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| Left back Luke Conlan |
The three of us were level on points ahead of the weekend games but. whilst Carlisle and ourselves got wins, Walsall's 100% record came to an end with a surprise 0-0 draw against struggling Wigan.
Preston went top of the league for a day. They played on Friday and won convincingly against Bury, but Carlisle went to the top with a win against Accrington and that now leaves the top four separated by just two points.
Walsall are still, however, very much in the driving seat in this league with three games in hand on the three teams above them, and such is their form it would be a big surprise if they didn't win at least one of those games. They are scoring goals at a similar rate to the other three but in their eight games have conceded only four goals. It does look as though they could be the strongest in the league this year.
At the other end of the league, Wrexham lifted themselves up from next to bottom with an easy, and unexpected, 4-0 win at Tranmere. Bottom club Morecambe were also winners. They beat Blackpool although, because of Wigan's and Wrexham's results, they still remain a point behind the next two.
Port Vale and Stockport were the other winners. They are both in the mid-table group of a league that now looks to be separating into three.
There are no league games this week. It's Youth Alliance Cup first round week and we couldn't have had a much tougher game than Preston away. We've met them twice this season already.
We lost 3-1 at Preston at the beginning of September with Jason Gilchrist scoring our goal and just over two weeks ago we beat them 3-2 at Gawthorpe with goals from Shay McCartan (2) and Adam Evans. The game against Preston (at their training ground at Springfields) will kick off at 10:30 a.m.
The weekend results are shown below along with the cup fixtures, Burnley's goalscorers and the league table.
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Friday 28th October
Preston 5 Bury 0
Saturday 29th October
Burnley 2 Oldham 1
Carlisle 3 Accrington 1
Morecambe 3 Blackpool 1
Shrewsbury 2 Port Vale 4
Stockport 5 Macclesfield 2
Tranmere 0 Wrexham 4
Walsall 0 Wigan 0
THIS WEEK'S FIXTURES (YOUTH ALLLIANCE CUP 1st ROUND)
Friday 4th November
Notts County v Wrexham
Saturday 5th November
Blackpool v Tranmere
Bradford City v Carlisle
Chesterfield v Oldham
Darlington v Hartlepool
Doncaster v Walsall
Macclesfield v Hull
Port Vale v Morecambe
Preston v Burnley (kick off 10:30 a.m.)
Rochdale v Grimsby
Rotherham v Accrington
Shrewsbury v Stockport
Wigan v Scunthorpe
BURNLEY'S GOALSCORERS
9: Shay McCartan
7: Jason Gilchrist
3: Adam Evans
2: Steven Hewitt
1: Archie Love, Alex Mullin, Lewis Nuttall, Dean Overson, Aryn Williams
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Carlisle United | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 27 | 13 | 24 |
| Burnley | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 26 | 16 | 24 |
| Preston North End | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 13 | 23 |
| Walsall | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 4 | 22 |
| Bury | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 24 | 19 |
| Tranmere Rovers | 11 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 25 | 22 | 18 |
| Port Vale | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 21 | 13 |
| Macclesfield Town | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 17 | 13 |
| Stockport County | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 23 | 13 |
| Oldham Athletic | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 11 | 12 |
| Rochdale | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 21 | 11 |
| Wrexham | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 10 |
| Blackpool | 12 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 18 | 32 | 10 |
| Shrewsbury Town | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 21 | 9 |
| Accrington Stanley | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 14 | 17 | 8 |
| Wigan Athletic | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 16 | 8 |
| Morecambe | 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 19 | 38 | 7 |