Division Two: Burnley 0 Gillingham 3 - Pete Oliver's match verdict

SO NEAR, yet so far.

Burnley had put themselves on the brink of a promotion place only to throw their end-of-season fate back into the melting pot on a disastrous night at Turf Moor.

It's too early to write off the Clarets' chances of finishing second in the table as they have confounded the critics before this season.

But they simply have to beat Millwall now on Saturday and even then their destiny again lies in the hands of others, including Gillingham who kept alive their hopes of by-passing the play-offs with a classic away-day victory.

Out-manoeuvring Burnley, the Gills made themselves almost impossible to beat with a wall of blue shirts between the ball and their goal.

And that instantly became a blue-print for success when they were handed the all-important opening goal on a plate by Dean West's fatal error of judgement.

Had the Clarets drawn first blood, Gillingham would have had to add to the solitary figure of Iffy Ounroa up front by committing men further forward.

As it was they defended in numbers, refused to be drawn out of their deep-lying positions and then ruthlessly hit Burnley on the break after half-time to add further goals from corners. Even the introduction of Ian Wright failed to add a cutting edge to Burnley's attack which was magnificently blunted by central defenders Barry Ashby and Guy Butters, aided and abetted by Adrian Pennock and Paul Smith.

Gillingham manager Peter Taylor also had words of praise afterwards for Nayron Nosworthy for his man-marking of Wright and earlier Paul Cook as two of Burnley's most incisive players were unable to find a solution to the test Gillingham set them.

They weren't alone, however, as the Gills strangled the life out of a Burnley side crying out for attacking width on the right side to stretch the visitors and play balls in from a more testing angle.

As it was, every cross into the Gillingham box was meat and drink for their willing defenders who were protected by a suffocating blanket across midfield.

"They set their stall out and played with only one up front right from the start. We did have a lot of possession but we never really tested their keeper to be fair," admitted Clarets skipper Steve Davis.

"We had crosses going in but never really threatened to score which is disappointing because it's goals that win games. To be fair to Gillingham they are an organised team and hard to break down. I think they played well and deserved to win really."

How badly Glen Little was missed as the cost of his sending off at Cardiff was brought painfully home to bear. There was no-one to do something that bit different, to dribble through or outside the resolute Gillingham back line or deliver a telling cross for Andy Payton, bar a couple of isolated efforts from Graham Branch and Paul Smith. And that was to contribute to the Clarets' downfall after their promising opening had been undone after 21 minutes by Ty Gooden, who pounced after West tried to chest the ball back to goalkeeper Paul Crichton rather than heading the ball clear.

"I thought we started very brightly for the first 20 minutes and then the mistake changed the course of the game. And a goal just after half-time doesn't help," admitted manager Stan Ternent.

"They sat back and played us on the break and, as the game progressed, we got more and more frustrated with it and we got punished."

Gillingham, having survived a couple of close calls from Payton early on, were then content for Burnley to have as much possession as they wanted around half-way.

Mitchell Thomas and Ian Cox were forced to work their way sideways across the pitch as the Clarets worked hard for an opening that just wouldn't come.

Micky Mellon had a volley charged down by the outstanding Andy Hessenthaler, West headed into the side netting and Branch and Smith whipped balls across the face of goal just before the break. But clear-cut chances were non-existent and Ternent turned to Ronnie Jepson rather than Alan Lee to try and break the spell.

However, Jepson had barely had time to warm up when Burnley were killed off with a second goal.

Thomas averted the immediate danger with a superb block on Onuora but from the resultant corner, Crichton was caught in no-man's land at the near post and Ashby's flick went in at the unguarded far one.

The response was to throw on Wright and Weller but there could be no heroics this time.

Wright, starved of space and service, managed to wriggle free to deliver one snap-shot at the under-employed Vince Bartram but all the attacking threat came from Gillingham, particularly after Lenny Johnrose's departure after 67 minutes with a head wound left the hosts with 10 men.

As Burnley poured men forward in an increasingly futile effort to break through, the Gills were able to counter-attack at will as they threatened to go close to last season's five-goal haul.

Crichton made a brilliant save from Onuora to delay a third but was soon picking the ball out of the net again 20 minutes from time when Smith headed home another Hessenthaler corner.

Burnley have scored vital late goals in recent games.

But the greeting of four minutes of added time from those remaining in a highly impressive crowd of 17,026 with groans said all that needed to be said.