Points dropped at the top of the Alliance
Wigan won at Fleetwood last Tuesday to increase their lead at the top of the Youth Alliance League but then fell to a surprise defeat at Preston four days later but that reverse wasn’t quite so bad with Bury only having drawn at Port Vale on the Friday.
With Walsall also having dropped points during last week, it is as if the chasing teams didn’t want to take advantage of Wigan’s slip which leaves them still six points ahead although Bury do have two games in hand.
Shrewsbury and Tranmere are now only a point behind Walsall and Bury; both beat Burnley last week, but it is very unlikely they will now be able to put any pressure on Wigan at the top, and the same certainly goes for Walsall.
It is surely, just as it was a year ago, between Bury and Wigan. Bury came out on top in 2015 and I think much will depend on the result when the pair meet as to who might win the title this year.
At the other end of the table, Morecambe will finish bottom. They’ve picked up just eight points and have only five games left to play. Should they win them all, and that would be miraculous given they’ve won just two of the first 23, it would still only take them three points ahead of our current total of 20.
As the table stands now, we are two points behind Carlisle but five points behind next team Rochdale. We meet Carlisle tomorrow at Gawthorpe. I’d think a defeat would leave us looking very likely to finish next to bottom, but a win would take us above them and much closer to the likes of Rochdale and Wrexham.
It’s certainly been another disappointing season for us at youth level. We’ve won just six out of our 22 games to date and the result of it all was shown last week with only Khius Metz of eight outfield players winning a third year at Burnley. We still await confirmation of any news on goalkeeper Tony Aghayere.
Great credit to the lads who have been released. It can’t be easy but it was good to see four of them involved in Saturday’s game. Shaun Hobson and Lewis Norvock were central defensive partners alongside Andy Nugent (pictured) at left back and Hamam El-Fitouri in midfield.
All last week’s results are below with this week’s fixtures, Burnley’s goalscorers for the season and the current league table.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Tuesday 22nd March
Fleetwood 0 Wigan 3
Morecambe 0 Accrington 1
Preston 4 Rochdale 0
Wednesday 23rd March
Tranmere 5 Burnley 1
Wrexham 2 Walsall 2
Friday 25th March
Port Vale 0 Bury 0
Saturday 26th March
Burnley 1 Shrewsbury 2
Morecambe 0 Blackpool 1
Preston 3 Wigan 2
Rochdale 3 Wrexham 1
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Wednesday 30th March
Burnley v Carlisle
Saturday 2nd April
Accrington v Burnley
Carlisle v Bury
Fleetwood v Wrexham
Rochdale v Wigan
Shrewsbury v Preston
Tranmere v Walsall
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cup)
8: Josh Dolling
6: Khius Metz, Tommy Wood
4: Nashé Chakwana
2: Tristan Jumeau, Tyler Shrimpton, own goals
1: Olatunde Bayode, Miles Fenton, Dwight McNeil, Andy Nugent
CURRENT TABLE
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Wigan Athletic | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 44 | 15 | 47 |
| Walsall | 23 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 45 | 24 | 41 |
| Bury | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 42 | 21 | 41 |
| Shrewsbury Town | 23 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 36 | 23 | 40 |
| Tranmere Rovers | 22 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 36 | 24 | 40 |
| Preston North End | 23 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 33 | 35 | 36 |
| Blackpool | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 38 | 26 | 35 |
| Port Vale | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 28 | 26 | 31 |
| Fleetwood Town | 23 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 35 | 30 |
| Accrington Stanley | 21 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 26 | 37 | 28 |
| Wrexham | 23 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 35 | 44 | 26 |
| Rochdale | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 33 | 49 | 25 |
| Carlisle United | 23 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 25 | 33 | 22 |
| Burnley | 22 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 29 | 50 | 20 |
| Morecambe | 23 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 22 | 70 | 8 |
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