By Longsider
November 17 2003

Burnley suffered another defeat at the hands of lowly Derby on Saturday. The defeat leaves the Clarets looking very closely over their shoulders. The defeat also ended our 100% record at Pride Park and it might even be fair to say the side didn't play with much pride on the day. Make no mistake this was another poor defeat to a very poor side. Derby will be around the bottom 6 all season make no mistake however there's no doubt that the Burnley fans are starting to think the same. The victories over Bradford and Walsall now seem to be distant memories as our poor run has now become one win in nine.

Derby started the game well, their players were certainly keen to make a mark early on and had a few decent chances early on which they should have taken with Daniel Dichio and Lee Holmes both wasting good chances for the home side. We did have two decent chances in the first half with Gareth Farrelly forcing Grant into a save after seeing his cross shot swerve dramatically towards the goal and David May also made Grant produce another good save after a header from a set piece.

Burnley went behind in the 20th minute when Lee Morris broke the offside trap and had the Freedom of Derby before stroking the ball past Jenson. It was another poor goal to concede and David May was forced to explain to Dean West just how the offside rule works. Poor Westy looked bemused at the whole situation but he has to realise that he has to step up with the defence when a ball is played forward from the opposition.

Just a minute later Jenson made a brilliant save from Morris just 6 yards out after the defenders made a hash of dealing with a corner. Half time arrived and Burnley could count themselves lucky to be only one down.

Most of the Second half was played in the Derby half with Blake and Little trying their usual party tricks on the right hand. This didn't work and although we did have a lot of the ball we didn't create much and in all honesty never looked like scoring.

Richard Chaplow forced Grant into a good save although he perhaps would have done better if he had elected for power instead of placement after meeting a cross from the left hand side. The best chance of the half fell to Ian Moore who elected to curl a shot into the top corner instead of toe picking it into a pretty much empty net.

Whilst we did have a lot of the ball, Derby always looked dangerous on the break and did hit the bar, with Jenson beaten, just 10 minutes from time. As the board went up showing 4 minutes of injury time the Clarets threw everything forward however most of ball was in our own half as first Arthur was sent off for bringing Dichio down 30 yards out from goal, a correct decision from the ref, and then Jenson brought down Lee Morris in the box for a penalty to end the game. Ian Taylor took the penalty and buried it into Jensons' right hand corner.

We really do need to get back to winning ways as the side looks punchless at the moment. With every defeat you can see the confidence draining from the players. Rotherham are the visitors to the Turf on Saturday in another vital 'six pointer' which the Clarets cannot afford to lose.

Derby:- Grant, Jackson, Johnson, Mawene Mills 37), Kennedy, Costa(Valakari 86), Huddlestone, Taylor, Holmes(Boertien 69), Morris, Dichio.
Subs not used: Tudgay, Camp.

Burnley:- Jensen, West(Roche 75), May, Gnohere, Camara, Little, Chaplow, Grant, Farrelly(Branch 57), Blake, Moore.

Subs not used: McGregor, Pilkington, O’Neill.