It looked very much like one match too far for our eleven players, and it was clear today that we do only have eleven players, who turned in their worst performance of the season against the worst side we have come up against.
In the end it was a 2-1 defeat, it could have been more and yet we could so easily have pulled it level in the closing stages.
We fell behind after only five minutes through Iwan Roberts and for much of the rest of the game never seriously threatened to get back into it. What we did do was let ourselves get involved in all the nastiness that
Quite simply they go out of their way to wind you up – there’s John Hills who is something of a thug and then there’s player/boss Andy Hessenthaler who does enough to warrant a red card just about every time he goes on to the pitch.
We fell for it all hook, line and sinker and sadly so did the referee who didn’t even know what day it was by the time he brought it all to an end.
That early goal was a fluke, it was a shot from Hills which hit the boot of Roberts and wrong footed keeper Danny Coyne. It was just the sort of start we didn’t want and there was never any evidence during that we looked capable of pulling it back.
There was none of the superb attacking play we had seen against Wolves in the last home game and none of the excellent play on view at West Ham just two days earlier. We didn’t create a chance of note throughout the first half.
Gillingham were more than content with their lead and were more concerned with niggling than they were with playing football and it was difficult to believe that some of their players didn’t find their way into the notebook of lenient Richard Beeby.
They did though almost double the lead, and should have done, but Coyne saved well from Darren Byfield a player who always appears to score against the Clarets.
Beeby did intervene though shortly after an outrageous challenge that almost saw John McGreal kicked half way up
The fourth official got involved, he got the referee involved and Cotterill was sent to the stands. Now I wonder just who it was we were playing when Stan Ternent was sent to the stands last year – oh yes, that’s right, it was Gillingham and it followed some disgraceful challenges from
We needed a lift after half time but it didn’t come and we continued to struggle. But all hell started to break loose when the incompetent referee suddenly decided enough was enough and after 53 minutes we finally saw a yellow card.
It was for Hills and two minutes later Hessenthaler followed him – and then it went on and on. McGreal needlessly got involved with wind up merchant Byfield and both saw yellow as did Iwan Roberts and Frank Sinclair in other incidents.
Worse was to follow though and with twenty minutes to go it was 2-0 as Byfield was able to get clear from a long ball, round Coyne and slot the ball into the empty net. It really looked game over but all the fireworks were still to come.
With seven minutes left the referee awarded
Byfield got away with it again but when Hyde through the ball at him the referee went straight for the red card and Hyde made his way to the tunnel and out of the side for the next three games. It was ridiculous from Hyde, he should not have got involved and will now miss games when he is badly needed.
The nasty Hills took the spot kick but Coyne saved well only for the eagle eyed assistant, who had missed so much during the afternoon, to demand a retake because he had come off his line. Coyne saved again and despite being two goals behind and down to ten men you would have thought we were cup winners given the crowd reaction.
But it was then that we finally started to put the Gills under some pressure and former Claret Ian Cox, he received a warm reception on his first return, was booked and then should have been sent off after a series of shirt pulls.
The pressure finally paid dividends when Ian Moore headed in a cross from Richard Chaplow and that ended with the ninth card of the day when keeper Steve Banks had a go at Mooro as he went to collect the ball.
There were three minutes plus stoppage time to go and now we were putting them under pressure. Branchy, by now in the middle, won header after header but the goal just wouldn’t come and when the referee finally blew after three minutes of stoppage time it signalled a second successive defeat for the Clarets.
There were too many poor performances today and it was difficult to find too many positive contributions from any of Chappy, Hyde, Mooro and Robbie who all had very poor games.
The two best players for me were Tony Grant and Mo Camara with the left back getting the Man of the Match vote just ahead of Grant. I’m not sure what has happened to Camara but his performances in the last four or five games have been excellent and again he featured strongly in our attacking play down the left.
The performance was not good enough and we got what we deserved but again we fell for Hessenthaler’s awful brand of football and we have to show far more discipline than that.
Worryingly there appear to be no alternatives when we go behind and despite the obvious tired legs out there this afternoon we didn’t make one substitution. With Hyde now out we have to bring more players in and it is to be hoped that will be the case before the next game against
It’s just a point a game now and the bright start has turned into a slightly worrying start – we need to start getting some points on the board very quickly.
The teams today were,
Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair, John McGreal, Mo Camara, Ian Moore, Richard Chaplow, Tony Grant, Micah Hyde, Graham Branch, Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche, Ryan Townsend, Joel Pilkington, Matt O’Neill.
Gillingham: Steve Banks, Ian Cox, Barry Ashby, Chris Hope, John Hills, Matthew Jarvis, Andy Hessenthaler, Danny Spiller, Paul Smith, Iwan Roberts, Darren Byfield. Subs not used: Jason Brown, Richard Rose, Alan Pouton, Patrick Agyemang, David Perpetuini.
Referee: Richard Beeby (
Attendance: 11,574.