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Same again on Bank Holiday
And four years ago it was exactly the same match, a 1-1 draw in what was our second match back in Division One.
Gillingham came up with us four years ago. We beat them to automatic promotion but they won through via the play offs with a Wembley win against Wigan and then promptly lost Peter Taylor as manager, he went to wreck Leicester.
Midfielder Andy Hessenthaler took over and he is now the twelfth longest serving manager in the league, and at the age of 39 is still playing in the midfield. He’s already played four games this season.
Despite being tipped for an immediate return to Division Two back in 2000 they have more than survived and last season was the first time they have been involved in a relegation battle, a battle they just about won finishing one place above the bottom three.
Hessenthaler set about strengthening his attacking options during the summer and brought in two strikers, yes they have more forwards than we do. The first of them was Iwan Roberts who had been released by promoted Norwich after seven years and over 300 appearances.
Roberts has also joined the coaching staff but has played in every game this season and already scored a couple of goals, in the 2-1 home victories over Leeds and Preston.
Darren Byfield threw away the chance of staying with Sunderland and he became the second player to join the Gills during the summer. Like Roberts he has been in the side for every game and has also scored twice. They also came in the 2-1 home wins against Leeds and Preston.
They started the season well and those two wins came in the first three games. Since there have been three defeats and a couple of pretty miserable performances that Hessenthaler has been less than pleased with.
One of those was the televised home game against QPR last Friday when they went down 1-0 to a farce of a goal that was a clear handball and could probably have been seen by anyone walking past the outside the ground. The referee and his assistant missed it.
That led to twenty minutes of foul and abusive language from the player/manager (and this before the 9 o’clock watershed) that finally resulted in a yellow card. The referee did even things up by not bothering with a blatant penalty to QPR.
Gillingham will be without Nyron Nosworthy who failed a fitness test prior to the QPR game. He is now looking for a return a week on Saturday. To add to that both Tommy Johnson and Nicky Southall remain out injured.
Hessenthaler is bringing a squad of 21 with him (oh, what luxuries) but is expected to name an unchanged side from the one that lost on Friday.
If that’s the case they will line up: Steve Banks, Ian Cox, John Hills, Paul Smith, Chris Hope, Barry Ashby, Matthew Jarvis, Andy Hessenthaler, Iwan Roberts, Darren Byfield, Danny Spiller. Subs: Jason Brown, Leon Johnson, David Perpetuini, Mamady Sidibe, Patrick Agyemang.
The other five players travelling with the squad are: Richard Rose, Andrew Crofts, Alan Pouton, Jones Awuah, and Dean Beckwith.
Steve Cotterill will be hoping that all his players have come through unscathed from the defeat at West Ham and that he’ll be able to name the same eleven who have started every league and cup game so far this season.
Tony Grant went down to that awful challenge that saw Chris Cohen sent off on Saturday whilst Richard Chaplow had been doubtful with the injury that he picked up at Bury.
Hopefully everyone will report fit and ready for duty and if so we are certain to line up:
Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Ian Moore, Richard Chaplow, Tony Grant, Micah Hyde, Graham Branch, Robbie Blake. Subs: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche, Ryan Townsend, Joel Pilkington, Matt O’Neill.
Last season we played the Gills in successive home games. The league game was won 1-0 with a late goal from Glen Little at the Cricket Field End, it was his first goal of the season.
The teams were,
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche, David May, Mark McGregor, Mo Camara, Glen Little, Richard Chaplow, Tony Grant, Neil Wood, Alan Moore (Luke Chadwick 70), Ian Moore. Subs not used: Paul Rachubka, Dean West, Bradley Orr, Paul Weller.
Gillingham: Jason Brown, Kevin James, Barry Ashby, Chris Hope, Leon Johnson, Andy Hessenthaler, Paul Smith, Alan Pouton (Mark Saunders 78), Danny Spiller (Richard Rose 84), Darius Henderson (Rod Wallace 68), Patrick Agyemang. Subs not used: Danny Knowles, Dean Beckwith.
Previous 20 Seasons | |||||
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
1984/85 | 3 | h | 0-1 | 3,595 | . |
| . | . | a | 1-1 | 5,935 | Biggins |
1989/90 | 4 | a | 0-0 | 3,893 | . |
| . | . | h | 1-2 | 7,272 | Walker(og) |
1990/91 | 4 | a | 2-3 | 3,679 | Futcher(pen) Deary |
| . | . | h | 2-2 | 6,459 | Futcher(Pen) SP Davis |
1991/92 | 4 | h | 4-1 | 8,908 | Conroy(3) Randall |
| . | . | a | 0-3 | 3,729 | . |
1996/97 | 2 | a | 0-1 | 6,116 | . |
| . | . | h | 5-1 | 10,004 | Cooke(2) Smith Barnes(2 1pen) |
1997/98 | 2 | h | 0-0 | 11,811 | . |
| . | . | a | 0-2 | 5,886 | . |
1998/99 | 2 | a | 1-2 | 5,702 | Payton |
| . | . | h | 0-5 | 8,981 | . |
1999/2000 | 2 | a | 2-2 | 7,347 | Payton Wright |
| . | . | h | 0-3 | 17,026 | . |
2000/01 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 15,611 | Ashby(og) |
| . | . | a | 0-0 | 9,331 | . |
2001/02 | 1 | a | 2-2 | 8,067 | Taylor Little(pen)l |
| . | . | h | 2-0 | 16,236 | Ball Johnson |
2002/03 | 1 | a | 2-4 | 7,905 | Taylor Blake(pen) |
| . | . | h | 2-0 | 14,031 | Taylor Diallo |
2003/04 | 1 | a | 3-0 | 7,645 | I Moore West Blake |
| . | FAC | h | 3-1 | 9,735 | I Moore Blake(2) |
| . | 1 | h | 1-0 | 10,400 | Little |
Click HERE
to see more results against Gillingham from the first meeting which was as recent as 1980.