Gavin Mahon: 'To lose in the last minute was heartbreaking'

Championship / Gavin Mahon / 15 January 2009 / Leave a Comment

The QPR man bemoans a slew of missed chances both in the FA Cup and in the Championship and offers his best bets for this weekend's Lancashire derby...

Going out to Burnley in our cup replay on Tuesday was a big disappointment - especially as we looked the more likely winners for most of the night.

It was a bit surreal, playing in front of about 3,000, because I've always associated Burnley with noisy fans. They don't get much more than 10,000 for league games but it feels like they're right on top of you at Turf Moor.

That probably worked to our advantage because the home side were a bit flatter early on, without that backing. We changed our system for the third time in a few weeks, playing 4-3-3 for this match.

The manager, Paulo Sousa, is certainly not frightened of asking the boys to open their minds to different tactics and the response has been really good - it's been fresh and lively all the time. We went one up then Martin Rowlands had a couple of great chances which would have put the tie to bed.

I came off with not long left in normal time and I was watching the coaches start getting the list of penalty-takers ready before the end of extra-time. I'm a bit superstitious and was thinking 'Don't do it!'. I've seen it on the box before where the assistant manager's jotting down his five names and the picture cuts back to the other team scoring.

It's a shame we had to go out in such a cruel way. We looked decent at times, particularly as it was away from home, so to go out in the last minute of extra-time was a bit of heart-breaker. Getting home at four in the morning didn't really help lift the mood either!

I fancied us to take all three points at home to Coventry in the league last Saturday but we ended up with only one. Again, it's not for the lack of creativity, we just haven't been as clinical as we'd like in front of goal.

It should a given that you'll win the match if the other side go down to 10 men and that's what happened to Coventry shortly into the second-half.

But actually they took the lead and it was us who had to keep our belief, keep our movement and shape and ignore the pressure of being 11 v 10. We got an equaliser and probably should have gone on and won it but it showed good character not to be affected too badly by an unexpected set-back.

There were plenty of good performances by Championship sides against the Premier League lads. I've often thought that even the best of players don't really enjoy being pressed and harassed for 90 minutes.

Of course, on a good day they'll just play around you all the time but, on a bobbly pitch on a cold January afternoon, some of the big-time lads are not quite up for it.

Preston North End v Burnley, Sky Sports 1, Sat Jan 17, 12.45pm

Every week Betting.Betfair Premier League previewer Richard Walker chats to Gavin about the biggest of the weekend televised matches in The Championship and recommends a couple of bets based on Gavin's insight into the match.

Gavin says: Burnley have got the League Cup semi-final second leg against Spurs coming up after this match but that's probably all over as a contest. Getting through against us in the FA Cup won't mean as much as the Carling Cup unless they can perhaps get to the last four or eight.

Their main striker, Martin Paterson, pulled out of our game in the warm-up with an injury so there's plenty of things going against them right now.

They're on roughly the same points, but Preston have done most of their winning at home and just beat Wolves 3-1 at Molineux.

The goals have been shared around a bit so it's hard to be certain that strikers like Neil Mellor or Jon Parkin are going to be on the scoresheet. It might take a goal from a midfielder to open this one up for Preston.

Richard suggests:
Match Gavin's confidence in Burnley's malaise. Back Preston/Preston in the Half-Time/Full-Time market at [3.55], or at [2.1] in Match Odds if you prefer something a bit shorter.

Back 2-0 to North End [12.5] with a 1-0 cover at [9.2].

Take a chance with PNE skipper Paul McKenna in the To Score list, he'll be around [8.5] when the market takes shape.