Burnley Routs Milton Keynes Dons, 5-0, as Gray scores in 5th Consecutive Championship Start; Claret Climb to 4th Place

BALTIMORE, Maryland January 11, 2016 - A five goal explosion during a road game was enough for Burnley tonight, and the 5-0 rout put on the Milton Keynes Dons was also enough to lift the Claret up to fourth place in the English Championship League.  Burnley is now just four points out of second place on the table, and second place is the lowest finish that earns a side an automatic promotion to the Premier League.  Teams finishing third through sixth play a tournament after the season, and only the winner of that tournament earns a promotion to the Premier.  

Right now, Middlesbrough (17 wins, 4 draws, 4 losses) leads the Championship with 55 points.  Derby County (13 wins, 10 draws, 3 losses) is second with 49 points.  Hull City (14 wins, 5 draws, 6 losses) is in third place with 47 points.  Burnley is now alone in fourth place. The Claret have 12 wins, 9 draws and just 5 losses, good for 45 points.

Immediately behind Burnley are fifth place Ipswich Town (12 wins, 8 draws, 6 losses) and sixth place Brighton & Hove Albion (11 wins, 11 draws, 4 losses), each with 44 points.  Ipswich is listed above Brighton on goal differential (5-4).  

The seventh place team is Sheffield Wednesday (11 wins, 9 draws, 6 losses) with 42 points.  The eighth place team is Birmingham City (11 wins, 7 draws, 8 losses) with 40 points.

Joey Barton, Andre Gray,  Sam Vokes, Matt Lowton and George Boyd each scored for Burnley in the blow out win at the loser's stadium in front of just over 10,000 fans.  Gray is the leading scorer in the Championship and has now scored in five consecutive Championship starts..

Burnley next plays on Friday at Brentford.  Game time is 7:45 pm local time in Lancashire, 2:45 pm in Baltimore.  Then, after a ten day break, the Claret return to action on Monday, January 25, also at 7:45 pm local time, and this time in the friendly confines of Turf Moor, against second place Derby County.  That is your proverbial "big" game.