Blake's Blitz Wins Derby War

By The Longside
December 17 2004

Press reports covering our victory over Lancashire rivals Preston North End. We can bring you reports from the People and the Sporting Life.

Burnley 2 Preston 0

Sporting Life

Wigan target Robbie Blake saw his value soar when he grabbed two goals for Burnley in their rousing Lancashire derby victory at home to Preston.

Blake rattled home an unstoppable 25-yard free-kick on the stroke of half time after being brought down by Youl Mawene.

Then with five minutes to go and Preston running out of steam he added a second goal to make sure of the Coca-Cola Championship points.

Whether Burnley can hold on to Blake remains to be seen after he took his tally for the season to 13.

Wigan have already had three bids rejected - the last one for £700,000 only this week.

Blake was fired-up right from the start and cleverly picked out James O'Connor on the edge of the area in the seventh minute.

He weighed up his shot, but goalkeeper Gavin Ward was alert to the danger and made a clean save.

Richard Cresswell missed a glorious chance to give Preston the lead after 11 minutes when he mis-kicked six yards out after good work by Brian O'Neil and Eddie Lewis.

Preston were playing some neat football, though, and goalkeeper Brian Jensen had to be quick off his line in the 27th minute to take the ball off Lewis' toes.

Blake looked a class act and on the half-hour swept the ball out to Mo Camara, who sprinted down the flanks.

The defender attempted to find his team-mate with the return, but instead Ward reacted quickly to make a smart save.

Lewis was inches away from finding the target for Preston with a superb 20-yard free-kick - but Jensen was equal to it.

Then Dickson Etuhu failed to test Jensen in the 38th minute after covering half the length of the park.

Burnley almost forged ahead two minutes before the break when Ian Moore's header from Blake's cross went the wrong side of the post.

Blake made the breakthrough at a crucial time to give the home side the edge going into the second half.

Preston were obviously stung by that goal, and Etuhu picked out Cresswell in the area but found the side-netting in the 49th minute

This was a worrying spell for Burnley, and Frank Sinclair did well to sweep away a cross from Lewis with Cresswell sitting on his shoulder.

Then it was Gary Cahill's turn to get in a crucial challenge on Cresswell in the 59th minute.

Burnley were again forced on the back foot four minutes later, and Jensen made crucial blocks from first Claude Davies and Patrick Agyemang.

The home side hit back, and Blake diverted a shot wide of the post after a cross from Lee Roche.

It was Preston's turn to come under some pressure, and Roche advanced in the 75th minute. But he tried his luck on goal without success when Blake was in a better position in the six-yard box.

Blake secured the points in the 85th minute when he instinctively clipped a shot over Ward after a mistake by Chris Lucketti.

Teams

Burnley Jensen, Duff, Sinclair, Cahill, Camara, Roche, Hyde, Grant (Valois 78), O'Connor, Moore, Blake.

Subs Not Used: Pilkington, Scott, O'Neill, Sanokho.

Booked: Sinclair, Hyde, Roche.

Goals: Blake 45, 85.

Preston Ward, Davis, Lucketti, Mawene, Davidson, McKenna, Etuhu, O'Neil (Daley 89), Lewis, Cresswell, Agyemang.

Subs Not Used: Lynch, Alexander, Broomes, Neal.

Booked: Mawene.

Att: 15,318

Ref: T Leake (Lancashire).

BLAKE'S BLITZ WINS DERBY WAR

Dec 12 2004

Burnley 2 Preston 0

Martin Howey

TWO-GOAL Robbie Blake waged a one-man war on derby rivals Preston as he hit the half-century mark for Burnley. Blake rifled home a stunning 30-yard free-kick right on the stroke of half-time before sealing victory with an excellent piece of opportunism on 85 minutes. The striker's 45th-minute screamer was his 50th for the Clarets - and it inspired him to put in an outstanding second half show that ended with his second goal. The skipper's first strike was hammered goalwards with such venom that Preston keeper Gavin Ward barely saw it as the ball screeched into his top left-hand corner. Blake's second was totally different, but equally as crucial, as he tapped home from close range following a dreadful mistake by defender Chris Lucketti. Lucketti landed himself in serious trouble when he tried to clear his own bar. But he only succeeded in forcing the outstretched Ward to tip the ball into the path of the lurking Blake. Blake was unstoppable as he ran Preston ragged although, to be fair, the visitors did have chances of their own. Richard Cresswell squandered a couple of close-range efforts and Eddie Lewis almost cracked home a 25-yard free-kick. But it was comfortable for Burnley in the end and there might have been more goals if Ian Moore had not headed wide following a superb left-wing cross by Tony Grant. Burnley have only recently turned down a £700,000 bid for Blake from Wigan and on the basis of his display against Manchester rivals Preston, that would appear to be a shrewd piece of business. BURNLEY: Jensen 7 - Duff 7, Sinclair 7, Cahill 6, Camara 7 - Roche 6, Grant 6 (Valois, 76mins), Hyde 7, O'Connor 6 - Moore 7, *BLAKE 8. PRESTON: Ward 6 - Mawene 6, Lucketti 6, Davis 6, Davidson 6 - Etuhu 6, McKenna 6, O'Neil 6 (Daley, 90mins), *LEWIS 8 - Cresswell 7, Agyemang 6. Ref: T Leake 6.