Burnley head coach Scott Parker suggested his players were trying too hard because of anxiety after they were held to a frustrating goalless Championship draw by a hard-working Derby side.
Parker’s third-placed promotion-chasing side had a 33rd-minute penalty appeal rejected after defender Nat Phillips appeared to handle Josh Brownhill’s cross-shot.
Brownhill had seen an earlier shot clawed aside by Derby goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, who later saved well from substitute Luca Koleosho.
But there were a few boos from the home fans at Turf Moor at full-time as Burnley’s performance fizzled out after a promising start.
Parker said: “I can’t fault my players for endeavour. If anything, they’re trying too hard. They’re making decisions that are wrong out of pure desperation to try to score a goal and try to win the game – it’s naive on our behalf.
“It may just be the fact it’s a young group, some of whom have not experienced this. This is a rollercoaster of a Championship and for sure we need to get a little bit better at it.”
On the performance, Parker added: “We’re gutted really. We’re disappointed tonight. We came here with one aim – to win the game – and we just fell a little bit short. Credit to Derby, they’ve come here and done a really good job.
“We just lacked a little bit in the final third in certain moments of our decision making. You get one goal and maybe the game opens up, but we fell a little bit short on that really.
“We had some good opportunities in the first half when the game was open. You get a goal then and maybe the game looks a little bit different.
“But the longer the game goes on, the anxiety around the stadium reflected that on the pitch for us and we start making poor decisions out of pure desperation.”
Derby’s point ended a run of three-straight defeats – the last of those a 2-0 loss at Leeds last Saturday – and eased some of the pressure on their head coach Paul Warne.
They might have won the game in the second half.
Their top scorer Jerry Yates was denied by goalkeeper James Trafford in the 55th minute when clean through, putting the rebound into the side-netting, while Luke Thompson dipped a shot just over before Marcus Harness rolled the ball narrowly wide in injury time.
Derby assistant head coach Richie Barker said: “I’m very proud of a group of people who’ve had one day to work on a gameplan to come to a very difficult place with a really good group of players and they’ve worked extremely hard.
“We knew right from the start that this was probably going to be the hardest week of the season. In fairness to everybody who works at the club – and especially the players – it’s quite a positive night.
“I’m not going to sit here and say that we limited Burnley to very little, particularly early on, because they’re a very good side who had opportunities. But I thought we defended really well. I thought we grew into the game.
“On a different day, we could have ended up nicking something, but the pleasing thing for me is the spirit and ability of the players to work as hard as they did proves how good a group this is – and how hard they want to work for the football club.”
