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| Brandon Wilson |
They had just two points from 11 games, had scored only eight goals while conceding a total of 38, considerably more than any other team in the league.
They weren't given much hope when they travelled to Preston, against a team that started the day in fifth place in the league. It looked even more difficult for them when North End coach Andy Fensome dismissed their defeats against Blackpool and Burnley in the previous two games as having been caused by them having an eye on their big FA Youth Cup tie against York, a tie they won 5-0.
Where their eyes were on Saturday, certainly defensively, is anyone's guess and Morecambe, like Burnley a week earlier, hit them for four. Preston scored three times themselves but it was Morecambe who won it although the points haven't come close to taking them off the bottom of the league.
That result ensured Preston would drop at least one place in the league and possibly two. That depended on the result between Burnley and Bury. A draw would have seen both of us go above Preston but it was Bury who won the game to move into fifth place.
There were only two other games but one saw Blackpool continue their remarkable winning run. They've now opened up a six point gap at the top after beating Fleetwood although both Rochdale, without a game, and Walsall, playing in the Youth Alliance Cup, have two games in hand.
In the other game, Accrington and Carlisle drew 1-1 with the result lifting Carlisle above Fleetwood in the table into 13th place.
There's a full fixture list this weekend but the league is preparing for the Christmas shut down. We are at home to Accrington on Saturday morning but it will be our last league game for seven weeks with Carlisle visiting Gawthorpe on 11th January.
Last week's results and this week's fixtures are below with Burnley's goalscorers and the current league table.
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Saturday 16th November
ACCRINGTON 1 CARLISLE 1
BURNLEY 1 BURY 3
FLEETWOOD 0 BLACKPOOL 1
PRESTON 3 MORECAMBE 4
THIS WEEK'S FIXTURES
Saturday 23rd November
BURNLEY v ACCRINGTON
BURY v BLACKPOOL
CARLISLE v WIGAN
MACCLESFIELD v FLEETWOOD
OLDHAM v WREXHAM
ROCHDALE v PORT VALE
WALSALL v SHREWSBURY
BURNLEY'S GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE AND CUP)
7: NTUMBA MASSANKA
5: BRAD JACKSON
3: KHIUS METZ
2: LUKE DALY, CHRISTIAN HILL, LEWIS NUTTALL, CALLUM RICHARDSON, ALEX WHATMORE
1: WAQAS AZAM, JAMIE FROST, EVAN GALVIN, NATHAN LOWE, KEVIN LY
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| BLACKPOOL | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 8 | 30 |
| WALSALL | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 22 | 7 | 24 |
| ROCHDALE | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 15 | 24 |
| OLDHAM ATHLETIC | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 14 | 22 |
| BURY | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 24 | 21 |
| PRESTON NORTH END | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 25 | 26 | 19 |
| BURNLEY | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 27 | 17 | 18 |
| TRANMERE ROVERS | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 14 | 17 |
| PORT VALE | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 25 | 17 |
| WIGAN ATHLETIC | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 16 |
| ACCRINGTON STANLEY | 12 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 22 | 15 |
| MACCLESFIELD TOWN | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 14 |
| CARLISLE UNITED | 12 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 20 | 23 | 12 |
| FLEETWOOD TOWN | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 14 | 23 | 12 |
| WREXHAM | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 25 | 9 |
| SHREWSBURY TOWN | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 18 | 7 |
| MORECAMBE | 12 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 41 | 5 |