Sandbagged by the Seasiders
Blackpool 1 Burnley 1, 21 March 2000
Hego
Yet again, for some obscure reason, decide
on a 500 mile drive round trip to the seaside on a Tuesday night to see the Clarets humble
the Division 3 bound orange boys. As usual, begin to wonder if all the marbles have
finally slipped away, never to be seen again.
Arrived reasonably early on a pleasantly warm
afternoon, just perfect for footie. Parked near Gloomfield Road prior to a nice stroll to
the North Pier, and decided to view the ground, or what is left of it. As I am sure most
of you will know, it is actually now quite difficult to differentiate this football ground
from any other building site or rubbish dump in the town. In fact the orange people have
probably managed to accelerate the decomposition, even in the last year. Hard to believe,
I agree.
However I digress. Strolled to the North Pier
with Julian, not just to assimilate the very essence of a seaside town, but also to check
on the website pub guide recommendations. Met a goodly number of rather fierce looking
football supporting type gentleman, and got the impression that the natives were a little
restless. Moved on quickly, an interesting night ahead! Quite a few London Clarets around
in the vicinity of the Ramsden Arms, which is too near the ‘Flying Handbag
Hostelry’ for my liking. Said pub, frequented by people with slightly different
sexual agendas to the norm, was advertising the night’s entertainment as ‘Shag
Tag’ compered by Miss Orry. Don’t ask.
To the ground, and more orange bods than I can
remember seeing cumulatively in the last three Gloomfield Road games. The usual Claret
away support up to 3,400 tickets this time, jammed in to two-thirds of the East Paddock,
and what is left of the Spion Kop that has a safety certificate. Evidence of many
construction workers' hard hats in the crowd, in response to the latest web site inspired
fancy dress suggestion. Could come in handy if there is a light breeze and the floodlights
fall down. Not as daft a suggestion as you might think.
The orange team sheet was a simple affair,
unencumbered by talent as they are. Ex b******s Wayne Gill, the loan boy Thomas and of
course old man Newell in evidence. The latter receiving serious verbal abuse from its
first appearance on the pitch. Quite correctly in my view, and well deserved. Also
included, the much travelled Richardson, an ex-teammate of McMahon’s, but not Ablett,
who was on the bench. The Clarets much as expected except for Wright still on the bench,
unexpectedly, and Mellon somehow still managing to remain in the squad. I’ve given up
trying to guess on this one.
The first half was very forgettable, with no
real pattern to the game. A Cookey overhead kick, easily caught by the keeper, livened up
the early proceedings, and Mellon buzzed around trying to look busy to no real effect.
Passes were going astray, and Cookey was not holding the ball up front as well as he
normally does. The experienced orange midfield of Clarkson, Gill and Richardson were
picking up the loose stuff and competing successfully in the middle of the park, without
challenge from a Claret. In fact it is fair to say that throughout the half our central
midfield had all the substance of a piece of over ripe Camembert.
Most of the sensible Claret attacks in the half
came from Branch crosses to the far post for Cookey. In fact Branch had one of the best
chances late on with a volley, just wide, from a Little right wing cross. A Payton header
from a corner, again late in the half, was the only real save the keeper had to make.
Davis made one or two of his trademark forays up-field, a little bit out of desperation at
our inability to create. Little was sporadic at best.
The oranges were little better, and relied on
the long stuff up to Newell. The did have a very decent chance when Jaszczun (?) drove a
fierce shot from distance just wide of the post, with Admirable nowhere. Half time, and a
bit of doom and gloom in the Claret ranks, brightened a little by Millwall and Preston
being behind. Finally managed to get a programme, or what the orange call a programme!
Twenty pages of advertisements for £1.90, and no change for £2.00.
The second half started disastrously with a goal
for the orange in the 48th minute. A left wing cross found Newell’s head,
who knocked the ball down for Gill to convert left-footed across Admirable. Gill seemed to
slip as he shot, which may have put Crichton off. Reasonable excuse! Virtually straight
from the kick-off, after some aimless and sloppy Claret play, Newell forced a good save
from Admirable, which brought the inevitable substitution. After 56 minutes of not a lot
the Lemon made way for Mullin, and not before time. He is obviously finding the questions
asked of him too difficult, and needs to ask the audience or indeed phone a friend, if he
has any who are midfield dynamos. Almost immediately the tempo increased. Johnrose crossed
for Cooke to miss a difficult near post chance, a Newell header was easily saved, and a
sublime chip from Little after a typical run was superbly tipped over the bar by Barnes.
Wright then replaced Cooke, and the heat was
definitely on the orange boys. Cookey left to a mixed reception from the crowd, which was
slightly unfair. He was poor in this game, but he is Claret through and through, and put
far more effort into the game than others we all know. Mullin and Wright looked sharp
immediately, the former laying off a cross for Little to shoot narrowly wide. Corner
followed free kick followed corner until the inevitable equaliser. On 72 minutes another
Little cross was missed by Gill at the edge of the area, and Branch fired home with his
right foot, no less. Cue delirium. Not as good as Pele, but at least a blood relation. The
last 15 minutes was all Claret pressure, with the odd orange break out. Little was at the
heart of it all with Mullin, and after a twisting run he shot wide from his best chance of
the game. Wright came close with a header near time.
All in all, apart from the pressure in the last
quarter of the game, this was a very poor performance by the lads. The opposition was not
very good, and will almost certainly go down, despite their point from this game. The
central midfield play was a shambles, which obviously exasperated Davis and Thomas and
encouraged them to fire up-field leaving the remnant to cope with the counter attacks.
Wright and Mullin should really have been on from the start , but what do I know? Little
in the second half was superb, and strangely Branch was very effective in his own little
way. Still, two points dropped and automatic promotion well out of the window.
Team (3-5-2):
Admirable, The Legend, Thomas, Cox, Little, Mellon (Mullin 56), Johnrose, Cook, Branch,
Cooke (Wright 63), Payton. Subs not used: Armstrong, Lee, Jepson.
Referee: K A
Leach.
Crowd:
8,029 (wow).
Links -
The home game plus this game last season
