FRIENDS will be reunited at 5.15pm tomorrow, but for 90 minutes they will be the most fierce foes.

Summer signing Ross Wallace expected to be starting the season in the opposite camp.

Instead, he didn’t have the chance to say goodbye before he was whisked off to Turf Moor when Burnley made an offer rivals Preston North End couldn’t refuse.

“It came as a shock at the time,” admitted the 25-year-old former Celtic and Sunderland winger, who spent two seasons at Deepdale.

“I spoke to the manager – he didn’t want me to leave and I was enjoying my football.

"But a couple of hours later he basically told me I had to go.

“It was out of my hands, really.

“Financially the club were struggling and it helped them get players in. That kind of forced it through.

“I’m not one for sitting on contracts, sitting tight, I just want to play football and when I spoke to the manager here, he was excited about getting me in, and playing with the players here.

“Once (Preston) had decided to accept the fee and wanted me to move on there was only one club I was going to go to, and that was Burnley.

“I never really had chance to say goodbye, but most of the lads live near me, so I see them every other day.

“I was happy where I was, but the guys at the top pushed it through, and I’m more than happy to be at Burnley now.

"I’m loving my time here, the fans have been brilliant with me and I’m looking forward to the game.”

It wasn’t just the ideal location for the Wallace clan.

The Clarets’ ambitions were just what the Scot was looking for too.

“I didn’t have to move my family and the club has a realistic chance of getting back up to the Premier League,” he said.

“That’s where I want to play my football, and we’ll do everything to get back there.”

Burnley’s bright start to the 2010/11 campaign suffered a blow at Swansea in the final game before the international break.

But Wallace admits the past fortnight has given them time to reflect and prepare well for an important run of seven games in three weeks.

“The lads are itching to get back into it and put things right,” said the Dundee-born wide man, who experienced 16 Old Firm derbies in four seasons with Celtic – playing in one and being named on the bench in four.

“It’s hard to compete with the Old Firm derby, but this one is important to the fans.

“Both want to put one over on the other, so hopefully we can produce the goods. "It should be an exciting game, we’re creating chances and looking strong defensively.”

And Wallace, who made 80 league appearances for Preston before his move, knows there is more to this game than bragging rights as the Clarets begin a sequence of seven games in the next three weeks.

“This is when the squad kicks in, but we’ve got a big squad and we have to use it over the next 21 days,” said Wallace, who will be looking to use the extra exposure of being on television to catch the eye of the Scotland selectors.

He was disappointed to be overlooked for the two Euro 2012 qualifiers against Lithuania and Liechtenstein, but hopes Craig Levein will come calling if he keeps playing well for Burnley.

“There were ups and downs in those games,” said Wallace, after Scotland drew 0-0 in their first Group I game before beating Liechtenstein in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

“They were probably just lacking that cutting edge, and I feel that’s something I could give to the team.

“I feel I should get the chance to do that, but it’s not me who picks the squad!

"Hopefully I can perform for Burnley and with the game on television, maybe people will watch.”