POLICE in Burnley are preparing for potential trouble in the weekend roses match with division one rivals Sheffield Wednesday.

High profile patrols are planned for Saturday's match at Turf Moor and the kick-off time has been moved forward in a bid to limit any possible disturbances.

Officers from Burnley will be liaising with colleagues in Sheffield and will be visiting the city this week to speak to known holligans and warn them off travelling to Lancashire.

So far more than 3,000 tickets have been sold to Wednesday fans for the game.

The Yorkshire team were relegated into division two after drawing their match on Bank Holiday Monday and messages from hooligans posted on an internet chatroom hint at trouble.

Sgt Graham Lister, of Burnley Police's Football Intelligence Unit, said they were doing all they could to prevent disturbances.

He said: "We will be working closely with colleagues in Sheffield and vistiting known trouble-makers down there and in Burnley to make sure they are not intending to go to the match and the kick-off time has been moved forward to try to avoid any trouble."

Earlier this month Chief Inspector Morgan praised the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for helping in the fight against football hooligans.

Chief Insp Morgan said the newspaper had played a major role in a police crackdown on violence among soccer thugs who claim to support Burnley Football Club.

He said articles published about Operation Fixture, a police initiative launched to crack down on troublemakers at Turf Moor, were regularly posted on an internet chatroom used by suspected football hooligans.

More than 100 arrests have been made since the launch of Operation Fixture in December.

Operation Fixture will carry on targeting hooligans for the rest of the season, during the closed season and through the 2003-2004 campaign.

Burnley Police was given Home Office funding of £170,000 towards its cost.