Andreas Bianga |
Morecambe went into their game at Shrewsbury having lost all eleven fixtures and having conceded 33 goals. They conceded two more but found the net themselves three times to clinch their first three points and that was enough to lift them off the bottom of the league.
Accrington are now bottom with just two points from two draw with Carlisle the closest to the bottom two with five points. The Cumbrian kicked off their game at Fleetwood just a point behind them but were beaten which has allowed the Fylde Coast club to draw level in points with Shrewsbury.
The league is almost splitting into two groups and at the top it is very tight with Wigan, in eighth place, only five points behind leaders Walsall who, after a couple of shock results, were back to winning ways on Saturday at Port Vale.
Rochdale and Bury are one and three points behind them respectively after they both won against Wrexham and Tranmere, but Oldham, who had climbed into second place, suffered a big 4-1 defeat at home to Preston.
Walsall have 25 points with Rochdale on 24 and Bury on 22. Oldham have now dropped to fourth with that defeat and sit above Preston, Burnley and Tranmere on goal difference with Wigan that one point below.
The Oldham v Preston game was probably the biggest shock result of the day. It was 1-1 at half time but Preston coasted to a comfortable win after the break. "Sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say that Preston were better than us on the day," said Oldham coach and former Claret Tony Philliskirk.
Admitting some of the blame was his, he added: "I'm not going to criticise my players because a lot happened in the second half. In hindsight, I should not have made the substitutions so early, but I thought I would try something and it backfired."
We travel to Wrexham this weekend with the fixture list only pairing two of that top group with Bury at home against Walsall. The big clash is at the bottom where Accrington host Morecambe knowing a win would see them off the bottom of the league after just one week.
All last week's results and this week's fixtures are below along with Burnley's leading goalscorers and the current league table.
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS
Friday 24th October
BURY 2 TRANMERE 1
Saturday 25th October
ACCRINGTON 1 BURNLEY 4
FLEETWOOD 4 CARLISLE 3
OLDHAM 1 PRESTON 4
PORT VALE 1 WALSALL 3
SHREWSBURY 2 MORECAMBE 3
WIGAN 3 BLACKPOOL 1
WREXHAM 2 ROCHDALE 4
THIS WEEK'S FIXTURES
Saturday 1st November
ACCRINGTON v MORECAMBE
BURY v WALSALL
FLEETWOOD v TRANMERE
PORT VALE v OLDHAM
PRESTON v BLACKPOOL
ROCHDALE v CARLISLE
SHREWSBURY v WIGAN
WREXHAM v BURNLEY
BURNLEY'S GOALSCORERS
5; NTUMBA MASSANKA, KHIUS METZ
3: BRAD JACKSON
2: JOHS DOLLING, CHRISTIAN HILL, BRANDON WILSON
1: JAMAL CRAWFORD, SHAUN HOBSON, ANDY NUGENT, ALEX RICHARDSON, WAQAS AZAM
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
WALSALL | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 9 | 25 |
ROCHDALE | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 11 | 24 |
BURY | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 18 | 22 |
OLDHAM ATHLETIC | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 9 | 21 |
PRESTON NORTH END | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 23 | 12 | 21 |
BURNLEY | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 24 | 15 | 21 |
TRANMERE ROVERS | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 16 | 21 |
WIGAN ATHLETIC | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 23 | 12 | 20 |
BLACKPOOL | 11 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 16 |
WREXHAM | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 22 | 14 |
PORT VALE | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 10 |
SHREWSBURY TOWN | 10 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 20 | 9 |
FLEETWOOD TOWN | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 23 | 9 |
CARLISLE UNITED | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 27 | 5 |
MORECAMBE | 12 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 35 | 3 |
ACCRINGTON STANLEY | 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 27 | 2 |