the half-hour mark.
Jason Roberts scored a second Rovers equaliser, and there were two more goals before half-time, Andy Payton scoring for Burnley and David Lee scoring Rovers’ third equalising goal of the half. The winning goal, scored by Andy Cooke, arrived on 54 minutes and Rovers failed to conjure up a fourth equalising goal, in spite of creating a number of chances.
The last time we met in the league was way back in the 1999/2000 season when both sides were 1-0 home winners, Rovers on August 30 1999, Burnley on February 5 2000.
There’s been three FA Cup meetings, the first in 1908/09 when Burnely were 4-1 winners, the second and third in 1957/58 when, following a 2-2 draw at Eastville in a Fourth Round Tie, Rovers were 3-2 winners in the Turf Moor replay and went on to beat Bristol City in Round Five before going out to Fulham at the Quarter Final stage.
The last time that we played Burnley was in a pre-season friendly at The Mem on July 19 2011, when goals from Matt Harrold and Eliot Richards gave Rovers a 2-0 win in front of a crowd of 2,500.
Then, as now, Burnley were a Championship side, and they fell behind on 24 minutes when Harrold struck a firm shot past goalkeeper Brian Jensen following Matt Gill’s corner from the left. Richards struck in the second half, after he ran on to Wayne Brown’s through ball before comfortably beating Jensen for his second pre-season goal.
