If we meet in the future
Burnley 3 Gillingham 1
By our FA Cup correspondent
Job done. Like the Third Round, it wasn't a great game; but like that, only one team deserved to win it, and that was us. Superior quality in attack was the difference here. Given that we were playing a side from our Division, instead of two below us, this was encouraging.
Talk on the way up - once we'd got past the cancellation and surprising reinstatement of the Leeds train, which is not what you need at 7.20 in the morning - was, for once, of the selection questions Stan would have to address. Roche or West at right back? Presumably we wouldn't want to break up the burgeoning McGregor / May partnership, but could Gnohere go at left back instead of Camara? Or what about Branch - or should Branch play left midfield, or Alan Moore? In the end, Stan went with an unchanged defence, with the two dodgy full backs continuing to flank the two solid central defenders. Stan also very sensibly dropped the struggling Chadwick, giving Alan Moore a fresh chance to redeem himself. Predictably, young lion Chaplow came in for the once-again injured Weller. Gillingham had loads of players missing, having weakened their team by selling Shaw and with the injury-prone Cox yet again surprising no-one by being out injured. They also had a goalie whose name translates as 'hunchback' - or that's what Fell Walking Pete told me, anyway.
Roughly the first half hour was pretty dreadful, as both sides failed to create anything like a chance. I always felt we were the better side, though - we just had to hope our chance came before theirs. When the breakthrough did come, it surprised us all. Of course, Ian Moore seems to like this competition. His scoring record in the FA Cup is as excellent as in the League it is poor. What a shame we don't play in this competition most weeks. But here's a sentence that in all my years as a match reporter I never anticipated writing: pinpoint Ian Moore header from Mo Camara's excellent cross. Yes, really. Camara used the space and produced the good cross we've been waiting for all season. The keeper's positioning might have been dubious, but Moore was bang on target.
Confession time. The pre-match exertions had left me desperate for the gents, but I'd held it off until now. Just after we'd scored was obviously the perfect time to go. Thus I was emptying my bladder when Robbie Blake put us two clear with a stunning free kick. There's no point pretending. You have to admit these things. I once missed two goals at Colchester. About once a season it happens, but does it stop us wanting to drink pints of beer before the game? So, I offer my apologies for this dereliction of match-reporting duties. I can only go off what I saw on Match of the Day, who were rather mealy-mouthed about the whole thing. When I got back to my seat, everyone told me what a great free kick it was, and it was. Everyone expected Robbie to cross. Probably even Robbie stepped up planning to cross. But he saw a spot. The wall and the keeper had left just enough space at the near post to curl a ball into. Which is precisely what he did. It was a great goal, and I was filled with regret to have missed it, but the way Robbie's playing these days you can always hope to see another moment of class soon.
Blake is on fire right now, and playing so well that even in our cash-strapped times (I bought half-time draw tickets for the first time in my life) he doesn't look a rip-off at a million pounds. I love players who can do things out of the ordinary, and at the moment Robbie does that most weeks. Even when tightly marked against West Brom the week before, he produced that goal from nowhere. On the way back home, his performance had me contemplating whether, as someone who started watching Burnley in the Fourth Division, Blake is the best player I have ever seen for Burnley. He just might be. Please let it be only a very good offer if we lose him.
Such warm thoughts were for the journey home. On the pitch, Gillingham had set about doing some cold-blooded, two-footed damage. Two goals behind and with FA Cup involvement slipping away, but a League return to come in a fortnight's time, am I being cynical to suggest that Gillingham were? Would it harm them if one of our key creative players took a whack? They did a little more than get stuck in. Number 3 Hills, in particular, was lucky not to have the bath to himself as he followed up a clattering of Little with an assault on Blake that was worthy of a red card alone. The weak referee - one of those terrible Laws clones - waved only a yellow. So, that's an equivalent offence to dissent, then? Quite what you had to do to get sent off was a mystery.
Stan clearly shared our views, as at half time he intercepted the referee on the way off and could be seen shouting and pointing to the spot where Hills had tried to take out Blake. Quite right, Stan. We realised early in the second half that Stan wasn't on the bench, and then we picked him out in the stand. For pointing out the bleeding obvious, he'd been sent off. Meanwhile, the opposition manager would spend the half running around the pitch kicking our players and whinging to the referee about absolutely every decision. Hessenthaler, for all he resembles an extra from Planet of the Apes, is clearly a versatile man: player, manager and referee rolled into one. He, too, should have been sent off for a professional foul, but naturally he wasn't, and Laws meekly allowed him to take over the officiating of the game.
Fortunately, Gillingham weren't in charge of the football. We dropped too deep and allowed them to come at us, which was silly but predictable. We always needed a third. Ian Moore got himself into one or two positions only to miss good chances; while at the other end, fortunately we had May and McGregor on hand, both again keeping it tight and winning a lot of balls before they could become dangerous. May in particular won everything in the air. There's a promising defensive partnership coming along there, one that isn't fancy, doesn't take chances, but gets the basic job of defending done; and the difference is there for all to see.
Before we could get too worried, we'd sealed it with one of those lovely 'just in time' goals, where it all comes together and football looks easy. Alan Moore played a precise pass ahead of Ian Moore's run, Ian Moore hit a textbook cross in to Robbie Blake, who'd timed his run into the box with perfection to sweep the ball home. Splendid stuff, and possibly the best goal I've seen all season.
Ah well, in case we felt like coasting too much, Jensen decided to make life interesting by dropping the ball from a routine collection. There were opposition players near him, but he had two hands on it. The loose ball was duly lashed home. Fortunately it wasn't to prove costly on this occasion. If Gillingham had scored a second soon after, it might have all gone very wrong indeed, but following a few minutes of huff-and-puff pressure the game petered towards its end and we started thinking about something tasty in Round Five.
Alan Moore had been subbed for Branch immediately after our third, which caused something of a dilemma for the people in front of me, who'd been quite keen to see him off but hated Graham Branch more. It was interesting to be surrounded by unfamiliar people who'd taken seats normally filled by those with season tickets, and made me think the usual suspects aren't such a bad lot after all. One man shouted repeatedly that Little should "pretend the cameras were on him". This would apparently mean he'd have a good game. I think I pointed out that I didn't remember too many cameras in the ground when Little scored the greatest goal ever, against Bristol Rovers, but there you go. As it happens, Little did have a good game - the best I've seen from him this season. He took players on, linked well with Blake, and tried things. But Little's out of favour with many fans at the moment, so it doesn't matter if their defenders are panicking every time he gets the ball - if he doesn't nutmeg the back four and chip the keeper, he's not trying. He was criticised around us for not winning balls in the air. Show me the winger with that in their job description. If we'd signed a 21-year-old on loan from Man Utd and he'd played like that, you'd call it brilliant. Blake, criticised often last season, is the current darling. He and Little can try similar things, but one will be audacious, the other lazy.
And then you have Ian Moore. Excellent in this game, complementing the Robbie Blake masterclass by scoring one goal and setting up another. So if this is what he is capable of, aren't we entitled to ask how come so many times he's anonymous? Was he on the pitch against West Brom the Saturday before? Yet it's Moore the fans rate for going through the motions of working hard, and Little with the hit and miss reputation.
Similarly, this was the worst game I've seen from Chaplow. In a physical midfield battle, the sort of game you'd expect him to relish, he was second every time. The match passed him by. Fair enough - our young lion has played a lot of games and probably needs a breather. But not a word of criticism was passed. The supporters were supportive. Good, as it should be - but a Grant, a Weller or a Branch would have been slaughtered for that performance.
With Branch on, it became easy for the folk in front of us. Everything now was his fault. Every ball not won, pass overhit, run not spotted or offside given was somehow the fault of the Number 6. This reached its apotheosis when Gillingham hit a ball forward in the right back slot, which for a moment threatened to be dangerous but slid out for a throw. Shout from he who knows best: "Get back, Branch!". Ah well, at least he made us chuckle as the game meandered to a close, and we set about imitating him by blaming Di Branchio for everything from the poor quality of the beer in the Sparrow Hawk to the loss of the Beagle 2 Mars probe.
The game ended on a slightly sour note. Little played a great ball into Blake's path, and Blake was onside and away. Unhappily, the linesman thought otherwise, and incorrectly flagged. The referee stopped play, and Blake kicked the ball in frustration. Instant yellow card from Laws. Okay, so players shouldn't kick the ball away, but it's such an easy, unthinking thing to do, as is waving a card for doing it. Weak refs are like this; they shirk the big decisions, but assert themselves on trivialities. As the last kick of a dead game, kicking the ball away could hardly be time-wasting, and if that was dissent you have to wonder how Hessenthaler got away with telling the referee what to do all afternoon. Blake's yellow card meant the offence had been deemed equivalent to Hill's assault on him. The irony is that it meant Blake will be suspended for the League return against Gillingham; Gillingham's players who should have been sent off will be given another opportunity to kick us.
Still - when all's said and done, we're in the Fifth Round, they're not, and we deserve to be. And on a personal note, it was nice of them to play well and give me a win on a day that marked ten years of travelling up to watch games from London. Now here's looking forward to the Fifth Round - but hoping that we can play like this in the forthcoming crucial League matches.
Burnley: Jensen, Roche, May, McGregor, Camara, Little, Grant, Chaplow, Alan Moore (Branch, 66), Ian Moore, Blake.
Subs not used: Abbey, West, Gnohere, Chadwick.
Scorers: (Burnley) Ian Moore 30, Blake 33, 64 / (Gillingham) Henderson 71.
Referee: G Laws (Whitley Bay).
Attendance: 9,735.
Firmo's Man of the Match: Robbie Blake.
As with all articles on the site, the views expressed in the match reports section are those of the individual contributor, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters' Club.
