Late goals win points against Battered Rams

Last updated : 29 November 2010 By Tony Scholes
Tyrone Mears
Tyrone Mears levelled the scores with his first Burnley goal
As we went into the last ten minutes, it didn't looks as though it was going to happen but then a first ever Burnley goal from Tyrone Mears gave us the lift to really go and search for the winner that ultimately arrived via Jack Cork's head virtually on the ninety minutes.

We'd attacked Derby incessantly during the second half and it was good, again, to be on the right end of late goals after suffering in recent away games such as Sheffield United and Norwich. It lifted the place and those last few minutes saw the Turf back to its best as the crowed urged the players forward.

Brian Laws made three changes to the side that lost at Coventry and I don't think they came as a surprise to anyone. He'd said on Thursday that Andre Bikey was ready to step back in and he did just that at the expense of Michael Duff. Dean Marney returned for Graham Alexander and with Chris Eagles missing through his back injury it meant a first start in the league for Ross Wallace since the 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace back in September.

There were also places on the bench for new signing John Guidetti and a first substitute appearance in the league for Alex-Ray Harvey.

With the white smoke billowing out from the under soil heating almost hinting at the election of a new Pope, it meant the pitch was ready for this televised game although it did look somewhat strange with one half white with frost and the other half green and totally frost clear.

Derby were without leading scorer Kris Commons through illness. Much has been made of this but with Eagles out I'd suggest that balanced things up.

By the time we were ready to kick off we'd dropped down a further place in the table with the results from the earlier games but a win here would see us return to the top six.

We made a bright enough start and it could have been even better. Wallace got in a good cross from the left that was met by Chris Iwelumo, but the striker got his header well wide of target and the early chance had gone begging.

Derby did have one break that the alert Brian Easton ended but generally it was Burnley who were on the attack and we got our first effort on target when Bikey headed straight at the keeper from a corner.

A couple of minutes later and Derby were ahead with their first shot at goal. Jay Rodriguez misplaced a header and that enabled Derby to get the ball forward to Luke Moore who powered in a shot from 25 yards. From my vantage point there were fingers pointing at Lee Grant, but he'd been left with no chance after a wicked deflection off Clarke Carlisle.

The goal certainly seemed to have an effect on us and for a period we were quite laboured. We lost any tempo out of our performance and players in possession found themselves limited for options. Dean Marney was probably our most productive player during this period. He was at least showing for the ball and providing options.

We couldn't put the Derby goal under much pressure and as for them, they had gone into their shell completely and were beginning to defend in numbers and looking satisfied with a 1-0 lead.

There was a shift in the last few minutes of the half as we came back into it. Jay Rod did well on a couple of occasions. He'd moved inside and twice got shots at goal, the second of them after an excellent turn in the box, but at half time it was still 1-0 and it was looking as though we would have a very difficult second half ahead of us.

We'd had a massive amount of the possession during a first half in which Derby's goal was their only shot at goal but it's goals that win games and, other than the miss from Iwelumo, most of our efforts had been from outside the box.

There was no sudden change after the break but we were dominating play with Derby now dropping so deep it was incredible. Given what I'd heard and seen of this Derby team this season it was strange to see them playing this way.

Iwelumo did get another half chance but was stretching to get his head on Jay's cross and could only find the roof of the net and there is no doubt that Bikey, in trying to get to the ball from a left wing corner, was grabbed around the neck by a visiting defender without any reaction from referee Mark Haywood who for once was actually within 50 yards of the action.

Just past the hour, Steven Thompson replaced Iwelumo and this is when things were stepped up that bit more. Thommo, who could have found himself in trouble with the referee in one incident, offered more movement and with Wade Elliott and Wallace now getting into good positions down the wings, and more than ably assisted by full backs Mears and Easton, we were finally causing Derby some problems.

Laws through on new boy John Guidetti for the impressive, but tiring, Jay Rod and with Derby offering absolutely nothing going forwards it was just a matter of whether we could break them down or not.

The defended well, no doubt about that, and they had to. Something had to give and finally it did when Marney was fouled a few yards outside the box. Strangely, Marney was about to be replaced by Alexander and this proved to be his last contribution.

Derby, in their attempts to waste as much time as possible, then actioned their own very delayed substitution before we were finally able to take the free kick. The visitors paid the price for their delaying tactics as former Ram Mears bent the free kick into the corner with Blackburn goalkeeper Frank Fielding unable to reach it.

1-1 and eight minutes to go. Derby did break forward and win a couple of corners but they were soon back to type and defending. We passed the ball well and looked for the opening. We were getting some quality into the box and with just under two minutes to go we nearly got the winner when Fielding saved brilliantly from Jack Cork after a great ball in from Wallace.

They hacked that ball clear but never really got the ball back again until they were collecting it from the back of the net. A patient build up involving Mears, Guidetti, Elliott and Alexander finally saw Grezza play it out wide to Wade on the right. His cross was perfect as Cork got in front of the defender in front of the near post and headed expertly into the far corner.

The clock was just about 90 minutes with the fourth official showing us there would be four more minutes. Derby did get a shot in that Grant saved. It was just their second shot at goal all game so some credit to them for managing to get 100% of their goal attempts on target.

They weren't going to get back into this one and the Cork goal had won it for us. Nobody inside Turf Moor could disagree with the result. For so long it looked as though it might be a game we undeservedly lost but there is no doubting that the best team on the day were the winners.

It took us to sixth, and that lasted for almost a day until Norwich won today's Old Farm derby against Ipswich. It was another day when those with glass half full will have a much different story to this with their glass half empty, but that's how it is at Burnley right now.

I'm just delighted we've got another three points and I do think we played some really good football at times. It's not easy when you are behind against a team whose only intention is to defend the lead. All credit to us for keeping going and eventually getting those two important goals.

Now, and this is not the first time I've written it this season, we really need to start going and picking up some points on our travels. We can't keep relying on getting results at home.

The teams yesterday were;

Burnley: Lee Grant, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Andre Bikey, Brian Easton, Jack Cork, Wade Elliott, Dean Marney (Graham Alexander 80), Jay Rodriguez (John Guidetti 73), Chris Iwelumo (Steven Thompson 63), Ross Wallace. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, David Edgar, Michael Duff, Alex-Ray Harvey.
Yellow Card: Steven Thompson.

Derby County: Frank Fielding, Paul Green, John Brayford, Shaun Barker, Dean Moxey, Tomasz Cywka, Robbie Savage, Alberto Bueno (Ben Pringle 14), James Bailey, Stephen Pearson (Dean Leacock 54), Luke Moore (Chris Porter 81). Subs not used: Stephen Bywater, Conor Doyle, Jeff Hendrick, Shefki Kuqi.
Yellow Card: Paul Green.

Referee: Mark Haywood (West Yorkshire).

Attendance: 13,790.