Derby 1 Burnley 2, Saturday 7th September 2002
We love Pride Park!
The statistics said...
We won 2-1 away at our new favourite ground, Pride Park. Goals were as follows:
Derby: Bolder 8 (free shot after rank defending)
Burnley: Blake 51 (penalty after he had been brought down in the box), Barton 55 (own goal - deflected a shot-cum-cross from Blake).
Our survey said...
After the match, we got quotes from some London Clarets and also from some Derby fans who were kind enough to speak with us.
London Clarets: Nic
In the second half we were almost as fired up as in our last match at Derby. Great support, too.
London Clarets: Malcolm
A game of two halves!
London Clarets: Phil
I really don't know what happened today. The first half was as expected, and then it all changed. Maybe it was down to the tactical substitution, but Stan has mixed and matched players before without any urgency or passion being injected. Today, in the second half, the team was inspired.
London Clarets: Firmo
WAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH...YES!!! (or something similar!)
I don't have to resign now! We were absolute shite in the first half. In the second, it was like we'd remembered how to play football. I don't know what Stan gave them at half time, but generations of Eastern European shot-putters have probably been reared on it! I just hope that none of the players has to take a drugs test... And Robbie Blake's a footballer! We must build on this. I hope we've turned the corner.
Derby: Jim
The result:
My immediate reaction was to hope that Grimsby didn't win, because we're going to be in a battle with them to avoid relegation. On reflection, we were relegated last season because we lost home games against lower-half-of-the-table opposition. I hope that doesn't happen this season. We could get sucked into a battle, because the team lacks experience. We crumble too easily.
The players:
We didn't miss Kinkladze, because he's hardly played this season. We missed Poom, though. Our strikers played into Burnley's centre-backs' hands.
Derby: Jim's brother (a Leeds fan, supporting Derby today)
As far as Derby's team was concerned, Adam Bolder played well.
Derby: Miles
It's one and a half years since we had back-to-back wins. We haven't won in London for 26 games - and we're due to play away at Palace soon. We've got to show some fight.
Pic of the day #1
Our heroes warm down after the game.
The secret of our success
Forget all that rubbish about lucky underpants. We know why we won - and we'll be making sure our "winning streak" continues! Before the match, London Clarets Phil and Lee were approached by a nun, who asked them to help carry her bags. Naturally, they were only too pleased to assist (despite being held up en route to the pub!). Afterwards, the nun said "Bless you" to each of them in turn. It doesn't take a genius to work out that carrying a nun's bags before a match can result in a win. Obviously, you have to receive a blessing as well - one blessing = one goal.
We'll be endeavouring to find a suitable nun before each game (if you're a nun, and would like to help, please get in touch). In case no suitable sisters can be found, Paddy has kindly offered to stand in. He'll be carrying a couple of heavy bags of real ale, and will look something like this...
Pic of the day #2
Would you trust this man to book your train tickets?
As with all articles on the site, the views expressed in the vox pop section are those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club.
