A year's a long time in football

JUST over a year ago Burnley were humbled 5-0 by Gillingham in their own back yard as the vultures circled over Turf Moor.

Bob Taylor scored four times before half-time and the Clarets players were sent out to spend most of the interval pondering their future in the division.

It didn't have an immediate effect as Manchester City went one better three days later and knocked in half-a-dozen en route to promotion.

But since that painful bottoming out, it's been progress all the way for the Clarets who could go close to completing their rehabilitation by beating Gillingham in tonight's promotion showdown.

Victory will put Stan Ternent's side second in the table with four games to play and the turn-around in fortunes is clearly illustrated by the fact that only five of the players who faced Gillingham in February, 1999 may be in tonight's starting line-up.

One of those is Lenny Johnrose, who remembers that fateful day well.

He said: "At the time we were struggling for points and we were looking as though we might not stay up.

"It was one of the worst performances that I personally have been involved in.

"But a year's a long time in football and it's completely changed."

As a result, Johnrose is chasing his third promotion in five seasons after previously helping Ternent's Bury from the Third to the First Divisions. "For the first time this season it's down to us, so hopefully we'll get the right result tonight and take it from there," said the in-form midfielder ahead of back-to-back fixtures against the Gills and then Millwall which could go a long way to deciding the Clarets' fate.

"We are trying to play it down and take it one game at a time but everybody's talking about the two games that are coming up. If we can get maximum points out of that we've got a good chance," Johnrose added.

Burnley are unbeaten in eight games and a sequence of three wins on the bounce is promising to catapult them out of the play-off pack.

And last-gasp wins in the past fortnight have only added to the belief in the dressing room that Burnley could do it.

"It's different class but the atmosphere has been like that all season to be quite honest.

"We've never really had a terribly bad run. We've had a few games where we haven't won but the atmosphere has been good within the lads and I can't see that changing really," Johnrose insisted.

There is a note of caution, however, as Burnley know that they must keep their momentum going to avoid falling into the trap that has already ensnared Wigan Athletic and Bristol Rovers just when they looked to have booked their passage to the First Division.

"We're under no illusions at all. Other teams have been in the position we are in now and they've let it slip," Johnrose said.

"But we've got five games to go and it's quite an exciting time. The lads are excited and just want to get out and play football."