Bottom beat top in the Alliance

Ross Wilson

Preston sat top of the league with just one defeat whilst Blackpool were rock bottom with only one win all season, that coming against the Clarets during our difficult start. But the form book was overturned as Louis Almond scored twice for Blackpool with Preston's only response coming from a Scott Davidson penalty.

North End had beaten Manchester City a week earlier in the FA Youth Cup and coach Jamie Hoyland admitted after this defeat: "We were rubbish, embarrassing. After last week playing superb we came here and I think some of them thought it was going to be easy and got their just rewards because Blackpool fully wanted it.

"We played as individuals and not as a team. As I said last week I was proud of them and this week I'm embarrassed with them."

That result gave Walsall the opportunity to draw level at the top of the league and they took it in no uncertain terms with a big 4-1 win over Wrexham. They are behind on goal difference again although have played a game more than Preston.

As well as Preston being caught it also meant Blackpool came off the bottom, climbing two places above Accrington and Morecambe. Accrington suffered the heaviest defeat of the day at Shrewsbury.

Despite our win we didn't climb the table but we are getting closer to the clubs just behind the top two. We now sit just four points behind third place Wigan and that's some achievement given the awful start we made to the season.

Elsewhere on Saturday there were wins for both Port Vale and Rochdale. We've got our FA Youth Cup tie tomorrow at Scunthorpe and then this coming Saturday we travel up to Carlisle. They were the last side to beat us and we'll be looking to get some revenge for that in our last game before Christmas.

Last Week's Results

Saturday 5^th December
Blackpool 2 Preston 1
Burnley 1 Bury 0
Macclesfield 0 Port Vale 1
Oldham 1 Rochdale 3
Shrewsbury 5 Accrington 0
Walsall 4 Wrexham 1

Postponed Games
Morecambe v Carlisle
Stockport v Tranmere
Wigan v Chester

This Week's Fixtures

Saturday 12^th December
Accrington v Rochdale
Blackpool v Bury
Carlisle v Burnley
Chester v Shrewsbury
Oldham v Morecambe
Preston v Port Vale
Stockport v Wigan
Tranmere v Wrexham
Walsall v Macclesfield

Burnley Goalscorers (League and Cup)

7: Michael King
5: Joe McKee
4: Dom Knowles, James Taylor
3: Joe Jackson
2: Liam Newman
1: Curtis Woods

Res Fixtures

Res Table

Youths Fixtures

Youths Table