The kid talent, the red card and the telling silence at the end ... the story of Rotherham United 0 Stevenage 0
LEE Clark was once a bit of a child prodigy himself.
So he knows one when he sees one.
“Harry Gray, what a special player he is,” said Rotherham United's new boss after taking charge of his first home match, against Stevenage on Good Friday.
“He's only 17. Some of the touches and some of the flicks were amazing. He's got awareness and desire. He's got some career to look forward to.”
Thus, when the net opened up for the Leeds United loanee just a few yards from the North Stand goal in the closing stages of a match the relegation-threatened Millers simply had to win, AESSEAL New York Stadium prepared to celebrate.
Sadly, the teenager's feet - which had, at times, been exquisite - failed to function quite at their nimble best and the chance went begging.
“The ball was a little bit behind him and it's caught his heel,” Clark said. “Then he's had to try to readjust.”
The subsequent effort was blocked - much like the Millers' route out of League One’s drop zone. Victory would have given them a sliver of survival optimism going into the final month of the season. The goalless draw left them still nine points adrift of the safety mark, with time and matches rapidly running out.
“Every game, we need to win, we know that,” Clark acknowledged. “We're in such a situation that single points aren't really going to help us.”
The clash pitched a 22nd-placed team against visitors who are pushing for the play-offs and there wasn't much between them. Both sides had pressure, both had decent sights of goal, neither made the most of them and no-one from either camp was particularly complaining about the justness of the outcome.
Clark's priority since his March 18 appointment has been to try to lift the mood in a camp weighed down by too many defeats, too many injuries and too little hope
To a degree, he has succeeded. That Rotherham - still depleted by their casualty list - matched seventh-placed opposition is testament to his effect.
“All I've tried to drill into them is that they're good players,” he said. “They should believe they're good players. When you go on a losing run with lots of young players, they lose confidence. But I've seen the confidence and belief coming back in them.
“I've asked them to try to enjoy playing. This is a job that is unbelievable. Football starts as a hobby and you end up having it as your job and getting paid for it. It's absolutely fantastic. We should try to enjoy it as much as we can.”
In the first half, Gray and Dan Gore pulled a few strings, big, battling Stevenage pulled a lot of shirts and the interval came with the goalkeepers each having only one routine save to make.
Ted Cann held on to Charlie Goode's tame header and Filip Marschall had similar ease in dealing with Sam Nombe's shot from just outside the penalty area.
Early in the second half, Gore made his presence felt in the wrong kind of way, signing his calling card for Louis Thompson with an elbow. He got off lightly with a booking but there would be consequences further down the line.
Duncan Watmore played in Liam Kelly who failed to hit the target from an inviting position, Ar'Jany Martha volleyed just too high. Gray flashed a header wide and the tumbling Watmore appealed in vain for a penalty.
For Stevenage, Harvey White blazed over and Beryly Lubala stung the palms of Cann with a rasping effort.
Then, in the 88th minute, Gore's earlier misdemeanour came back to haunt him when he took one for the team to halt a visiting attack and was pointed in the direction of the dugout by referee Carl Brook.
“No complaints,” said Clark about the sending-off. “They're yellow cards in today's game. Dan's seen that their lad was breaking on him and didn't want him to get on us so he stopped him. We have to accept that. Nothing against Dan. He had to make that quick decision. That's football.
“We had to change the shape a little bit and the lads who've seen out the last 10 minutes have done a great job for us.”
The manager's Stevenage counterpart, Alex Revell, felt that the Rotherham man should have gone sooner: “I think it's a clear elbow into Louis' face.”
By then, Gray's big chance had come and gone. No-one was blaming him in any kind of way. The youngster had led the Millers' charge in the second half.
Clark, a captain of England Schoolboys when he was 14, said: “This is a special talent, without a shadow of a doubt. Is he better than I was at his age? Absolutely.”
Millers supporters had got behind their team in the second half, but New York was so, so quiet on the final whistle. Clark - as he must do - is still talking up the prospect of a great escape, but most people are in agreement about what's coming up.
Barring a miracle beyond Neil Warnock proportions, it will be League Two next term.
And the fans' resigned silence at the end was the loudest possible acknowledgement of that.
Rotherham (4-2-3-1): Ted Cann; Joe Rafferty, Lenny Agbaire (Jamal Baptiste 76), Zak Jules, Reece James; Dan Gore, Liam Kelly; Jack Holmes (Ar'Jany Martha 55), Duncan Watmore (Josh Benson 90+1), Harry Gray; Sam Nombe. Subs not used: Ben Childs, Brandon Cover, Josh Ayres, Gabriele Biancheri.
Stevenage (4-2-3-1): Filip Marschall; Luther James-Wildin (Jasper Pattenden 16), Charlie Goode, Carl Piergianni, Lewis Freestone; Harvey White, Jordan Roberts (Beryly Lubala 81); Louis Thompson (Dan Kemp 68), Dan Phillips (Jordan Houghton 68), Matty Phillips; Jamie Reid.
Subs not used: Taye Ashby-Hammond, Dan Sweeney, Lenny Brown.
Referee: Carl Brook (East Sussex)
Attendance: 7,920 (349)