Flight chaos for Burnley ahead of Dons clash

BURNLEY’S preparations for their Battle of Britain clash with Aberdeen were in disarray last night after they failed to reach Scotland on time. Sean Dyche’s side were due to touch down at Aberdeen Airport at 4pm. But, somewhat embarrassingly ahead of the club’s first European match in over 50 years, technical problems with their charter plane meant they were grounded in Manchester for five hours. The English Premier League side were due to host a press conference at Pittodrie with boss Dyche and captain Tom Heaton at 5.45pm. That was

initially put back an hour before being postponed until 11am today. At least Burnley had no plans to train at Pittodrie last night, having been put through their paces at their own Lancashire base yesterday morning, but they did miss out on the chance to have an early look at tonight’s venue. Their players certainly will not have expected to spend so much time in the departure lounge before eventually arriving in Aberdeen mid-evening — while facing the media just nine hours before kick-off is hardly ideal match preparation for their manager Dyche. The Turf Moor outfit have fallen foul of UEFA’s famously strict rules on pre-match media activity. It is more than likely, however, that Europe’s governing body will look leniently on the matter on this occasion. Aberdeen escaped sanctions themselves for arriving late in Latvia in 2016 after their flight for a match against FK Ventspils was delayed for six hours after a bird hit their plane. A Burnley spokesman said: ‘We have had severe delays on the flight north. There have been technical difficulties with the aircraft. ‘That means the press conference has been cancelled and the players won’t go to Pittodrie to look at the stadium. ‘The team were not going to be training at the stadium anyway but they were going to come for a look around. UEFA have been made aware of the difficulties we’ve faced.’ Meanwhile, Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes failed in his bid to land a new striker for the European tie ahead of last night’s 11pm deadline. He had been pursuing Preston North End’s Louis Moult, formerly of Motherwell, and Eoin Doyle. But he has signed former Partick Thistle goalkeeper Tomas Cerny, 33, and has taken 24-yearold defender Tommie Hoban on loan from Premier League side Watford. ‘Tommie Hoban has had a lot of injuries in his career but he’s been given this opportunity to come here and play games. If he stays free of injury, I think he’ll be a fantastic addition. ‘And it’s also great to get a goalkeeper of Tomas Cerny’s experience.’ There was bad news, however, when it emerged that Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds could face five months out after undergoing knee surgery yesterday. McInnes said: ‘Mark may be out for a considerable time. We will find out after the surgeon looks at his knee. Will it be four or five months? It could be but I would not want to say one way or the other.’