A fan's-eye view from Turf Moor, with Stephen Cummings

BRIAN Clough, Archie Gemill, Charlie George, users of the Derby County website, BBC Radio Derby, are you listening? Your boys took one hell of a beating. I said, your boys took one hell of a beating.

Forgive your correspondent for indulging in the reappropriation of the Norwegian commentator's hyperbole which followed his team's famous victory over England, but I'm afraid the adrenalin is still coursing through my veins in the aftermath of our magnificent Cup coup at Derby.

On reflection, it was wholly appropriate that the tie was played at a stadium called Pride Park, as that is the over-riding emotion which all Burnley supporters must be feeling at the moment. Pride in the way the team acquitted themselves on Saturday. Pride in the way we outclassed a top flight outfit boasting a clutch of full internationals in all departments.

And pride in the way Stan Ternent, his players and the fans have raised the club's profile by forcing the Premiership-obsessed national media to sit up and take notice of Burnley Football Club's achievement.

As befits the FA Cup competition, memories of Saturday will live long in the mind. Memories such as groups of Clarets decked out in full Santa Claus garb sipping pints of bitter in the concourse before kick off. The swell of pride as the Clarets took the game to opposition allegedly two divisions better than us and on their own patch. the colossal 5,000 strong roar which coruscated through the Burnley end as Andy Cooke nodded us ahead. Seeing 'Derby County 0 Burnley 1- 80 minutes' on their electronic scoreboard, the stranger in front turning round to me about 30 times in injury time, his expression a mixture of hope, disbelief and tension. That same tension transforming into genuine joy as celebration at the final whistle.

Five thousand Clarets applauding the team until their hands were stinging, and chanting "We Want Stan." Stan emerging from the players' tunnel and receiving the kind of roar usually reserved for managers who have won the FA Cup. The proud realisation that the Clarets had made it to the fourth round and will still be in the FA Cup come the Millennium.

Getting home to see Messrs Lineker and Hanson lavishing praise on the Clarets during Match of the Day.

There are those who say the FA Cup is losing its magic and allure. Oh yeah? Tell that to the thousands who flock to Coventry next century hoping for a repeat of last Saturday's heroics.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.