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A point in the snow
That was confirmed just before kick off with Lee Roche coming in to replace Sinclair and John Oster in for John McGreal with Michael Duff moving into the centre of defence to partner Gary Cahill.
It was the first time both of the two experienced defenders had been missing at the same time in a league game this season, they both missed the Spurs defeat, which led to some concerns from the fans.
They seemed all set to be confirmed when we didn’t get off to the best of starts with the home side coming at us right from the start. That start almost gave the home side the lead.
There were only three minutes on the clock when they got the ball in the net through Marcus Tudgay as the ball somewhat fortunately fell to him in the box. As Tudgay turned to celebrate, and as Derby were about to enhance the matchday experience with goal music, up went the assistant’s flag to signal an offside.
The defence were being put under some real pressure but the two in the centre were looking in inspired form as they dealt with just about everything, that was until Derby won themselves a free kick on the edge of our box.
Inigo Idiakez is just about as good as there is in this league with free kicks and it was a good one. Brian Jensen was equal to it though turning it away for a corner. The corner was cleared easily and to say we had seen off the early Derby pressure was an understatement, the weren’t to bother us for the rest of the first half as we took control of the game just as we had done at Crewe a week earlier.
We started to get forward and it was all based on a style that was very pleasing to the eye as we began to out pass Derby. Tony Grant seemed to be inspiring everything as we got on top with John Oster down the right causing the home side all sorts of problems.
It was Derby’s turn to do some defending and twice Ian Moore was stopped by the impressive Tom Huddlestone.
We probably should have gone in front from a corner but Micah Hyde’s header came back off a post. Our next two shots at goal both came from Jean-Louis Valois.
The first of them was a shot from the left hand side of the box that didn’t trouble Derby keeper Lee Camp, as it sailed somewhere towards the back few rows of the stand behind the goal. Camp wasn’t to get much nearer to the second effort either.
Valois and Oster were orchestrating a free kick on the right side of the box. The Derby wall completely blocked off any hope of Oster curling a ball round the outside, the genius of Garrincha would have struggled.
However Valois curled it round the inside of the wall. He didn’t get it just about right, he got it inch perfect as it hit the post and bounced in. Camp didn’t get close to it and we were in front, and we deserved the lead.
Derby tried to get back at us in the closing stages of the half but they didn’t threaten and we took the lead with us into the half time interval. This allowed the fans to get out of the cold for a few minutes and watch the highlights of the first half on the big wide screen televisions available on the concourses.
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It was Konjic first as he went into the referee’s note book for a foul on Valois down our left to set us up with a free kick in a dangerous position. We really looked as though we could double our lead at any minute but the result of that free kick changed the game.
It came to nothing, Grant gave the ball away, and Derby broke and could so easily have pulled level. The next few minutes were torture as they went at us in droves. They hit the woodwork, we scrambled balls away, Jensen made one save, but eventually the home side equalised.
Jensen saved the initial effort but it came back to Mr Brady who hit home the rebound from close range. The lead was gone, Derby for the first time since the opening minutes had the upper hand and it was to get tougher as they began to put us under some real pressure.
Life wasn’t getting any easier for the Burnley fans either as we sat in a snow storm as the temperatures dropped even further. We weren’t seeing much action right in front of us, it was all down the other end as the home side went for the win.
We held firm, we defended superbly and I remember seeing the stadium clock showing 80 minutes gone and getting the impression that we might just have seen them off.
It wasn’t quite that simple, they were still getting a lot of the ball, but they weren’t creating any chances. We were back in control defensively and although we were hardly threatening to win the game a draw was looking likely.
I don’t think Derby had a real chance from then on and when referee Dowd brought it all to an end it was another point towards that magical fifty that will ensure we are in this league (not a division any longer) next season.
For the pessimists amongst you we are now fourteen points clear of the bottom three and we are not heading down there. This was overall enough good performance from the Clarets, it was at times another entertaining performance from the Clarets as we got the ball down and played attacking football on the ground.
There were good performances right across the side with Jensen, Duff, Grant and Oster standing out for me. Grant, captain in the absence of Sinclair, was an inspirational figure in the midfield and it would be so easy to give him the man of the match.
I though will pass that on to Michael Duff who turned in such an assured performance in the centre of defence against a dangerous Derby attack. You would think he played there every week.
The last three games in the league, all away, have yielded five points from a win and two draws. The performances have also helped wipe away some of the unwanted memories of our last games at those grounds. So its now off to Deepdale – through more snow by the looks of things.
The teams were,
Derby: Lee Camp, Pablo Mills (Mo Konjic 58), Jeff Kenna, Tom Huddlestone, Chris Makin, Marcus Tudgay, Adam Bolder, Inigo Idiakez, Marco Reich (Mr Karren Brady 58), Morten Bisgaard, Grzegorz Rasiak. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Nathan Doyle, Junior.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche, Gary Cahill, Michael Duff, Mo Camara, John Oster, Micah Hyde, Tony Grant, Pete Whittingham, Jean-Louis Valois, Ian Moore (Graham Branch 84). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Paul Scott, Joel Pilkington, Mark Yates.
Referee: Phil Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).
Attendance: 23,701.