Gillingham 4 Burnley 2, Saturday 21st December
Play Misty for Me
The statistics said...
We lost 4-2 at the Priestfield Stadium. Gillingham goals were from Rod Wallace, Paul Smith (2) and Marlon King. Ours were from Gareth Taylor and Robbie Blake, the latter a penalty. Not only did we lose, we also had West and Taylor sent off during the last ten minutes. Not good, considering that we already have a number of players missing through injury. We're now down to 15th in the table, and our last away win was back in October. Most definitely not what we wanted for Christmas.
The match was played under a blanket of fog, though referee Grant Hegley didn't seem concerned. Mr Hegley saw fit to flourish 7 yellow and 2 red cards during the match - indeed, a quick look on Soccerbase shows that he rarely lets a game pass without reaching into his pocket. This season, he's refereed 19 games, and has waved 69 yellow cards and 4 red (50% of the latter today, obviously).
Our survey said...
Dave
It was pretty grim. There was no commitment, and a disappointing lack of team spirit. Gillingham thoroughly deserved their victory, and our ineptitude was only bettered by the referee's. He was atrocious - but that didn't influence the result.
John
It was another poor game. With only nine men left on the field we were lucky not to lose by more. The ref's brain was lost in the fog, and even the fog wasn't on our side!
Paddy
It was an even game for the first half hour. Gillingham went one ahead, we equalised, and then it all went wrong. They scored again, and we basically capitulated.
Cozzo
We deserved to lose. I have no problems with Gillingham, but the ref was absolutely diabolical. Before Taylor was sent off there were two fouls against our players for which the ref could have stopped the game. One of the fouls was on Taylor, and the guy who fouled him should have been sent off. When the ref walked off at the end he was smirking, and seemed quite happy with the way things had gone. Stan tried to speak to him, but the stewards wouldn't let him.
*Editor's note: before giving his comments, Cozzo was heard giving a spirited rendition of "On Ilkley Moor Bah't 'At". Worryingly, he seemed to know all the words...
Woody
We were completely outmuscled in midfield. We caused them problems in attack, but defensively we were naive. The shallowness of the squad is there for all to see. Gillingham are a big, strong team, and (as with Rotherham) we can't control big, strong players. I'm hoping that Stan can do something in the transfer window, even if it's only a loan signing.
Dermot
We started the game as if we didn't want to win it. Yet again we had to go well behind before we started trying. We lost two players for nothing, though - the ref was a complete nightmare.
Russell
We played poorly, but the referee was as bad as you can imagine. As far as Burnley were concerned, Taylor won lots in the air, but the ball wasn't finding anyone. Little didn't get involved as much as he could have done. The defence got the ball in good positions, but then just hoofed it up the field. Gillingham played OK - they capitalised on what we did wrong. And the ground is a shithole - it's the worst away end I've been on.
Pinta
For me, Burnley didn't turn up for the game. The referee was appalling, but Gillingham deserved to win anyway. Even with a good ref we would have lost. Our defence were all over the place, and the midfield was overrun. As far as the fog was concerned, I couldn't see the corner flag diagonally opposite us. However I wasn't too upset given what was going on!
Phil
We were never in it. Usually there's a point in a game where you think Burnley can get back in it - that never happened today. Very disappointing. The ref was very poor. Today, we've hung around a football ground for sixty minutes, watched our team get thrashed, and now we're all getting extremely drunk!
Pic of the day
The view from the away end was fine, according to Mr Hegley. Hang on - we may have the wrong photo. Seems it could be a scan of the ref's brain.
As with all articles on the site, the views expressed in the vox pop section are those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Burnley FC London Supporters Club.
