Burnley captain Jack Cork chasing derby hat-trick

Burnley captain Jack Cork is dreaming of a derby hat-trick.
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The 33-year-old has 11 goals for the Clarets, over three spells with the club, with two of his most memorable efforts coming against Lancashire rivals Preston and Blackburn Rovers.

Cork is hoping to add Blackpool to the list on Saturday to complete the set in the Red Rose derbies.

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His diving header in front of a packed away end in the Bill Shankly Kop settled the derby against Preston in February 2011, hurling himself to get on the end of a Wade Elliott cross six minutes from time, sparking delirious celebrations.

BLACKBURN, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Jack Cork of Burnley celebrates after scoring during the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley at Ewood Park on August 23, 2017 in Blackburn, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)BLACKBURN, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Jack Cork of Burnley celebrates after scoring during the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley at Ewood Park on August 23, 2017 in Blackburn, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
BLACKBURN, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Jack Cork of Burnley celebrates after scoring during the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Blackburn Rovers and Burnley at Ewood Park on August 23, 2017 in Blackburn, England. (Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

And he used his head again at League One Blackburn in the League Cup in 2017, glancing home Robbie Brady’s centre to open the scoring in a 2-0 victory at Ewood Park, as Burnley made it seven unbeaten against the old enemy, with a fourth-successive victory.

Cork admits they are two of his most prized goals: "They are two of my favourite goals – the one at Preston was amazing, we had the whole end that day and it was special, right at the end.

"Blackburn was only the cup, but it was amazing as well, that was good.

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"I've scored some nice goals in the derbies, some good memories.

Jack Cork was all smiles during yesterday's press conference. Photo: Kelvin StuttardJack Cork was all smiles during yesterday's press conference. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard
Jack Cork was all smiles during yesterday's press conference. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

"But the goal at Preston...I dived, managed to dodge the post, and the header took me right into the fans, it was mega!”

Cork is in his seventh full season with the club, the sixth since returning from Swansea City for £10m in 2017, and, as one of the more experienced members of a revamped dressing room, has been handed the responsibility of wearing the armband.

Vincent Kompany, while instilling a different style of play, has wanted to retain the values and culture that formed the base of the success Sean Dyche enjoyed at the club, and Cork explained how he has helped in that respect: "It's reasonably easy, especially because everyone is new and they want to come and impress and fit in.

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"We have certain standards here that people can't go against, the number one thing here is working hard – you can't get away with not doing that, it's part of the club, and you've seen that from our stats, our running, everyone has put everything into it.

"As long as we keep that going, as long as we always work hard, we should be fine.”

Under Dyche, Burnley had a ‘spin’ system, where any transgressions from players led to them having to find out their punishment via a ‘Wheel Of Fortune', where you could get a forfeit, be it financial, singing, or dancing.

Asked whether the spin system remains, Cork laughed: "No, the physio room was getting angry! I think we will be introducing some sort of fine system, it's more being policed on its own at the moment.”

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But the team building remains strong, with darts having been replaced by table tennis: "We've got table tennis now, that's helped people settle in, it's competitive – we're trying to get that winning culture, but some are getting too used to the losing culture unfortunately!”

Things have changed on the pitch, but what Kompany wants isn’t alien to Cork, who, although one of Dyche’s lieutenants, has also played at Chelsea, under Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton, and at Swansea: "We went through a similar thing at Southampton, where we had Adkins and we played a lot with Rickie Lambert, a lot of direct crosses, balls into him, and Rickie was brilliant, you could give it him anywhere and he'd score.

"That was one style, then Pochettino came in and he wanted us to pass it out, switch it, just not force it, and that took a little bit of time, but it settled reasonably quickly in the first year or two.

"If you have the right people, it's easy to do, and I feel we have the right people to do it here.”