Burnley v Macclesfield Town - Pete Oliver's big match preview

IT'S not quite win or bust, but Burnley desperately need to strengthen their hand in the relegation scramble by beating lowly Macclesfield Town at Turf Moor tomorrow.

The stakes are mounting for the Clarets with just 10 games to go and 15 points needed to reach the estimated safety target of 50.

And even though Macclesfield arrive on the back of three straight wins which have revived their own survival hopes, it's a game (kick-off 1pm) which Burnley expect to win in their quest to stay up.

"They've had a couple of good results and this season I don't know what's happened but we've let ourselves down at home.

"But at the end of the day if you can't beat Macclesfield it's sort of who can you beat?

"So we'll go into it in good spirits and confident of getting a win," said Clarets winger Glen Little.

Manager Stan Ternent may shuffle his pack and make changes to the side that ended a run of four successive defeats with last Saturday's encouraging 1-1 draw at Wrexham

He said: "It's a game we've got to try and win. We have been playing quite well and hopefully Lenny Johnrose and Ronnie Jepson will be added to the squad so we are going in the right direction.

"But we need to start winning some football matches, especially at Turf Moor."

Johnrose is expected to return after completing a three-match ban and start only his third game for the club following his £225,000 switch from Bury. Graham Branch may be the one to make way and that would require a tactical switch from Ternent.

Without a natural left winger the Clarets may change to a 5-3-2 line-up, in which case Little could be asked to partner Andy Payton in a more central role with Jepson as back-up on the bench.

An alternative could be to push Gordon Armstrong into midfield and play 4-4-2 with Johnrose up front and Little in his regular right-wing berth.

But however Ternent opts to play it the bottom line will be the result as Burnley look for their first win in nine matches, a run that has left them just two points and two places above Macclesfield in the bottom four.

"I think in the last couple of weeks the performances have been a bit better, although obviously it couldn't get any worse after the Gillingham and Man City games," added Little.

Burnley from: Crichton, Pickering, Cowan, Mellon, Davis, Brass, Little, Armstrong, Cook, Payton, Johnrose, Branch, Eastwood, Jepson, Williamson.

Macclesfield from: Price, Tinson, Hitchen, Payne, Sedgemore, Sodje, Askey, Sorvel, Landon, Wood, Durkan, Matias, Ingram, Bailey, Soley.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.