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A lot has happened since that win against Norwich courtesy of two Chris Eagles goals. I'm sure most fans would have been delighted to get three points from the two away games at Wolves and QPR.
That would have been a good enough return, but no, we threw in a Carling Cup win at Stamford Bridge as well and there's no doubt the team will get one hell of a reception when they finally step back out onto the Turf tomorrow.
Tomorrow is just as important and we need to ensure we continue our good home form against bottom club Doncaster. Last season we were never able to follow up a good away result with a good home result and we struggled at home against the lower clubs, but thankfully this season has been different.
Earlier this evening it looked as though we might go into the game in fifth place with Swansea beating second place Birmingham, but two late goals from Kevin Phillips have ensured we remain fourth in the table.
It was the early 1990s when Burnley and Doncaster went their separate ways. We started the climb up the table whilst Rovers eventually headed in the opposite direction and dropped out of the Football League in 1998 with the club in all sorts of trouble.
It took them five years to get back and they won promotion from League Two in that first season of 2003/04. Three solid seasons in League One were followed by another promotion in year four. It looked odds on that they would come straight up but a late run from Nottingham Forest forced them into the play offs where they beat Southend in the semi-final before beating Leeds at Wembley in the final.
In the second of the semi-final games against Southend they won 5-1 at the Keepmoat Stadium and turned in an excellent performance. But goals have been difficult to come by since promotion and that was the last time they scored more than one goal in a game.
Doncaster were always tipped to struggle this season They are not a big club and although they strengthened in the summer the only cash signing was Matthew Mills from Manchester City and he'd been with them in the promotion season on loan.
They started the season with a shock 1-0 win at Derby but the lack of goals has meant a lack of good results and last weekend's 1-0 win against Ipswich was only their third win of the season and the first since August.
Doncaster will come and play football, that's the Sean O'Driscoll way. We just have to ensure they don't get the opportunities to improve their goal ratio at our expense.
There's good news for Doncaster boss Sean O'Driscoll with James Coppinger, Gareth Roberts and Adam Lockwood all available again after injury.
Sean McDaid is out with a long term injury whilst Gordon Greer is a doubt after tweaking a groin in training. They will also be without Mark Wilson who has gone to Tranmere on loan.
O'Driscoll could choose to stick with the side that beat Ipswich last week with a goal from Shelton Martis who is currently on loan from West Brom. If he does stick with the same side expect Doncaster to line up as follows:
Neil Sullivan, James O'Connor, Shelton Martis, Matthew Mills, Sam Hird, James Chambers, Brian Stock, Ritchie Wellens, Martin Woods, Paul Heffernan, Jason Price. Subs from: James Hayter, Stuart Elliott, Lewis Guy, John Spicer, Gareth Taylor, James Coppinger, Gareth Roberts, Adam Lockwood.
Michael Duff took a knock in Northern Ireland's game against Hungary and captain Steven Caldwell has missed training with an injury, but both are expected to be fully fit for the game leaving Owen Coyle with a decision to make.
Both Clarke Carlisle and Caldwell have missed games because of suspension and Duff has come in and turned in two very good performances. Whoever misses out will be very unfortunate.
Christian Kalvenes is the only player out injured just now. Chris Eagles as recovered from the ankle injury that saw him stretchered off at Loftus Road last week leaving us all thinking the worst.
But the team is virtually going to pick itself apart from those central defensive positions and given that it was Carlisle and Duff last week in the win it may well be that the skipper, in such superb form recently, might have to miss out.
The team could be: Brian Jensen, Graham Alexander, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff, Stephen Jordan, Wade Elliott, Joey Gudjonsson, Chris McCann, Chris Eagles, Robbie Blake, Steven Thompson. Subs from: Diego Penny, Steven Caldwell, Alan Mahon, Kevin McDonald, Jay Rodriguez, Martin Paterson, Ade Akinbiyi.
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This was a league game and the Clarets went into the game riding high in the promotion positions whilst Doncaster were rooted to the bottom of the league. Jimmy Mullen had replaced Frank Casper as manager and gone on a run of nine successive league wins, but we'd failed to win either of the previous two home games.
We'd drawn with Scunthorpe and lost to Rotherham two days earlier on Boxing Day and Burnley fans were wondering whether the bubble had burst or whether it was just a hiccup. Thankfully it was the latter and although the scoreline of 2-1 doesn't reflect this was an excellent performance from the Clarets and we could so easily have won the game by more.
We wasted no time going in front in a game that saw Adrian Randall make his first Burnley start. Mike Conroy scored after just six minutes and Roger Eli netted a second midway through the half. Amazingly we weren't able to add any more goals and Kevin Noteman pulled a late goal back for Doncaster.
We'd certainly got the upper hand over them. That win completed a league double, we'd put them out of the FA Cup after a replay at Belle View (the old ground shown above) and also knocked them out of the Autoglass Trophy.
Doncaster did survive at the end of the season whilst the Clarets went up as Champions.
The teams for the last game of 1991 were;
Burnley: Chris Pearce, Ian Measham, Joe Jakub, Steve Davis, John Pender, Andy Farrell, Adrian Randall (Mark Yates), John Deary, John Francis, Mike Conroy, Roger Eli (Graham Lancashire).
Doncaster: Mark Samways, Paul Raven, Nick Limber, Jack Ashurst, Andy Crosby, Brian Rowe, Grant Morrow, Eddie Gormley (Roger McKenzie), Mark Rankine, John Muir, Kevin Noteman.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1989/90 | 4 | a | 3-2 | 2,900 | White(p) SP Davis Jakub |
. | . | h | 0-1 | 5,066 | . |
1990/91 | 4 | a | 1-2 | 3,080 | Deary |
| . | . | h | 1-0 | 10,410 | Futcher |
1991/92 | 4 | a | 4-1 | 2,940 | Conroy(2 1p) Harper Yates |
. | FA | h | 1-1 | 7,076 | SM Davis |
. | AG | h | 2-0 | 2,590 | Francis Eli |
. | FA | a | 3-1 | 4,207 | Harper(2) Eli |
. | 4 | h | 2-1 | 9,605 | Conroy Eli |