Controversial late goal costs Burnley at Gillingham
With draws in each of the two previous games at Reading and at home against Wycombe, Burnley went searching for a first away win of the season when they travelled to Gillingham where a late goal cost the Clarets even a point.
What could come close to being acceptable for a man to miss the birth of his first child? I recall in 1985, for a pre-season game at Rochdale, there was an announcement for a Burnley fan to return home with the news that his wife had given birth to twins. Come on, he wasn’t going to miss the match, we won 7-0.
But it was a different story for Lucas worker Matthew Asbury who nipped down to London with his wife overdue in Burnley with their first baby. Thankfully, he made it back in time to see the birth of his son Thomas James Asbury and with a bag of cash too; he’d been to London to appear on the television programme ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?’ and had won £64,000.
And he had a job to go to which was not potentially going to be the case for three hundred workers at Philips Components. They’d been left behind because of televisions manufactured cheaply in the Far East but the government was trying to secure a multi-million pound investment. MP Peter Pike, himself a former employee, warned that it was crucial that the government offered its support.
One Burnley teenager was in a bit of a mess with one doctor describing him as acutely psychotic and another reporting that there was nothing wrong with him. He landed himself in court for breaking a previous order not to go within a set distance of his parents’ house because they did not want him. He’d been found living in an outside toilet.
His defence Mark Williams told the court: “Clearly, this is a young man who is not right. He may not have a mental illness. If he hasn’t got a mental illness, he has got something that sets him apart from normal 17-year-olds. He clearly has problems and the court system can’t deal with him. There is nothing the court can do that will help him or anybody else.” The court agreed and gave him a conditional discharge. There was no indication as to where he would now live although Social Services were to get involved.
Some Burnley fans were in the money, those who don’t understand horse racing but occasionally make a bet based on the horse’s name. The winner of the opening race at Bangor that week was called ‘Up the Clarets’ and had romped home at 9/1.
James Howarth, aged 84, had collapsed in Colne Road. An ambulance was called and they brought him back from the dead. Once in hospital, Mr Howarth was able to thank them. “If it wasn’t for them, I would not be here now,” he said. The ambulance service won thanks for their prompt and outstanding service.
The injury list was growing for Stan Ternent but that didn’t prevent him allowing two players to go out on loan. Goalkeeper Tony Parks, whose only appearances for Burnley had come in the two League Cup games against Bury, joined newly promoted Conference club Barrow while Mark Winstanley became the first of the gang of four to leave. He was expected to sign for Scarborough but he turned them down and signed a loan deal with the league’s bottom club Shrewsbury. He would make his Salop debut in a 1-0 defeat at Darlington as Burnley took on Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium.
Ternent had received a blow with news that defender Neil Moore’s knee injury was worse than believed and he would now need to immobilise it for at least six weeks. That was added to the loss of Mark Ford (broken ankle), Ronnie Jepson (Achilles) and Paul Weller (stomach strain) who were all thought to be out until after Christmas. The better news came from Steve Morgan and Paul Smith who were both improving having suffered injuries, and Gavin Ward who we’d secured on loan for a further month from Bolton. He’d also revealed that he would be making an offer for Norwegian keeper Frank Petter Kval.
Ternent was desperate for the away form to improve and said ahead of the long trip to Kent: “The away problems over the last few years are not a hang-up. They are simply down to the fact that the side has not been good enough. I don’t know why the form has been so different between home and away games but having 10,000 people shouting you on must seem like having an extra player. It’s my job to make sure that the side is good enough to do the business at home and away, and despite the fact that we’ve had to use so many youngsters, I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
The team included some of those youngsters again at Gillingham; Chris Scott and Carl Smith were both in the starting eleven and on the subs bench Matt Heywood and Colin Carr-Lawton were joined by Paul Graham who was on the bench for the first time.
Sadly, it was another defeat on the road for Burnley but it took a late, controversial goal to secure all three points for the home team and not for the first time we’d fallen foul of a difficult to accept decision so late in the game having seen that ridiculous penalty given against us in the final minutes at Chesterfield that gave them a 1-0 win.
How fortunes can change at different clubs. Gillingham started the game with two strikers in Carl Asaba and Robert Taylor who had cost them over half a million pounds each when they were signed from Reading and Brentford, each of them more than Burnley had spent on their entire team.
Asaba was involved too when Gillingham took an early lead but it was a very fortunate goal. It came from a corner won when a Mick Galloway shot hit Brian Reid. He took the corner himself and played it to Asaba who returned it for GALLOWAY to see his deflected shot sneak in at the near post.
They had deserved the lead. Tony Pulis’ side were better than we were but, one goal apart, they weren’t making it count and they paid for it when we won a corner ourselves just after the half hour. Glen Little sent it beyond the far post where Peter Swan headed it back in. Reid swung a foot at it and that saw the ball land nicely for Andy PAYTON who volleyed home his third goal in three games. It changed things. Only a top save from Vince Bartram denied Payton a second and we were now looking the better team in the latter stages of the half.
The second half was, in the main, a quiet affair but the Burnley defence, when called on, were in excellent form and for much of the half a 1-1 draw looked the most likely result, and it would have been the fairest result.
Both the goals in the first half had come from corners and Gillingham won one with not long remaining. Substitute John Hodge found Paul Smith whose shot was a total mis-hit. Robert TAYLOR dug the ball out and smashed a shot towards goal. It beat Ward but there was Chris Brass to deny him with a wonderful block on the line. Burnley cleared the ball up but then the linesman flagged to indicate that the ball had crossed the line, apparently the only man inside the Priestfield Stadium to think that. Referee Alan Butler awarded the goal and Burnley were beaten.
An unhappy Ternent said: “It was another game that we should have got something out of, but the linesman gave a decision and I’m not allowed to say anything. Their manager and both sets of players said it wasn’t over the line, end of story, and we lost to that decision. We deserved something, but Lady Luck again conspired against us.”
He added: “We have to score two goals to get a result as we haven’t kept a clean sheet this season, but that’s the story of Burnley over the last three or four years and that’s why I am here. If I can’t change it, then someone else will try.
“The spirit is excellent though. The lads did well, and with Andy Payton and Andy Cooke about, you are always going to nick something, but we still have a soft centre. We are making progress but not quick enough. We will work hard in training all week and look forward to facing Wigan next Saturday.”
The teams were;
Gillingham: Vince Bartram, Barry Ashby, Adrian Pennock, Paul Smith, Matt Bryant (John Hodge 62), Darren Carr, Mark Patterson, Andy Hessenthaler (Nicky Southall 90), Carl Asaba, Mick Galloway, Rob Taylor. Sub not used: James Pinnock.
Burnley: Gavin Ward, Chris Scott, Chris Brass, Peter Swan, Brian Reid, Gordon Armstrong, Glen Little, Mark Robertson, Carl Smith, Andy Cooke, Andy Payton. Subs not used: Matt Heywood, Paul Graham, Colin Carr-Lawton.
Referee: Alan Butler (Nottingham).
Attendance: 5,702.
Just one former Burnley player was on the scoresheet in this week and it came at Maine Road when former loanee David Reeves gave Chesterfield the lead in a 1-1 draw against Manchester City. The result left City, reportedly favourites to win the league before the season kicked off, in eighth place but now nine points behind leaders Stoke who had won 1-0 at Wrexham with a Ray Wallace goal. They remained four points clear of second place Preston who were also 1-0 winners away from home. Michael Appleton scored their goal at Oldham.
Reading were the only one of the bottom four to pick up a point but they remained in the relegation places along with Macclesfield, Lincoln and bottom club Wycombe. Our defeat had seen us drop two places to eighteenth with Gillingham one of the clubs to go above us.
Division Two Results
Friday 18th September
Walsall 3 Notts County 2
Saturday 19th September
Blackpool 1 Luton 0
Bristol Rovers 3 Lincoln 0
Fulham 3 York 3
Gillingham 2 Burnley 1
Manchester City 1 Chesterfield 1
Millwall 2 Northampton 1
Oldham 0 Preston 1
Reading 1 Colchester 1
Wigan 2 Macclesfield 0
Wrexham 0 Stoke 1
Wycombe 0 Bournemouth 2
Burnley Goalscorers
5: Andy Payton
2: Andy Cooke
1; Gordon Armstrong
Leading Goalscorers
7: Barry Hayles (Bristol Rovers)
6: Stuart Barlow (Wigan)
5: Richard Cresswell (York), Dean Crowe (Stoke), Shaun Goater (Manchester City), Kurt Nogan (Preston), Andy Payton (Burnley), Andy Rammell (Walsall)
4: Phil Clarkson (Blackpool) Steve Davis (Luton), David Eyres (Preston), Graham Kavanagh (Stoke)
League Table
| Pos | Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | gd | pts |
| 1 | Stoke | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 24 |
| 2 | Preston | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 20 |
| 3 | Bournemouth | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 17 |
| 4 | Luton | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 17 |
| 5 | Blackpool | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 17 |
| 6 | Walsall | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 16 |
| 7 | Fulham | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| 8 | Manchester City | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| 9 | Bristol Rovers | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 13 |
| 10 | Millwall | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 13 |
| 11 | York | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| 12 | Colchester | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 12 |
| 13 | Wrexham | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 12 |
| 14 | Notts County | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 11 |
| 15 | Chesterfield | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 11 |
| 16 | Gillingham | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| 17 | Wigan | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 18 | Burnley | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 8 |
| 19 | Oldham | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | -5 | 8 |
| 20 | Northampton | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 7 |
| 21 | Macclesfield | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 10 | -7 | 5 |
| 22 | Reading | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 14 | -8 | 5 |
| 23 | Lincoln | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 16 | -10 | 5 |
| 24 | Wycombe | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 13 | -9 | 2 |
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