Aryn Williams |
Burnley's win at Shrewsbury ensured we remained top of the league and then we had the wait to see if either of those just behind us had dropped points. There was no such good news on Saturday.
Walsall, as expected, hammered bottom of the league Morecambe and Preston were also winners at Wrexham. However, Carlisle didn't play until today when they fell to a surprising defeat at Bury which leaves them five points behind us and having played a game more.
It's looking increasingly likely that the league champions will come from the top three but there is nothing much to choose between them right now. We have a point more than Preston who have played a game more and two points more than Walsall who have a game in hand.
Walsall remain unbeaten and have an outstanding defensive record having conceded only ten goals all season. We only play them once, and it will be down at Walsall. That could be a crucial game and could go a long way to deciding the league winners.
This week there were also wins for Accrington Stanley and Stockport County with the other two games drawn.
All of the top three will be in action again this coming weekend. Whilst we face Port Vale at Gawthorpe, Preston are at home to Wigan Athletic and Walsall travel to Oldham. Before then, of course, we have the small matter of an FA Youth Cup quarter-final at Fulham.
The recent results are below along with this week's fixtures and Burnley's goalscorers.
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Saturday 3rd March
Macclesfield 0 Accrington 1
Port Vale 2 Blackpool 2
Shrewsbury 0 Burnley 1
Stockport 2 Bury 1
Walsall 6 Morecambe 1
Wigan 2 Oldham 2
Wrexham 1 Preston 2
Monday 5th March
Bury 4 Carlisle 2
THIS WEEK'S FIXTURES
Saturday 10th March
Blackpool v Macclesfield
Burnley v Port Vale
Morecambe v Tranmere
Oldham v Walsall
Preston v Wigan
Rochdale v Wrexham
Stockport v Accrington
BURNLEY'S GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE AND CUP)
20: Jason Gilchrist
17: Shay McCartan
10: Steven Hewitt
6: Adam Evans
3: Cameron Howieson, own goals
2: Archie Love, Alex Mullin
1: Lewis Nuttall, Dean Overson, James Taylor, Aryn Williams
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
Burnley | 16 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 40 | 19 | 39 |
Preston North End | 17 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 42 | 17 | 38 |
Walsall | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 10 | 37 |
Carlisle United | 17 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 44 | 24 | 33 |
Tranmere Rovers | 16 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 33 | 26 | 28 |
Oldham Athletic | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 28 | 22 | 27 |
Rochdale | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 35 | 31 | 27 |
Bury | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 39 | 36 | 27 |
Stockport County | 17 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 34 | 40 | 25 |
Wrexham | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 30 | 28 | 24 |
Port Vale | 16 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 33 | 33 | 21 |
Macclesfield Town | 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 18 | 29 | 17 |
Shrewsbury Town | 15 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 23 | 32 | 15 |
Wigan Athletic | 16 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 21 | 31 | 15 |
Accrington Stanley | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 21 | 40 | 15 |
Blackpool | 19 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 23 | 54 | 14 |
Morecambe | 17 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 26 | 57 | 9 |