WHEN referee Mark Clattenburg finally drew his hand across his throat to call a halt to Burnley's original dream date with Liverpool, a solitary hooded figure in the stand tried desperately to hide his elation.

A suspended Micah Hyde had been forced to settle for a back seat while his Burnley team mates shared their frenzied excitement at meeting the mighty Merseysiders.

So he was surely the only person inside Turf Moor grateful as the heavens opened to answer his prayers and delay the eagerly-awaited FA Cup clash for 12 days.

Suspension served, Hyde is now back in the fold after the finger of fate singled him out for good fortune.

And after two weeks of kicking his heels, the Clarets midfielder is now itching to get his teeth into Rafael Benitez's Premiership side.

"It was a massive anti-climax for me last Friday and I was a bit down," admitted Hyde.

"There I was, suspended for one game and it happened to be the Liverpool game.

"Once you get your head around that you just carry on with life, but when the game was called off, I was there jumping up and down!

"I had brought my son to the game and we were going to sit in the stand and watch, so I'm glad the gaffer didn't see me running around like a madman with my hood up!

"Now I feel someone is smiling on me to give me the chance to go and play against Liverpool.

"It's an opportunity you dream about."

Hyde is no stranger to success over Liverpool after forming part of the Watford team that beat Gerard Houllier's side at Anfield in a Premiership clash in 1999.

Four years later, FA Cup glory was a whisker away after the Hornets beat Burnley in the quarter final only to lose to Southampton in the semis.

And Hyde is now hoping to combine two of his best Vicarage Road memories to steer Burnley to a cup shock against a weakened Liverpool side.

He added: "I want to pit my wits against their best players, so I hope Steven Gerrard and all their big name players play.

"It's still Liverpool at the end of the day, but it should give us a boost if we see they have put out a weakened team.

"If they think they can do that down here and think it's going to be an easy ride, they've got another thing coming.

"Even if they put their full strength side out, they aren't going to enjoy playing at Turf Moor against us.

"There's a lot of experience in our team and it won't be a case of being overawed, so we'll see what happens."

Hyde added: "We've got every chance. It's well documented that we haven't got a big squad, but we have quality players and that gives us a chance.

"We are not over-realistic, but we are confident.

"The league remains our priority and this is a bonus, but we've already played two Premiership teams this season and done pretty well, so hopefully that's a barometer."

Hyde feels that Burnley fans are still to see his best form following last summer's switch from Watford.

The Jamaican international, 30, ventured north of Watford for the first time in his career to sign a three-year deal with the Clarets.

But after putting all his off-field worries behind him by getting his young family settled in Manchester, Hyde believes on-field fortunes will now flourish.

He admitted: "The club haven't seen me play really well yet. When I was at Watford, the fans knew what I was capable of and the Burnley fans haven't seen that yet.

"I've been here six months and it's taken that long to become fully settled, but the gaffer knows what I'm capable of and now I've settled down I feel it's definitely helped my game.

"I've been in the south all my life football-wise, but I've got a house now and my wife's got a job.

"It's a hard adjustment coming up here and bringing the family and those first few months were tricky.

"I've got two young kids, and them being happy is the most important thing.

"But they are in school now and they love it, my missus is happy, so all the family is settled and we love it now."

We defend as an eleven.

The defence is getting the praise, and rightly so, they've all done a great job at the back.

I take my hat off to them and that allows the rest of us to go forward confident we have a solid back four and goalkeeper to protect us.

It's up to attack-minded players like myself to try and get the goals so we can win 1-0 or 2-0 instead of grinding out nil-nils.

It would be nice to score a few goals. I used to score a few back in the day, so now I've settled down, hopefully that will come.