Football: Waddle makes his opening point

Burnley 0 Gillingham

From "Diamond Lights" to lesser lights. There has been no instant hit in the management parade for Glenn Hoddle's old singing partner. Beaten by Watford on his debut day at Vicarage Road, Chris Waddle's first double shift at his new home office was not a happy one either. It was not entirely pointless for Burnley and their new boss. But the consolation of a first point on the board was all that could have lightened the load on the famously- slumped shoulders Arthur Cox once said looked like they were weighed down by a sack of coal.

For the time being, they remain weighed down by expectation. At 36, Waddle has clearly taken on a giant task. Burnley yesterday looked not so much a sleeping giant as a comatose one. Even when Waddle belatedly rose from the substitutes' bench with 20 minutes remaining he could not rouse them. Indeed, the only impression made by the one-time European Cup finalist was in the referee's notebook after a clumsy challenge on Matt Bryant. The less gifted Burnley players - the rest - struggled to find their individual touch, let alone a collective pattern.

The odds, to be fair, were against them once David Eyres was dismissed for a second bookable offence after 34 minutes. By then, however, the rot had set in. The roars of kick-off time were replaced by jeers as the 11,811 crowd departed.

The days when the Clarets were leading lights seemed vintage indeed. They were champions of the old First Division when Waddle was wrapped in swaddling, in December 1960. Such has been Burnley's descent from the great heights they achieved in the Bob Lord days that their new manager's career path had crossed Turf Moor just once before: when Newcastle were beaten by a Terry Donovan goal back in March 1983. Only one of Burnley's 14 campaigns since then has been spent outside the bottom two divisions and climbing to the upper rungs of the Nationwide League ladder is Waddle's immediate task.

On yesterday's evidence, despite pounds 600,000 having been invested in new players already, the hoped-for graduation ceremony might not be quite so immediate. The only neat stuff Waddle could see from the home bench was Turf Moor's turf itself, splendidly manicured by one of the grass roots heroes of Burnley's glory days, midfield-man-turned-groundsman Arthur Bellamy.

Only Marlon Beresford and his crossbar averted defeat, Leo Fortune-West's dismissal for elbowing coming too late, with seven minutes remaining, to help Burnley. "The commitment was there," Waddle said afterwards, striving to look on the bright side. "And the desire was there..." The rest did not need to be said. In terms of talent, the Clarets served only the dregs.