Top two draw to leave Alliance title undecided
The Youth Alliance League will come to an end for the 2015/16 season a week on Saturday and we might have to wait until then to know who will be the champions this year, current leaders Bury or second place Wigan Athletic.
The pair met yesterday afternoon and a win for either side would have left them very much in the driving seat. A Bury win would have seen them go four points clear whilst a Wigan win would have taken them two points ahead of Bury. Wigan have the advantage of a game in hand.
As it stands now, Bury have 58 points with one game to play, at Fleetwood this Saturday, and Wigan still have two away games left, at Walsall and then at Rochdale on the next two Saturdays.
No one else can get close to them now with Bury having beaten third place Walsall last week. Despite the defeat, Walsall are now assured of third place in the table.
Bury are the only side that could clinch it this weekend. Should they win and Wigan lose then it will be all over. If Wigan need a win at Rochdale they will have to end the best current run in the league. It’s only a few weeks ago that a Burnley win would have seen us move above Rochdale but their 3-0 win yesterday against Shrewsbury was their sixth successive win.
It really is a sorry tale for Burnley this season. With one of our 28 games still to play, at Port Vale this Saturday, we have suffered our worst ever season since the formation of the Youth Alliance League. I called for changes, and big changes, at youth level last week and nothing that I have seen this year will budge my views on that.
I know it is all about player development, that I appreciate, but against much smaller clubs than ourselves, two of them from non-league football, we’ve managed to win just six of our games this season. The defeats column shows 19 and that’s damning evidence that things are just not working.
The recent results and the remaining fixtures are below followed by Burnley’s goalscorers and the current league table.
RECENT RESULTS
Tuesday 19th April
Blackpool 0 Bury 4
Wednesday 20th April
Rochdale 1 Port Vale 0
Tranmere 0 Fleetwood 1
Friday 22nd April
Accrington 0 Wigan 1
Saturday 23rd April
Blackpool 1 Port Vale 0
Burnley 0 Wrexham 3
Bury 3 Walsall 2
Fleetwood 0 Tranmere 4
Morecambe 2 Carlisle 4
Shrewsbury 1 Rochdale 2
Tuesday 26th April
Rochdale 3 Shrewsbury 0
Wigan 1 Bury 1
REMAINING FIXTURES
Thursday 28th April
Morecambe v Port Vale
Saturday 30th April
Accrington v Tranmere
Fleetwood v Bury
Port Vale v Burnley
Preston v Morecambe
Walsall v Wigan
Wrexham v Blackpool
Saturday 7th May
Rochdale v Wigan
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cup)
8: Josh Dolling
6: Khius Metz, Tommy Wood
5: Nashé Chakwana
4: Tristan Jumeau
2: Tyler Shrimpton
1: Olatunde Bayode, Miles Fenton, Dwight McNeil, Andy Nugent
CURRENT TABLE
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Bury | 27 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 60 | 28 | 58 |
| Wigan Athletic | 26 | 18 | 3 | 5 | 54 | 19 | 57 |
| Walsall | 27 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 54 | 29 | 50 |
| Tranmere Rovers | 27 | 14 | 4 | 9 | 45 | 33 | 46 |
| Shrewsbury Town | 28 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 41 | 32 | 44 |
| Blackpool | 27 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 48 | 33 | 43 |
| Preston North End | 27 | 13 | 3 | 11 | 42 | 41 | 42 |
| Rochdale | 27 | 10 | 6 | 11 | 40 | 41 | 36 |
| Accrington Stanley | 27 | 10 | 6 | 11 | 35 | 44 | 36 |
| Fleetwood Town | 27 | 10 | 6 | 11 | 33 | 45 | 36 |
| Wrexham | 27 | 9 | 5 | 13 | 41 | 52 | 32 |
| Port Vale | 26 | 8 | 7 | 11 | 28 | 32 | 31 |
| Carlisle United | 28 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 39 | 50 | 30 |
| Burnley | 27 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 32 | 65 | 20 |
| Morecambe | 26 | 3 | 2 | 21 | 28 | 76 | 11 |
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