Leeds win the U18 league as Clarets finish 5th
Having played our last game a week earlier, Burnley had to sit and watch the final week of the U18 Professional Development League as Leeds United took the northern group title by winning their last game against previous leaders Bolton Wanderers.
Bolton have looked almost certain winners for some time and went into the final week’s fixtures with a three point lead over Leeds and a superior goal difference. There seemed no real concerns for them eight days ago when Leeds beat Ipswich but that changed last Wednesday when they could only draw at Crewe which left them with just a one point lead and the two to play each other. And Leeds it was who won at Bolton to finish first and land a home tie in the play-offs.
Leeds and Bolton take the top two places while both Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest moved ahead of us in the final week. Both of them beat Birmingham with Wednesday going goal crazy, scoring 15 times in their wins against Birmingham and Huddersfield.
When we travelled to Huddersfield in mid-January, we were both right up there at the top of the league, but Huddersfield’s season has disintegrated with just one point in their last 12 games as they prepare for life outside of this league with their drop to Category 4 and they ended their season yesterday by conceding ten goals against Wednesday.
In the south, the top two had been confirmed last week. Palace have won it with Charlton second and they both ended their league programmes with wins. Just 29 points separate top from bottom in the north group, but the total in the south is 49 points although that is due in no small part to Coventry ending the season with just ten points, their three wins during the season actually coming in consecutive games.
The play-offs will be played this week. South group winners Crystal Palace are at home to north group runners-up Bolton on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning Leeds are at home against Charlton.
The player featured this week is goalkeeper Adam Bruce.
The Final League Tables are below but will be retained along with our Fixtures and Results within U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
The final results of the season and our goalscorers are followed by those league tables.
FINAL RESULTS
Tuesday 17th April
Birmingham 1 Sheffield Wednesday 5
Cardiff 3 Barnsley 0
Leeds 3 Ipswich 0
Millwall 1 Hull 1
Watford 6 Colchester 1
Wednesday 18th April
Crewe 3 Bolton 3
Friday 20th April
Nottingham Forest 4 Birmingham 2
Saturday 21st April
Barnsley 1 Sheffield United 2
Bolton 0 Leeds 1
Ipswich 3 Huddersfield 1
Colchester 3 Charlton 6
Coventry 1 Cardiff 2
Crystal Palace 2 Millwall 1
Watford 1 QPR 2
Tuesday 24th April
Huddersfield 1 Sheffield Wednesday 10
QPR 5 Cardiff 1
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cups)
10: Tristan Jumeau
9: Jordan Cropper
8: Michael Fowler
5: Kian Yari
4: Marley Blair, Craig Ellison
3: Jordan Barnett, James Clarke, Will Harris, Dwight McNeil
2: Mitchell George, Sam Layton, Dylon Meredith, Dan Moss, Bobby Thomas
1: Leighton Egan, Ethan Kershaw, Lewis King, Terry Mupariwa, Ne Jai Tucker, Oliver Younger, own goals
FINAL LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Leeds United | 30 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 72 | 39 | 60 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 30 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 84 | 53 | 58 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 81 | 41 | 54 |
| Nottingham Forest | 30 | 15 | 6 | 9 | 75 | 54 | 51 |
| Burnley | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 66 | 60 | 49 |
| Birmingham City | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 72 | 63 | 46 |
| Sheffield United | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 42 | 62 | 38 |
| Hull City | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 57 | 78 | 38 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 62 | 58 | 37 |
| Huddersfield Town | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 49 | 87 | 32 |
| Barnsley | 30 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 46 | 63 | 31 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Crystal Palace | 29 | 17 | 8 | 4 | 63 | 29 | 59 |
| Charlton Athletic | 29 | 17 | 4 | 8 | 77 | 55 | 55 |
| Cardiff City | 29 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 65 | 48 | 48 |
| Watford | 29 | 15 | 2 | 12 | 65 | 48 | 47 |
| Millwall | 29 | 14 | 5 | 10 | 66 | 57 | 47 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 29 | 13 | 2 | 14 | 65 | 74 | 41 |
| Bristol City | 29 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 44 | 54 | 31 |
| Ipswich Town | 29 | 7 | 6 | 16 | 42 | 72 | 27 |
| Colchester United | 29 | 7 | 1 | 21 | 47 | 92 | 22 |
| Coventry City | 29 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 29 | 82 | 10 |
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