The Clarets face Derby County at home on Saturday 27th November but what happened in the season that these two sides last met? We remind you.
Derby County and Burnley last met in the Clarets promotion season of 2008-9. We played them first at Turf Moor on Saturday 29th November 2008 and convincingly beat them 3-0. In the return game played at Pride Park on Saturday 4th April 2009 we could only pick up a frustrating point in a 1-1 draw. It should have been three points though after a momentary lapse of reason in the dying seconds of added time allowed a very poor Rams side to equalise.The strong feeling at the time was that the loss of these two points could seriously have dashed our hopes of reaching the play-offs but thankfully the fears were unfounded.
The Rams that season were a pretty average side and they would finish a disappointing 18th but at least we got the better of them over the two games although just failed to make it a double.
It would also be a season of managerial change for Derby. The club had been relegated from the Premier League the season before and had picked up a record that nobody wanted. With just one win all season in the top flight, they recorded the Premier League’s lowest-ever points total and that poor run of form continued after relegation to the Championship. Paul Jewell had replaced Billy Davies as the Rams manager during their fateful Premier League season but it would take him 27 attempts before he secured a victory and that would come in the Championship game at home to Sheffield United when they beat the Blades 2-1 in September 2008.
Although their League form in the Championship continued to be disappointing, Jewell did steer Derby to the semi-final of the League Cup when they lost 4-3 on aggregate to Manchester United over the two legs. Jewell though resigned as manager in December 2008 and was replaced by Nigel Clough, son of the legendary Rams manager, Brian Clough.
It was Paul Jewell though who was still in charge when we faced them at Turf Moor in November 2008. Derby at this stage had mid-table blues and were in 14th spot although they were just five points behind the Clarets in 5th position.
Coyle decided to change the sixteen round quite a bit for the start of the game after the 3-2 away defeat to Barnsley in the previous match. Gudjonsson was dropped to the bench after some indifferent games giving the chance for Kevin McDonald to make a starting eleven appearance. That would prove to be an inspired decision. Paterson also earned his starting eleven place after coming on from the bench at Oakwell and getting a brace of goals with the Clarets already 3-0 down.
With Alexander taking up the holding midfielder role in front of the back four we lined up as follows in a 4-1-4-1 formation:
Jensen, Duff, Carlisle, Caldwell, Jordan, Alexander, Eagles, McDonald, McCann, Blake, Paterson
Subs: Penny, Gudjonsson, Mahon, Akinbiyi, Thompson
Turf Moor that day was fog-bound but that didn`t deter the Clarets who found themselves 3-0 up in the first half with all three of their goals coming in a stunning first 23 minute spell. With just six minutes on the clock we were ahead 1-0. A half-cleared corner found the head of Caldwell. The ball went straight into the path of McDonald who let rip with a half-volley giving Rams goalkeeper, Carroll no chance with the ball whizzing past the stunned keeper into the net.
After 14 minutes the Clarets fans were applauding our second goal with the shell-shocked visitors wondering what had hit them.
Michael Duff started the move with a throw in with the build up involving some nice play between McDonald, Eagles and Blake before Paterson finished off to score his third goal in two consecutive games.
Two minutes later and incredibly we were 3-0 up after Eagles got in a brilliant cross into the six yard box to find that man Paterson again who slid the ball into the net to score his fourth goal in two games and his second brace.
The Clarets by now were on fire and no doubt Clarets fans were expecting more goals and a right tonking of the Rams at this stage. 3-0 though it remained at half-time and it was no surprise the same eleven started the second half.
We simply took our foot off the accelerator though in the second half and there was no further scoring much to the relief of the Rams. We simply handled anything Derby chucked at us, which was wasn`t much to be honest and in the end we cruised to an easy victory without busting a gut. The victory saw the Clarets go up one place to 4th but oh no Christmas was approaching!
By the time we played Derby County in the return game at Pride Park, Nigel Clough was now at the helm for the Rams and we had recovered from the traditional Christmas slump with our promotion hopes still very much alive and we were in 7th spot. The Rams had begun the road to recovery but in 17th spot they still had a mathematical chance of being relegated.
The good news for Clarets fans at the start of this game was that all of our injured players at the time were able to make the starting eleven (with the exception of Steven Thompson who was still struggling with a ankle ligament injury). This meant that Alexander and Paterson were able to play after recovering from hamstring injuries and Rhys Williams was also available after suffering from a calf injury.
The Clarets lined up as follows:
Jensen, Williams, Carlisle, Caldwell, Kalvenes, Alexander, Eagles, McCann, Elliott, Blake, Paterson
Subs: Penny, Duff, McDonald, Gudjonsson, Rodriguez
Hertfordshire referee, Grant Hegley got the match underway on a bright, sunny afternoon at Pride Park in front of a packed house of 33,010 fans including 2000 or so supporting the Clarets.
It was a pulsating game but it was the Clarets who looked to be in control having the lion`s share of possession and looking the most likely to open the scoring. We did eventually but not until the 59th minute. Carlisle put Eagles on a charge who after a nice one-two with Elliott put in a speculative low cross into the area. The shaky Derby defence then failed to handle the danger and Bywater added to their problems by fumbling the ball. McCann said ‘thank you very much` and tapped home the ball from a yard out to put the Clarets deservedly 1-0 up.
The Clarets as the second half unfolded looked to be cruising to victory but the clock ticked down painfully slowly. The Rams seemed to have given up with their fans already leaving Pride Park in their droves. They would live to regret that sadly for the Clarets.
Blake could have put them out of their misery had he been able to better control the ball towards the end of 90 minutes. Three minutes of added time was announced by the fourth official and surely we could hold out now. The answer was ‘no we couldn`t` when from nowhere in the final minute of added time, a moment`s lapse of concentration allowed Connolly to head home a Teale cross and break the hearts of the travelling Clarets fans. Although this felt like a defeat it would still be a valuable point in the end but at the time they was no consoling the Clarets fans making their journey back home.
You can read more about these games by visiting our Match Archive and clicking these links:
Burnley Go Fourth in the Fog
Rams-Shackle Clarets in Dying Seconds
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