Match Preview - Burnley (Away)

There've been some turbulent times at Turf Moor recently. After a good season they had a bad season which resulted in 11 players being released and only 4 players going into Burnley.

It was a sour season for Burnley last season. Expectations were there after a 7th place finish the previous year. Their season did, infact, start in fashion. Well, ok, not in the fashion they would have hoped as they fell to 4 defeats and just one draw in their first 5 games and were rooted bottom of the table.

They did get their season going though, obviously. With 19 points from their next 9 games they were laughing their way to 8th place. 11 games unbeaten, as they beat Blackpool and Huddersfield in the League Cup, things just couldn't get better could they? No, ofcourse they couldn't.

Defeats after defeats, followed by the odd win and draw, in the league soon saw them fall back into mid table obscurity. The defeats they saw though weren't dull, though. At Blundell Park they lost to Grimsby 5-6.

They bowed out of the League Cup to a young Manchester United side, after beating Spurs in the 3rd Round. So as the season went on and the play-offs dissapeared ahead of them Burnley were still an interesting team to watch. A 6-2 defeat at Rotherham was followed by a 4-2 beating from Gillingham. Reading got in on the act with a 5-2 win and Sheffield United also got a 4-2 win off Burnley.

Best of all(Well, nearly)though Watford went one better on the Clarets and won 4-7 at Turf Moor. When things couldn't get any worse for Burnley Sheffield Wednesday took a visit and kicked a team whilst they were already down as Wednesday tok 3 points with a 2-7 victory. With all these thrashings Burnley could only ever muster a 2 goal margin in the league.

So it wasn't a 'dull' season on the pitch and wasn't a dull pre-season off the pitch either. July saw Stan Ternet allow 11 players leave Burnley, with only one being 'sold'. They included former Alex loanee keeper Marlon Beresford after he 'helped' Burnley to conceede most goals in Division one. Also on the list was Steve Davis, a central defender Dario was interested in over the summer. The one player sold was Dimi Papadopoulos to Panathinaikos for an undisclosed fee.

Ternent, who was on a mission for half a first team, secured Man Utd's Lee Roche and Luke Chadwick for the season. Former WBA keeper Brian Jensen signed on a free and their last signing was former United and Blackburn defender David May, also on a free.

This week Burnley had a set back though when their main striker, Gareth Taylor, was sold for £500,000 to Nottingham Forest. The sale was down to financial reasons at Burnley - and the fact Taylor was out of contract in the summer. Taylor though wouldn't have played on Saturday after picking up a bizzare eye injury in a pre-season friendly that saw him nearly lose his sight completely.

The season so far for Burnley hasn't got off to a flier. Palace beat them on the first day under the stupidly high heat. That was followed by a 4-1 thrashing from WBA in which former Alex hero Rob Hulse scored a bullet header. Wigan then took their first points of the season with a 2-0 win at Turf Moor but with Burnley well and truely bottom of the league they had a surge on Bank Holiday Monday and smashed Gillingham for 3.

With confidence being re-installed at Burnley they'll be looking to extend the winning 'streak' on Saturday.... which they'll fail to do - hopefully.

With just 19 players in the Burnley squad the starting 11 virtually picks itself at the moment. This is the most likely of line ups....

Brian Jensen, Lee Roche (Dean West 78), David May, Graham Branch, Mo Camara, Luke Chadwick, Paul Weller, Tony Grant, Alan Moore (Richard Chaplow 62), Robbie Blake, Glen Little.

Likely line up - Ince; Wright, Foster, Moses, Vaughan; Lunt, Brammer, Cochrane, Rix; Ashton, Jones.

COME ON!!!!!!!!