Burnley back on top

Last updated : 09 September 2010 By Tony Scholes
Jay Rodriguez
Jay Rodriguez - heads the goalscorers
Whilst Burnley were winning there was also a somewhat fortuitous win for Macclesfield at Radcliffe Borough's Stainton Park against Bury. A strong Bury side outplayed their visitors in the first half as they played down the slope, and were still very much on top after the break.

The closest they came to a goal was when Ben Futcher powered a header against the angle of bar and post, but, try as they might, they just couldn't get the breakthrough. Suddenly, from nowhere, Macclesfield came close two minutes from the end, and that proved to be just a sighter when, deep into stoppage time, a Lewis Chalmers cross found Adam Roberts who scored at the second attempt to win it for Macc.

All eyes were on Wrexham last night as far as Burnley were concerned. They'd already won twice, and a point or more against Oldham would see them return to the top of the league. Oldham included two trialists in their side.

One was giant French defender Julian Cherel who has previously played for Hartlepool, Caen and Mandeville. The other is a more familiar name to Burnley fans. It was Paris Cowan-Hall who featured for us at Buxton in pre-season. Having been released by Portsmouth he has had trials at both Hull and Brighton without success and is now being looked at by Oldham boss Paul Dickov.

It was Cherel who gave Oldham a first half lead. No surprise to learn that it was a far post header from a set piece, as the Frenchman climbed above the Wrexham defenders to head home a Joe Jacobson cross.

That's how the score remained until the last twenty minutes, after which Oldham finally turned their domination into goals, and Cowan-Hall was involved when the lead was doubled. He run onto a superb crossfield ball and supplied the cross for Andy Crompton to make it 2-0.

Almost immediately Rod McDonald fired home after Wrexham failed to clear a corner and with nine minutes to go they got a fourth when Jon Worthington was the recipient of a neat short pass and curled in a shot into the bottom corner to the goalkeeper's left.

And what about Preston? Beaten by Accrington in the opener with a strong side, they played a team of youngsters in the next game and won convincingly. Back home, at Bamber Bridge, they were beaten again by Morecambe with the only goal of the game scored by Paul Mullin.

The goal came following a right wing cross with Mullin scoring with a first time shot after just eleven minutes of the game.

Richard Chaplow, one of two former Clarets on view alongside Neal Trotman, came close right on half time but a Preston side that included new signing Wayne Brown fell to a second 1-0 defeat of the season.

Finally, there were six goals in the game between Tranmere and Shrewsbury with both sides at some point having the lead and it was Shrewsbury who were first to take the lead with a headed goal from Kris Bright, his second of the season.

That came early in the game and Shrewsbury held that lead into the second half before Tranmere struck back to go in front themselves. Lucas Akins got them both, the first with a left foot shot and then his second, with only twenty minutes remaining, from close range.

Having been in front for so long, it was a blow to Shrewsbury to find themselves behind so late in the game, but three minutes after falling behind they were level, and another three minutes on from that were back in front.

Tom Bradshaw got the first of them with a close range strike before Benjamin Van Den Boek restored the lead as he curled home a free kick. This time Shrewsbury's lead didn't last too long, and with five minutes to go Dale Jennings earned Tranmere a point.

Jay Rod's goals on Tuesday, adding to the one he got at Stalybridge against Oldham, see him head the league's leading scorers with three goals. The leading scorers are shown below with Burnley's goalscorers this season.

They are below the results and fixtures. The fixtures for the next two weeks are shown with Burnley having no game next week. Our next game is a week next Wednesday when we travel to Cammell Laird to play Tranmere Rovers.

This Week's Results

Tuesday 7th September

Burnley 3 Accrington 1
Bury 0 Macclesfield 1

Wednesday 8th September
Preston 0 Morecambe 1
Tranmere 3 Shrewsbury 3
Wrexham 0 Oldham 4

Next Fixtures

Tuesday 14th September

Oldham v Bury (at Stalybridge Celtic)

Wednesday 15th September
Macclesfield v Accrington (at Macclesfield)
Morecambe v Tranmere (at Kendal Town)
Shrewsbury v Preston (at Shrewsbury)

Wednesday 22nd September
Accrington v Shrewsbury (at Accrington)
Preston v Oldham (at Bamber Bridge)
Tranmere v Burnley (at Cammell Laird)
Wrexham v Macclesfield (at Airbus UK)

Leading Goalscorers

3: Jay Rodriguez (Burnley)
2: Lucas Akins (Tranmere), Adam Barton (Preston), Kris Bright (Shrewsbury), Wes Fletcher (Burnley)

Burnley's Goalscorers

3: Jay Rodriguez
2: Wes Fletcher
1: Brian Easton, David Edgar, Michael King, Kevin McDonald

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