|
Gregory said after the game,
"They got the early break took the upper hand and were comfortable winners in the end. Last Saturday against Stoke City we completely dominated the game and we played like that in the first 45 minutes against Burnley but we were unrecognisable in the second-half.
"We lost the initiative having been 1-0 up and really I don’t think that Burnley had a shot in the first half we were in control and I expected that to continue in the second-half. We didn’t keep the ball well enough at the end and we lacked ideas in the final third.
"Some of the kids found it hard and there is a lot of pressure on young shoulders and they are going to have to learn to cope with it."
"Glen Little made a big difference when he came on and it was a surprise that he didn’t start the game. He kept the ball and used it very well for them and we couldn’t handle him. Both him and Blake created the goals for them.
"I thought the penalty was very harsh. Robbie Blake knew what he was doing but we thought we should have put the game beyond doubt in the first half. They certainly deserved to get something from the game for the way they played in the second half."
Whether Stan was happy or just relieved on Saturday evening we don’t know but I’m sure he would like us to play all our away games at Pride Park. He had nothing but praise for his players for the way they fought their way back into the game and said,
"I thought we thoroughly deserved the win today. We weren’t too clever in the first half and what I said to them at half time stays in the dressing room. Then in the second half we played like we were at times last season.
"The balance in the second half was better. Glen has had a rough spell but he came through it and played much better today. We were also creating chances today but one swallow doesn’t make a summer.
"Robbie Blake did well throughout the game. It is been very difficult for him because he came here with a double hernia and he has worked ever so hard in training since to come back from it. He showed a lot of courage to take the penalty and it was a bang to rights penalty.
"We’ll crack on now and get up that league. We’re off the bottom and we’ll stay in this league."
Blake brings Derby down
Pete Oliver (Sunday Times)
DERBY’S players finally received their overdue August wages on Friday, but the bank that had initially withheld the cheques won’t have to find any win bonuses after bottom-of-the-table Burnley came from behind to collect their first victory of the season.
A reported £30m in debt following their relegation from the Premiership and in a state of turmoil off the pitch, Derby desperately needed a win to keep at least one aspect of their house in order.
When Adam Bolder scored after just seven minutes the feel-good factor briefly returned to Pride Park, which will continue to be a home for former Manchester United defender Danny Higginbotham only because the arrival of his pay-cheque prompted him to withdraw his threat to quit the club over breach of contract.
But Burnley, hardly cash-rich themselves, were the ones who showed the survival spirit required to inject some life into their dormant campaign, with two goals inside five minutes at the start of the second-half.
Robbie Blake equalised from the penalty spot with his first goal for the club and then forced Warren Barton to put through his own goal as Burnley collected a deserved success, which might have been more emphatic if Blake and Ian Moore had converted further chances at the death as Derby wilted.
Despite County’s troubled week, Derby chairman Lionel Pickering insists talk of possible administration is no more than a red herring as the club works closely with the bank and pursues other avenues to solve its crippling financial problems.
Two consortia involving ex-Derby board members keen on taking control at Pride Park have shown their hand and Pickering insists he will stand down if somebody can do a better job of running the club.
County hadn’t won back-to-back games for 18 months before yesterday but were given the ideal chance to erase that alarming statistic when they took the lead after just eight minutes. With only one goal to their credit all season, Burnley could ill-afford to go behind so early and when Marlon Beresford, signed on a month’s contract to start his third stint with the club, made an excellent save from Bolder’s diving header it looked as though they would survive a little longer. The resulting corner wasn’t cleared, though, and when Adam Murray crossed, Bolder collected the loose ball to fire an angled shot in off the far post.
Burnley almost found themselves two goals adrift after 26 minutes when Malcolm Christie, one of only two players to attract firm bids when Derby were looking to sell in the summer, turned smartly on to a Barton throw-in and fired against the outside of the post.
Derby had been untroubled by Burnley as an attacking force but that all changed at the start of the second half as the visitors adopted a more attacking formation which paid instant dividends.
Blake was pushed further forward and the former Bradford City striker responded with his first goal since his £1m signing in January.
Blake was given a sighter when he volleyed just over the top from Lee Briscoe’s cross and then following Moore’s penetrating run was tripped by Chris Riggot to earn the spot-kick he converted himself.
Revitalised by breaking his duck and ending Burnley’s goal-drought, the joint club-record buy then jinked into the box again and fired over a low cross which Derby captain Barton diverted into his own net to further emphasise the dramatic change in fortunes.
Derby defence dire as Little lifts Burnley
Peter Gardner (Daily Telegraph)
The difference between the teams became all too clear at the outset of the second-half.
Burnley dominated Pride Park to rediscover the direction and purpose that had established them as promotion contenders for much of last season; Derby were trapped by continued inconsistencies that leave them incapable of stringing together consecutive victories.
The die was cast when Stan Ternent, the visiting manager, introduced the precocious talents of Glen Little to stretch Derby on the flanks in a more fluent 4-4-2 formation. The response was instantaneous, with Little reducing the home defence to quivering wrecks.
Burnley struck twice in four minutes to wipe out the eighth-minute lead Adam Bolder had given Derby, and from that point, there was little likelihood of Derby repeating the previous week's home victory over Stoke.
Their manager, John Gregory, readily admitted: "It was hard to take after being ahead but we just cannot string two victories together. Inconsistency has run through this club for the past three seasons and we have started this one in much the same vein."
Lionel Pickering, chairman of debt-ridden Derby, had announced before the game that takeover talks were continuing, although Gregory claimed: "No consortiums or directors can be accused of putting a foot wrong today. No one is to blame but ourselves."
Burnley's first victory was richly deserved. With four defeats and a draw from the first five games, Ternent's men finally hauled themselves off bottom place to kick-start their campaign, and while victory could have been more emphatic, Ternent insisted: "The important thing is that we are creating chances again."
Yet victory for Burnley had appeared unlikely in a tedious opening period highlighted only by the strike from Bolder, who had earlier powered a header against the foot of a post.
Malcolm Christie, whose two late goals had destroyed Stoke, similarly struck the framework with no visiting response.
However, Little's arrival ignited Burnley and within three minutes of the resumption, the alert Robbie Blake shot over after Lee Briscoe swept the ball in low from the right.
Ian Moore then forced Danny Higginbotham into conceding possession and as Blake exposed the error, he was hauled down by Chris Riggott but picked himself up to dispatch the penalty, his first Burnley goal since a £1 million move from Bradford in January.
Briscoe and Blake linked up for the second goal with home captain Warren Barton diverting past his own goalkeeper after Blake drove the ball in hard and low again from the right.