A familiar tale of misery

Photo: Max Flego

OVER THERE: Athletic boss Dave Penney signals an order to his players.

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Pictures: MAX FLEGO

SUPPORTING Athletic right now is like living out the life of Bill Murray’s character in the film Groundhog Day.

For those who haven’t seen this classic of the romantic comedy genre, a sour American weatherman lives out the same day over and over and over again after unwittingly getting stuck in a time loop.

Hilarity ensues as he tries to break the repetitive cycle, eventually succeeding and learning a useful life lesson in the process.

Athletic haven’t reached the end of the script yet.

Their own Groundhog Day, also lived out by those fans who have followed the team over the past three games, follows this pattern: filthy weather conditions, stodgy midfield battle, couple of chances go begging, let one in due to a stroke of misfortune.

And it is fair to say there are fewer laughs in this long-play version than the one Murray stars in.

Certainly, those poor 135 souls in the uncovered away end at the wind-battered Priestfield Stadium won’t have skipped back to their cars whistling show tunes following a third goal-less defeat in a row.

It is difficult to point the finger at any specific factor for hard-working Athletic’s poor run of form, other than the lack of goals which comes as a result of losing your best striker.

Away from home, Dave Penney’s men had enjoyed a successive trio of clean sheets and had picked up seven points in that sequence, with six-goal poacher Pawel Abbott in the side.

This was the first game away from Boundary Park without him this season. Nick Blackman worked hard as the lone striker in the injured Abbott’s place, but despite putting in a decent shift work-wise, things didn’t quite go right for him without much in the way of support.

Athletic fell to a tumble from another borrowed front man. Gillingham’s acquisition of Febian Brandy from Manchester United looks a sharp bit of business on this evidence.

After having a major hand in all three of his side’s goals in Gillingham’s 3-0 FA Cup win over Southend last week, Brandy went over following a challenge from Sean Gregan just after the hour to win the decisive penalty.

On an afternoon so blustery the whole of Kent could have been powered by the energy generated by a couple of wind turbines temporarily erected on the edge of the playing surface, a long ball was held up in the sky as it passed over Gregan’s shoulder, with Brandy sniffing close by.

As it dropped, the diminutive front man poked his toe out to just beat Gregan to the punch, falling over as the Athletic captain attempted to make contact with the ball.

Frantic flagging from the assistant referee led to Weston belting his spot-kick low and to the right of ’keeper Darryl Flahavan.

Penney’s side could have equalised when Danny Whitaker was presented with a great opportunity.

The midfielder was clean through after Blackman had somehow squeezed the ball forward as defenders converged on him. But, set away in the clear, instead of shooting with his left foot, Whitaker opted to cut back inside and curl one with his right. The wrong option, it drifted a fair distance wide.

The other main scoring chance of the 90 minutes fell to Weston once again.

Somehow wriggling through a phalanx of Athletic defenders, the quick winger-turned-striker appeared to be set for an effort on goal but for a Reuben Hazell trip three minutes from the end of normal time. The resolute centre-half received one of six yellow cards dished out to Athletic players, but it could just as easily have been a red on this occasion.

A couple of Gillingham efforts which struck the bar aside, the rest of the game was forgettable.

Hazell produced a good block on Weston’s goalbound header after 19 minutes, before Whitaker sliced wide off Chris Taylor’s pull-back from the byline.

Brandy — electric in terms of pace and trickery in the opening quarter of the game — saw his shot stopped by the frame of Gregan, and Blackman’s header off a good Lee Hills cross drifted over the bar 10 minutes before half-time.

Weston then crashed a superb curling effort from outside the penalty area off the bar, before Blackman rapped a good shot narrowly over after some neat footwork to find a shooting opportunity.

Taylor was booked shortly before half-time for taking exception to a Gillingham player’s position in an Athletic defensive wall, but Penney would have been relatively content as the teams changed ends.

Hazell went close on the resumption, heading on to the roof of the net from Whitaker’s free-kick.

Then came the Brady penalty incident, which left Athletic chasing the game from then on.

A minute later and it could have been two, as Gregan’s weak clearance fell to Andy Barcham. The winger’s shot from outside the area was superbly tipped on to the bar by Flahavan and the danger passed.

Whitaker could then have drawn the visitors level, the move beginning with one of a series of fierce Dean Furman tackles, but it wasn’t to be.

Alex Marrow was next to see yellow following a foul on Chris Palmer, before Penney sent on a second striker in the shape of Keigan Parker with 18 minutes remaining, switching to 4-4-2.

Furman then sent a well-struck volley from outside the area thudding into the chest of Gills’ under-worked ’keeper Simon Royce, before Andy Holdsworth — unluckily — and Furman both found their way into the referee’s notebook.

Ryan Brooke came on with seven minutes left as Athletic strived for an equaliser, but the visitors failed to fashion another scoring chance.

The home side went close to going two up when Weston ran through the middle, upended by Hazell who was grateful to see yellow, rather than red.


We aren’t getting the breaks — Penney

DAVE PENNEY felt that the narrow defeat at Gillingham was another in a series of ‘what might have beens’ for his team.

Once again, this Coca-Cola League One clash was played out in appalling wind and rain.

Once again, the few chances that fell the way of boss Penney’s goal-shy side weren’t converted.

And once again, this tight game at the Priestfield Stadium went the way of the first side to find the back of the net.

“It was an awful game in awful conditions and at present, we aren’t quite getting the breaks,” said Penney, whose team have drawn blanks in the last three matches.

“We conceded a penalty we weren’t happy about. Sean (Gregan) felt he got something on it, but the kid went down.

“We aren’t quite getting it at the moment. We aren’t getting battered, but we need to turn these fine-line defeats into wins, obviously.”

On the penalty incident in which lively on-loan Manchester United striker Febian Brandy fell to the floor following a challenge from Sean Gregan — with the assistant referee signalling for a spot-kick — Penney felt a little aggrieved.

“He is tiny and lightweight and if people brush him, he hasn’t got the kind of physique to hold people off,” he said of Brandy.

“The ball went over the top and got held up in the wind, or else it would have gone straight through to Darryl (Flahavan).

“It was then a foot race with Sean, who got something on the ball but the player went down.”

Danny Whitaker, who provided some excellent link play between the midfield and lone striker Nick Blackman at times, fluffed Athletic’s best opportunity when not quite managing to pull the trigger with his left foot only five minutes after the Gillingham goal.

“It was probably our best chance,” admitted Penney.

“It was windy and the pitch was a bit lively — I don’t think they had chance to cut it — and it wouldn’t quite settled down for Dan.

“He ended up coming back inside and bending it around the post.

“On another day, we get a penalty in that situation or score. It is a fine line but we are on the wrong side of it at the moment.”


Coca–Cola League One results:

Brentford 2 Millwall 2, Bristol Rovers 3 Carlisle 2, Charlton 5 Milton Keynes Dons 1, Colchester 2 Exeter 2, Gillingham 1 Oldham 0, Hartlepool 1 Leyton Orient 0, Huddersfield 6 Wycombe 0, Norwich 2 Tranmere 0, Swindon Leeds Postponed, Walsall 2 Stockport 0, Yeovil 1 Southend 0, Southampton 1 Brighton 3.