Clarets in bottom three

Last updated : 24 March 2004 By Tony Scholes

Ian Taylor - his penalty pushed us into the bottom three
It is of little consolation that it was via a dreadful refereeing decision from Lancashire official Lee Mason who awarded Derby a penalty for an offence that was clearly outside the penalty area.

Ian Taylor converted to equalise a goal scored four minutes earlier by Andy Gray and that results sees Derby go a point clear of the Clarets.

It is the first time we have dropped into the bottom three all season and there is no doubt that we are going to have to find some change of form over the next few weeks than we have shown so far in the second half of the season. Since beating Sheffield United ourselves in early December the facts are there, only Franchise have collected less points.

Just two wins from fifteen league games during that period, Gillingham and Ipswich at home, have seen us drop from fourteenth place in the league.

There was further bad news for us at Crewe where the home side beat Stoke 2-0 despite the Potters being the better side on the night although we can be thankful to Sunderland, and two good goals from Sean Thornton and Darren Byfield, for beating Gillingham.

It is imperative that we get a good result on Saturday and that means a win. We do not want to and cannot afford to stay in this bottom three for long.