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That wasn’t all though and the Thompson Centre in Burnley was the venue for a brilliant Clarets Mad win as we beat Central Lancs Clarets in a tough six-a-side game, the web site team coming through to win 5-3 in a competitive contest.
Everything was set up for the big three but instead we suffered as bad a ninety minutes football I have seen on the Turf for a long time. Yes we have our problems, we don’t have enough players for a start but today we were playing a poor Rotherham side hit badly by injuries and suspensions who even with players available have struggled to win football matches.
There was only one change in personnel with captain Graham Branch coming in for the now departed Gareth Farrelly and maybe the club could launch a new match day draw called ‘Guess where Branchy will play’. I think everyone assumed that he would play on the left hand side of the pitch but instead he was given the role of playing up front on his own.
He had a nightmare and at the other end of the pitch we had Brian Jensen coming out for crosses and not getting within a country mile of them but it really would be unfair to single out the back man and the front man. There was certainly very little to impress in any areas of the pitch between them.
There was no real hint of the dire afternoon to come during the opening exchanges and we did create a couple of openings but there is no doubt that the quicker and more direct visitors always looked more likely to score. And that they should have done on more than one occasion but thankfully they missed the opportunities.
They paid for it too on 35 minutes when Robbie Blake scored his first goal since September when he hit home a low shot into the corner from outside the area. The Millers’ keeper did go down somewhat like a sack of King Edwards and hit the deck long after the ball had crossed the line.
Apart from being delighted to have scored I was also amused when the goal remained Tom Harkless leaving many unsure what to do. What you do is celebrate the fact that your team has just scored a goal, just as we have done on the Turf for years. You basically do what you want but celebrate. Some clapped to the new music, most didn’t.
You got the feeling that once behind the game should be won, after all this Rotherham side looked inept and are a side who struggle to score goals.
And half time came with us in front and the half time comments were that as bad as it was we were at least winning and winning a game right now is more important than anything.
Just five minutes into the second half it should have been all over. Glen Little was put in and should surely have given us a 2-0 lead but he chose not to take the responsibility of shooting and knocked the ball to Ian Moore.
Mooro’s effort was blocked and he hit the rebound over the bar when he should have been hitting the target. This was without doubt a damn good chance to go two up and it proved crucial because a minute late ex-Claret John Mullin equalised after we gave the ball away in midfield.
Stan goes on about ball retention but it was something we didn’t bother with much today and it was always on the cards that a Rotherham goal would come as a result of giving it away cheaply.
There were two players in offside positions but Mullin was allowed to run on and he made no mistake. He’s scored just six league goals for Rotherham since leaving the Turf and half of them have come against the Clarets. This was only his second goal since he hit the two in the 6-2 throw one in last season.
For a short time Rotherham threatened to get a grip on the game and they could so easily have got a second goal. Stan brought on loan man Delroy Facey for Ian Moore but it made little difference and you really could not see another goal coming.
We did have a shout for a penalty but referee Olivier turned it down and then things went worse when David May collected a yellow card just a couple of minutes from the end of normal time and this will now rule him out of the home game against Sheffield United in two weeks time.
Chappy also went into the book for what looked something and nothing and the final whistle blew to a chorus of boos from the home crowd, boosted by the Walk up for Burnley campaign.
Robbie Blake won the sponsors award for man of the match, I could not find anyone worthy of winning it in this inept performance.
Stan says we’ll come through it. We have too and soon because if we are not very careful we will find ourselves right in the relegation dog fight. Our current form is so poor we have slipped from eighth in the table. A drop was expected, Stan told us it would be a miracle if we stayed that high, but it is now the results of the likes of Bradford and even Franchise we are looking for at the final whistle. And that means it is worrying.
We really do have to start finding some wins from somewhere.
Today’s teams were:
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Dean West, David May, Arthur Gnohere, Mo Camara, Glen Little, Richard Chaplow, Tony Grant, Ian Moore (Delroy Facey 55), Robbie Blake, Graham Branch. Subs not used: Lee Roche, Mark McGregor, Paul Weller, Matt O’Neill.
Rotherham: Gary Montgomery, Shaun Barker, Chris Swailes, Martin McIntosh, Paul Hurst, Chris Sedgwick, Carl Robinson, John Mullin, Paul Warne, Darren Byfield, Richie Barker. Subs: Scott Minto, Mark Robins, Andy Monkhouse, Will Hoskins, Craig Mudd.
Referee: Ray Olivier (Sutton Coldfield).