It's
Miller time (again)
Burnley 2 Rotherham 0
After
the Wrexham game, all wasn't exactly sweetness
and light in the Burnley dressing room. Following
that 4-1 defeat, Stan was quick to apportion
blame, with a large percentage of it going
in the directions of Messrs. Weller and Grant.
So, did the Gaffer's ravings have the desired
effect?
The
3rd / 4th place play-off game saw us face
Ronnie Moore's Rotherham. The Millers had
previously beaten the Isle of Man 3-0, and
then lost to Rushden & Diamonds 1-0.
In
an attempt to spice up the prospect of a
routine Division One encounter, the pre-match
build-up focused on the usual things.
It was to be father Ronnie versus son Ian;
ex Clarets John Mullin and Alan Lee against
the club that let them go. In reality, the
prospect was about as mouth-watering as cold
porridge.
That's
not to say that the game wasn't important.
It was,
if only
as a chance for the Clarets to avenge the
bitter memories of December's 6-2 home
defeat.
Happily,
all went according to plan. By all accounts
it was our best performance of the tournament
- not a particularly
difficult achievement, of course. Burnley
pressed forward from the off, and could have
been 2-0 up within five minutes. The Millers
then had a couple of chances, but it wasn't
long before Robbie Blake put us ahead with
a 25-yarder following a Glen Little free
kick. A further spell of Rotherham pressure
followed,
and
they even hit the post, but Burnley went
2-0 up before half time via a close-range
Little shot.
During
the second half, Rotherham pressed forward
and had several chances to score, but the
Clarets held out to keep a clean sheet and
secure
third
place
in the
tournament.
For
the record, the final placings were as follows:
1 |
Rushden & Diamonds |
2 |
Wrexham |
3 |
Burnley |
4 |
Rotherham |
5 |
Blackpool |
6 |
IoM
XI |
A comparable finish in the League this season
would do very nicely!
And
lastly, don't forget to note down the
tournament dates for 2004: 25th
- 31st July.
(Yes, there
is a
possibility of going somewhere slightly more
exciting,
but we all know that the possibility
is very, very small.)
