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FA Cup
Tuesday, April 8 One goal was enough for both Portsmouth and Cardiff City to book their places in next months' FA Cup final after this weekends' semis at Wembley. Cardiff edged out Barnsley thanks to Joe Ledley's outstanding volley in a lively encounter while Portsmouth progressed at the expense of West Bromwich Albion despite producing a woeful performance in a totally unsatisfactory game. It was Porstmouth and West Brom up first on Saturday and this dire game cast something of a wet blanket over the whole weekend to be honest. Portsmouth were appalling and West Brom received far more credit than they deserved for a display that involved a lot of passing but carried basically no threat whatsoever. The Baggies started well and dominated the first fifteen minutes. Their passing was crisp and their movement good. At this stage they looked dangerous despite failing to really test David James in the Portsmouth goal. After the opening quarter hour, however, West Brom's passing game became more and more pointless. Pass after pass was played backwards and square and when a more incisive ball was played forwards the recipient generally sent it back into the midfield rather than turn and attack the Portsmouth defence. In the final reckoning David James was not called on to make a save of note which was a pity as he had given signs that he was in one of his calamitous moods having made a mess of a centre and then almost presented Kevin Phillips with an open goal in mis-handling a ball that was bouncing out of play. Portsmouth were simply awful. They produced no passing football and seemed to have no idea of how to mount attacks. Eventually they struck upon the "tactic" of hoofing long balls out to the right wing for the six foot plenty Papa Bouba Diop to win headers against Paul Robinson. The giant Diop didn't even win all of these. There was no getting away from the fact that Portsmouth looked far more likely to actually score when they did get anywhere near the West Brom box, however, and they duly did so early in the second half. Milan Baros sent in a low shot that Dean Kiely did well to parry but the keeper was then blocked from grabbing the rebound by his own player allowing Kanu to poke home from a yard out. The goal left a bitter taste in the mouth. Baros, who was abysmal and cheated throughout, handled as he controlled the ball before getting his shot away. The referee should have known he had handled because he was totally incapable of controlling the ball with any other part of his body. Baros had controlled the ball with his arm down the right wing in the first half but been pulled up by the linesman. He had then controlled the ball with his arm on the edge of the box to give himself a shooting chance but been pulled up by the referee and booked but it was a case of third time lucky as he continued to cheat unashamedly. In a perfect world the goal would have been ruled out and Baros shown a second yellow card but, as we all know, it's not a perfect world. West Brom had to be more urgent in their play after falling behind but struggled to make chances. Ishmael Miller, who surely should have started, caused one or two problems for Sol Campbell with his power and Robert Koren was unlucky when his blistering drive clipped the top of the crossbar after excellent approach play by right back Carl Hoefkens who was the games' best player. Portsmouth had several good chances to clinch victory as West Brom tried to push forward but were unable to make any tell, the inept Baros missing the best of these when he failed to beat Kiely when clean through even though the keeper slipped to make things even easier for him. Portsmouth's good fortune in this competition holds firm then but we have to hope that they can produce a better performance than this in the final itself. The second semi final, though by no means a classic, was much better as both Cardiff and Barnsley gave it their best shot to claim an unlikely place in the final. Cardiff undoubtedly carried an extra touch of class, however, and this fittingly made the difference. The only goal came early in this one when Barnsley struggled to clear a long throw and when the ball lobbed towards Joe Ledley he steered a precise volley over his own shoulder into the wall of the net. The early goal ensured the game would be an open one with Barnsley having to search for an equaliser and chances came frequently at either end. Istvan Ferenczi had opportunities to draw Barnsley level but put a header wide and then saw Trevor Sinclair clear another effort off the line. Sinclair was also in action at the other end forcing a fine save out of Luke Steele after the keeper had fumbled an effort from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Gavin Rae also had clear chances but headed too close to Steele after good play from Ledley and then shot straight at the keeper when bearing down on goal. By that time the best chance of all had come and gone at the other end, however. Brian Howard shredded the centre of the Cardiff defence with a pin point through ball that had Kayode Odejayi racing clear through the middle. Peter Enckleman made the surprising decision to retreat further towards his own line and it was hard to see how the forward could miss with basically the whole goal to aim at. Somehow Odejayi managed it, however, sliding his low shot the wrong side of the post and Barnsley's big chance had been squandered. Peter Whittingham sent a dipping drive just over the bar as Cardiff finished the stronger but the Welsh side had already done enough to earn their return ticket to Wembley in May.
Tuesday, March 11 The FA Cup had already provided us with multiple upsets this season but most people probably thought that last weekends' quarter final ties would see normal service resumed. We were all wrong. Instead we had one of the most astonishing set of results ever dreamt up by this whimsical competition. The tone was set immediately as Manchester United somehow contrived to lose at home to Portsmouth. Pompey were helped by large dollops of good fortune to see off Ipswich, Plymouth and Preston in the previous rounds and their luck held firm at Old Trafford. Harry Redknapp's men put up a solid defensive display but needed the referee to turn a blind eye to a blatant body check on Ronaldo by Distin inside the box and somehow survived on two occasions when United players got beyond David James with the ball at their feet. James did not have that many taxing saves to make but was at his best to touch a drive from Evra onto the post. With Portsmouth apparently content to sit back and wait for a replay the tie was sensationally settled with twelve minutes left. Pompey broke away following a United corner and were suddenly two against two racing towards the United goal. Wayne Rooney was one of the United players back and he made the mistake of following Evra towards the man in possession leaving Milan Baros completely unmarked in the centre. Niko Kranjcar immediately played him in on goal and when Baros fell under the challenge of substitute keeper Tomasz Kuszczak the referee this time pointed to the spot. You could argue the decision was harsh, Kuszczak had taken his hands away and actually brought Baros down with his face as the forward made absolutely sure there was contact, and the red card that followed seemed severe in the extreme. It did at least provide us with the excitement of seeing an outfield player going in goal as Rio Ferdinand donned the gloves and the England defender made a magnificent attempt at saving Sulley Muntari's penalty but unfortunately for him and United the spot kick was unsavable. Unfortunately Portsmouth made no attempt to give Ferdinand any further work and all he had to do after this was catch a routine centre. Down to ten men United were unable to snatch an equaliser and we had the strange sight of Rooney continuing to play as an auxiliary defender despite his teams' deficit. United's defeat seemed to have cleared the way for Chelsea to retain their trophy in some comfort but subsequent events at Oakwell smashed this theory to pieces and left the cup wide open. Without Lampard and Drogba, apparently injured, Chelsea turned in a remarkably tepid display and ended up losing to Barnsley by the only goal of the game. Barnsley did not really produce a heroic performance but they did not have to. They were well organised, competitive and attacked in a simple and sensible manner whenever the opportunities arose and this was enough to make them very worthy winners. Barnsley came closest before half time with two efforts within a minute of each other. Istvan Ferenczi smacked a low drive against the base of a post and then Kayode Odejayi forced Cudicini into a decent save. Chelsea had posed little threat but Joe Cole was disappointed to drive wide from inside the box shortly after the restart. Barnsley continued to keep their illustrious opponents at arms length with some comfort although a home goal was looking increasingly unlikely when Odejayi suddenly struck with 25 minutes left. Martin Devaney launched a cross into the goalmouth from the right which Cudicini came to collect but found to his surprise that Odejayi could outjump him even without the advantage of using his hands. The strikers' header lobbed towards goal and a desperate Carvalho was unable to stop it crossing the line. Now you really expected a Chelsea onslaught and braced yourself for an unbearably tense finale. This never really happened. Chelsea huffed and puffed with increasing desperation but rarely forced Luke Steele into meaningful action. Instead of biting fingernails the Barnsley fans were probably sat with their feet up smoking cigars as the final minutes ticked away. These results offered the teams playing on Sunday an even greater incentive to get through and Middlesbrough must have been drreaming of glory as they prepared to entertain Cardiff City. They certainly played as though they were still asleep as Cardiff completely dominated the first half and went in at the break two goals ahead. Their first goal enjoyed a massive slice of good fortune. Stephen McPhail launched himself at a high ball around the edge of the Boro box and could easily have been pulled up for a foul after clattering into an opponent. He should certainly have been pulled up for handball after making contact with his arm but the referee took no notice of all this and when the ball then dropped to Peter Whittingham he danced his way beautifully into a shooting position before curling home an exquisite finish off the inside of a post. Shortly afterwards Boro had a real mountain to climb as Roger Johnson came forward to head home a Whittingham free kick with some ease. Johnson and Paul Parry came close to extending the visitors' lead as Cardiff continued to outplay their Premiership opponents but Boro survived to the break without further damage. After half time the home team strove desperately to force their way back into the match but lacked any real quality in their play and came no closer to a goal than Downing's free kick which just cleared the angle. The last tie saw the shocks come to an end in resounding fashion as West Brom went to Bristol Rovers and thumped them 5-1. Ishmael Miller helped himself to a hat trick and there were goals for James Morrison and Kevin Phillips as well. Danny Coles had brought the scores back to 2-1 to keep Rovers in contention at half time but the League One side were always in danger on the break as they tried to push forward after the interval and ended up harshly punished by the rampant Baggies attack. In the final reckoning the home side could not recover from the first two Albion goals which both raised big questions about the goalkeeping of Steve Phillips. No plunder for the Pirates then but three Championship teams can still dream of lifting the cup in May.
Wednesday, February 27 Middlesbrough beat Sheffield United 1-0 after extra time with a freak own goal by the Bin Man Paddy Kenny and it was absolute crap.
Tuesday, February 19 The FA Cup produced another fine weekend of action as it reached the 5th round stage. There was one huge shock to keep the romantics happy but the damage to the Premier League clubs left in ended up smaller than it might have been. The action got under way on Saturday lunchtime with Bristol Rovers taking on Southampton and this tie provided the first upset as League One Rovers defeated Championship Southampton with a late Rickie Lambert goal. The goal was highly fortuitous as Lambert's low free kick was poked high into his own net by Jermaine Wright but there was no suggestion that The Pirates had stolen the loot overall. They dominated the first half and had also seen Lambert's soaring header ruled out extremely harshly for a supposed push. Onto the afternoon and the story of the round unfolded at Anfield where Liverpool were hosting Barnsley. Rafa Benitez once again decided it would be wisest to go into the game without his best players and, having struggled to see off Luton and Havant & Waterlooville, he this time paid the ultimate price. There seemed little prospect of the shock to come as Liverpool dominated the first half and went ahead through Dirk Kuyt's poked finish from close range. Barnsley found a hero in on loan goalkeeper Luke Steele who produced up to half a dozen fine saves to keep his side in contention, the best being a swallow dive at his near post to keep out a shot from Yossi Benayoun that was arrowing into the bottom corner. The mood around Anfield changed dramatically when Barnsley suddenly levelled just before the hour mark, however. Martin Devaney found himself half a yard, at most, on the right wing and whipped over a magnificent cross that was met by Stephen Foster's bullet header and The Tykes were on terms. Liverpool continued to make chances but there was now a definite anxiety about everything they did and the visitors' confidence visibly grew. While it would have been supposed that it would be the Championship side holding on in the dying minutes events took an unusual twist and it was Liverpool finding themselves on the ropes and being pummelled. With the game deep into stoppage time Barnsley were denied a blatant penalty in front of the Kop when Sami Hyypia produced a perfect ankle tap on Brian Howard but the huge sense of injustice the underdogs would have been left feeling was quickly forgotten as Howard got up to take possession just outside the box to the right of goal, cut across onto his favoured left foot and bury a low shot inside Itandje's near post. Cue bedlam at the Barnsley end and obvious displeasure among the home ranks. Huddersfield could not produce a similar shock at Stamford Bridge where Fat Frank Lampard greedily gobbled up a couple of goals in Chelsea's 3-1 win although The Terriers had their moment when Michael Collins brought them level on the stroke of half time. In the two all Championship ties Cardiff City struck early for their 2-0 win against an insipid Wolverhampton Wanderers with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink turning back the years with a splendid goal, whipped into the top corner with his left foot after an extravagant dummy to lose his defender. West Bromwich Albion strolled to a 5-0 win at Coventry City who were never in contention after Michael Doyle was sent off with the home side already a goal down. Doyle's dismissal was ludicrously harsh after he inadvertantly stood on Zoltan Gera's ankle and the referee seemed to be unduly influenced by Gera's histrionic reaction. The ref was also tough on Coventry when awarding a penalty against them but the home side only had themselves to blame when keeper Andy Marshall's embarrassing attempted pass gifted Roman Bednar the first of his two goals. Then at tea time it was the clash of the titans. Only both Manchester United and Arsenal fielded weakened teams. At least United were up for a cup tie, however. Why Arsenal bothered turning up at all remains something of a mystery after a completely spineless performance allowed United to walk all over them. The home side were three up, and out of sight, by half time after goals from Rooney, Fletcher (possibly an own goal) and Nani. Arsenal's response after the break was a couple of awful challenges which saw a red card brandished at the apparently insane Eboue after his mid air assault on Patrice Evra. United could have threatened double figures after this but scored just one more when Fletcher headed home Nani's centre. The game ended with Arsenal trying to injure Nani after he produced a dribble towards his own goal with his head. Don't know what Arsenal's problem is really. They spend half their life taking the piss out of teams at The Emirates with the crowd doing "Oles". Sometimes you have to take your own medicine boys. Onto the Sunday and their were two Premier League teams away to Championship opposition and both were lucky to emerge unscathed. Middlesbrough had two pieces of luck away to Sheffield United before ultimately looking the better team in their goalless draw. They were fortunate that David Wheater was shown only a yellow card rather than a red after his tug on Billy Sharp's shirt outside the box and also when James Beattie's free kick struck the base of a post right on half time. Portsmouth were altogether more relieved to get away from Preston still in the competition after taking a second half battering from the Championship strugglers. David James was in top form with a string of fine saves although his penalty stop from Simon Whaley was one of his less taxing. Preston have been in a world of trouble from the spot since selling Graham Alexander to Burnley and, with Neil Mellor still on the bench when this kick was awarded, it is unlikely that anyone really wanted to step forward and take this one. Whaley was the man who took the responsibility but his effort was awful and the only trouble James had was that he almost dived too far. This was hard on Whaley and his side who upped their pace to press Pompey back consistently in the second half and forced the England goalkeeper into regular action. The best of his saves came when he went full length to his left to keep out a sweet, curling effort from Mellor after he had stepped off the bench. If all this wasn't bad enough for Preston they then contrived to lose the game in the last minute. Goalkeeper Andy Lonergan came for a corner and missed, Hermann Hreidarsson knocked the ball goalwards with his hand and Darren Carter inexplicably launched the ball into the roof of his own net with Richard Chaplow poised to clear off the line. Still, if it's not your day it's not your day. By the way, the one real constant through all these cup ties was the fact that the referee's favoured the bigger clubs hugely in making their decisions on almost every occasion. It is worth noting that better players do still sometimes foul players of lesser ability, boys.
Monday, January 28 Well, we've been basically challenging the FA Cup to prove to us that it still has a few tricks up its' sleeve and this weekend the sleepy old competition came out of retirement to show us that it can still captivate an audience when it's in the mood. When the sixteen ties had finally been played out by Sunday evening nothing too earth shattering had taken place but from start to finish there was quality, excitement and incompetence in about equal measure, always a good recipe for a cup weekend, with a couple of minor shocks thrown in to the mix to add extra spice. There is no doubt which performance caught the imagination most but let's start at the beginning. There was a feeling that Southend United and Barnsley were getting their tie out of the way on Friday night hoping nobody would notice they were still in the competition and this game was hardly a classic. One goal settled it, however, and that was a classic. Barnsley's Jamal Campbell-Ryce took possession close to the left hand corner flag before doubling back on himself towards the angle of the box and, having gained a yard of space, whipped a searing drive into the far top corner. Neatly done and a good way to silence the Southend fans booing their former player. Saturday got off to a good start with the televised tie between Mansfield Town and Middlesbrough. For the romantics this offered the best prospect of a real shock. Although 'Boro are struggling somewhat to stay in the Premier League Mansfield are struggling to stay in the Football League so it would have been a big surprise if they had been able to pull off a victory. They didn't manage it but they did perform with credit and helped give the nation an entertaining game. The conditions were suited to a shock. There was a howling wind, the pitch wasn't great and the referee was in the mood to let a few naughty challenges go relatively unpunished. Mansfield took advantage with a few late challenges of their own but calmed down a bit after Robert Huth had impaled his right foot into the chest of Michael Boulding having just lumped a clearance out of the ground. Middlesbrough took the lead midway through the first half when the home side could not deal with a corner and the less than impressive Dong-Gook Lee was left with a chance even he could not miss. When Jeremie Aliadiere set him up with a potentially easier chance later on, however, he somehow sent his header miles wide of a gaping goal just to prove he is capable of missing anything if he puts his mind to it. Just before half time Mansfield roused themselves and were unlucky twice in the space of a minute when Boulding's wicked drive was touched onto the bar and over by Mark Schwartzer and then the same player forced an anxious save underneath the bar with a looping header. The home side then came out to put some real pressure on their visitors after half time but could not force an equaliser and, as Mansfield began to tire, 'Boro wrapped things up late on thanks to an own goal by Jake Buxton. No blame could be attached to the home captain for nodding into his own net at the far post. If he hadn't done it Stewart Downing certainly would have and there's no point letting someone else have the glory, is there? On to the 3 o'clock games and all eyes were on Anfield to see how many goals Liverpool would rack up against Havant and Waterlooville. I would probably have been willing to bet that Liverpool would manage one for every letter in the visitors' name but that was not quite how it worked out and the game ended up as one of the competitions' real classics. In fact for forty five minutes everyone in the country was living the FA Cup dream as Havant led the multiple European champions not once but twice. Yossi Benayoun put a dampener on things by equalising on the stroke of half time and the Reds went on to win 5-2 but nothing could detract from the outstanding performance put in by the non leaguers. Benayoun, who ended with a hat trick, could be looked upon as the ultimate party pooper but in fact everyone had a lot to thank him for after he nodded wide of an open goal in the opening minutes before the part timers had had a chance to settle. Had he put that one between the posts who knows what the final outcome might have been. As it was Havant settled down, began to play some neat football and then promptly stunned everyone by taking the lead from their second corner of the game. Mo Harkin swung the ball over from the left and Richard Pacquette was standing unmarked six yards out to head home. Unbelievable. So was the fact that Havant continued to press at every opportunity and would have gone two ahead had Neil Sharp been able to keep his volley underneath the bar after the Liverpool defence had been reduced to a shambles in trying to clear a high ball into the box. Lucas lashed in a vicious drive to put the home side level and everyone imagined normal service would resume. Still Havant refused to read the script and continued to play neat, passing, attacking football almost with abandon. It is to their eternal credit that they then stunned the Kop by taking the lead for a second time. Steve Finnan hesitated when faced with a simple intercetion which gifted Alfie Potter the ball on the left hand corner of the box. Having taken a touch Potter clipped the ball towards the far post and saw his shot lob in off the desperately lunging Martin Skrtel who was suffering a harrowing debut. Everyone was hoping that the non leaguers would make it to half time ahead but they failed to do so by a matter of seconds, Benayoun being left alone inside the area to clip a shot inside the post. In their heart of hearts everybody knew that this goal spelled curtains for the visitors, especially with people like Gerrard and Torres waiting on the bench if required, and so it proved. Liverpool went on to score three more goals after half time but Havant continued to demand admiration for the way they carried on playing football to the end. Benayoun lashed his sides' third goal high into the roof of the net from close range and then profited from a mistake by goalkeeper Kevin Scriven to notch his hat trick. This goal was upsetting as it threatened to put a dampener on Scriven's day when nobody from the underdogs deserved to feel anything put pride and joy but the keeper then redeemed himself with a truly magnificent save to keep out Benayoun's close range volley. With the minutes ticking away Havant then forced a spell of pressure in front of their own fans and it took a similarly superb save from Charles Itandje to deny Tom Jordan's fierce header. The last word went to Liverpool as Peter Crouch, surely offside, was allowed to tap home from point blank range but the day belonged to Havant & Waterlooville. The final whistle saw the scrimmage for the best Liverpool shirts begin and ended with a prolonged standing ovation from all four sides of Anfield which was reciprocated all around the land. The shock of the day saw Championship strugglers Preston North End go to Premier League relegation fodder Derby County and come away with a resounding 4-1 win. Congratulations to Preston who played a neat and tidy game of passing football and took their chances with aplomb but it is hard to imagine that any team left in the competition would not have beaten sorry Derby on their showing. No cohesion, no passing, no individual flair and absolutely no fighting qualities whatsoever. In fact a complete shambles. Andy Todd gifted North End their first with an awful back pass, seized on by Chris Brown who set up Karl Hawley for a calm, side footed finish and there was no defence in evidence at all as Darren Carter set up Simon Whaley for a sweet finish for the second. Right on half time Todd erred again with a missed interception which allowed Hawley to curl in another splendid finish and the game was as good as over. Derby made a revival of sorts and pulled a goal back, on the break, through substitute Rob Earnshaw and this led to a spell of pressure but once Andy Lonergan had denied Robbie Savage from point blank range the visitors took charge once more. The game was sealed late on when Lewin Nyatanga conceded a penalty and was sent off for a push in the back of Neil Mellor and the Preston man got up to slot home the penalty himself. Elsewhere Arsenal scored three second half goals to defeat Newcastle United, Bristol Rovers survived a first half penalty to win at Barnet through Rickie Lambert's goal and Coventry City just about did enough to see off Millwall 2-1 with Michael Mifsud continuing his impressive cup form this season. Luke Beckett got the only goal for Huddersfield away to his former club Oldham while West Brom might light of an awkward looking trip to Peterborough, winning 3-0. Wolves ran riot against a below strength Watford winning 4-1 with the impressive Andy Keogh scoring early and late while Southampton were somewhat fortunate to run out 2-0 winners over Bury with second half goals, the first thanks to a wicked deflection and the second a rebound from a penalty. Chelsea continue to improve under Avram Grant and were worthy 2-1 winners at Wigan despite the fact that the home side could have snatched a draw at the end had Marcus Bent's shot been a few inches lower. Nicolas Anelka's first goal for his new club put them on the way to victory and everything in the Stamford Bridge garden is currently spelling of roses. On to the Sunday and Cardiff progressed with a 2-1 win at Hereford before Manchester United and Tottenham served up a real feast at Old Trafford. Spurs took the lead in this one through Robbie Keane midway through the first half but United were level before half time through Carlos Tevez. United dominated from this point on but Spurs were always a danger on the counter attack in a captivating game. Jermaine Jenas wasted two great chances when breaking clear from deep but the pivotal moment came when Michael Dawson conceded a penalty for handball having been outsmarted by Wayne Rooney and was also, harshly, sent off. Ronaldo slotted home the penalty and ended the tie by shooting underneath Cerny in the Tottenham goal. Even with ten men Spurs continued to impress, however, and had almost brought it back to 2-2 when Wes Brown hit his own post under challenge from Berbatov. The last tie of the round produced another upset as Sheffield United defeated Manchester City 2-1 at Bramhall Lane. United's goals came in the first half courtesy of Luton Shelton and Jon Stead while City hit back with a stunning goal from substitute Daniel Sturridge after the interval. All the talk in this one, however, was about Shelton's opener which came after Michael Ball fluffed a routine clearance from a low left wing centre after the ball had travelled through a cluster of balloons lining the penalty area having been released by the massed ranks of City fans behind the goal. Friendly fire. One game I've not mentioned was the south coast clash between Portsmouth and Plymouth. Plymouth took an early lead in this one through Chris Clark before Pompey hit back with goals from Lassana Diarra and Niko Kranjcar. Plymouth deserved at least a replay from this one but found David James in his best form. One point of interest from this game was the fact that the first two goals of the game came after massive deflections and yet the official credit still went to the attacking player. Havant & Waterlooville's second goal came after a deflection which was less obvious and yet the officials decided this should be put down as an own goal, thus denying Alfie Potter the credit for having scored at Anfield. Even on the day the magic returned to the FA Cup there was confirmation that the rules are applied differently to the big clubs and the little ones.
Thursday January 24, 2008 The Magic Of The FA Cup; part 2 Having wondered whether the FA Cup still holds the same appeal to the modern day football fan we now look back to 1951 to see how 4th round day captured the publics' imagination back then. In the 1950's, and for a good while longer, any team still involved in the FA Cup at the 4th round stage was starting to live the dream. The first division sides all knew that Wembley was a real possibility while the teams from lower down were hopeful of springing a surprise or two and, with the luck of the draw on their side, perhaps pushing for a quarter or even a semi final place. The supporters of the teams left in were dreaming the same dreams, only probably on a grander scale, and were certainly intent on making the most of the competition while they could. There was no apathy about the earlier rounds in those days. Cup days were always more eagerly anticipated than the run of the mill league fixtures and all across the countries tens of thousands of fans were heading to away games they would probably never have considered attending had it not been an FA Cup tie. There was good reason to dream as well. Nine first division clubs (Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Burnley, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Everton, West Brom, Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday in descending league order) had already crashed out of the competition at the first hurdle. With two more certain to go in this round and several others facing tricky ties there was every reason to believe that when the competition was whittled down to its' last sixteen clubs less than half of those would be from the top flight. Nowhere was cup fever more evident than at Highbury, the home of the holders Arsenal. The Gunners had been held to a goalless draw at home in the previous round by Carlisle United, of Division Three North, before prevailing in the replay and they now faced opposition from Division Three South in the form of Northampton Town. The Cobblers could perhaps take some heart from the resistance shown by Carlisle in the previous round but this certainly did look like being their very own cup final with Arsenal lying 3rd in the first division as well as being the proud holders of the famous old trophy. The gates of Highbury were being shut twenty minutes before the start with around 15,000 Northampton supporters estimated among the biggest crowd recorded at the ground since the war. 72,408 was the best official estimate of the huge attendance and, with both teams sharing the same colours, Highbury was a sea of red and white. Both teams decided to change colours for the occasion with Arsenal donning white and Northampton blue and the game provided a treat for hordes shoehorned into the ground. It looked as though the holders might run riot during a first half that they almost totally dominated but by the interval they led by just a single goal. Jimmy Logie, who had just replaced his shorts after they were badly ripped in a challenge, was the provider and Reg Lewis the scorer. How the Northampton goal had avoided further breaches was the main topic of half time conversation but the second half was a different story as the underdogs came out to make a real fight of it. Jack English gave the travelling thousands something to really cheer with an equaliser shortly after half time and although Lewis and Don Roper then fired the Gunners 3-1 ahead another dashing goal from English kept the tie in the balasnce right up to full time. For both his goals English had sprinted clear of the Arsenal defence to score in fine style but neither he nor any of his teammates could repeat the feat a third time and the holders, to some relief, went through. The tie which pitted the two teams highest in the league standings together was the one between Newcastle United (4th in the first division) and Bolton Wanderers (6th). This would no doubt have been one of the games shown live on television had it taken place today but back then only the people who had managed to get in before the "gates closed" signs went up got to see the action. The total number who did so was just short of 68,000. Conditions were described as being in "good" despite a heavy frost thanks to the liberal use of straw on the pitch during the week. It is doubtful that Arsene Wenger would have used the same term had he and his present day Arsenal team turned up to play on it, however. Bobby Mitchell had the Blaydon Races ringing round St James' with an early goal and the excitement generated by the home sides' rousing start caused the bulging terraces to overflow at one stage and the game was held up for around five minutes as the police tried to usher the spectators away from the pitch. It was Bolton who seemed to benefit from the disruption and by half time they led thanks to two goals from Willie Moir. Newcastle was not an easy place to earn a cup result in those days, however, and the 1950's version of the Geordie folk hero made sure that the locals went home happy with a second half brace of his own. Within ten minutes of the second half starting "Wor" Jackie Milburn had ensured that his would be the name toasting a million or so pints on Tyneside that night by scoring the two goals that ultimately decided this tense battle. Another tie capturing the imagination, less obviously then than it would have been today, was the Roses battle between Manchester United and Leeds United at Old Trafford. The home side lay 7th in the first division going into this one but were by no means the overwhelming crowd pullers that they are today while Leeds were sitting in the middle of Division Two. The Yorkshire side had been heartened by a 3rd round victory over high flying Middlesbrough and their supporters no doubt contributed heavily to another sell out crowd, the gates being shut on this one at a quarter to three. Leeds were creating news with their use of "monkey gland" treatment as a means of improving their players speed and fitness under the controversial manager Major Frank Buckley but it was Manchester United who came tearing out of the traps and by half time they had rattled up a 4-0 lead thanks to a Stan Pearson hat trick and a goal from Jack Rowley. The second half would be an anti climax with both sides apparently happy for the score to stay as it was, which it did. An estimated 56,000 saw Sunderland beat second division Southampton 2-0 although it is possible that a late comer might have actually got onto Roker Park while more than 50,000 saw an eventful game at Molineux between Wolves and Aston Villa. Wolves were strong favourites to defeat their struggling local rivals in this all first division tie and the form book held firm as goals from Johnny Walker and Roy Swinbourne put the home side on the way to an eventual 3-1 win. Villa were left feeling aggrieved after the referee ignored a linesmans' flag and allowed Swinbourne's goal to stand and then made matters worse for themselves by spurning a penalty shortly before half time. In fairness to Con Martin, the culprit, it did take a magnificent save from Bert Williams to keep his spot kick out and it was probably only coincidence that the Wolves keeper was then left out cold after a collision with the same player in going for the rebound. One team hoping to cause an upset and with a large travelling support determined to enjoy themselves was Stockport County. Having been drawn away from home against renowned cup fighters Blackpool the Division Three North side had around 7,000 fans following them to the seaside. The gates had been shut at Bloomfield Road for over half an hour before kick off with 33,000 packed inside and it appeared to be game over within four minutes of the start after Stanley Matthews had set up both Stan Mortensen and Jackie Mudie to score. It looked as though things might really go downhill for the underdogs when Blackpool were then awarded a penalty before half time but Denis Ward blocked Tommy Garrett's kick and Stockport came out after half time to stage a remarkable onslaught on the Blackpool goal. Employing highly energetic and robust tactics Stockport had their illustrious hosts pinned back for the majority of the second half and had the Blackpool goal under severe threat on several occasions. After one almighty scramble underneath the Blackpool crossbar the gallant visitors finally got themselves back into the game when Andy Black headed home a cross from Les Cocker and now the home side were hanging on desperately. Cocker was the man causing all the problems but his finishing was not up to his approach play and he was the chief culprit as Stockport spurned three glorious opportunities to equalise. The most glaring of all the visitors' misses came when Cocker raced away from Johnny Crosland and rounded goalkeeper George Farm but then lifted his shot over the empty net. Stockport went home defeated, with stories of what might have been but rightly proud of their efforts. Just down the road the gates were also being closed at Preston's Deepdale ground. This was the place where an upset was really expected with North End, top of the second division and flying towards promotion, taking on first division strugglers Huddersfield Town. Huddersfield did, however, have a confidence building victory over Tottenham in the previous round behind them as well as around 8,000 fans in the 40,000 gate. On a bone hard pitch this turned into a survival of the fittest contest. In the days before substitutes Preston looked to have been given a massive advantage on the half hour when the Huddersfield keeper Jack Wheeler was forced to retire with concussion. Inside forward Harold Hassall took over between the sticks but before the home side could test him the sides had been evened up after a more disturbing collision at the other end. Jeff Taylor, the Huddersfield centre forward, was suddenly running clear through the middle and became the sandwich between goalkeeper Jimmy Gooch and centre half Harry Mattinson as both North End players challenged at the same time. It was Mattinson who fared worst in the collision, however, and ended up being stretchered from the field with a broken leg. Back to ten a side it was Huddersfield who adapted better and grabbed a crucial lead on the stroke of half time when Vic Metcalfe converted a penalty awarded after a foul on Taylor. With Wheeler returning to play on the wing the visitors increased their lead through Taylor after the break and held on for the win with Preston totally unable to ruffle the feathers of Hassall in the Huddersfield goal. Their best chance to do so came just over ten minutes from the end when Tom Finney won his side a penalty but then stepped up to send a tame spot kick almost straight at the grateful stand in keeper. Hassall ended up the hero of the hour for a surprising reason and was carried shoulder high from the pitch by the joyous visiting supporters. Elsewhere there was an excellent 3-1 win for second division Birmingham City away to first division Derby County while 20,000 fans saw Exeter City, from Division Three South, gain a 1-1 draw with first division Chelsea. Another huge crowd turned out at Hull to see second division City defeat Division Three North pacesetters Rotherham United 2-0. Over 50,000 people saw the wonderful Raich Carter dominate proceedings as he neared the end of his illustrious career. Mansfield Town gained a creditable goalless draw down the road at Sheffield United but Millwall were disappointed in their attempts to produce a shock at home to Fulham, losing by the only goal. There were 1-0 wins for Stoke City, Bristol City and Luton Town over West Ham, Brighton and Bristol Rovers respectively while Norwich travelled to South Wales and came away from Newport with a 2-0 win. All these games had produced packed grounds and pulsating atmospheres and created a feeling that this, indeed, was something bigger and better than the usual league games played week in and week out. Taking into account replays eighteen teams survived the day with dreams of Wembley intact but, as always, only two would end up making it. Arsenal, the holders, would fall at the next hurdle losing by the only goal to Manchester United who would then go out themselves in the last eight away to second division Birmingham City. Blackpool, so fortunate to beat Stockport, would go on to end Birmingham's run after a replayed semi final and a second game would also be necessary to seperate Newcastle and Wolves in the other semi. It was Newcastle who emerged from that tie victorious and they would go on to land the trophy at Wembley after defeating Blackpool 2-0 thanks to two more goals from "Wor" Jackie.
Monday, January 7 Having questioned just how magical the FA Cup remains we were hoping for a few shocks to restore our faith and there were several on offer during this weekends' 3rd round ties although none were too high up on the richter scale. The biggest giant killing was probably at Goodison Park where Everton were beaten by the only goal against Oldham Athletic. David Moyes has seen his team progress nicely in both the Carling and UEFA Cups this season but his Goddamn awful FA Cup record since taking over at the club remains unchanged after Gary McDonald's speculative 25 yarder dipped in straight over the head of reserve keeper Stefan Wessels on the stroke of half time. Two other Premier League teams lost at home to lower league opposition as Sheffield United won at Bolton Wanderers by the only goal while Coventry City blitzed Blackburn Rovers 4-1 at Ewood Park. Gary Megson picked a hugely under strength Bolton side and saw his back up players fall to a limp defeat inflicted by a single David Carney goal. Blackburn put out a much more recognisable side for the visit of Coventry but were sent packing nonetheless. Michael Mifsud looped in a cunning/lucky opener and things went from bad to worse for the home side after the break as Elliot Ward smacked home a penalty, Dele Adebola sliced through the entire Rovers defence to score a surprising solo goal before Mifsud completed the scoring with a rattling drive. David Bentley struck from long range to bring the score back to 3-1 for a short spell late on but Blackburn ended the contest well beaten. Birmingham City were beaten by League One Huddersfield Town who struck early and late through Luke Beckett and Chris Brandon to clinch a merited 2-1 victory and several top flight clubs will require replays after being held by teams from lower levels. Fulham, who habitually lose at home to lower league opposition in the cup, had to come from behind twice at home to League One Bristol Rovers while Liverpool deserved no more than the 1-1 draw they finished with at Kenilworth Road against Luton Town. With the Hatters' very existance in serious jeopardy the draw was perhaps the best possible result for them and their players, who have not been paid for several weeks, certainly covered themselves in glory with a performance of remarkable endeavour and no little skill. It took a huge slice of fortune for Luton to grab their equaliser after Peter Crouch had nudged Liverpool into a second half lead but nobody could really begrudge them their luck when John Arne Riise punched the ball into his own net as he attempted an overhead clearance in the jaws of goal. None of the three remaining non league sides managed a victory although they all performed with real credit. Havant & Waterlooville gained the best result with an unlikely draw at Swansea City. The non leaguers kept the home side at bay until the 74th minute but looked to be goners after Andy Robinson finally put the Swans ahead and then Brett Poate was sent off for a bad tackle. The Swans were also forced to finish with ten though as Alan Tate got himself sent off in the fracas that followed the incident and H&W forced a replay in the dying minutes when Rocky Baptiste (who I assume is also a decent boxer and fast bowler) rifled in a low cross shot. Little Chasetown actually led at home to Cardiff City when Kevin McNaughton bundled into his own net under potentially illegal pressure but the Bluebirds recovered to win the day 3-1 while Cambridge United led well into the second half at Wolves through Scott Rendell's penalty but substitute Michael Kightly inspired a second half revival which culminated in a late winner from Neil Collins. Peterborough United of League Two scored an emphatic 3-1 away win at Championship Colchester United but this hardly felt like a real surprise while struggling Bury were on the verge of causing a much bigger shock until Gary Doherty equalised Andy Bishop's opener at Carrow Road.
Friday January 4, 2008. The Magic Of The FA Cup It's one of English footballs' favourite cliches and it's one you will probably hear and see repeated ad infinitum during the course of this weekend. Third round FA Cup day, or days as it is now, is traditionally the one on which the magic of the FA Cup is at its' most powerful. It is the day on which all the big boys enter to take their places among the wonderful assortment of ragamuffin lower and non league outfits to have made it through the early stages. It is the time when David gets to sling some shot at Goliath and everyone across the country, unless they happen to follow in Goliath's footsteps, hopes to see David's stone find its' mark and send the giant tumbling down and out. The FA Cup hasn't gained its' magical worldwide reputation on the potential of a few early embarrassments for the bigger clubs, however. Historically the magic of the competition lay in the basic truth of its' underlying principle. The FA Cup is supposed to be the great leveller. It is the competition basically anyone can enter and take their chances against the biggest and best in the country and, theoretically, come out on top. It is the ultimate sporting, or at least footballing, democracy. No wonder people have loved it through the years and continue to do so now. It encapsulates footballs' great universal appeal and simplicity. Anyone who's ever kicked a ball knows that while generally it will fly high or wide, or worse still it will have been the turf you booted, if it's your day then it's heading straight for the top corner at a million miles an hour, there's nothing that Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton and Rachel Brown put together can do about it and you are, in that moment, the hero of the hour. That is what the FA Cup has meant to so many people for so long and is why it has made household names of so many people who would otherwise have remained unknown. That is why Ronnie Radford is still a name known by football fans the length and breadth of the country. When he ran across that muddy field and slammed in that 35 yard missile against Newcastle all those years ago for Hereford he simply proved what every would be footballer has always known; that we too could be the hero if we just happened to be in the right place at the right time and made the right contact with that bloddy ball. And the FA Cup is the competition that makes it all possible. Traditionally the FA Cup has also offered the possibility for real glory to the more unsung elements in English football. While the teams starting out in August who are about 37 games away from Wembley are never realistically going to end up beneath the twin towers the cup has been a competition which many clubs start out believing they have a genuine chance of reaching the last eight of, or the last four and then, as we all traditionally know, anything can happen. It is a competition that has harboured and provoked such dreams and excitement and, on many occasions, it has actually delivered on its' inherent promises. It has thrilled and captivated generations and truly earned its' place in the hearts of the nation. There are probably many people who feel that the magic of the FA Cup is not so obvious any more, however. It is hard not to subscribe to that view in fact. It is likely that the people quickest to remind you about the magic of the FA Cup now are the television broadcasters who desperately want you to watch their product. Cynics might suggest that their enthusiasm is not absolutely genuine and question whether they might possibly sell their parents as well as their souls if there was a profit in it. The question is then, does the FA Cup still possess the same magic and, if not, when did its' appeal begin to slip and how serious is the damage? I think it is impossible to believe, or argue, that the FA Cup is as important or popular as it was. Up and down the country tomorrow all manner of teams, not just the really big clubs, will be fielding under strength sides as they consider the more important, to them, league games coming up. Up and down the country supporters who go to watch their teams' league games every other week will be spending the afternoon otherwise occupied as their clubs set out on the road to Wembley. Up and down the country clubs will be attempting to limit the damage at the turnstiles by offering cut price tickets to induce the fans to turn up. These facts in themselves have to indicate that the FA Cup is no longer as important either to the clubs or the spectators as it once was. In years gone by it was the stated ambition of most footballers to play in an FA Cup final. Spectators thronged in their thousands to see the games and attendances generally dwarfed those of league games. Why is this no longer the case? You can hardly blame the fans for being apathetic when so many clubs put out weakened sides. If the club is not taking the competition seriously then why should the supporters? Money, as always, is the dominant factor. Premier League clubs are more concerned about either making sure of their Champions League or UEFA Cup spot or simply staying in the division because of the massive financial implications that go with a failure to do so. Clubs going for promotion from the Championship are often similarly minded. Of course winning, or even getting to the final of, the FA Cup brings huge amounts of money and European qualification so why aren't teams busting a gut to get to Wembley? The answer to this question, an obvious one, provides the real answer as to why the FA Cup is losing its' appeal. Most teams pay less attention to the FA Cup because they know very well that they have no chance of winning it. Once again money is the cause. Before Sky began putting their millions into English football and the richest of the rich began getting obscenely wealthy every club in the top flight and many of those in the second were entitled to believe they could make it to the FA Cup final and, as we all knew then, anything could then happen. Now it will be considered a shock if the competition is not won by either Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Manchester United. Let me tell you, this is not the type of "shock" on which the FA Cup's reputation was founded. Look at the facts; in the 1950's there were eight different winners of the FA Cup, in the 60's there were eight again. In the 1970's, perhaps the most magical of all FA Cup decades, there were nine different winners including two from the second division. It should also be remembered that the eight winners of the competition in the 1950's did not include the two most powerful teams of the decade. Wolverhampton Wanderers never so much as made it to a final in those ten years and Manchester United failed on the two occasions they did make it to Wembley, although it did take a couple of madmen centre forwards and a tragic plane crash to stop them. The rot began somewhat in the 1980's when there were only seven different winners, although one of those was a second division side and there was also the unlikely double of Coventry City and Wimbledon winning the competition back to back. The 1990's saw only six different winners and so far this decade there have been just the four usual suspects. In fact since Wimbledon famously lifted the trophy in 1988 there have only been six different winners of the FA Cup and, of those, Spurs and Everton have lifted the cup only once each leaving United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea to greedily devour the rest themselves. That's not magic is it? Genuine giant killings seem to be a thing of the past as well. In the 50's Port Vale put out the cup holders Blackpool on their way to the semi finals where they lost to a disputed penalty while Bournemouth won at Wolves and beat Tottenham before losing narrowly to the Busby Babes in 1957. In 1959 Norwich City, another third division club, made it to the semi finals, beating Manchester United and Spurs along the way, before losing by the only goal in a replay. This was also the year that Worcester City beat Liverpool, but Bill Shankly's team were only in the second division themselves then so it hardly counts. In the 1960's Crewe Alexandra won at Chelsea, having lost at Tottenham 13-2 the previous year, but again it was the 1970's that proved a real vintage era for the competition. We had Colchester United dumping out Don Revie's great Leeds side as well as Ronnie Radford's Hereford United taking out Newcastle. We had two second division winners in Sunderland and Southampton who embarrassed the red hot favourites Leeds and Man U. respectively. Another second division club, Fulham, made the final in 1975 and a year later Crystal Palace, from the third division, made it to the semis. On top of all that we had Wimbledon, a non league club, winning away at first division Burnley before taking Leeds to a replay and only going down by a single, cruelly deflected, goal as well as Wrexham and Blyth Spartans in 1978 who ended up playing each other in the 5th round and providing one of the most dramatic ties imaginable. The 1980's continued to provide us with upsets, not that any of us were unduly upset. Bournemouth dumped out Manchester United, the holders, in 1984 while Sutton United toppled Coventry City in 1989. The 1990's threw up the glory that was Wrexham beating Arsenal with a splendid Mickey Thomas free kick but since then real shocks have been hard to come by. In all fairness I must point out that money isn't the only thing spoiling the romance of the cup. Probably all of the upsets mentioned above would have taken place on mudheaps akin to quicksand with defenders kicking lumps out of their supposed betters with virtual immunity. The cup used to be the great leveller. Now it's just another glaring demonstration of the haves and have nots. Not so much the ultimate sporting democracy as another sporting autocracy. And just as in any other walk of life nobody really enjoys seeing those with everything lording it over those who have nothing, except the privileged few themselves.
Saturday, May 19 Chelsea: P.Cech, P.Ferreira, M.Essien, J.Terry, W.Bridge, C.Makelele, F.Lampard, J.Mikel, S.Wright-Phillips (S.Kalou 93), D.Drogba, J.Cole (A.Robben 45) (A.Cole 107). Man Utd: E.Van Der Sar, W.Brown, R.Ferdinand, N.Vidic, G.Heinze, D.Fletcher (A.Smith 92), M.Carrick (J.O'Shea), P.Scholes, C.Ronaldo, W.Rooney, R.Giggs (O.Solksjaer). The first couple of minutes of this eagerly anticipated clash were spent by either side passing meaninglessly amongst themselves with no real attempt to go forward. That was okay for the first couple of minutes but nothing really changed throughout the entire first half which ended devoid of goals, devoid of chances and devoid of any excitement or real skill. Wayne Bridge supplied the first ball into the box which Didier Drogba headed over the bar with Gabriel Heinze backing into him as he rose. United's first chance to put the ball into the box came in the shape of a corner but Ryan Giggs hit the first defender with his delivery and then again when the ball came straight back to him. Along with most others Giggs would have an appalling first half. With six minutes gone Heinze tried to release Cristiano Ronaldo with a long ball from the back but the pass was overhit and at this stage the Player of the Year had still to touch the ball. Joe Cole managed to get a good ball into the box which had two United defenders jumping for together and when the ball dropped Shaun Wright-Phillips had a shooting opportunity but Wes Brown recovered to block. The keepers were not being tested in the early stages but Petr Cech was lucky to see his horrible clearance evade the United forwards. The game dragged on in tedious fashion. United playing at barely half pace with both Scholes and Carrick seemingly tied to their centre halves and while Chelsea looked the busier side they were barely creating anything. The first decent piece of attacking from United saw Giggs find Fletcher whose header down had Rooney through on goal. Rooney shot wide although a very tight offside flag rendered the finish meaningless in any case. Then a long ball by Scholes brought a shoddy piece of defending from Michael Essien but Rooney went for a spectacular first time volley from outside the box without ever getting hold of it. Midway through the half brought the first hint of the game opening out. Ronaldo made a break to the goalline for a centre that was well headed clear by Essien and Chelsea immediately broke for Drogba to shoot wide from 25 yards. Both sides soon went back into their shells, however. United looked lackadaisical all over the field and twice in quick succession lazy defending offered Chelsea an opening but the men in Blue were hardly at their sharpest either and failed to take advantage. Despite playing ridiculously deep Paul Scholes was at least beginning to find his range with his passing and one clever ball would have had Ronaldo through on goal but the winger left the ball for Rooney who was immediately, and correctly, flagged offside. Chelsea came the closest yet when United stood back and allowed Paulo Ferreira to come forward and when the full back fed Frank Lampard bursting into the box danger loomed. Lampard could not wrap his foot properly round his shot, however, and Van Der Sar got down to save. More hesitant United defending allowed Drogba to provide Wright-Phillips with a shooting chance but the effort was high and Lampard smashed a dipping effort over the bar from way out on the left flank. Scholes located Ronaldo with another decent ball but, under pressure, the shot was well wide of the post from deep inside the box. Carrick and Ronaldo then combined neatly to feed Giggs inside the area, and in space, but the attempted cross was feeble and summed up the Welshman's first half efforts. Ronaldo sprinted to the goalline to get in one more decent cross that was well defended by John Terry before the opening half came to its' limp conclusion. Fear and caution had been the dominant factors of an emminently forgettable half. Half Time: Chelsea 0 Manchester United 0 Chelsea introduced Arjen Robben at the start of the second half in place of Joey Cole who had been one of the brighter performers in the first half. Perhaps he was injured. Sloppy play by Chelsea offered Rooney some early encouragement and he drove forward to smash in a fierce drive that was too close to Cech who made a parrying save. This incident seemed to inspire a more forceful performance from Rooney but his endeavours were invariably completely unsupported. Wayne Bridge put in a centre that Robben flicked harmlessly wide as Chelsea began to enjoy a better spell, picking up everything in midfield as Carrick and Scholes remained remarkably deep. Robben also looked lively with a couple of runs. Rooney's increased appetite was shown when United cleared a corner and he set off on a charge for goal from just outside his own area. Eighty yards later the Chelsea defence just about managed to crowd him out. United looked to draw strength from this and Scholes speared a fine ball over the top for Giggs who caught the volley sweetly but was too high. At the same time Scholesy was getting involved in the midfield and after a couple of tussles with Mikel got himself booked for a stupid foul on Lampard. The free kick was right on the corner of the box and Drogba flicked the ball round the wall to hit the outside of the near post. Two dangerous surges from Robben caused danger with Scholes somehow finding Van Der Sar with a ridiculous back header from one and the keeper parrying clear from the other. Then Rooney bullied his way past Essien on the touchline, right on halfway, before surging through the rest of the Chelsea defence only to be denied by the brave dive of Cech at his feet. This spell had been a dramatic improvement on the first half but it was not to last. Robben was flattened by an all consuming challenge by Wes Brown and was never the same thereafter. This incident seemed to send the game back into its' tired, cautious first half shell. Giggs was played into space down the left hand side of the box but his dreadful performance continued as he stood in the headlights for an eternity before putting in a woeful centre. United then offered Lampard unnecessary encouragement when passing around the edge of their own box but having stolen possession the fat controller then took too long himself and was blocked off. United were looking slightly the more adventurous as the ninety minutes neared their end. Ronaldo came inside onto his left foot inside the box only to send in a weak effort and Vidic was over from an inswinging Giggs free kick although this wasn't surprising as the contact had come from his back rather than his head. Before the game everyone might have thought an extra 30 minutes would be a treat. This is what we had but nobody could have expected any real joy from it. Full Time: Chelsea 0 Manchester United 0 Extra time had more excuse for being rubbish. By now the players were tired so there was little reason to expect an improvement. Scholes released Giggs with a lovely ball and from his low centre Alan Smith, on as a sub, almost made a chance for himself but after a decent first touch he was once again more interested in holding off his man than actually getting his shot away. Then came the chance of the match. Ronaldo fed Rooney on the right edge of the area and his low ball was perfect for Giggs coming in at the far post. In keeping with his performance as a whole Giggs completely scuffed his finish and presented Cech with an easy save from barely six yards out. Giggs, who had been moaning uncharacteristically throughout, then claimed a goal but although Cech had probably carried the ball over his own goalline he had only done so because the sliding Giggs had barged him there. The first half of extra time ended with Drogba heading into the side netting, with no angle to work with, from Robben's inswinging centre. United had another chance when one of Scholes's quarterback passes cleared Essien and put Rooney in on goal. With little room to work with Rooney tried to take a touch and was robbed by Cech. A first time shot would perhaps have been a better option. Both teams had been sending on subs as the game approached penalties and it was Chelsea who seemed to benefit. Drogba produced a neat flick to give Salomon Kalou a chance and his curling shot from the edge of the box was not that far wide. Then Chelsea were awarded a free kick after a perfectly fair challenge by Smith on Mikel. The ball was pumped forward and dropped for Drogba; he flicked the ball out to Lampard who cushioned an instant ball back into his path and Drogba flicked the ball past Van Der Sar to break the deadlock. The goal had come from nothing in a game that had offered nothing. Before the game had started this kind of action was the type that everyone was hoping for and probably expecting. Arriving at this time, after all that had gone before, it was surprising almost to the point of being surreal. There was almost no possibility of a United response and the best they mustered was a good header back across goal by Smith from another diagonal Scholes ball but no-one was on the end of it and the cup was going to Chelsea. By this stage it was basically a question of "who cares?" Neither side deserved to win, they had both been more interested in not losing. For all their qualifications and tactical genius and self obsessed prosings the modern day manager/coach seems completely unable to understand the simple fact that at the end of the day someone wins and someone loses. Surely the important thing is how it happens. It is often said that no-one remembers the losers but I hope that isn't the case. If nobody remembers Manchester United's performance today then that is fine. Everyone can forget about Chelsea too to be honest. But think back a year. West Ham lost this game last year. I hope people will not forget them or, more significantly, the performance they gave in losing. Without question they did more for football that day than either of these ultra rich, ultra successful clubs did today. Full Time (after extra time): Chelsea 1 Manchester United 0 Star Man: In absolutely no way, shape or form am I naming one. Otherwise it would have to be Nemanja Vidic.
Thursday, May 17 OK, FA Cup final day is apparently one on which the eyes of the world turn to England. Even as a little boy I can remember the David Coleman's of this world, and good old Frank Bough, telling me that the game was going to be beamed live to 20,007 different countries worldwide. Yes, worldwide. That means countries all over the world and not just in England. I assume this must be the same these days and as the eyes of the world are regularly turned to this website I thought I should do a bit of a preview for this years' final. Especially as the game is between Chelsea and Manchester United. It won't just be in Manchestaaar and West Laaandan that people will be donning the old replica shirts this Saturday. All across the globe people will be getting out their Made In Taiwan red and blue replica tops and giving moral support to these giants of the modern game. What should we expect from this most eagerly anticipated of finals? The most obvious answer to that is "an anti-climax". So much hype has gone into the build up that the game will need to be something really special to avoid being a disappointment. When the two sides negotiated their semi finals, of course, this game was looked upon as being part of a possible mouth watering trilogy. A clash of the titans three times over. That prospect failed to materialise. Both clubs lost out in their Champions League semi finals and by the time United arrived at Stamford Bridge for their league encounter they had already clinched the Premier League title. Result? Chelsea Reserves 0 Manchester United Reserves 0. This then is a one off heavyweight contest with no opportunity of revenge for the loser. Not this season at any rate. There is no knowing whether this will make the game a more open or a more cagey affair. Looking at the game simplistically it might be supposed that United will play an adventurous attacking game while Chelsea operate more stealthily, sitting deeper and waiting for openings to arise. I am not sure that will be the case. United have been outstanding against many teams this season with their flair and adventure but it is a long time since they have been able to overwhelm a Chelsea side. If Chelsea load the midfield with the likes of Lampard, Essien and Makelele then United might have to sacrifice some of their attacking ambition to compete in this area. If Chelsea are able to call the tune in those areas then the game will probably become more attritional than many people are expecting. If United are able to hold their own with just Carrick and Scholes deployed in the centre and Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs are able to spend most of their time on the front foot then the game could just be the spectacle everyone is hoping for. The quality of the contest could also hinge on just what kind of sides the two managers can put out. Both have their injury worries; Chelsea look like being without Ballack, Kalou and Schevchenko while United will probably be without Saha. If Carvalho is also unfit then Chelsea might use Michael Essien in defence which would rob the game of one of its' top midfield talents. Obviously players of this quality would be missed. In conclusion then I can only say that I have no idea what to expect really. It might be a great game, flowing from end to end with both sides hell bent on all out attack or it could be a cautious, physical, bad tempered affair with lots of feigning injury and handbag style skirmishes. What I am hoping for is some decent tele in the run up to the game. A David Coleman hosted Question of Sport, perhaps, with Bill Beaumont and Willie Carson as team captains and a special It's a Knockout style cup final special edition with Stuart Hall in charge. And if we must have celebrity fans please God make them better than last season. Jimmy Tarbuck and Phill Jupitus. Jesus H. Christ. Terry Christian and Johnny Vaughan might be ok. What I want most, and surely all those millions across Africa and Asia want it too, is for the best player on the pitch to be someone like Clive Woods or Dave Bennett and the winning goal to be scored by someone like Roger Osbourne or Bobby Stokes. Or the pantomine villain to be someone like Willie Young. This of course won't happen. All we will have is players who've been there already and who know they will be back there again soon enough. The magic of the cup? Not really. More like a closed shop. David Geddis. Would he get to play in a cup final these days? Would he bollocks. And he ripped Arsenal to shreds. Those were the days.
Tuesday, April 1 Yes, it's Manchester United and Chelsea in the FA Cup final. Just as it's Manchester United and Chelsea in the league and the Champions League. Liverpool might force the issue in that one just as it was Arsenal shooting it out with Chelsea in the League Cup. Predictable? Of course it is. Boring? Not yet, but it will be soon. There was never any real doubt that Manchester United would overpower Watford in their semi final meeting at Villa Park and that is how it proved although no-one could argue with the performance put up by the Hornets. It is just a simple fact that good organisation and genuine graft hardly ever get the better of vastly superior skill. United were ahead early. Michael Carrick threaded a ball which split the Watford defence and also bypassed Giggs and Smith, the most likely intended recipients, to find Rooney on the left hand angle of the penalty area. Rooney stepped inside onto his right foot with his first touch and leathered a rising drive into the roof of the net with his second. A great strike but questions about Richard Lee? Watford responded well, however, by first quelling United's pressure and then mounting some of their own. Clark Carlisle accidentally bloodied Edwin Van Der Sar's big nose and the next thing the Dutch keeper knew he was picking the ball out of his net. There was a bit of tennis across the United goalmouth following a long throw in which ended with Hameur Bouazza smashing an acrobatic volley into goal via a slight touch of Heinze's thigh and the underside of the bar. Fatally Watford could not maintain parity for more than two minutes. Rooney charged past a couple of hesitant defenders down the right before being sent clear by Smith's well timed pass. Cutting in on goal at a narrow angle Rooney looked across at his options, decided he couldn't pick out his colleagues, but then saw his sidefooted shot parried straight into the path of Ronaldo who converted from point blank range. Watford were hanging on before the interval but came out again after the break to rattle United on a couple more occasions, most notably when Bouazza managed to squeeze a shot just wide with Van Der Sar beaten. The killer goal arrived midway through the second half when Smith had all the time in the world to set up a tap in for Rooney with the Watford defence all over the place. United's fourth was probably harsh on Watford and Smith was again heavily involved with a fine through ball for the substitute Kieran Richardson to lift his finish over Lee. The real drama came at Old Trafford in the second semi final. Chelsea prevailed but not before Blackburn had given them an almighty scare. Having come from behind to level in the second half Rovers had their opponents squarely pinned against the ropes without managing to find the knockout blow. Brad Friedel had already denied Ashley Cole before Drogba and Ballack combined to find the marauding Frank Lampard who surged forward before firing across the keeper for the opening goal. Chelsea continued to dictate but without any real urgency having got in front. Joe Cole was off target with one effort and Drogba wasted an inviting situation by failing to locate Schevchenko with his pass. Blackburn then served warning of what was to follow after the interval as they ended the first half strongly. Petr Cech had to punch away a stinging drive from David Dunn and Christopher Samba then somehow headed over from inside the six yard box when the corner came across. Before Blackburn could mount their second half onslaught Chelsea had a glorious chance to put the tie to bed. Drogba got away down the right and this time squared perfectly to Schevchenko around the penalty spot in front of a gaping goal. In truly embarrassing style Andrei managed to miss the ball completely with his foot and saw it bounce to safety from his shin. His teammates were then made to suffer as Blackburn took complete control. The crosses of David Bentley proved a real weapon and Jason Roberts forced a smart save out of Cech at his near post after turning smartly on one of his centres. Blackburn came closer still on the hour mark when Pedersen hit the post and two minutes later they were level as Roberts flicked Pedersen's low inswinging free kick home at the near post. Still Rovers pressed and as the clock ticked down the Chelsea goal came under a virtual siege. Pedersen missed an absolute sitter when heading wide at the far post from Bentley's pin point centre before Cech made a magnificent save to tip a desperate John Terry header onto his own bar following yet another Bentley cross. This ensured that a game of two halves became a game of four halves with extra time necessary and Blackburn's chance had come and gone. Unable to recapture the momentum they had built up Chelsea began to take control and the decisive goal arrived early in the second period when Shaun Wright-Phillips squeezed a cross back from the dead ball line and the ball ran nicely for Michael Ballack to drive into the bottom corner. There was no way back this time for Blackburn and Michael Essien almost put an undeserved gloss on Chelsea's victory with a piledriver from distance that almost snapped Friedel's crossbar. It might have done with the old ball or it might have just snapped Essien's foot. We'll never know. So the final is as we all expected and the new Wembley has a fitting occasion to celebrate it's long awaited return to service. No doubt the stadium will be full as well, unlike the two semi final venues. It's unbelievable in some ways. The FA will now send all semi finals to Wembley even though it means the ground will virtually never be full and if you get Blackburn playing Bolton or something like that you will have it half empty. It's a lot cheaper and easier watching games like that in the pub than traipsing all the way to London at some Godforsaken time to watch it live but the FA have all their debts to work off. As for these games how the hell do the FA manage to come up with an arrangement which sees Watford given more tickets for their semi than Manchester United. All the spare seats at this one were in the Watford end; surprise, surprise. As for the other game. The FA were obviously kinder to Blackburn in allowing their game with Chelsea to be played down the road in Manchester. When Blackburn had to travel to Cardiff for their last semi to face Arsenal their fans excused their pathetic following by blaming the time and the place of the game. Now they are congratulating themselves on their "magnificent" support in taking 24,000 to Old Trafford. This "magnificent" effort still left them outnumbered by Chelsea fans and Old Trafford one third empty. We just have to hope that Wimbledon and Luton never have to play each other in a semi at Wembley. How empty would the stadium look then?
Wednesday, March 21 I suppose it was inevitable that Manchester United and Chelsea would emerge victorious from their quarter final replays. It is now definitely inevitable that they will meet in the final. We have had Chelsea and Arsenal in the League Cup final and now we will get Chelsea and Manchester United in the FA Cup final. Wonderful. English football used to contain the necessary ingredients of competition and genuine opportunity for any half decent club. Now it is simply a place where obscene wealth lords it over the rank and file. It's like the feudal system only the wealthy give absolutely nothing back to anyone. All of which leaves something of a bad taste in the mouth and this was certainly how their replay victories ended. Perhaps it was because both Tottenham and Middlesbrough knew they had spurned chances to land knockout blows on their heavyweight opponents over the course of the ties that defeat was so hard to stomach. Middlesbrough will retain a sense of injustice over the penalty that gave United a draw at the Riverside and will also look back on several presentable opportunities created and wasted at Old Trafford in the replay. Downing, Yakubu and Viduka managed to puncture United's defence on several occasions but were always found wanting with the finish while Rooney failed twice for United when sent clear on Mark Schwarzer. Inevitably, perhaps, it was Ronaldo who proved the difference. Despite 'Boro protests there was no doubting the validity of the penalty kick given when Jonathan Woodgate caught the winger inside the box late on and Ronaldo scored emphatically from the spot. The game ended in ugly fashion with United indulging in a bit of keep ball showboating near the corner flag. Inevitably, once again, Ronaldo was at the centre. Along with Gabriel Heinze he spent a few seconds playing tennis with Fabio Rochemback as the net before the Brazilian launched a frustrated challenge at the Argentinian and was perhaps lucky to only see yellow. Then when Ronaldo began teasing James Morrison along the touchline the 'Boro youngster decided to take a little grim satisfaction out of the situation by launching the winger over the touchline. The red card that followed was inevitable and thoroughly deserved but the United players who came rushing over to remonstrate should realise that this kind of reaction becomes likely when you start taking the piss. Wayne Rooney, the most beligerent of those taking offence, might reflect on how he has reacted when things have not gone the way of his side on occasions. The tension also spread to the touchline with Fergie having to restrain his assistant from getting involved with the 'Boro staff who had apparently been calling Ronaldo a cheat. It's easy for people to get at Ronaldo for this, and he has undoubtedly gone down easily when it was to his advantage, but surely no club in the Premier League, perhaps even the country, can look at itself and say they haven't done the same. It should be remembered that Ronaldo does actually run at players far more than anybody else in the English game, something we should all want to see, and therefore he will be involved in more of these situations. He also "rides" more challenges than anyone else in the game. Defeat was even more bitter for Tottenham and, for some, even harder to take. Spurs should have beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when they basically had their opponents down and ready to be put out. Having failed to be ruthless, however, they showed themselves to be nervous and tentative on their own ground and were made to pay, in a generally unremarkable game, by two sweet finishes from Chelsea under achievers. Andrei Schevchenko has palpably failed to deliver the goods expected in his first season in England but opened the scoring here with an absolute beauty, fired into the top corner with his left foot after cutting in from the right touchline. Then Shaun Wright-Phillips hit a left footed volley across Paul Robinson and into the far corner to give Chelsea a cushion. Spurs gave themselves hope with a late Robbie Keane penalty but were unable to complete a comeback. They were not helped by the fact that the referee showed absolutely no inclination to so much as speak to Ricardo Carvalho for dragging Berbatov down when he was clean through on goal let alone show him the red card that the laws of the game demand, but this was in keeping with the tie as a whole. Chelsea moan consistently about officials being against them but, especially at Stamford Bridge, a referee adhering strictly to the laws would have had his red card out on more than one occasion in the direction of their players. That is the thing about the feudal system though. Those with the money can do basically what they please. There is always the possibility of rebellion among the lower classes of course and this is what happened on a small scale after the final whistle. As Chelsea embarked on a typically tasteless celebration in front of their fans a Spurs fan got onto the pitch to confront flabby, pasty Frank Lampard. Then a fan encroached from the Chelsea end before the stewards finally dealt with the situation. This shouldn't happen, there is no excuse, and it would not be unjust if both these people were refused entry into football grounds ever again. Chelsea do seem intent on creating this kind of response from vanquished opponents, however. Celebrating victory should spring from pure emotions such as joy, fulfillment and possibly relief. With their manager stepping centre stage spewing arrogant, disdainful superiority and their players stripping naked to punch clenched fists in all directions with their faces contorted in what looks like pure rage and hatred rather than happiness do similarly aggressive reactions from others become so unexpected?
Monday, March 12 The two favourites for the competition were both fortunate to secure replays at the weekend. Manchester United kicked the quarter finals off at Middlesbrough and looked set for a routine win while dominating the first half at the Riverside. Wayne Rooney drilled the visitors ahead on one of the several occasions United opened up the Boro defence before the break but the game turned on its' head moments before the interval when Tomasz Kuszczak got in a tangle with Rio Ferdinand and was left stranded as Lee Cattermole produced a sharp finish. To be fair to Boro they had looked dangerous on their limited attacking ventures with Kuszczak having made fine saves to deny Stewart Downing and Yakubu and they swept ahead early in the second half when George Boateng met a right wing corner completely unchallenged to head home. United's previous assurance now deserted them and they were looking increasingly unlikely to equalise when they were awarded a debatable penalty. Boateng was penalised for handball when he put his hands in front of his face to block a flick on from a corner. The player argued that he was simply protecting himself but the question he needs to answer is just how important is the FA Cup to him? Surely it's worth taking a football in the face for. Anyhow, Ronaldo banged home the penalty so now it's back to Old Trafford. Chelsea were in even greater peril at home to Tottenham and surely should have been dumped out of the competition. Tottenham swept into a 3-1 half time lead after shredding the Chelsea defence with almost embarrassing regularity. The outsdtanding Dimitar Berbatov fired home the first after approach play by Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon with just five minutes on the clock. Fat Frank Lampard equalised completely against the run of play midway through the half when he diverted a Michael Ballack cross shot home from point blank range. How he had managed to remain unmarked is a serious mystery. Lampard had ambled into the centre of the box as the attack built up and simply stood there about eight yards out for an eternity before the ball finally came in his direction. At no stage did the Tottenham defence think it would be worthwhile picking him up. Bad decision as it turned out. This unexpected bonus might have been expected to demoralize Spurs and rouse Chelsea but this was not the case. The visitors simply doubled their attacking efforts and forged ahead. Michael Essien sent a low cross from Lennon into his own net with Petr Cech poised to claim and then Hossam Ghaly strode through to score with the entire Chelsea defence standing like statues. Jose Mourinho's remedy for such lamentable defending was to basically play the second half without a defence and in the early stages of the half it looked certain to end in defeat. Spurs wasted the opportunities that arose, however, and gradually Chelsea forced them onto the back foot. The most glaring misses came when Lennon was put through the middle but shot too close to Cech and when the ball was then played to the far post Defoe somehow managed to head back towards the keeper from underneath the crossbar allowing Cech to paw the ball to safety. The real turning point came when Martin Jol inexplicably removed Berbatov from the action and replaced him with the preening Mido. The Egyptian barely managed a touch and not only did Spurs stop looking a threat they were completely unable to hold the ball up front. Lampard Inferior banged in his second, again unmarked in the jaws of goal, before Soloman Kalou volleyed home a knock down from Didier Drogba as the game approached stoppage time. Even then Spurs roused themselves and Defoe was desperately unlucky to see his ferocious drive cannon out from the crossbar having sliced through the Chelsea defence single handed. Some game and the replay should also be a cracker. Less exciting was the dour Blackburn Rovers/Manchester City clash. Rovers won this one 2-0 against an abject City who were mercilessly booed from the field by their own supporters, not surprisingly given that they failed to register a shot on target throughout the game. Rovers only managed two but they both counted with Aaron Mokoena capitalising on confusion in the City defence and Matt Derbyshire rounding things off in injury time. Mokoena had been sent off by this time for two yellow card offences but even with an extra man City failed to call Brad Friedel into action. Plymouth gave it a good go at home to Watford but went out to a stunning drive from Hameur Bouazza midway through the first half. Argyle went to sleep at a short corner and when the ball was pulled back to Bouazza just outside the box his left foot shot found the net via the underside of the bar. The home side had virtually all the play after this but found Ben Foster in commanding form and also did not get the run of the ball on several occasions when they worked the ball to the byeline before putting low centres across the face of goal which seemed certain to bring a reward.
Wednesday, February 28 The Reading versus Manchester United was almost surreal. United were 3-0 up in six minutes yet ended the game hanging on desperately for the win. United being three up so quickly against a less than full strength Reading side might not strike you as being surreal but Kieran Richardson was on the pitch so it did seem somewhat strange. Reading's defence was all over the place, not surprisingly given the scoreline, but stand in keeper Adam Federici had to shoulder most of the blame for the early blitz. Federici had distinguished himself in the first game at Old Trafford but was badly at fault as he dived over a shot from outside the area by Gabriel Heinze and he might well have saved the second from Louis Saha as well. Saha struck his low drive firmly but from an unpromising angle. The third came when Ole Solksjaer sprung a non existant offside trap and sauntered through on Federici before scoring with a classy outside of the foot finish. With Reading reeling United could have made the scoreline truly embarrassing but a Dave Kitson goal, completely unmarked as he headed home two yards out, midway through the first half gave the home side hope and after the break it became a different game. United got themselves in plenty of dangerous positions without capitalising on them but they began to look increasingly uncomfortable at the back as their defence began sitting deeper and deeper and deeper. It took the home side until six minutes from time before reducing the arrears further through Leroy Lita and there were several close calls for United to survive before their passage was booked, most noticably when Bryjar Gunnarsson belted a vicious drive against the bar with Edwin Van Der Sar apparently sitting on an invisible potty. In the end, however, the first six minutes had been decisive and United went through to meet Middlesbrough in the quarter finals. Middlesbrough looked on the verge of going out as they suffered a first half mauling at the Hawthorns and saw West Brom move into a one goal lead through Darren Carter whose low shot from outside the box was watched all the way by Brad Jones as it entered his net. Nathan Ellington kept Jones busy during the first half and after the break the Boro keeper saved well from Jonathan Greening before Jason Koumas struck a free kick just wide. Boro scarcely deserved the equaliser they claimed just after the hour mark through Mark Viduka's deflected drive but from that moment on they began to look the more likely winners. Yakubu was foiled by Dean Kiely and Emanuel Pogatetz shot just too high before Dong-gook Lee wasted a gilt edged chance to win it by shooting wide with only Kiely to beat. Extra time was most notable for Ellington's red card afer a stupid lunge at Stuart Parnaby and when it went to penalties Boro won through despite Lee backing up his missed sitter in normal time with a missed penalty into the bargain. Neil Clement also missed for West Brom and when it went to sudden death Sherjill MacDonald was also found wanting for the Baggies. Tonight's game between Blackburn Rovers and Arsenal must have really got up Cesc Fabregas's nose, if he was paying any attention to it. This game could best be described as drab with any decent football on offer coming from Arsenal. There was little to no cutting edge from the Gunners, however, with Julio Baptista, Fredrik Ljungberg and Jeremie Aliadiere all wasting good openings while Ljungberg had a more than reasonable penalty claim turned down. Graham Poll does seem to be turning into Clive Thomas and looks hell bent on taking the big boys down if he can. I think he is beginning to model his refereeing on Michael Douglas in that film where he gets made redundant and starts blowing people away on his way home. Blackburn were marginally better after the break but it was Arsenal who continued to look the better side with Brad Freidel saving twice to thwart Baptista and Theo Walcott looking lively when introduced as a sub. When the goal came with four minutes to go, however, it was scored by Blackburn. Benni McCarthy got onto a long ball forward down the left wing, cut inside Philippe Senderos with ridiculous ease and fired a stunning shot across Almunia and inside the far post. Rovers go through to play Manchester City in the quarters and if the winner of that one gets to play Plymouth or Watford in the semis then we are guaranteed one crappy side in the final which should at least keep all the FA Cup romantics happy.
Tuesday, February 20 There was little to stir the passions during this weekends' FA Cup 5th round and no shocks unless Plymouth Argyle's 2-0 win over Derby County constitutes one. This was always likely to be a physical affair and it ended predictably niggly and bad tempered. Many of Derby's games do end up this way. It is possible the referee was not enamoured of Billy Davies's side because his decisions did seem to favour the home side. Derby's approach is generally on the edge of being malicious rather than competitive so it is hard to sympathise when things do go against them. Plymouth were awarded two penalties both of which were dodgy. Kevin Gallen took them both, both were crap spot kicks but the first one squirmed past Stephen Bywater although the keeper pushed the second to safety. The ref also showed a red card to Derby's Darren Moore for an off the ball incident and denied the visitors a decent penalty claim for handball. Plymouth finally put the tie to bed in the last ten minutes when Scott Sinclair headed home Gallen's cross. Watford also took advantage of a man advantage to see off Ipswich Town. It was hard not to feel sympathy for Ipswich here, however. The visitors were reduced to ten men seconds before half time when George O'Callaghan was adjudged to have kicked Danny Shittu after an aggressive challenge by the massive defender, who also looked to indulge in a bit of argy bargy as the pair came together on the ground. This seemed an incredibly harsh judgement on the Ipswich youngster and looked to have handed the initiative to Watford after a poor first half showing. Ipswich continued to play with good purpose, however, and were never second best at any time. Sylvain Legwinski had rattled the bar in the first half and when Dan Harding repeated the feat after half time it looked as though the visitors had a deserved lead as Danny Haynes headed home the rebound. Unfortunately Haynes had been flagged offside and as he and Jaime Peters indulged in an elaborate celebratory dance in front of the away fans Watford broke upfield against the 8 Ipswich players still taking part. Fortunately for the dancing partners the move fizzled out in the Ipswich penalty area. The fact that fate was against the visitors was confirmed two minutes from time, however, when Watford finally put together a decent move and when Darius Hendersn stepped over a Tommy Smith cross Damien Francis clipped home a sweet finish to put the Hornets through. The most notable achievement was perhaps Blackburn Rovers' goalless draw at Arsenal. The most important incidents in a remarkably drab game were when Arsenal were denied a clear penalty after a foul by Stephen Warnock and a splendid double save by Brad Freidel in the closing minutes. The end of the game saw another petulant Spanish reaction to disappointment. Just as Rafa Benitez had moaned about Everton's approach after their goalless draw in the Merseyside derby Cesc Fabregas could not resist a dig at Mark Hughes after Rovers' dour showing. Having ascertained that the Blackburn boss did used to play for Barcelona he commented that "that was not Barcelona football." Sparky Hughes was not a happy man but let himself down badly in the cheeky riposte stakes by simply saying that he does not have Barcelona players. How spoiled are the big clubs going to become? Not content with having all the advantages financially it seems the people at these clubs simply expect the other sides to let them win. Incredible. Fabregas did say later that he had apologised to Hughes afterwards which at least shows a bigger and better side to his character though. Chelsea had a comfortable passage at home to Norwich City although the eventual 4-0 victory margin was tough on Norwich for whom nothing went right. The Canaries lost their goalkeeper David Marshall to injury, saw Dickson Etuhu and Lee Croft denied by the woodwork and had to suffer a massive defection to help Shaun Wright-Phillips open the scoring. Then after Didier Drogba had added a second they shipped two goals in injury time to make it look as though they had taken a hiding, Essien and Shevchenko the men on target. Manchester United were uninspired against Reading and will have to go to the Madejski after their 1-1 draw. Michael Carrick drove United in front with the last kick of the first half but Brynjar Gunnarsson headed the Royals level with a cracking effort when left unattended at a corner. United certainly had chances to win it but Reading deserved their draw after a spirited second half showing in which they threatened on occasions to cause a real upset. West Bromwich Albion also thoroughly deserved to earn a replay after their visit to Middlesbrough. The Baggies came from behind twice to take Boro back to the Hawthorns. Julio Arca and a Yakubu penalty gave Boro their goals while Diomansy Kamara and Kevin Phillips were on target for Albion. Kamara's goal was the result of a shocking blunder by Mark Schwarzer while Phillips benefitted from a big deflection. Curtis Davies belied his burgeoning reputation with a clumsy display which eventually led to him being sent off right at the end though. On Sunday Manchester City recovered from an early David Nugent goal to win a tame affair at Preston North End with goals from Michael Ball, a Matt Hill own goal and Stephen Ireland while Tottenham demolished Fulham 4-0 at Craven Cottage. Robbie Keane struck two spanking volleys from Mido flicks before the substitiute Dimitar Berbatov helped himself to two late goals, the first after playing a one two with the post and the second a cheeky lob after being fed by Keane. When they return to west London to face Chelsea in the next round Spurs will probably find the going slightly tougher.
Wednesday, February 14 The three replays played this week provided fantastic drama, some cracking goals and heroic performances from the underdogs. In the end it was a case of close but no cigar, however, as the favourites progressed in each tie. At half time on Tuesday both Bristol City and Blackpool were leading away from home at higher league opposition. City had often outplayed Middlesbrough and certainly deserved their one goal interval lead provided by David Noble. The introduction of Mark Viduka at half time gave Boro more purpose and impetus and it was the Australian who brought the sides level. Both Stewart Downing and Adam Johnson hit the woodwork as the home side threatened a winner in normal time and when the game went into extra time Yakubu saw one of his tapped penalties saved by Chris Weale. Boro finally got in front when Yakubu did get on the scoresheet but after the striker had missed a glorious opportunity to kill the game City stuck back late on through Jamie McCombe. So to penalties and Boro looked likely to win with Yakubu having the last kick with the scores already level. This time his shot struck a post and he had missed two spot kicks on the same night. City could not profit, however, and when Craig Woodman saw Mark Schwarzer save the next kick Johnson took his chance to send Boro through. Blackpool led at half time through Michael Jackson's header but would live to rue Keigan Parker's failure to score when clean through before the break. Darren Huckerby took the game to extra time with a quality finish cutting in from the left and repeated the dose to give the Canaries the lead. Shaun Barker levelled things up with a scruffy finish from a corner but Norwich clinched a trip to Chelsea through Chris Martin's goal, capitalising on a weak back header by Wes Hoolahan. Martin had earlier had a goal very dubiously ruled out while both sides missed a catalogue of clear chances in a game that was highly entertaining but will have caused no sleepless nights at Stamford Bridge. Tonights' game saw Arsenal travel to Bolton to ultimately claim victory in a rousing, yet truly bizarre, game. Arsenal completely bossed the first half and led through Adebayor's early goal. Bolton were far more like their normal nuisance value selves after the break but they should have been put to bed by either Gilberto Silva from the penalty spot or Adebayor after he had rounded Jaaskelainen. Both missed the target, however, and Bolton were able to make one of their set pieces count deep into stoppage time when Meite poked home a knock down from a corner. Extra time saw an effort from Nolan lob against the post off the body of Gilberto but after Baptista had wasted a good chance Arsenal regained the lead with a quality goal. Aliadiere took out half the Bolton side with a scything run from deep inside his own half and when he slipped in Ljundberg racing into the box the Swede took one touch before despatching a left footed shot on the run into the far corner. With Bolton trying to push forward they began to get caught on the counter. Ben Haim got a second yellow for taking out Baptista then, with Jaaskelainen forward for a corner, Arsenal broke and Anelka conceded a penalty by bringing down Adebayor from behind with no-one in the nets. The referee took pity on Bolton rather than just give the correct decision and only showed Anelka a yellow card. Finally Arsenal finished the tie off when a punt forward left Baptista and Adebayor with half the pitch to themselves and after Baptista had walked round Jaaskelainen his "mate" stepped forward to tap the ball into the empty net. As I said a rousing tie but at the end of it simply further confirmation that either Arsenal, Chelsea or Man U. will win the FA Cup this season.
Monday, January 29 There is no question that the 4th round draw this year was one of the most boring ever pulled out of the hat (perhaps Mike Newell had a point about not letting women interfere with mens football). All the big boys drawn at home, no real local derbies and very few potential upsets. It was all pretty dull really. Therefore I cannot bring myself to do too much of a review but I will give a mention to some of the goals scored over the weekend as there were a few crackers out there. First up we have Wayne Rooney of course. He came off the bench to finally put paid to Portsmouth's resistance at Old Trafford. He tapped home his first at the end of a good team move but then surpassed himself with a magnificent chip over David James for his second. Even when he puts in a chip as delicate and precise as this one there's something almost violent about it and the ball fairly crashed into the net via the underside of the bar. Rooney's chip was possibly bettered by Bristol City's Scott Murray though. Murray's goal sealed a comeback from 2-0 down against Middlesbrough and earned the League One side a replay on Teeside. He was 30 yards from goal minding his own business when Mark Schwarzer came to the edge of his area to punch clear from a free kick. The ball landed straight at Murray's feet and with the goalkeeper way off his line and a crowd of players filling the box his instant half volleyed lob was perfection. Good stuff. There were two similar solo goals from players currently plying their trade in the Championship. Scott Sinclair, a 17 year old on loan at Plymouth from Chelsea, flew from one end of the field to the other at Barnet to score his sides' clinching goal. Sinclair sped past three opponents before scoring the sort of goal you probably need to score when Chelsea send you out on loan if you are going to force your way into the managers' thoughts. His goal did not equal the effort of Preston's David Nugent at Crystal Palace in my opinion, however. Nugent started further up the field on his individual effort but unlike Sinclair received possession tight to the touchline and hemmed in by opponents. Off he set anyway, weaving in and out of challenges until he had reached the byeline. He turned right at the goalline and carried on dodging tacklers until he reached the junction with the six yard box where he clipped a splendid shot into the top far corner. A magnificent goal and perhaps even better for coming in a game that had been complete dross up to that point. There were a couple of sweet strikes by Matt Derbyshire and Morten Gamst Pedersen in Blackburn's routine drubbing of Luton Town but the last mention has to go to Bolton Wanderers. They conjured up a goal that was amazingly un-Bolton like away at Arsenal. In fact it was positively Arsenal-esque. Swift, incisive passing and movement cut through the Gunners defence to leave Kevin Nolan running through to score. To show that it was a day of complete role reversal Arsenal then went on to equalise with a scruffy goal from a free kick. If Chicken Licken had been there he would have been evacuating the stadium because the sky was falling in. Perhaps it was.
Friday, January 19 There was some cracking action in the 3rd round replays this week and while the bigger boys made it through in most cases there was one helluva shock for Newcastle at St James Park. Despite their continuing injury problems Newcastle have been going along nicely in recent times and must have been confident going into their replay with Championship leaders Birmingham City. They were in for a rude awakening. Birmingham looked the livelier, more dangerous side for the majority of the game with the nippy forwards Gary McSheffrey and Dudley Campbell proving impossible to subdue. McSheffrey had the visitors ahead after just five minutes and when a Nolberto Solano own goal on the stroke of half time doubled their advantage it was no more than Birmingham deserved. Newcastle came out fired up and managed to apply some pressure after half time and when James Milner drove in from 25 yards it looked as though the visitors might have their work cut out holding their advantage. Not so. Straight from the kick off Campbell got the better of Steven Taylor who dragged the striker down as he broke away. Taylor got a straight red which might have been argued against but he had just been booked for a wild challenge so he was going off in any case. To make matters worse when the Newcastle wall blocked the terrible free kick attempt the ball broke loose to Bruno N'Gotty who scored with a surprsingly assured finish into the far corner. Chasing the game a man short was something Newcastle never looked up to and late goals by Seb Larsson and Campbell completed a resounding 5-1 victory for Steve Bruce's men. There were tales of woe for Hull and Leicester, however, who both lost 4-3 away at Premiership opposition. Hull came back from a woeful first half and a 3-1 deficit at Middlesbrough to make a fist of things but having got back to 4-3 down they could not complete the comeback as Mark Schwarzer stood firm amid severe late pressure. Mark Viduka and Andrew Dawson both scored twice in this one. Leicester were even more disappointed at Fulham to lose 4-3 after leading 3-1 early in the second half following a sweet strike into the top corner by James Wesolowski. The lead did not last long, however, as Vincenzo Montella struck twice in quick time but the game then remained deadlocked until deep into injury time. Wayne Routledge then squirmed his way through a cluster of Leicester defenders to prod home the winner. A couple of Leicester defenders stopped as the linesman was flagging for a foul, presumably on Routledge, but the referee chose to play the advantage. In truth, he was already beyond the defenders who gave up the ghost in any case. There were no such concerns for Tottenham who cruised past the collapsing Cardiff City with almost embarrassing ease. The 4-0 scoreline was perhaps kind on the visitors. Lennon, Keane, Malbranque and Defoe were the scorers although the star turn once again came from Dimitar Berbatov who is looking a better player by the game. Another shock of sorts came at Coventry where League One Bristol City completely dominated proceedings to run out 2-0 winners with goals from Scott Murray and Enoch Showunmi. This signalled the end of the road for Coventry boss Mickey Adams who got his marching orders the following morning.
3rd Round Summary The script seemed to have been written for Manchester United's ancient newcomer Henrik Larsson to grab the 3rd round headlines when he put his new side ahead against Aston Villa with a quality finish. Instead the goal marked a shift in momentum and the game ended up with another player hogging the attention. Villa equalised after a five minute spell of pressure in which they could have scored three times through Milan Baros and United were left chasing a winner as the clock ticked down. The game had just entered stoppage time when Ole Solksjaer speared a low shot towards the near post which should have provided Keeper In Pyjamas with a regulation save. Instead the comedy keeper went down like Albert Steptoe and allowed the ball to dribble inside the post. He can pull off world class saves but he does this kind of thing far too often to be anything other than a disaster waiting to happen. There was a comprehensive defeat for the holders in the tie of the round. Although Liverpool made a determined effort to rescue their game with Arsenal in the second half at Anfield having fallen two goals behind in the first the scoreline gained a proper perspective when Thierry Henry confirmed victory after slicing through the Liverpool defence. Arsenal had taken command with two goals in the lead up to half time from Tomas Rosicky. Having whipped in a splendid opener from outside the box you might have expected somebody to close him down as he sauntered towards a similar spot minutes later. |
