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Preston boss Craig Brown doesn’t see many victories with his side usually picking up draws so needless to say he was happy with this result,
"It was quite an affair and I’m sure the spectators enjoyed that. It was a real cup tie atmosphere which you expect from a local derby and I thought we possibly just shaded it.
"Ricardo Fuller is very good, his first goal was superb. It was a great ball from Eddie Lewis and Ricardo as usual finished it immaculately. He has missed three games and I told him before that we had scored six goals in his absence and so he had to show that he could still make a difference. Within the first few minutes he did just that.
"That goal settled the team because you are a bit edgy naturally because we are so many points behind Burnley. We are very anxious to climb up into the play-off positions in the league.
"We have had some good luck in the last two games but we have also had two excellent saves from David Lucas when we have needed him. Hopefully that is us on the way up now.
"And I’m happy to win my first local derby. It was my first although it wasn’t as intense as the Glasgow derbies I’m used to, but it was very competitive. I did think we should have had one more goal in the first half but perhaps I’m being greedy.
"Every team has a good spell in a game and we were expecting Burnley to come out all guns blazing in the second half and credit to them because they had us worried. They were up at us and in the ascendancy but our second took the heart out of them and the second one killed it."
Stan was far from happy with our defending and has vowed to get it right with some hard work on the training ground. It was an unhappy Stan who said after the game,
"We didn’t turn up in the first half and I thought we didn’t compete and were found wanting. We aren’t giving ourselves a chance to get a foothold in games at the moment but in the second half we created enough chances to win three games. I think we had five or six one on ones with the keeper.
"But I’m naffed off with the defending and we were like patsies at the back today. A few of the players are not performing to their potential at the moment and we lacked the hunger and desire, which is a pre-requisite.
"In the second half we were better and once we scored we had some real chances but we needed to score four again to win. When we scored we were in the ascendancy but it was a freak deflection for their third and we were chasing the game after that. They were better than us today though."
Fuller double hero for Preston
Peter Oliver (Sunday Times)
ONE question raised following Craig Brown’s first foray into Nationwide League management was his lack of knowledge of players in England.
The other side of that coin, of course, is his awareness of those plying their trade in Scotland and Ricardo Fuller’s performances on loan at Hearts from Jamaican club Tivoli Gardens last season persuaded Brown to make the striker his first signing after taking over at Preston in the summer.
Fuller, who was 23 on Thursday, has made the transition smoothly and there are few better strikers in the First Division when he is in full flight. Two goals to settle a cracking Lancashire derby took his tally for the season to seven.
However, had Ian Moore not missed a glorious chance just two minutes after Burnley had levelled through Gareth Taylor, then the three points might have been heading across the county instead.
Fuller was returning from a three-match ban and, having scored in the opening minutes, confirmed Burnley’s third successive defeat with a deflected goal just four minutes after Paul McKenna had scored the pivotal second.
"He’s had three games off and I told him before the game that we had scored six goals without him," said Brown. "But he’s impossible to handle when he’s on form, and he’s always on form for us. He’s been a great acquisition."
Burnley were guilty of smoothing Fuller’s return as a mistake by Arthur Gnohere allowed him to convert an Eddie Lewis pass and Burnley manager Stan Ternent, who will be staying on at Turf Moor until at least June 2004 after agreeing a contract extension in the run-up to the game, is well aware where his team’s current problems lie.
"In the past couple of matches we haven’t given ourselves a chance of getting a foothold in the game," said Ternent, who has seen his side concede 12 goals in their previous three matches.
"We are a goal down before we’ve started. In the second half we had enough chances to win three matches but I’ve got to do something about the defence, because at the moment we are just patsies."
Burnley were rampant following the interval. Taylor headed home after Steve Davis had returned a Glen Little cross to spark some unpleasant scenes at the away end as one supporter briefly confronted Preston goalkeeper David Lucas.
Moore then created and wasted the opening which would have put Burnley in front and a wonderful game swung Preston’s way again when McKenna turned in his first goal of the season from Fuller’s cross.
Lucas kept his composure to make a vital save from Moore and then Fuller finally guaranteed Preston’s second win in seven games.