SNATCHING victory from the jaws of defeat is a pretty impressive trick to have up your sleeve.

Preston, Watford and now Derby all know that it’s frequently very late in the piece before the fat lady warms up her vocal cords at Turf Moor.

Yet while the tenacity, courage and mental toughness of the players are to be applauded, the late, late shows are misleading.

Granted, a win is a win. And in a results-orientated business you might argue that you can’t say fairer than that.

But there persists the feeling that Burnley are getting away with it.

Rarely do the Clarets take hold of a game and convince you that they are the real deal.

Having to pull out all the stops to squeeze past a startlingly ordinary Derby side, who refused to leave their own half for 70 minutes, does not suggest that Brian Laws’ men will be hammering down the door of the automatic promotion places any time soon. Yet given the quality of Burnley’s squad, that’s exactly what they should be doing.

“People might throw formations at me,” said the manager after the game. “But you have to assess the opposition because they come with a game plan too.”

It’s a telling comment, suggesting Laws spends more time worrying about what the other team are going to do to his team, rather than what his team are going to do to them. Were Burnley in Preston’s position, it would be understandable to a certain extent.

Yet the Clarets have sufficient attacking options to menace any team in the Championship and should be imposing their game on whoever they face.

Instead, the manager strait-jackets the team into an uncomfortable 4-5-1, plays players out of position and thereby stifles much of their creativity.

Supporters clamour for 4-4-2 for the simple reason that it works, as evidenced when Laws eventually reverted to the system on Saturday.

Jay Rodriguez proved a real handful when deployed centrally.

Wade Elliott moved out to the right wing and set up the winner with one of his trademark crosses. And, freed from his role as a holding midfielder, Jack Cork carried the game to Derby and popped up with a terrific header.

To give themselves the best chance of victory, Burnley must switch to 4-4-2.

If nothing else, it might just remove the need to impersonate Lazarus on a fortnightly basis.