NO LESSER player than Ryan Giggs will tell you there is no such thing as an open goal. His horror miss against Arsenal showed that the only time you can celebrate scoring is when the ball is nestling in the onion bag.

But the two chances that were converted to give Burnley a comfortable 2-0 win against Derby were just about as simple as you can get, at least according to the men who put them away.

Ian Moore got the first with a right foot shot into an empty net, Gareth Taylor the second with a header into a similarly inviting target area and both players were quick to praise the team mates who made such straightforward goals possible.

Mind you, the image of Ryan Giggs' aberration seven days earlier did flash through Moore's head as he shaped to shoot Burnley ahead after just seven minutes. He explained: "Alan Moore did well with a 50-50 ball and I managed to blast it into the net.

"I knew I had to put it away but what happened to Ryan Giggs does go through your mind. As a striker you are there to be shot at in that situation, as Giggs showed the other day."

The Welsh winger is an international team mate of Taylor's and his head has scored many a goal for Burnley but he can rarely have had a simpler one than the far post header in the 23rd minute that made it 2-0.

Derby defender Luciano Zavagno had his pocket picked by the busy Tony Grant and as Taylor admitted: "Granty put in on a plate for me. It was a great ball across and all I had to do was hold my run and make sure I did not get myself offside. I was not going to miss that with my head."

Those two goals came from a first half display that Taylor reckoned was one of the best of the season. The Clarets have been slow starters more often than not this season but they were quick out of the blocks on Saturday and the game was in the bag after the second went in.

And Ternent joined in the praise for the goals that went in, although he regretted the fact there was not a third to completely kill the game off.

"The first may have looked easy but you have to be there to finish it off," he said. "Mooro ran 60 yards to get in there and in the second half he had another one saved after running from the halfway line.

"For the second Tony Grant pressured their guy and produced a delightful little chip to the back post with Gareth there to finish it off. I was delighted for the two of them to score."

In truth after a bright opening period the second half was pretty much a non-event although Ternent confessed: "They had a little spell at the start of the second half but we read that situation and that broke their hearts."

There was very little to trouble Ternent or his team although he did feel it necessary to have a chat with referee David Crick at half time.

"They were fouling Marlon at every corner and I had a word with the ref at half time," he said. "In the second half they didn't do it!"

Even when Derby did have their better spell, with the big names and big-waged players Giorgi Kinkladze and Fabrizio Ravanelli at the heart of most things, they never looked like getting back into it, not least because of the continued excellence of Drissa Diallo and Ian Cox in the heart of the defence. After the Reading defeat Burnley have let in just one goal in three games and it can be no coincidence that the pair have been together in each of them.

Ternent was again quick to spread the praise around the team as he said: "Look at Gareth getting back and heading them away. Ian Moore and Alan Moore were getting back but also up the other end."

Fair points but it was the deadly duo that repelled most attacks with some fantastic tackles, brave clearances and their general confidence in each other.

Diallo continues to be a revelation. The man is totally fearless, relishes a battle and when he is clattered he just dusts himself off and starts all over again.

"Drissa took a whack on his side," said Ternent as he looked ahead to the Fulham game. It was hard not to think it must have been a bit like a fly smashing into the side of a Sherman tank. He'll be fit for Wednesday, you can bet on that."

The manager and players can now concentrate on that game safe in the knowledge that it was a job well done against Derby.

The belief that a top six place is attainable was strengthened as fans woke yesterday morning to compare the table from before the game with that after it.

Derby were just one of four sides that the Clarets leap-frogged and it ensured that their remarkable success rate against sides recently relegated from the Premiership continued.

Before the game I had been telling anyone who would listen that I thought even money on a Burnley win was the bet of the day. It was nice to be right for once but I will be keeping my money in my pocket on Wednesday - absolutely anything could happen at Turf Moor that night.

BURNLEY 2

(I Moore 7, Taylor 23)

DERBY COUNTY 0

Turf Moor - Att: 15,063