Four becomes three in title chase
Rochdale’s defeat at Shrewsbury has ended any hopes they had of lifting the Youth Alliance League title, but Blackpool, Burnley and outsiders Walsall all marched on with victories last Saturday.
Kicking off earlier than the others, Burnley secured a 3-1 win at Preston but by the time of the final whistle Blackpool were already well on the way to a big win against Fleetwood in the mini tram derby.
That’s left us both on 56 points with two games remaining and it looks as though we will need to win both and hope Blackpool drop points somewhere to win it. We’ve got Shrewsbury away this week with a home game against Accrington to follow but Blackpool play two of the bottom three in their remaining games, at bottom team Wrexham and then at home to Morecambe.
Walsall are rank outsiders. Also with two games left, they are still four points behind. They would need both of us and Blackpool to slip up now and I don’t think that is going to happen; I suspect Walsall, who are currently fourth and behind Rochdale on goal difference with a game in hand, will finish no higher than third.
Port Vale, who were challengers until recently, have fallen away while Bury have had a strange season that saw them top of the league for weeks but is ending with them some way behind the top group.
Vale’s latest defeat was against Accrington who won seven of their first ten games, got within touching distance of the top and then had to wait another 16 games for this next win.
Tranmere and Wrexham will battle it out for bottom place with Tranmere currently holding a two point advantage, but all eyes will be on Shrewsbury and Wrexham this week when the top two play their last away games of the season with Burnley probably needing to win and then win again to have any realistic chance of winning the league in what is expected to be our last season before moving up with the hope of winning EPPP Cat 2.
Last week’s results are below with this week’s fixtures, Burnley’s goalscorers and the current league table.
The League Table is updated as results are confirmed and can be found with our Fixtures and Results in U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Friday 21st April
Carlisle 3 Wrexham 2
Saturday 22nd April
Accrington 2 Port Vale 0
Blackpool 4 Fleetwood 0
Bury 2 Wigan 2
Preston 1 Burnley 3
Shrewsbury 3 Rochdale 1
Walsall 2 Tranmere 0
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Tuesday 25th April
Carlisle v Preston
Saturday 29th April
Accrington v Walsall
Fleetwood v Bury
Morecambe v Port Vale
Shrewsbury v Burnley
Wigan v Rochdale
Wrexham v Blackpool
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cup)
17: Nashé Chakwana
14: Tommy Wood
8: Dwight McNeil
6: Olatunde Bayode
5: RJ Pingling
4: Harry Limb
3: Scott Wilson
2: Tyler Shrimpton, Oliver Younger
1: Tristan Jumeau, Kwasinkosi Mpofu, own goal
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLE
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Blackpool | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 68 | 23 | 56 |
| Burnley | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 57 | 30 | 56 |
| Rochdale | 27 | 16 | 4 | 7 | 59 | 33 | 52 |
| Walsall | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 50 | 29 | 52 |
| Port Vale | 27 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 44 | 39 | 44 |
| Bury | 26 | 13 | 2 | 11 | 45 | 49 | 41 |
| Wigan Athletic | 26 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 51 | 39 | 39 |
| Shrewsbury Town | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 43 | 44 | 38 |
| Preston North End | 27 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 42 | 45 | 33 |
| Fleetwood Town | 27 | 9 | 5 | 13 | 51 | 62 | 32 |
| Accrington Stanley | 26 | 8 | 4 | 14 | 30 | 50 | 28 |
| Carlisle United | 25 | 8 | 1 | 16 | 37 | 50 | 25 |
| Morecambe | 26 | 7 | 3 | 16 | 38 | 52 | 24 |
| Tranmere Rovers | 27 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 18 | 50 | 16 |
| Wrexham | 26 | 2 | 8 | 16 | 27 | 65 | 14 |
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