THREE Burnley players are expected to line up for the England under 21s tomorrow, but 19 years ago it was a Blackburn Rovers youngster who made the headlines in a 4-0 win over Latvia at Turf Moor.

Burnley last played host to an England under 21s match on June 7, 1995 as part of qualifying for the 1996 European Under 21 Championships.

It was a few months before the closure of the old Longside and England were battling Portugal for the sole qualification spot in Group Six.

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They had already beaten Latvia 1-0 in Riga earlier in the campaign thanks to a goal from Trevor Sinclair.

Future Burnley defender David Unsworth had featured in that game but there was no Clarets involvement when Latvia arrived at Turf Moor for the reverse fixture.

The England team did however include Blackburn defender Ian Pearce, who did not receive an entirely warm welcome from the many Burnley fans in a crowd of 7,288.

With Pearce being booed, an announcement was eventually made asking supporters to get behind all of the England players on show.

Latvia’s team included Marians Pahars and Igors Stepanovs, who would go on to feature for Southampton and Arsenal respectively, and other players who helped the country qualify for Euro 2004 at senior level.

But they were no match for Dave Sexton’s England team at Turf Moor.

Chris Bart-Williams – born in Sierra Leone like current under 21 midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah – put England ahead in the 37th minute before Neil Shipperley doubled the advantage on the stroke of half time.

It was 3-0 in the 55th minute through Steve Watson, and Huddersfield Town’s Andy Booth came off the bench to complete the scoring with four minutes remaining.

The team that represented England that night, which also included Whalley-born Newcastle midfielder Chris Holland, would win only one senior cap between them throughout their careers.

That went to Alan Thompson in a friendly against Sweden in 2004.

In contrast, tomorrow’s England under 21 squad already contain two players who have been capped at senior level – Jack Butland and Carl Jenkinson.

As it turned out, England would lose out in the race to qualify for the 1996 European Championships to a Portugal side containing future Blackburn Rovers striker Nuno Gomes as well as Sergio Conceicao, Jose Vidigal, Dani and Rui Jorge.

It is Rui Jorge who is now in charge of the Portugal under 21 side that visit Turf Moor tomorrow night.

They will hope to fare a little better than Latvia did.

England: Paul Gerrard, Steve Watson, Ian Pearce, Stuart Nethercott, Dean Gordon, Alan Thompson, Chris Bart-Williams, Chris Holland, Andy Roberts, Neil Shipperley, Kevin Gallen. Sub: Andy Booth.

Latvia: Igor Korablovs, Aleksandrs Isakovs, Igors Stepanovs, Marians Pahars, Mikhail Lisyakov, Sergey Digulyov, Nickolay Polyakov, Renars Vutsans, Dmitry Nalivaiko, Vsevolod Lidaks, Vitali Voskans. Subs: Aleksandrs Zverugo, Edgar Burlakov.

Attendance: 7,288.