RELIVE THE SEASON FEBRUARY
FEBRUARY A MONTH REDEEMED AT THE DEATH
By John Taylor
After 2 unbeaten months, February kicked off with the visit of
A few minutes mayhem then ensued and we were lucky to keep it at 1.This didn't last long though and we started to attack again, but could not find a breakthrough, despite many attempts and several worthy penalty appeals. Gills keeper Brown did his best to wind up the Kop by some wondrous time wasting, but the ref was pretty lenient in his merely talking to him about it, thus wasting more time. We at least ruined his day when we finally found a late equaliser from the boot of Hall for his 100th league goal. Still, this was yet another draw in a game we should have won comfortably.
Worse was to follow in the week when
Next up was Donny on Wednesday night for a difficult encounter with Dave Penney's charges. Rovers have a reputation for playing a tough, but good footballing game with a high degree of commitment, but after this game I saw them in a different light. Roche gifted the visitors a goal on 14 minutes when he made a mess of coming for a left wing cross, palming the ball to Price who eased the ball into the unguarded net. We pressed with regularity, but as the game wore on we had the look of a team that was never going to score, particularly when the Chief limped off midway through the second half. Barry Roche made up for his error with another penalty save, this time from McIndoe, but that was the highlight of another disappointing evening. Donny's cynicism was not an appealing sight. Twice they feigned injury in an attempt to get our men cautioned-one in the first half with Kovacs, which the ref saw, but failed to act upon and once with O'Hare after the break when the Irishman had already been booked (correctly-I might add). The ref gave a free kick this time, but much to the Donny chap's chagrin, failed even to talk to O'Hare for the supposed foul.
One still had to admire the
Top-of-the-table Southend were next on the fixture list for what promised to be an interesting encounter, but what turned out to be an infuriating afternoon. Derek Niven, dropped from the
Shortly after the resumption, however, it all went pear shaped, courtesy of a certain Mr Darren Deadman, referee. After 5 minutes of the half, the Shrimpers attacked with vigour down the right and pulled our defence all over the place. The ball fell to Eastwood, just inside the area and his fierce shot cannoned off Kovacs who was alert to the danger and put himself in the way. No appeal was made by either players or fans, but Mr Deadman, after a few seconds thought, gave a penalty and dismissed the Hungarian for deliberately preventing a clear goal. At the time the decision looked plain wrong and subsequent video replays and still photos convince me that the ball was nowhere near his hands.
Anyway, Eastwood duly converted and the visitors were back in it. Soon afterwards, they were ahead as Eastwood's shot took an outrageous deflection off the challenging Alan O'Hare and looped over the stranded Barry Roche. We were not deterred by this though and were soon level with a Niven goal, made in excellent fashion by Caleb Folan.
With 16 minutes left the visitors equalised when a corner was flicked on to Goater who headed in from an inch. It was, I believe, his first goal against us at the umpteenth attempt. With 7 left Eastwood completed his dubious hat-trick with a well placed free-kick after Niven's foul 20 yards out. Mr Deadman had, in the build-up to this, missed a foul on the edge of the Southend box and a handball in the centre-he clearly doesn't like us. That ended the scoring and a 4-3 defeat was difficult to take, particularly with the unfairness of it all.
To make matters worse, our appeal against the dismissal was thrown out, despite the evidence of the injustice and Kovacs was suspended for the
The Millers were pushing this game for all it was worth with fund-raising initiatives and a big crowd needed to help the campaign to save the club. Two successive wins had boosted confidence and after 3 defeats for us on the trot, the home fans were looking forward to their first league victory over us at Millmoor since 1979. After a surprisingly dull first half, Jamie O'Hara was fouled on the edge of their box in injury time. Kevan Hurst knocked the resulting free kick into the bottom corner of the Millers' net for a great goal with our first shot. The considerable Town contingent in the loo or pie queue was a little miffed, but pleased simultaneously. We all perked up shortly after the resumption when O'Hara's corner was woefully cleared to Niven who despatched a beautiful side-footer into
Just when it looked like a 3-0 win, Allott found an exquisite pass for O'Hara to latch onto with 3 minutes left and the youngster controlled well, outpaced Murdock and right footed past Montgomery for a 4th goal for our midfield quartet. The ground virtually emptied at this point and then
Off the field, young Aussie Aaron Downes has signed a new contract, which is good news, though we hope he has no need of Wayne Allison's shirt in future, unlike at Millmoor when he had to change his entire blood-splattered garb for that of the Chief. Otherwise the month was fairly quiet apart from our previously mentioned shenanigans with the FA.
John's man of the month Mark Allott hammering home the 3rd goal at Millmoor
On the man-of-the-month front, we've a few contenders despite the mixed results. Phil Picken has continued to impress, whether on the right or left, Jamie O'Hara has gained more experience and contributed increasingly, but my vote this time goes to Mark Allott who has had some fine displays as skipper, crowned by his great goal and brilliant assist at
