BURNLEY have waited three long decades to claim derby bragging rights, but former manager Steve Cotterill hopes this is their time.

His Clarets ran Blackburn Rovers close in the FA Cup less than five years ago.

And although he knows it may prove difficult against Sam Allardyce’s side, he hopes Burnley can go one step further on Sunday.

“Sam Allardyce is a top, top manager and he was a big help to me when I was in the North West,” said Cotterill.

“He’s very tactically aware, which I think will make it a tough game.

“But obviously, being the former Burnley manager, my loyalties are with them and I wish the players, staff, manager, chairman and directors all the best for Sunday, and hopefully the Burnley fans will have a good time and get the win they crave.”

A division separated the two teams when they last met, but Cotterill’s Clarets came within just five minutes of taking the FA Cup fifth round tie into extra-time.

They had already beaten Liverpool at the first hurdle, and taken care of Bournemouth at home. The next round draw prompted an initial stunned silence in the Turf Moor boardroom, before the team set about securing a stalemate in front of the BBC cameras at home, then entertaining in an action-packed replay at Ewood Park.

Cotterill admits he and his troops were ‘sunk’ by Morten Gamst Pedersen’s late winner, after Micah Hyde’s stunning strike had cancelled out Tugay’s opener before the break, but added: “It was a fantastically proud moment for me being the manager in such a big game.

“The fans were fantastic; I was just sorry I couldn’t give them the win they craved so much.

“There was just a bit of a gulf on the night and we couldn’t bridge it.”

But Cotterill, who managed Burnley from the summer of 2004 until November 2007, will never forget how close they came.

“The first game wasn’t that easy to remember really, other than a tremendous tackle by John McGreal on Paul Dickov as he was about to pull the trigger. It wasn’t end to end and it lacked shots on goal. The crowd was something I’d never experienced at Turf Moor before, but build-up was very tense and both sides played like that in the first game,” recalled the 45-year-old.

“Chances were few and far between; completely the opposite to the second game that was full of excitement.

“We went over there with a very small squad, we had injuries galore and it was only an hour before naming the team that Frank Sinclair declared himself fit. He’d done tremendously well to get out on the pitch.

“Tony Grant got the ball in the middle of the park early on and Robbie Savage came right through him, which was probably the best thing that happened because it wound our boys up and set the tempo for the rest of the game.

“We were as good as them on the night. Micah Hyde wasn’t a great goalscorer but he was a scorer of great goals and he scored a fantastic goal right in front of the Burnley fans.

“But the winning goal from Pedersen ... I think it sank all of us because we were so close to going into extra-time, and I felt that was the least we deserved.

“They were the Premier League team but I felt we got better as the game wore on and became more confident.

“If we could have taken it to extra-time it was anybody’s game.

“The crowd were fantastic and it would have been fantastic to have given our fans the bragging rights of what were our rich counterparts at the time.

“On night when you could be so proud, it was probably one of my biggest disappointments.”

Burnley have the chance to make amends this weekend in their first top flight contest with Blackburn for 43 years. It is a Premier League first, and while Merseyside, Manchester, Midlands and London clashes have been played out for years, Cotterill says the magnitude of the East Lancashire derby cannot be underestimated.

“You’ve got to be involved in it just to know how big it is,” he said.

“If you are away from it, there’s not enough known about this derby.

“You have to be in it to know just how passionate it is.

“It’s a wonderful experience and one that has to be embraced because these are the moments you are in football for.

“Some of these games are the biggest of players’ lives.

“I read that Robbie Blake had said this game would be bigger than the play-off final, and he is right with it.

“If you’ve not lived in Lancashire people don’t know the intensity of it. It’s up there with the biggest of them.

“Even watching it on television is not like being in the arena, and I’m sure both sets of supporters are eagerly awaiting it.”