No better place to break duck than Ewood...
GOING into the international break, Burnley's record reads much as it did going into the last one.
All away games lost, all home games won.
To have 12 points on the board with the start the Clarets were given in Premier League life is without doubt better than most supporters expected at this stage.
Boss Owen Coyle will doubtless want to keep up the home form and try and shore up the away form, because Burnley won't win every home game and some points will have to be won on the road to secure Premiership football for a second season.
A key factor will be better retention of the ball by the Clarets' front men and more protection from the midfield, factors which I believe have been key to the size of those defeats rather than all the blame being heaped on the defence.
These are problems solvable for Coyle without sacrificing attacking football.
And although there have been some away day whackings, Burnley have got away days to Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs out of the way. There will be easier games to come.
On paper, the next one ought to be one of them, but as it is the first top flight East Lancashire derby since the 1960s, and the weight of baggage the October 18 clash with Blackburn at Ewood Park carries removes it from normal analysis. Anyone who has watched derbies knows they can be tense, scrappy affairs, as the extra tension can transmit from stand to pitch.
Blackburn had the upper hand in quality on the two most recent occasions the teams have met in serious competition, in league and cup earlier in the decade. That's not necessarily the case this time and there will be contrasting styles of football.
Burnley need to keep their heads and not be deviated by their game plan accordingly.
For the wider football world, they probably don't know how fierce the East Lancs derby is, but are about to discover.
Born of two local rivals less than 14 miles apart at the dawn of league football in the 19th century, it really is up there with the Manchester, Liverpool, North London and North East derbies, intensified during the long years they have spent apart since the Beatles were a going concern.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 0 C
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