Glorious Gills
League One strugglers beat Premier League side in giantkilling feat of the FA Cup third round
Gillingham hail ‘great win’ after stunning Cardiff Warnock says Liverpool ‘lacked class’ in Clyne deal
Gillingham’s Elliott List was the hero of the FA Cup third round as the League One club produced yesterday’s biggest shock, condemning Cardiff City to a humiliating early exit from the competition.
Steve Lovell’s side took time out from their relegation battle to register the kind of giantkilling that will be long remembered at a club who last beat top-flight opposition 15 years ago.
The other upset – though it was hardly the biggest surprise – was Bristol City, mid-table in the Championship, beating Huddersfield Town, the Premier League’s bottom club. Newcastle United left it late to equalise at home to Blackburn.
Lovell said of Gillingham’s win: “It means everything to the club. It’s as big as it can get for us. They are a very good side and we knew we had to be at our best. Elliott took his goal really well. He’s a great young player, a great prospect.
“They gave everything and ran their legs off. It’s a great win for us. This is the first time I’ve played against a Premier League club, so it is my best day as a manager.”
Neil Warnock, the Cardiff manager, insisted his side had been denied two penalties and was critical of the time it took to get a stretcher on to the pitch after Danny Ward was injured late on. Ward went to hospital for a scan on his cheekbone while Kadeem Harris, his team-mate, suffered a shoulder injury.
“They battled well and we’ve got a couple of lads in hospital,” Warnock said. “You need a bit of luck and a few decisions going your way, and they got both of them. We should have had two penalties. The push on Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was blatant. I don’t think we’d have scored if we’d played for two more hours.”
Addressing the time it took for a stretcher to appear late in the game, Warnock added: “If you’re medical people and you’re wanting a stretcher… if he’d had a heart attack he’d be dead now. So they’ve got a lot to learn. Whatever division you’re in, you’re concerned about your players if they don’t get the right treatment, and we were waiting for a stretcher for quite long.
“Kadeem is having an X-ray on a shoulder and Danny is going for a scan on his cheekbone. The lad head-butted him as he has gone to flick it on.”
Defeat came after Warnock had suffered the disappointment of failing to sign Nathaniel Clyne, who opted to join Bournemouth from Liverpool having apparently indicated he would move to Cardiff. “I’m disappointed not just with the boy himself but with Liverpool as well for not ringing me, not telling me.” Warnock said. “To see it on television when they have promised he’s my player this week. It’s a disgrace, just a lack of class really, isn’t it?”