Preston v Burnley: Alexander blanked by his old pals (From Preston and Leyland Citizen)

Preston v Burnley: Alexander blanked by his old pals

4:10pm Friday 16th January 2009

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IT’S just as well Graham Alexander isn’t a contestant on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ because he’s struggled to phone a friend this week.

“I tried to meet Callum Davidson for a coffee earlier in the week and he blanked me, and I rang Chris Sedgwick and he’s blanked me. I don’t know if there’s a ban on talking to me this week or not!” laughed the 37-year-old, who will face his former team-mates at Deepdale tomorrow for the second time since leaving 18 months ago.

“I’ll probably be speaking to Callum because I speak to him quite often anyway.

“It will be good banter but we’ll be kicking hell out of each other on Saturday I shouldn’t wonder, like we did every day in training anyway! So it’ll be no different.”

But one trend the Scotland international is hoping to buck is Burnley’s habit of conceding first this season.

When Jay Rodriguez came off the bench to clinch a place in the FA Cup fourth round with a last-minute goal against QPR in midweek, it was the sixth time the Clarets had come from behind to win - seventh if you include beating Chelsea on penalties in the Carling Cup fourth round.

“I’d rather do it the other way. It’s a lot more relaxing being in the lead and holding onto it, but it just shows the spirit that's in the club,” said Alexander.

“We’ve had a couple of punches on the nose over the last couple of weeks and people have probably written us off a little bit, in the (Carling) cup as well as the league, and it’s up to us to prove people wrong and show what we’re about.

“Hopefully it started on Tuesday and it will carry on tomorrow.”

He added: “It’s always a big game. Even when I was at Preston it was one that we always looked forward to because you knew the atmosphere and the crowd were going to be there and it was going to be a tasty game.

“I don’t think tomorrow will be any different. But because we’re on such an even keel, with only a point between us, both having the same ambitions and wanting to get in the play-offs and get promotion, it’s all there to play for.”

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