Burnley 0 Derby County 2

AFTER frustrating teams up and down the country, this was the night Burnley got a nasty taste of their own medicine.

Pilloried for adopting a cautious system on the road, designed to leave opposing managers pulling their hair out, the Clarets met a weakened Derby side that rolled up at Turf Moor armed with an identical blueprint.

County mercilessly sat deep with men behind the ball, inviting the Clarets on before hitting them where it really hurts on the break.

The result was carnage as a vociferous home crowd baying for blood were well and truly silenced by a classic Ram raid!

Even the 'singing section', proudly belting out their catalogue of greatest hits for a good half hour, quickly lost their voice as Steve Cotterill's side surrendered their proud nine-game unbeaten league run with barely a whimper.

And it was the nature of the defeat, rather than the scoreline itself, that will worry many Turf Moor regulars.

Devoid of creativity, it became a simple question of whether Derby had the wherewithal to break down a defence that has quickly become a trademark of Cotterill's short reign.

A sloppy opener and a frankly laughable second goal duly blew Burnley's stop-gap out of the water - and left Cotterill with a king-sized headache to solve before the Clarets resume league action at QPR in a week's time.

Put simply, Cotterill needs help. Put more precisely, he needs bodies to give him attacking options.

Without this, more and more opponents are going to quickly nullify Robbie Blake and take away a big percentage of the threat to their own goal.

Coventry City did just that last week, and with Ian Moore battling on despite a knee injury that is hampering his performances, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to guess what Derby's scout had etched in capital letters in his pre-match report to County boss George Burley.

For the second game running, dangerman Blake found himself outgunned and out-fought by a posse of defenders who pounced as soon as the ball ended up at his fleet feet.

As a result, many of the home side's attacking manoeuvres were stopped in their tracks while the cheap alternative - balls pumped into the box - proved meat and drink to County's towering central defender Tom Huddlestone, who is surely a Premiership star in the making at just 17.

It all made for pretty painful viewing, compounded by the fact the game was being broadcast live to the nation after two pitch inspections and an army of volunteers who fought valiantly against the elements to get the game on.

And in monsoon conditions Burnley began brightly enough, on the front foot and forcing the issue largely thanks to Michael Duff's early raids down the right.

Having already tried his luck from distance, the right back picked out a peach of a cross in the 16th minute that Moore was - to clean up Sky summariser Kevin Blackwell's shock analysis - a part of a gnat's anatomy away from converting.

However, the warning signs were there as the dyslexic journalist's nightmare, Grzegorz Rasiak, spun in the box from a corner and rifled a shot just over Danny Coyne's angle.

Ian Taylor then deflected a Marcus Tudgay header just wide as the visitors visibly grew in stature.

The pressure mounted on the Burnley goal as the half progressed and impressive German Marco Reich headed narrowly over the angle of crossbar and post from Adam Bolder's deep cross.

Referee Alan Kaye then limped out of the action to be replaced by fourth official Lee Mason, who would later play a crucial part in the opening goal.

Mason had enjoyed a gentle introduction as the first half petered out in a succession of wasted balls and misplaced passes.

Ian Moore then ignited the second half with Burnley's only meaningful shot on target all night on 50 minutes, latching onto a deflection only to see his vicious, rising drive parried away by County stopper Lee Grant.

But a nonsensical free kick awarded by Mason soon after proved crucial. Richard Chaplow clearly won a 50/50 battle with Inigo Idiakez only for the decision to go Derby's way.

The Spaniard picked himself up and swung in the resulting free kick, where Tudgay was left criminally unmarked by Mo Camara to head past Coyne.

Moore was instantly adjudged offside from Blake's low right wing cross as Burnley looked to regain a foothold in the game.

But in the 63rd minute, all hope of a fightback was extinguished following a horrendous mistake from a normally rock-like source.

There appeared to be no danger as John McGreal mopped up a hopeful ball near the left corner flag.

However, inexplicably, with Rasiak stood between him and goal, McGreal side-footed the ball straight into the Pole's path and he slotted the ball square to Reich, who duly rolled it into an empty net with Coyne hopelessly stranded.

That was that, and County comfortably rode out the remaining 27 minutes to inflict Burnley's first defeat since the Turf Moor loss to Gillingham way back on August 30.

That record in itself is amazing, given the resources available to the manager. However, picking up his troops after this setback could prove even more difficult.