Burnley got the better of East Lancashire rivals Blackburn by winning the derby 1-0 at Ewood Park.
In a game of few chances, the telling moment came in the 60th minute with the clash’s first effort on target through Zian Flemming’s diving header in front of a raucous cohort of 3,926 travelling fans.
Before and after the goal Scott Parker relied on his team’s miserly defence to keep Blackburn at bay, which they did admirably. Despite a barrage of set-pieces, Blackburn could not breach a defence that has conceded just five times on the road.
The best chance fell to Lewis Baker 13 minutes from time, but he glanced a header behind.
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Zian Flemming opens the scoring for Burnley in their Lancashire derby clash with Blackburn Rovers.
It gives Burnley a fourth successive victory at Ewood Park, where they secured the league title on their last visit, and performances like this will be crucial if they are to repeat that success at the end of the season.
While they are 13 unbeaten, Rovers are winless in five and remain outside the play-off places.
Chances were unsurprisingly few and far between given Burnley’s record at both ends of the pitch and Rovers’ ability to stifle teams at the top. Jaidon Anthony’s early shot was blocked while Blackburn peppered their opposition with a series of corners but the Clarets held firm.
The lively Amario Cozier-Duberry always looked dangerous going forward and cut inside onto his right foot in the 37th minute but his effort was deflected just wide.
Makhtar Gueye, who was sent off in the reverse fixture, directed a looping header wide just before the break.
The second half began in a similar pattern to the first but the first moment of real quality on the hour produced the opener for Burnley. A right-wing cross from Anthony found its way to Bashir Humphreys on the left who crossed with pinpoint accuracy for Flemming to stoop and head into the roof of the net for his fourth of the season.
That strike opened the game up and Blackburn continued to bombard the Burnley goal and an almighty goalmouth scramble following a deep corner was gathered by James Trafford before a Rovers player could get a touch.
They continued to press and Sondre Tronstad had a sight of goal 16 minutes from the end, but it was deflected wide and Burnley dealt with the corner.
At the other end, Anthony’s thumping shot was parried by Aynsley Pears but the Clarets were under pressure again and Baker squandered a glorious chance, glancing a header just wide in the 77th minute.
Rovers were unable to fashion another opportunity of note and the Clarets held on to keep the pressure on Leeds at the summit.
The managers
Blackburn’s John Eustace:
“I was very proud of the efforts of the boys. We went toe to toe with a very good team and good squad of players. The effort of the group was very good.
“It’s a local derby, I thought there was going to be one goal in it. Both teams are defensively very good. I was disappointed with the manner we conceded. We switched off from a cross, I think it was their first effort on goal. It is what it is.
“I think when you look at the two teams, and if you look at the three games that we’ve played against the three teams in the top three or four in the last couple of weeks, I think we’ve been very good. You can see we need help in the squad.
“We need to keep improving and get players back from injury as quickly as we can. There’s possibly seven that would have started today that weren’t available.”
Burnley’s Scott Parker:
“I explained to the players over the last couple of days that I’ve played in many a derby and sometimes they do bring a different game. I didn’t expect the game to look any different to how it looked today.
“I always felt it was going to be a bit of a scrappy game with the sheer emotion of what the game brought. I needed calm heads and show our quality in certain moments and manage the game.
“Mentality was always going to be a major factor and there’s something about this group. For such a young group that when they need to go to places that are difficult to go to, they go there.
“We had quality today, our one bit of quality. The game was always going to be defined in one moment. We execute, lovely cross, Flemming scores. After that, no denying, we have to go to places that are uncomfortable and to a man this group, subs included, people on the bench, they go there.
“What this team has done defensively this year has been nothing short of sensational. I get the defensive side is probably not the most glamorous. It’s the bedrock and foundation of any team really. This team has real traits of one which wants to protect their goal. It is a badge of honour for us.
“We leave another away game with a clean sheet and it gives us a foundation to win games. That was evident today. It was a fine margin game and what got us that was a clean sheet.”
