Technology Partner


Community Partners

Five Spices

"One accusation you can't throw at me is that I've always done my best." (Alan Shearer) And our Chairman Damon can never be said to be one to make unfair criticisms.

Harsh, but fair, our Chairman dispenses his trenchant, pithy post match analysis of the overpaid heroes and goats that make up the “Happy Band” of Euro 2008. If you're in the prawn sandwich and skim latte club, or part of the "Dippy Darling" brigade this column is not for you!!

Who's hot? Who's not? Who's left their bottle at home? Watch this space carefully as the tournament unwinds.

Previous Analysis :

Week 19 - Boxing Day.... Week 18.... Week 17.... Week 16.... Week 15.... Week 14

Liverpool Move Clear

 

Arsenal 1 - Portsmouth 0

Arsenal edge a scrappy game to stay in touch at the top. With Portsmouth looking determined to put on an improved defensive display after shipping plenty of goals recently and Arsenal lacking creativity, the first half dragged by. Peter Crouch's header against the post and Sylvain Distin's timely intervention to deny Emmanuel Adebayor were the highlights of an otherwise drab first forty-five minutes. Things improved marginally after the break but it took until ten minutes from the end for the deadlock to be broken when David James misjudged Denilson's cross, allowing William Gallas to get in ahead of him to head home what proved to be the winner. Relief, then, for Arsene Wenger but another loss for Tony Adam's side who now have a relegation fight on their hands.

 

Blackburn Rovers 2 - Manchester City 2

Blackburn's recovery under Sam Allardyce continues but City snatch a draw with two late goals. In a high tempo first half, the visitors could have been in trouble as early as the second minute, only to see Richard Dunne get away with what could have been construed as a professional foul on Jason Roberts. As it was, Blackburn eventually took th elead on teh stroke of half time when Roberts's slick turn bamboozled the two City centre-backs and Benni McCarthy nipped in to convert. With six minutes remaining, the game looked to have been made safe when Roberts headed Blackburn two up from Christopher Samba's lofted ball but there was to be a twist in the tail. With two minutes left, Daniel Sturridge latched onto Andre Ooijer's poor defensive header to smash the ball past Paul Robinson and give his side hope and then, pretty-much on the final whistle, turned provider when his through ball was converted from an acute angle by Robinho. Rovers, then, remain in the bottom three while City stay stuck in the cluster of sides just outside the relegation places.

 

Bolton Wanderers 0 - Wigan Athletic 1

Wigan move up to seventh after narrowly beating Bolton at the Reebok. In another scrappy game notable mostly for misplaced passing, what chances there were tended to be the result of defensive miscalculations rather than rapier-like attacking football. The first half looked to be running out goal-less when Andy O'Brien clumsily challenged Henri Camara in the box and referee Phil Dowd pointed to the spot. Amr Zaki stepped up to convert and give teh home side something to think about during the break. As it was, Bolton seemed unlucky not to be level immediately after the break when, at first glance, it appeared Danny Shittu's header had crossed the line before being cleared by Wilson Palacios, though subsequent replays proved inconclusive. Shittu was again unlucky as the game ran out when he saw his late header hit the woodwork and it just wasn't to be Wanderers' afternoon.

 

Everton 3 - Sunderland 0

Everton run out comfortable winners to make light of their striker crisis and consolidate in sixth. It only took ten minutes for Everton to get on their way when Mikel Arteta found the net from twenty-five yards with a free-kick and they never looked to be in trouble from then on in. A quarter of an hour later and Arteta saw another effort from a free-kick blocked but fired home the rebound after it fell kindly for him. Tim Cahill spurned the chance of a third when heading wide when it seemed easier to score but the goal finally came when Dan Gosling side-footed hom his first Premier League goal after a rampaging run from Joleon Lescott. Everton are back in business but for Sunderland it's a case of back to the drawing board.

 

Fulham 2 - Chelsea 2

A late Clint Dempsey header preserves Fulham's recent unbeaten run and puts a dent in Chelsea's title challenge. Fulham started brightly and took the lead when the Chelsea defence allowed Simon Davies's free kick from the left to reach Dempsey on the far post and the American was able to send a deft flick back past Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal. The visitors, from that point on, slowly built up a head of steam and equalised five minutes into the second half when Frank Lampard was on hand to finish from close range after panic in the Fulham box. It was all Chelsea at that point and Mark Schwarzer had done well to twice deny Joe Cole before he was beaten rather easily by Frank Lampard's free kick from distance with twenty minutes remaining. Fulham looked to respond but weren't looking likely to salvage anything until Dempsey again found himself unmarked to head home a Davies cross with a couple of minutes to go.

 

Hull City 0 - Aston Villa 1

A thoroughly turgid and pedestrial encounter sees a late own goal win it for Villa. The Birmingham outfit move back to fourth after Kemil Zayette's unfortunate touch at the near post directed Ashley Young's cross past Boaz Myhill with a couple of minutes left. In truth, neither side really deserved to win this - Hull, after copping a shellacking in their previous couple of games, looked unusually cautious and Villa really didn't look to offer much in the way of creativity to break them down. Still, it sees Aston Villa once more nudge Arsenal out of the Champions' League places, though Hull will need to arrest their recent slump if they're to avoid a spectacular crash and burn.

 

Manchester United 1 - Middlesbrough 0

Man United had to work hard to break down a determined Middlesbrough outfit to keep pace with the league leaders. The home side made most of the running in this one but found Gareth Southgate's team very much up for the fight against one of the "big four" once again and Boro carried a counter-attacking threat of their own throughout. Ross Turnbull had been forced into a couple of decent stops to ensure the first half remained goal-less but the visitors never looked overwhelmed and were even bossing the game for a quarter of an hour after the half-time break, with Tuncay almost giving them the lead in the hour mark, only to send his header wide. With twenty minutes to go, the breakthrough was finally made when David Wheater was unable to get any distance on his header in cutting out a Michael Carrick cross and the ball fell to Dimitar Berbatov, who volleyed home from ten yards. Full marks for perseverence to the defending champions but it's again a case of a performance proving better than the result for Middlesbrough.

 

Newcastle United 1 - Liverpool 5

Liverpool hand out a home whupping to the Magpies to increase their lead at the top of the table to three points. Despite a brief flurry of activity from the hosts, this was largely one-way traffic and United had Shay Given to thank for several top-drawer stops that prevented Liverpool being out of sight by the half-an-hour mark. As it was, it took until then for the visitors' pressure to pay off when Steven Gerrard drove home Yossi Benayoun's pull back from twelve yards. The Reds doubled their lead six minutes later when Sami Hyypia made the most of some lax defending to hammer home a header from Gerrard's corner. There was brief discomfort for the league leaders when a lapse at the back of their own allowed David Edgar to flick home Danny Guthrie's corner on the stroke of half time but hopes of any fightback were ill-founded. Five minutes after the break, a defenders-excuse-me from yet another corner ended up with Ryan Babel poking home from a yard out and a quarter of an hour later Gerrard doubled his tally when sent clear by Lucas Leiva's astute pass. With Xabi Alonso able to bring up the nap hand from the spot after Edgar had tripped David Ngog, Rafael Benitez's side moved clear in some style but Newcastle find their resurgence halted after two defeats on the bounce and will need to come again.

 

West Bromwich Albion 2 - Tottenham Hotspur 0

Albion put themselves in with a chance of escaping the drop zone after seeing off ten-man Tottenham. The home side started the brighter in a poor opening forty-five minutes and were helped just after half an hour when Benoit Assou-Ekotto saw red for a pretty soft studs-up challenge that should perhaps better have deserved a yellow. The Baggies made the most of their numerical advantage after the break and were battering at a Spurs side intent on grinding out some kind of result before Roman Bednar finally gave them the lead with seven minutes left, outmuscling Michael Dawson before slotting home from ten yards. In the dying seconds, substitute Craig Beattie ensured the game was safe by tucking home a second and West Brom are now just two points from Tottenham and safety (though probably three if goal difference is considered).

 

West Ham United 2 - Stoke City 1

West Ham move into the top half of the table and leave Stoke stuck in the bottom three. With a surfeit of pudding apparently dinging the quality of the weekend's football on show, the first half of this one was another less-than-exhilarating affair but was at least livened up by Abdoulaye faye's header to put City ahead on four minutes. Four minutes after the interval, things got more interesting when Carlton Cole was able to control Scott Parker's pass and turn inside a struggling Andy Griffin before firing home the equaliser. Incensed by his captain's ineptness, Stoke striker Ricardo Fuller then marched straight up to Griffin and slapped his face to ensure his side restarted a man down. It's certainly not something you see every day. After that, the Hammers ratcheted up the pressure but it looked as if Stoke were going to earn a draw until Cole's attempt rebounded home off Diego Tristan with a couple of minutes to go.

Enjoy your parties and fireworks and what-not and I'll be back after the FA Cup games.

The Chairman