Burnley skipper out to make his mark

Dan Pickup is determined to put his stamp on the Lancashire League derby after admitting that there is no better feeling than beating arch rivals Lowerhouse.
Daniel PickupDaniel Pickup
Daniel Pickup

In the dawn of a new era for both clubs, the 29-year-old revealed that he’s looking forward to the fixture more than usual as he prepares to skipper his first derby.

With the two sides going head-to-head at Liverpool Road on Sunday, the Burnley captain said: “I’m looking forward to it more than usual. It’ll be our first derby as captains for myself and Ben (Heap).

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“Regardless of whether you’re captain or not it’s always the first fixture that you look out for. I’d be surprised if there’s a bigger derby in league cricket anywhere in the country.”

He added: “It’s a massive game, it doesn’t get any bigger than this; they’re always good games and there’s always a good atmosphere. Everybody is buzzing for it.

“I want to put my stamp on it because it’s never nice to lose a derby game. I definitely want to win my first one.

“It’d be nice to go there and come away with a win. There’s no better feeling than coming away from their place with a victory.”

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Pickup feels that the game has come at the perfect time for the club after staging a mini revival in the league by hammering Nelson and bypassing Enfield.

“We’re on a good little run now,” he said. “We’ve started to piece it all together which is what we should be doing. Hopefully that will continue and we can keep climbing the table.

“Spirits are high and confidence is key so this derby has come at a good time for us.

“Form can go out of the window in games like this but we wanted to go in to it playing decent cricket.

“They are always pretty spicy and they are generally fairly close games. There aren’t many where one team has won convincingly. I always enjoy playing up there.”

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