THERE are more foes than friends in an East Lancashire derby, but in Blackburn Rovers boss Tony Mowbray, Burnley boss Sean Dyche once found an ally.

The Clarets chief had got his first break in management with Watford and admits consistency was hard to come by in the early days.

Dyche was just three months into the role when he took his Hornets team to face Mowbray’s Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

At the time Watford had turned a corner from a run of four consecutive defeats to earn back-to-back wins at home to Peterborough and Brighton.

That sequence was broken by Boro. But post-match words of encouragement from Mowbray had an impact.

“You try not to forget the people who have done right by you. When I started out at Watford, and I had a really tough start, we played them when he was manager of Middlesbrough at the time,” Dyche explained.

“We played really well, on Sky, and got beat 1-0, and he was fantastic afterwards in his press (conference).

“He said ‘They were terrific and probably deserved something from it’.

“He was very, very fair and I’ve never forgotten it because I was getting a lot of stick at the time and I thought we’d played well on the night.

“You don’t forget those little things.

“And I think he’s a proper bloke as well.

“Beyond Wednesday I really hope he does well there because I think he’s a real football bloke who wants to do well. I’ve got a lot of time for him.”

Dyche added: “I don’t know him that well but that’s my experience.

“I like him a lot.”

The managers are separated by two divisions now, but the pair will go tactically head to head again tonight after the League Cup second round draw threw up an East Lancashire hotpot.

But Dyche does not feel it is one that will boil over, on the pitch at least.

“Football matches have changed radically, by refereeing standards, by what’s viewed a tougher challenge or not a tougher challenge. It’s changed massively, so it hasn’t even come into my thinking,” said the Burnley boss. “Fan mentality is always different because they’ve lived it and breathed it all of their lives. That’s the nature of games like this.

“I’ve mentioned many times, I’m not from here and don’t understand the depth of it. Of course I understand the game, but the real depth of the feeling going down years and years through families and generations and all of that, that’s for the fans. Our focus is winning.”