Two first-half goals were the difference as Burnley U21s were beaten by Birmingham City on Friday night.

There were four changes from the side that started last week’s 4-1 victory at Norwich City, with Lewis Forshaw returning to keep goal.

Andy Farrell tweaked formation to a 4-3-3, with Hannes Delcroix slotting in alongside last week’s brace scorer Jesse Williams at the heart of the defence.

Further forwards, Vernon Masara and Brandon Pouani played on the right and left of striker Joe Bevan respectively.

The visitors broke the deadlock after six minutes through Menzi Mazwi, who cut in from the right touchline and beat Forshaw at his near post with a powerful effort.

That seemed to kick the young Clarets into life and Bevan should perhaps have equalised soon afterwards, but Birmingham ‘keeper Will O’Sullivan denied him one-on-one with his legs.

After a few more openings and blocked shots for Burnley, it was the visitors who grabbed the second goal of the night four minutes before the break.

Zaid Betteka used his pace to get to the bye line and fizz a dangerous ball across the face and despite the best efforts of Campbell, Dan Isichei was able to get the decisive touch.

Burnley returned from the break firing on all cylinders and after O’Sullivan thwarted Bevan one-on-one once more, Clark’s effort from just inside the area was straight at the Birmingham stopper.

Campbell thought he’d pulled one back win the 53rd minute after a Charlie Veevers corner caused havoc in the box, but the Scot’s close-range finish was ruled offside.

The match started to develop an edge with players from both teams going into the referee’s notebook and Forshaw was forced to into action shortly after the hour, making a smart stop to his left.

Farrell then turned to his bench for the first and only time, replacing striker Bevan with centre-back Jack McEvilly. At the same time, he reverted to a more familiar 3-5-2 set up.

Headers wide from Williams and Masara were the closest the Clarets came to getting a goal back but in truth, Birmingham saw out the rest of the 90 without too much cause for concern.

The result means Burnley now have six points from eight PL2 matches to date and sit 22nd in the 29-team table.

Burnley: Forshaw, Campbell, Pimlott, Williams, Delcroix, Brierley, Masara, Clark, Bevan (McEvilly 66), Veevers, Pouani

Unused Substitutes: Cooney, Ashton, Leuluai, Johnson

Birmingham City: O’Sullivan, Da Silva, Quirk, Burrell, Eubank, Mazwi, Ellis, Bateman (Wodskou 60), Betteka (Guernier 64), Isichei (Sanders 84), Boakye

Unused Substitutes: Warmington, Wynne

Goals: Mazwi 6’, Isichei 41’