Clarets pay for lack of goals

BAD misses, poor defending, awful refereeing.

Delete where applicable, but underline the fact Burnley now find themselves deep in the sticky stuff.

Stan Ternent put it more succinctly in his post-match comments after watching his side labour through another 90 minutes against one of the division's also-rans.

And while there is little doubt referee Uriah Rennie stole all the headlines at Pride Park, following the controversial decision to send off Arthur Gnohere in stoppage time for hauling back Danny Dichio, it's those first two problems the Clarets need to address quickly to arrest a deeply disturbing slide down Division One.

The cold hard facts are that since hammering Bradford City 4-0 back in September, Burnley have won just one league game in nine attempts.

More recently, the Clarets have failed to win in six league games - and bringing us even more up to date we have celebrated just one solitary goal in four games, courtesy of a midfielder.

The strikers have hit a brick wall, while the defensive barrier continues to be penetrated with alarming ease through individual moments of hari-kari.

Ternent's forthright view is, quite rightly, that the players at his disposal are not giving him enough at either end of the pitch.

"We are in the **** at the moment and we need to buck up," he insisted. "The players are more than good enough to do that, so that's a good thing.

"There's not a lot in the league and we have lost three in ten, but haven't won enough. "

There are, let's not forget, several factors that have doubtless contributed to a slump that has seen Burnley drop from eighth to eighteenth in just six weeks.

David May's absence as a natural defensive leader; Ternent presiding over one of the smallest squads in the country and, last but not least, the flu bug that ripped through the camp recently to further limit the manager's options.

But none of those fully explain why top scorer Robbie Blake has now gone nine games without a goal, or why powder-puff defending against Millwall, Cardiff, Sheffield United and now Derby have cost Burnley at least six points.

More worryingly, while Burnley have undoubtedly deserved those elusive half-a-dozen points - and indeed should have taken more from Wimbledon, Watford and West Ham - the terrific, free-flowing early season football on view has become random and ragged in recent displays.

It was the same story at Derby, where Burnley struggled to get into any rhythm until it was too late and they were once again left chasing the game.

Lee Morris, who posed a threat all afternoon despite his fondness for spending more time on the ground than Concorde, fired an early warning shot straight at keeper Brian Jensen before Dichio headed tamely wide.

The Clarets could have snatched a surprise lead when May met Robbie Blake's inswinging free kick with a delicious flick header that looked destined for the bottom corner.

But County keeper Lee Grant made an equally impressive lunge low to his left to turn the ball round for a corner.

And May was then in the thick of things for all the wrong reasons as Derby responded with an all-too-easy 20th minute opener.

The experienced former Manchester United defender, back after missing seven games, chose the wrong moment to step up 40-yards from goal and try to play the pacey Morris offside.

Right back Dean West had failed to read the centre back's intentions and the delay allowed Morris to race onto Candido Costa's slide-rule pass and advance on Brian Jensen before beating the Dane with a delicate dink over his prone body.

The 1,111 Clarets fans behind Jensen's goal fell silent - and the gloom almost deepened before half time following another Keystone Cops moment in defence.

Jensen unbelievably spilled Ian Taylor's weak header from a mis-hit Youl Mawene drive, but made amends for his gaffe with a brave dive at Morris's feet to deny the striker a second.

After the break - no doubt with a blast from Ternent still ringing in their ears - there was at last an improvement.

Within 90 seconds Glen Little, who led the fightback, fed Richard Chaplow for a low drive that Grant did well to bat away low to his right.

Chaplow soon got on the end of a delightful Little cross, but agonisingly deflected the ball straight off inrushing Ian Moore's head with the goal gaping.

You sensed that one goal might just open the floodgates, and Ian Moore headed inches over following more trickery from Little.

But Moore really should have hit the target with 11 minutes left, curling the ball outside the angle of bar and post with just Grant to beat following sub Graham Branch's surging run.

That was the golden chance Burnley had worked for and, after Costa rattled Jensen's bar with a speculative free kick, came the injury time kick-in-the-teeth that capped another miserable day.

Dichio beat Gnohere to a bouncing ball 40 yards out and was clearly pulled back. However, late sub Lee Roche had read the danger and looked well placed to intercept as the last man before Rennie halted play and flashed a nonsensical straight red for a professional foul.

Just to underscore the injustice there was still time for one more low blow, this time coming from Morris' outrageous dive that led to another blast of the whistle and Taylor clinically dispatching the penalty.

Who said Rennie cures indigestion?