Gillingham on the Gazza trail

Geoff Brown
Sunday 08 December 2002 01:00 GMT
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Andy Hessenthaler, the Gillingham manager, revealed after watching the Gills beat Bradford City 3-1 at Valley Parade that he is hoping to tempt Paul Gascoigne to join his Nationwide First Division squad. "Our chairman has spoken to the player's representative. Paul is keeping himself fit and we need a bit of extra quality in midfield. We are looking to create more in that part of the field, which is why we enquired about John Moncur at West Ham."

The Crazy Gang and route one football might be dim and distant memories for Wimbledon but a certain cussedness of spirit prevails at the club. Trailing Preston 3-1 with an hour played at Deepdale, they staged a remarkable rally to score four goals in the last 25 minutes and rout Craig Brown's side 5-3.

Brown described his side's collapse as "shockingly unacceptable". The Dons' manager, Stuart Murdoch, thought "it could have been 9-8... Preston were better than us, but I am pleased we scored five."

Having beaten Sunderland of the Premiership on Tuesday night, Sheffield United battled to a goalless draw at Leicester City, second in the table. "Leicester have Premiership players and are very hard to compete against," Neil Warnock, the Blades' manager, said, "but, after our midweek exertions in the Worthington Cup, I have to be very pleased."

At Turf Moor, Lee Briscoe's diving header from Paul Cook's cross was enough to give Burnley all three points from the visit of Nottingham Forest, who stay third. The Clarets stay ninth.

A contentious week for the Derby manager, John Gregory, ended happily at Pride Park where the Rams beat Watford 3-0, Lee Morris, Chris Riggott and Deon Burton, who has put in a transfer request, scoring. "We can't concede two goals from corners and expect to get anything out of the game," Ray Lewington, the Hornets' manager, said.

The relegation clash between the bottom two, Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton, ended 1-1. Gary Hart's header gave the South Coast side a 20th-minute lead but substitute Shefki Kuqi grabbed a late equaliser.

Stoke City, just above them, were beaten 2-1 at home by Coventry City, Jay Bothroyd scoring twice in five first-half minutes. The Potters had Wayne Thomas and Brynjar Gunnarsson sent off and referee Andy Hall's performance prompted the managers, Coventry's Gary McAllister and Tony Pulis, to voice their concern together at the post-match press conference.

Grimsby Town are still close to peril after a 3-1 defeat at Walsall, while the south London derby between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park went Palace's way, Danny Granville's second-half goal earning them a 1-0 win.

Finally, Ronnie Moore, the Rotherham manager, saw his side win 2-1 at Ipswich Town, the club he thought wanted him to replace George Burley. "I felt a little bit strange when I stepped out of the coach at the ground, I genuinely felt that the job had been offered to me," he said before guiding the Millers to a win.

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