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There was a good following of away supporters and the Burnley fans appeared up for it as Stan named an unchanged team from the one that won on Saturday, the only change coming on the bench where Neil Wood replaced youngster Joel Pilkington.
If it wasn’t a ‘must win’ game then it most certainly was a ‘must not lose’ game but it didn’t start too well and we could have quite easily fallen behind with the first attack of the afternoon. Thankfully Ian Taylor headed wide from a corner when he really should have scored.
The first few minutes of the game were worrying to say the least but finally we got our game going and could have gone in front ourselves but for some frantic defending and blocking in the Derby penalty box.
As Burnley continued to attack it was almost like being at an away match in the stands, it is some time since the home crowd got behind the side in this way and this was real support, real atmosphere as the crowd roared and not the nonsensical manufactured pre-match stuff.
But just as things were looking good we have two incredible escapes as Derby’s Spanish striker Manel missed two golden opportunities. He missed target with both, a right foot shot and then a header when he really should have done better.
In terms of possession we had been the better side in the first half but apart from one fantastic clearance from the toe of Robbie Blake we hadn’t been able to create and real clear cut chances.
That all changed three minutes before half time when the once again impressive Mark McGregor hit a clearance down the left hand side that brought about a chase between Derby defender Youl Mawene and Graham Branch.
Branchy won the battle, cut into the box and hit a right foot shot under keeper Lee Grant and into the bottom corner to give the Clarets the lead.
Having gone three years without scoring Branch has now hit three in under two months and two this week and never has he scored at such a vital time in such a vital match.
We were worth our half time lead, make no mistake and if we could just get another early in the second half we could be heading for safety.
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The oft maligned goalkeeper Brian Jensen made a series of good saves and his handling throughout the second half was excellent apart from one incredible punch that went almost straight up in the air.
His defenders battled as if their lives depended on it and surely David May and McGregor have never performed better in the centre of that defence.
On the one occasion Derby did get past, and when it did look as though they had equalised, up popped Chappy to the rescue as he cleared the ball off the line.