IF you're travelling in the direction of Preston from anywhere in the Burnley region tomorrow, from mid- afternoon onwards you will be well advised to allow yourself plenty of extra time as most roads will no doubt be leading to North End's Deepdale ground, and just maybe a long way towards that road to the coveted Premier League.

Yes, it's another derby night in Lancashire with an added edge for both clubs.

Burnley of course will hope to gain more points for their ongoing promotion push, whilst PNE will be attempting to do the double over the Clarets after their 2-0 win at Turf Moor back in December. Not many teams have got the better of us after ninety minutes but I thought on that day they deserved it, giving us all the more reason, if any were required, to avenge that result.

The Birmingham City fans' anthem, 'Keep right on to the end of the road', boomed out from St Andrew's at the weekend as home supporters revelled in the news that their long superior, deadly rivals Aston Villa had been relegated to the Championship and they will play them next season.

But it could just as easily have applied to Burnley's never say die attitude that they displayed throughout the ninety minutes to secure them all three points.

The Clarets, roared on by the biggest following that I've seen on the ground in over half a century, squeezed out every ounce of commitment to seal a very important win, ably led by a battered Joey Barton who was once again purposely targeted for some harsh 'treatment' by their players.

That theme continued on Tuesday night when Middlesbrough paid us a visit with the game perfectly poised as top played second. Once again Barton was clattered early doors with a crunching challenge that given his previous injury could have made him think twice about putting his body on the line.

But he just got up, dusted himself down and went on to give a totally gutsy performance where he won over twenty headers, along with a raft of combative tackles .This after only being declared fit to play just before the game after limping away from the Midlands at the weekend. Truly inspirational.

The saving equaliser by Michael Keane perhaps subduing their somewhat outspoken manager Aitor Karanka for a few minutes at least, as the man that could seemingly start a fight in an empty room might just have realised that nothing may yet be won until their date with destiny against Brighton on the last day of the season.