Morris gives Derby a Kick

By Longsider
November 17 2003

A look back at Saturday's game through the eyes of the media. The first report comes from the Sunday People followed by the Sunday Times and the Independent.

MORRIS IN TOP GEAR FOR RAMS

THERE'S not much Rolls-Royce about this Derby team - but at least they still have a Morris.

The famous old motor company still has a base in this part of Midlands but the football club is a bit clapped-out and running on empty.

Still, pride is still strong at Pride Park and their first win in nine game was greeted as if the glory days had briefly returned.

George Burley's boys still have a long way to travel to avoid reversing out of the First Division, but Lee Morris's winner suggests there is still something in the tank.

With the pace and quick feet of Morris, Derby had more going for them than their current run would suggest.

Morris's crucial goal dragged Derby out of the bottom three, but was also a huge injustice in a game to which Burnley contributed so much.

The Clarets started a bit subdued but came to life when skipper David May's flick from a Robbie Blake set-piece forced a fine save from Lee Grant.

Yet the Rams were in front with a slick goal after 20 minutes after skipper Ian Taylor used the speed of Morris to beat a poor offside trap.

Morris was away and had time to draw keeper Brian Jensen and chip over him for a lead that Derby badly needed in their current state of anxiety.

Suddenly Burnley sensed their own position and Blake and Glen Little started to use their skills. But their overall lack of pace was a handicap at both ends.

Danny Dichio's flick had Morris homing in again only for Jensen to lumber out of the box and hack clear. But the keeper was in a flap again.

Tom Huddlestone's shot was headed on by Taylor, Jensen spilled it but made up for his slip by denying Morris on the rebound.

Burnley tried to play their way into scoring positions, with Ian Moore just failing to end a sweet move involving Blake and Gareth Farrelly.

Blake also put in young Richard Chaplow but the excellent Taylor cleared the danger as the cracks began to show.

With Blake an increasing influence, Burnley looked sure to equalise. Chaplow came close from Little's pass but Grant dived low to deny him.

Little grew in stature and his return to fitness and sharpness comes at a vital time for the Lancashire team.

But lone striker Moore never seemed to be there when it mattered - and all of the ideas and possession came to very little.

As the game progressed Derby were hanging on and showing their inexperience. Teenager Lee Holmes lashed at a chance set up by fellow youngster Huddlestone.

But Kennedy's free kick did trouble Jensen in a brief moment of relief from pressure for the big home support. Little's trickery set up Moore for a header he put just over as Burnley's frustration continued. The winger was also booked for dissent after a debatable decision went against him.

Moore fluffed a glorious opportunity after sub Graham Branch caused problems with a surging run. The striker had a clear shot but it end among the away supporters.

Derby finished well, with Huddlestone blasting wide and Candido Costa finding his sparkle - clipping the bar with a free kick - but they will still have a long hard season ahead down at the wrong end of the table.

Arthur Gnohere was sent off in injury time to complete Burnley's misery. He pulled down Dichio but was not the last man - a typically bad decision by referee Uriah Rennie.

Rennie then gave a penalty when Morris went down after a challenge by sub Lee Roche, another call that angered boss Stan Ternent. Taylor kept his nerve to smash home the spot kick and give Derby their long awaited victory.

A report from the SUNDAY TIMES:-

Derby 2 Burnley 0: MORRIS GIVES DERBY A KICK


A KICK up the backside by George Burley during the week brought the desired reaction from Lee Morris as Derby secured only their second win of the season at home. Morris’s fine individual goal midway through the first half was all that separated the teams until Arthur Gnohere was sent off in second-half stoppage time. Shortly after, Morris was brought down by Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen and Ian Taylor converted from the penalty spot.
“I better keep kicking him up the backside,” quipped the Derby manager. A first win in nine matches had lifted his side out of the bottom three and, suddenly, it was easier to be jovial.

They had been made to work, however, for their victory. Burnley battled, their resolve underpinned by the return of their captain, David May, after seven weeks sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Derby applied pressure from the start, after Lee Grant had been forced into a fine early save from a deflected shot by Gareth Farrelly.

Candido Costa, a 21-year-old on loan from Porto, was effective on the right of midfield and 16-year-old Lee Holmes was equally adroit on the left.

Danny Dichio should have done more with a fine cross by Costa in the 10th minute but his free header went wide.

May then went close with a header, only a superb reflex save from Grant denied him. But three minutes later Derby were ahead. Taylor, who worked tirelessly in midfield, played the ball to Morris on the right. The Burnley defence had moved up trying to catch Morris offside, but they were caught out by his speed and he punished them.

From just inside the Burnley half, Morris cut in towards goal, weighed up the merits of a pass to his left to Holmes but opted to go it alone, tucking his shot beneath Jensen.

Glen Little led the Burnley fightback and created openings for Ian Moore and Richard Chaplow, both of whom headed wide.

But Derby had chances, too, and when Gnohere, the last defender, was dismissed for bringing down Dichio, Burnley’s fate was sealed.


Our final report comes from the INDEPENDENT:-

MORRIS RESOTRES DERBY's FINISHING

Derby County 2 Burnley 0

Derby County's change of ownership has not altered the focus of their season. It is still all about First Division survival.

The point is underlined by the five home League defeats they have already suffered, so good days like this are welcome relief on which they might build a platform for safety. George Burley's stated assessment is that his club has a rosy future and a short-term full of difficulties. Funds are scarce but the Derby manager is mixing and matching to buy time.

The midfielders Lee Holmes and Tom Huddlestone are approaching regular status at the age of 16, five other members of Saturday's starting line-up are in their early 20's and the rest are a combination of loan signings and free-transfer discards.

Amid all this rebuilding in the face of acute financial hardship, it is ironic that their new chairman, John Sleightholme, is considering the erection of a statue in memory of the Derby legend Steve Bloomer, who died more than 50 years ago. The present-day Rams are a pale shadow of the club's all-time record marksman, but found the cutting edge to defeat a Burnley side who played attractively without troubling the scorers.

Stan Ternent sends his players out to play the right way and, on a kinder afternoon, would have had some reward because the England Under-21 goalkeeper, Lee Grant, was one of the major differences between the teams.

Within hours of Derby announcing the sacking of their goalkeeper coach, Tony Godden, he saved brilliantly low down from David May's first-half header and rivalled that effort by denying Richard Chaplow just after the break.

These are Clarets with a soft centre, though, and they were to the liking of their opponents. In a game that rose well above its gloomy portents, Derby not having won in eight matches and Burnley in five, Lee Morris's 20th-minute dash through an offside trap undermined by the dallying May was matched by a finish of high composure.

The former Sheffield United player's fourth goal of the season was expertly made by Ian Taylor, who, in somewhat dubious circumstances, secured the points with a disputed penalty in the fifth minute of injury time.

It was Uriah Rennie's second contentious stoppage-time decision, the other having cost Arthur Gnohere a red card for holding Danny Dichio. Ternent called it a "wrong decision", citing Lee Roche as the last man. "I will speak to Uriah about it but, knowing him, I will be wasting my time," he said. "He gets himself noticed and always has done. That's why he was demoted from the Premiership."