Cooke's Burn-glee cracker

"WE want Stan, we want Stan," demanded the ecstatic Burnley fans as they turned their attention from their heroes in claret and blue to the manager who had just delivered the club's greatest FA Cup success in almost two decades.

A year ago this weekend, many hadn't wanted Ternent at all as Burnley slumped to a 4-0 defeat at Fulham, and into the relegation mire.

But Ternent asked for time, and a bit of money, and has now produced a winning team which scaled its greatest heights yet with a magnificent third-round triumph at Premiership Derby County.

The Clarets have come so far in 12 months it's almost untrue.

And this triumph was far from a case of David slaying Goliath with a freak blow against the odds.

Burnley booked their place in the last 32 for only the second time since 1983 by outplaying a Premiership side on their own ground and thoroughly earning their slice of cup glory which was guaranteed by Andy Cooke's 62nd-minute goal.

The Second Division promotion-chasers then held out comfortably to record yet another clean sheet, their third in a row in the Cup, and turn the players' warm-down into a lap of honour in front of 4,648 jublilant Burnley fans and some appreciative County supporters, who generously applauded their conquerors.

Ternent allowed the players, to whom he gave all the credit, their place in the sun. But the supporters called for their leader and chairman Barry Kilby again gave them what they wanted by bringing Ternent out of the tunnel to give a victorious salute.

It was a memorable day for the club as every player performed superbly to remind the footballing world at large that the FA Cup is still a special competition and that Burnley FC is alive and well and heading back in the right direction.

Admittedly Derby are struggling in the Premiership and looked desperately short of the quality needed to survive at that level, apparently prompting manager Jim Smith to leave before the end and catch a flight to watch some potential reinforcements.

But that should take nothing away from Burnley, who made their more illustrious opponents look second-best with the kind of display that proved beyond doubt that they are also good enough to sustain a promotion challenge in the competition that actually matters most.

Burnley's defensive improvement has been well documented but even the back four managed to find an extra level at a rain-soaked Pride Park.

Any suggestion that the extra pace and movement of Premiership forwards would catch the Clarets out was quickly dismissed as the ageless Mitchell Thomas and his right-hand man Steve Davis were pillars of strength.

Either side of them, Dean West and Gordon Armstrong, who set the standard with a couple of early tackles to rock Derby back, produced their best performnaces of the season, while goalkeeper Paul Crichton was again outstanding when required.

However, the game was won and lost in midfield, where Burnley outshone their big-name opponents.

Paul Cook was head and shoulders above Georgi Kinkladze, who was taken off after an hour, and Micky Mellon had much more to offer than £3-million signing Craig Burley. Israeli Avi Nimni was County's best player prior to half-time before a tactical reshuffle saw Andy Payton drop back to effectively nullify his threat and that of fast-raiding full-back Tony Dorigo.

And that allowed the outstanding John Mullin to do even more damage for Burnley.

Mullin never quite made the grade at Sunderland, but he proved that he can operate at this level with his best display in a Burnley shirt, certainly since his summer return to Turf Moor.

His powerful running with the ball and neat passing constantly pushed Derby back and he helped create the platform for Cooke, Payton and Glen Little to worry Derby's anxious defence.

The Clarets had threatened on a handful of occasions before Cooke won the day with his sixth goal of the season.

Little and Armstrong worked the opening up the left and when Armstrong swung over a perfect, deep cross, Cooke lost his marker to head the winner past Mart Poom.

It was a just reward for Burnley's neat passing and constructive approach and the anticipated fightback from Derby simply never materialised as the switch to a 4-5-1 formation stifled anything County could offer in attack.

Crichton didn't have a shot to save in the second half and Burnley could have made their win even more emphatic if Cook or Cooke had taken decent chances on the break in the dying stages. Burnley had declared their positive intentions right from the off and they rattled the Rams with Mellon and the fast-breaking West both going close from 20 yards inside a first 15 minutes that yielded five Clarets' corners.

Payton also brought a smart tip-over out of Poom with a delicate chip, before County mustered anything in reply.

The home side enjoyed a productive 15-minute spell up to half-time, interrupted by Little's header just across the face of goal, but they found Crichton an immovable object.

He saved from Tony Dorigo and Dean Sturridge but kept his best block for Nimni, who thought his diving header had found the bottom corner until the keeper flew to the left to turn the ball around the post.

Derby's sole threat after half-time came from Rory Delap but Davis made a timely block and once Cooke had broken the deadlock, the Clarets were never going to relinquish their moment of triumph.

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