The ball is in the air

Last updated : 16 November 2002 By Tony Scholes

Mark McGregor - outstanding at the back
Doubt had been cast on the journey to South Yorkshire as to whether the game would go ahead with the heavy rain but this was never in doubt with flood warden Andy Hall the man in black.

But there really should have been no doubt at all with the Millmoor pitch looking all but perfect making the postponement of the Sheffield United v Reading game somewhat surprising. The only problem with the rain was outside the ground when the Burnley fans were asked to wade through water considerably more than ankle deep to reach the turnstiles.

To be honest though it didn’t really matter what the pitch was like because the ball hardly touched it as we witnessed an afternoon of balls being lumped up in the air. In fact within six seconds of the kick off Gareth Taylor went down after an aerial challenge and was to take no further part.

Taylor looked out of it and received a standing ovation from the Burnley fans shortly afterwards as he was taken to hospital but knew nothing about it, still looking very badly shaken. Incredibly we learned afterwards that the flood warden had yellow carded him in the incident but there again he appeared to be waving yellow cards at Burnley players all afternoon.

Brad Maylett came on for Taylor in a strange looking Burnley side that was without both Steve Davis and Glen Little (both suffering late injuries) as well as Tony Grant who was suspended. It was to take us some time to settle and with around three minutes gone we had seen every single tactic Rotherham were to employ, the big high ball.

They really are the most physical of sides and just try to bully you out of the game. Leicester looked like meek lambs alongside this outfit and our defence was being put under some pressure from the high balls into the box and the over physical play of former Claret Alan Lee.

To be honest we were guilty at times ourselves of hitting too many long high balls and with Robbie Blake and Ian Moore as the front two it left us not winning too much but we did at times try to get the ball down and play.

But the first half really was dire stuff that was interrupted with three substitutions and five yellow cards giving it no chance whatsoever of flowing.

There were chants of ‘Branchy for England’ as the players left the field at the interval, somewhat ironic but Branchy had done really well in the first half where all our stars were at the back. They had stood up to everything and hardly allowed the home side a clear cut chance.

There was nothing new at the start of the second forty-five minutes either and the first few minutes looked torrid from our vantage point at the far end as we seemed to be constantly heading the ball away from inside our own box.

Eventually we were able to provide a short footballing interlude as we started to build some attacks and it all seemed to revolve around Robbie Blake. Twice he came close to giving the Clarets the lead, once bringing an excellent save from Millers’ keeper Mike Pollitt which Paul Weller nearly turned in.

Then after weaving through the Rotherham defenders who seemed unsure what to do with the ball on the ground his shot rolled agonisingly close. But the interlude was only too short and the ball was soon back in the air again.

Rotherham replaced Lee with Darren Byfield but even so their only route forward was via the high long ball and much of the last period of the game was played in our own half. There did seem one escape close to the end as we cleared from close to our line but overall we didn’t allow them too much in the way of chances.

Eventually the final whistle blew to end yet another poor 90 minutes at Millmoor leaving me wondering whether this old ground ever does stage a decent match.

Our heroes were all to be found at the back although Paul Cook did really well in midfield on his return to the first team. All the back four played well but for man of the match I’ll choose Mark McGregor. Stepping in for Davis, and despite not being the biggest, he handled the aerial onslaught well although Arthur alongside him and the two full backs were also outstanding.

This was an easy game to lose but we didn’t and we should take a lot of credit from that. We stood up to the bullying and many sides won’t do that at Millmoor and at the end of the day we were well worth the point.

And as we left there was news of Gareth Taylor. He got an elbow in the ear (and yes he was yellow carded for it) and was clearly concussed but was well enough to be able to return to Burnley with the team after a visit to hospital. He will almost certainly miss the Norwich game because of the mandatory seven days after such an injury.

The teams today were,

Rotherham United: Mike Pollitt, Rob Scott (Marvin Bryan 31), Paul Hurst, Chris Swailes, Martin McIntosh, Darren Garner, Nick Daws, Chris Sedgwick, Andy Monkhouse (Paul Warne 45), Richie Barker, Alan Lee (Darren Byfield 65). Subs not used: Ian Gray, Stewart Talbot.

Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Dean West, Mark McGregor, Arthur Gnohere, Graham Branch, Paul Weller, Paul Cook, Lee Briscoe, Ian Moore, Robbie Blake (Dimitri Papadopoulos 78), Gareth Taylor (Brad Maylett 4, Alan Moore 87). Subs not used: Gordon Armstrong, Andy Payton.

Referee: Andy Hall (Birmingham).