A dominant defensive display against a depleted Oldham team saw Burnley maintain their challenge for a top two position on Friday night.

Playing their first game since the disappointing away defeat at Man Met, Burnley were determined not to let this one get away. A flurry of early points from the Bolt brothers saw Burnley open up a 10-0 lead and further defensive intensity saw the home team with a 18-7 first quarter lead.

When Burnley visited the Rackets Club earlier in the season and won by 25, Oldham only had 5 players; tonight they started with 6, but by the end of the first quarter a further 3 had arrived, including point guard Andy Dolan. The second quarter proved to be another profitable one for Burnley, with more points for Cronin, Madej and Hyland, but a nightmare for Oldham, with just a Fleet field goal and one from the line from Dolan giving the visitors 3 points in the quarter and a halftime score of 37-10 to Burnley.

At this point, Oldham decided to start to run some offence, and obviously Burnleys minds were moving towards the next game against Tropics; because this was Oldhams best period of the game- Fleet started to hit some points, Studdart became more influential with Dolan pulling more of the strings; for Burnley, Dave Bolt became the main scorer, with Hyland and Sinclair in support. An 18-15 quarter meant a 55-25 scoreline with 10 minutes to go.

Coach Thompson explained in no uncertain terms what was required in the final quarter to close out the game successfully, and the Burnley defense put the shackles back on Oldham. Solitary baskets from Hepworth, Studdart and Fleet of Oldham, combined with baskets from Daz Bolt, Chris Kirk, Colum Cronin and Oliver Hyland saw the game out with an 18-6 final quarter score. 

The Manchester Met defeat effectively ended Burnleys faint hopes of the league, but they continue to try and secure their best league placing for many years with a visit to champions-elect Tropics followed by their final game of the regular season, at home to Cardinal Langley on Friday 18th April, 7.15 tip at St. Peters Centre.