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Gillingham 0 Burnley 0, Saturday 13
January 2001
Report by Hego
Crisp sunny Saturday, the prospect of a boat trip, not too
far to travel, and drinking in one of the best drinking towns in the country. What more
could a simple sailor boy want. Avast there ye landlubbers, three points for the Clarets!
Having drip fed myself on neat amnesia since the B*****ds game (oops foul language), I was
in the ‘let's see where it takes us mode’, seriously looking forward to a top
Clarets performance mixed with that good old Thames estuary air. As luck would have it the
Gills had been having a little bit of a problematic week, what with irregular payments and
all, allegedly.
For those who haven’t ventured forth to a
game by this particular watery mode of transport, the Gillingham game provides an
opportunity to travel, albeit for five minutes, from Tilbury to Gravesend by the old Jolly
Roger ferry. It was actually the Martin Chuzzlewhit, but who cares. What an inspired
choice this turned out to be as the trains from London Bridge were seriously disrupted by
rail maintenance work. Well there’s a surprise!
The pubs in Gillingham are top class, and the
Will Adams of that ilk, even conspired to give a print of Firmo’s pub guide
prominence on a favoured bare wall. The natives were quite friendly, and in the working
men’s clubs beer was £1.38 a pint! Not too many good omens on the way, circuitously,
to the ground, but a glimpse of a Nelson Street, and an unbelievably crap Robin Reliant
lookalike - the superbly named Rialto - made me laugh.
The Clarets were still minus Ball suspended and
Briscoe injured, but Glen was on the bench, keeping the Padiham Predator and the Lemon
company, with Mullin on from the start. No Jepson! Asaba was playing, but Hessenthaler was
injured straight out of hospital, which was good news.
The boys started brightly, and a Weller cross
from the port side was blasted over the bar by the Legend from no distance at all. Oh
flip! A long free kick from yer man was deposited in roughly the same part of the stand
before Asaba got free towards NTG, following a pass from the follicly challenged Shaw, but
the ball was pushed wide of the post by NTG without sweat. The rest was pretty scrappy
apart from a Cook 25 yarder, well saved by Bartram.
Half time found the galley bereft of pipe and
peas, and inhabited by people who have never heard of Bovril. Fairly obviously the
missionaries haven't quite got to this part of Kent yet. As for the toilets, well queue
for a song, ‘You’ve only got five urinals!' Literally five for about 800 Clarets
at half time. Couldn’t organise a US election in a brewery! The new stand is
basically a poorly designed waste of space and money. I thought about saying crap, but
that’s sort of a foul expression. Probably built by the firm that did Stonehenge.
The second half brought the entrance of Glen the
Messiah to replace a hugely disappointing Mullin, and he quickly had an effect, shooting
across goal from not far with a great chance. Should have deservedly been one up. This was
the prelude to a good deal of Burnley pressure where Glen and the ubiquitous Fop Mr Branch
went close on a few occasions. Mr Little was completely unmarked in the six yard box from
a Weller throw-in, and again fired wide.
Well then, what of the Gills? To be truthful not
much to say about them. Coxy had Asaba in his top pocket, and the Legend looked imperious
as always. Near the end though Edge smashed an effort in to the side netting, and a Paul
Smith volley was brilliantly saved by NTG at the foot of his right hand post, thereby
restoring my faith in him in one stupendous second.
All in all a good away performance, back in the
groove from early season, and all ex Mullin played well. Stopped the five league game
losing run, despite some poor refereeing from the man in the black lycra jim-jams. We
should have put this lot away early on though, and the lack of goals is a continuing
concern.
Team (3-5-2):
Michopoulos, The Legend, Thomas, Cox, Cook, Mullin (Little 46), Johnrose, Weller, Smith,
Branch, Moore. Subs not used (four of 'em!): Armstrong, Crichton, Mellon, Payton.
Crowd: 9,331.
Referee: P Dowd
of Stokey.
Hego's Man of the
Match: Mr Cox.
London Clarets Man
of the Match: Ian Cox.
The home game
and this game last season
