We have to learn to win better perhaps

Last updated : 18 March 2002 By Tony Scholes

Both clubs had been in the news in the days leading up to the game with Preston losing manager David Moyes to Everton and Burnley signing Paul Gascoigne from Everton. Assistant boss Kelham O'Hanlon has taken over at Moyesless Preston and was far from happy with the performance of his side. Mind you it was him who decided to try and challenge pace with two half paced donkeys at the back.

This is what O'Hanlon had to say,

"We gave them two terrible goals from out point of view and you can't afford to do that with any team. I thought we started the game very well though. It was just a ball pumped down the middle of the park that we didn't deal with and that changed the game. We were taking the game to Burnley, but we gave them a goal and then their tails were up. We than gave them another bad goal from our point of view, you can't afford to do that to any team, especially not one in the top six.


"We just had a nice discussion at half time and I pointed out one or two things I'd like them to do. I think they went out and did it. Marlon Beresford made some good saves, but I don't think he should have been allowed to. When you are playing away from home and have already given two bad goals away you don't get a great deal of opportunity. When those opportunities come along you have to take them at this level. We didn't do that, we just got the one and it wasn't enough. Like I've said though, we have to play for more than 45 minutes."

Stan was altogether happier after our first home win for three months but did point to the missed chances in the first half.

"We got two early goals and we had enough chances to have won the game in the first half but if you don't take them, you get a little jittery and we did in the last twenty minutes.


"Marlon made some very good saves, but we have to learn to win better perhaps. It was unusual for a derby match as there were quite a lot of chances knocking about. All in all it was an exciting match, but the most important thing for us is to put some distance between the teams in seventh and Preston are in that area. We have a little cushion now with seven games to play.

"I thought David Johnson played very well and so did Ian Moore, his goal was a fantastic finish. They are both very quick, very lively and strong, so it's a nice problem to have when Gareth Taylor is back from suspension."

What did our latest recruit think about joining the Clarets? I do though have to question him for seeking the advice of the Sinister One Glenn Roeder and his idiotic partner Chris Waddle.

"People forget that I know what the first division is like because I have been there before with Middlesbrough. I know all about it and we got promotion when I was there and this is a really good challenge for me.

"Burnley are desperate to get into the Premier League and they have done well so far. You can see that the team spirit is definitely there and they are definitely up for the challenge.

"They have got players that can play and they have got hard workers with great determination. People like Bally and Mitchell Thomas were class out there and they are even older than me!"

"I spoke to Glen Roeder, Ian Wright, Chris Waddle and Andy Townsend, they are four internationals. They all regard Stan very highly and I already agree with everything they said. He is mad, he is a Geordie so I know that he is passionate about the game and the lads here have already said so much about him.

"We have had some laughs in the last couple of days and I think it will be close to see who has a heart attack first."

What about the latest signing who did actually take part in the game, David Johnson on loan from Nottingham Forest.

"Paul Gascoigne can take all the limelight. I have come here to try and earn a contract and obviously I would like to stay. My main reason for coming here was because of the manager.

"The atmosphere was brilliant from start to finish and I really enjoyed it. I guess it was a dream debut because everything went really well. Now we need to get four more wins to make certain of getting into the play-offs. There is no outstanding team up there at the moment so anyone could do it.

"It went really well and in the first half we really took the game to them. We had our game plan to get between the two centre halves and it worked, we could have been 4-0 up. It was an excellent game and the onus was on them because they were behind us, they had to come here and win. I hadn't played since Sheffield Wednesday ten days ago so I got a bit of cramp in both legs. But there was no point in carrying on with the good players we have got on the bench."

Go up and I'll stay, says Gascoigne

Mark McGuinness at Turf Moor (Guardian)

Paul Gascoigne watched his new Burnley team-mates take another step towards promotion last night and then hinted that he may play on for another season.

It had been generally accepted that the 34-year-old midfielder would retire from English football at the end of the season, perhaps then heading to the United States or Dubai.

His hasty departure from Goodison Park has perhaps prompted a rethink, however, because Gascoigne said after the game that he may change his mind about ending his English career if Burnley are promoted. Last night they rose to fourth.

"I would love to play here in the Premiership," he said. "If we get up, I will talk to the manager at the end of the season. Stan Ternent comes highly recommended to me.

"I am still disappointed Walter Smith was sacked because we have been through a lot together. But I sense this is a good club with great supporters and I am looking forward to the rest of the season."

Gascoigne is in line to make his debut on Wednesday at home to Bradford City. Quite how he will fare now in the First Division will be fascinating to see. He played at this level with Middlesbrough in 1997-98.

He was given a rapturous reception before kick-off and there was no mistaking the carnival atmosphere around Turf Moor, made all the better for home fans by the gloom that had enveloped a Preston camp after the loss of David Moyes to Everton.

His Deepdale assistant Kelham O'Hanlon was in charge of team affairs last night but by half-time he must have been hoping Moyes would soon be issuing an invitation to join him at Everton.

Burnley destroyed Preston in the first half and only poor finishing and excellent goalkeeping prevented them scoring five in that period.

They took the lead in the sixth minute when Lee Cartwright, under pressure from David Johnson, sent a weak pass back to the goalkeeper David Lucas, forcing him to clear hastily.

But the ball went only as far as Ian Moore, who took advantage of the goalkeeper being off his line to place a perfectly weighted lob into goal.

Lucas pushed away a splendid Tony Grant free-kick in the 11th minute and again rescued his side when he saved from Johnson.

But a minute later Burnley doubled their lead. They were awarded a free-kick inside their own half and Alan Moore played the ball up to Johnson, who outpaced the defence before sliding the ball home.

The former Ipswich striker could have had a hat-trick in the first half as he fluffed several further opportunities to put the game beyond reach.

Preston retaliated and Richard Cresswell had a point-blank header saved by Marlon Beresford in the 70th minute. His side finally struck when the substitute Iain Anderson volleyed home from 15 yards but it was too litle too late.

Burnley rise to greet Gascoigne

By Peter Gardner (Daily Telegraph)

BURNLEY warmly welcomed the Gascoigne family on a raw Lancashire night and celebrated with a first home League victory since mid-December.

A debut goal by David Johnson, on loan from Nottingham Forest, helped Burnley secure a narrow success that enabled them to overtake Millwall and Coventry into fourth place and strengthen play-off hopes. A streaker brought down by the Burnley mascot merely added to a Sunday spectacle.

Gascoigne, accompanied by his ex-wife Sheryl and son Regan, has joined from Everton until the end of the season but has said he will stay should Burnley win promotion. The former England player was paraded before the start of the game to rapturous applause then watched from the stands.

Preston's own ambitions of repeating last season's play-off place are disintegrating, manager David Moyes having followed premier striker Jon Macken out of the club.

Burnley dominated the first half but scorned a host of opportunities that could have put the issue beyond doubt. The visitors enjoyed more of the play after half-time, but their goal by Iain Anderson six minutes from the end came too late to seriously damage Burnley and they remain five points off the play-off places.

Burnley led after Preston defender Chris Lucketti forced a splendid reflex save from Marlon Beresford in the fifth minute. Beresford's long clearance left Lee Cartwright aiming a dangerous back-pass to goalkeeper David Lucas. His clearance went straight to Ian Moore who delightfully chipped the ball in from 12 yards out.

Lucas made amends, saving a Tony Grant free-kick and then denying Johnson before the striker finished clinically after a flick-on by Alan Moore in the 25th minute.

Lucas twice denied Johnson in one-on-ones and made a further save at the Burnley man's feet.

On the hour, it was Beresford's turn to shine when he turned the ball behind following a ferocious close-in attempt from Dickson Etuhu. Nine minutes later the visitors went even closer, Etuhu this time providing the cross from which Richard Cresswell forced a splendid save.

In between, the home side should have put the game beyond doubt when Kevin Ball played a neat one-two with Johnson but blazed over from 10 yards.

Preston persisted and were rewarded in the 84th minute, Etuhu crossing to leave Anderson in space where he chested the ball down before he finished right-footed.

Johnson responds to warm-up man

By Oliver Kay (The Times)

ON AN evening when he shared the billing with a streaker, Emmerdale's Zak Dingle, and a gigantic, psychotic bumble bee, perhaps the sight of Paul Gascoigne being paraded as Burnley's latest signing was not so surreal after all. At the great circus of Turf Moor, the former England midfield player proved to be little more than a warm-up act, whipping the crowd into a frenzy before settling into his seat in the directors' box and looking on in bemused pleasure as the cabaret unfolded.

Gascoigne, preparing for one last hurrah as his turbulent career lurches towards an undignified end, said that he had enjoyed himself, and it was no surprise. This, after the pressure-cooker atmospheres of Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough and Everton, was a return to football at its purest level. While hardly grassroots, given that Burnley could be in the FA Barclaycard Premiership next season, it is a setting in which this troubled soul can rediscover his love of the game in the twilight of his career.

Downcast at Everton after Walter Smith's dismissal as manager last week, Gascoigne announced on Friday that he urgently needed a change of scenery. Confirmation that he would find himself at home here came in the closing minutes when a streaker ran the length of the field, swerving several overweight stewards, before being crudely upended by Bertie Bee, Burnley's mascot, to great applause, not least from football's clown prince.

This is only a short-term solution to a profound problem for Gascoigne, but, he says, he could feasibly remain at Burnley beyond the end of the season, rather than head for semi-retirement in Dubai or the United States. "It's a challenge for me," the 34-year-old said. "Burnley are desperate to get into the Premiership and, if they do, why shouldn't I play there, too?"

Gascoigne was impressed by his new team-mates, who were good value for their first home win in three months against a Preston North End side still feeling sorry for themselves after David Moyes's departure to Everton last week.

It was another new boy, though, who stole the show. David Johnson, making his Burnley debut after a loan move from Nottingham Forest, created the first goal for Ian Moore in the fifth minute before scoring the second.

While Burnley now lie fourth in the first division, Preston's season is falling apart. In a fortnight, they have lost their two greatest assets, Jon Macken to Manchester City and Moyes, and are now well adrift of the play-off places.

Kelham O'Hanlon, the caretaker-manager, is likely to follow Moyes to Goodison Park, leaving several candidates — Bryan Robson, Sammy McIlroy, Steve McMahon and Colin Hendry among them — to jostle for what remains a desirable position.

Life after Moyes could scarcely have got off to a worse start. Hesitant defending from Lee Cartwright, put under pressure by Johnson, led to a poor clearance from David Lucas that fell straight to Ian Moore. He seemed to have taken too long as Lucas scurried back towards his goal, but his lob was inch-perfect, dipping under the crossbar to give Burnley the lead.

Johnson doubled their lead in the 25th minute, holding off Chris Lucketti's half-hearted challenge before shooting past Lucas into the bottom corner, and had another two clear opportunities before half-time.

Preston were in disarray. They improved in the second half, but, with Marlon Beresford in inspired form, they took until the 84th minute when Ian Anderson, a substitute, drove home a low shot from Dickson Etuhu's cross, to gain a foothold.