The axe of relegation will fall in Brighton next week and we are no closer to finding who will be eliminated. Four of the ten players could still potentially get relegated, whereas another four players are locked at the top on ten points. Wins for Phil Taylor and James Wade over Raymond Van Barneveld and Michael Van Gerwen respectively, sees the English pair move level with the Dutch duo at the top. A win for Newton over Anderson meant The Warrior lived to fight another day with both players trying to leapfrog Simon Whitlock or Adrian Lewis next week.
The night in Glasgow began with Lewis facing Andy Hamilton. The partisan crowd overwhelmed Lewis in the beginning although Hamilton finally took double one at the 11th time of asking, Lewis having missed seven darts himself. The Hammer made it 2-0 at the third attempt before Lewis finally tried to make his darts do the talking. After Hamilton missed the double for a 150-checkout, Lewis pulled a leg back. Hamilton then missed two darts in the sixth leg which enabled Lewis to take a crucial 4-2 lead. Lewis returned the favour in the following leg before Hamilton bizarrely bust-164 and Lewis made it 5-3. Hamilton pulled a leg back with a ton checkout, only for Lewis to better that with an impressive 124-checkout on the bull to guarantee himself a point. Jackpot then took the 11th leg to win the match 7-4 and give him the best possible chance of avoiding relegation next week.
The first of the Scots to perform in front of his home crowd was Robert Thornton against Whitlock. Thornton was well and truly spurred on by the crowd and a 157-checkout made it 3-0. A 114-checkout from Whitlock finally put a leg on the board at 4-1. But that didn't stem the tide and a 121-checkout gave Thornton a point before Whitlock missed two darts to avoid the 7-1 pasting which keeps him just a point above the relegation zone.
Once again, Van Barneveld couldn't shake off his Taylor hoodoo and is still to beat The Power on television since 2008. The Dutchman played extremely well, as did Taylor, but three missed darts in the second leg allowed Taylor to crucially break the throw. Barney did hold his throw in the fourth leg and then again in the sixth, but was still 4-2 down. The Dutchman then missed another four darts to break back in the seventh leg and Taylor did manage to break in the eighth to go 6-3 in front. A 144-checkout from Van Barneveld did deny the inevitable for a further leg before missing two darts in the tenth leg to allow Taylor to go top of the league on leg difference.
Anderson has never won in Glasgow and Newton used this to his advantage to stay in the Premier League. If Newton lost, he would have been relegated but 13-missed darts from Anderson allowed The Warrior to go 2-0 ahead. Anderson managed to win the third leg at the fourth attempt before a missed dart for a 115-checkout allowed the Scot to level the match. Anderson then took the fifth leg to take the lead, only for Newton to level with a 132-checkout. Newton went on to miss two darts in the seventh leg only for Anderson to miss a dart at 160-checkout, allowing Newton to once again equalise. The Scot managed an 84-checkout on the bull in the ninth leg but a missed dart in the tenth once again gave Newton to chance to level with a brilliant Shanghai-120 checkout. Five more missed darts meant Anderson again failed to guarantee himself a point. Newton then held on to take out-72 and crucially win 7-5 and move above Anderson on leg difference.
The final game of the night saw Wade join the double figures club alongside Van Gerwen. A 134-checkout from Wade put himself 3-1 ahead after initially losing the opening leg. Van Gerwen missed three darts at the double in the fifth leg to move Wade 4-1 ahead. Van Gerwen tried to fight back and made it 4-3 before a brilliant 135-checkout restored the two leg advantage. The Dutchman then missed three darts as Wade earned himself a point. Wade missed two match darts in the tenth leg but The Machine completed the match with a superb 130-checkout.
Lewis only needs a point to guarantee his safety next week, but it has to come against Van Barneveld. Whitlock has the extremely tough task of needing to beat Van Gerwen next week to be assured of a place in the second phase. This may give Anderson and Newton hope as they face Wade and Hamilton respectively. What it does mean though is that Judgement Day will be one not to miss next week. Table after week eight:
1. Phil Taylor 10 +12
2. Michael Van Gerwen 10 +12
3. James Wade 10 +9
4. Raymond Van Barneveld 10 +6
5. Robert Thornton 9 +5
6. Andy Hamilton 8 0
7. Adrian Lewis 7 -7
8. Simon Whitlock 6 -11
9. Wes Newton 5 -12
10. Gary Anderson 5 -14
Thursday 28 March 2013
Sunday 24 March 2013
Vettel Defies Team Orders To Win
The Malaysian Grand Prix may be remembered for team orders more than anything this year as Sebastian Vettel coasted home to victory after being told off by Christian Horner. The Red Bull team principle didn't want to see Vettel and Webber fighting it out for the victory and once Vettel had ignored team orders and got past Webber, the Australian held back to allow the World Champion the victory.
But Red Bull weren't the only team using team orders to make sure their drivers didn't race amongst themselves. Behind the Red Bull one-two were the Mercedes cars and with Lewis Hamilton being told to nurse the car home to save fuel, Nico Rosberg was told that he was allowed to try and take the podium off of Hamilton despite the German's pleas.
During the race, Vettel was called silly by Horner and that he will have to explain his actions after the race. Meanwhile, Ross Brawn was congratulating and thanking Rosberg for doing what he was told to which the German replied 'I won't forget this'.
Thankfully, it was a dry race despite the track being wet in parts for opening few laps. Ferrari were the team on everybody's lips for a possible one-two but Fernando Alonso crashed out in the second lap and Felipe Massa could only manage fifth. It was also a bad day in the pits as a cock-up for McLaren cost Jenson Button that fifth place and he ended up retiring as did the Force India pairing because of faulty wheel nuts, this was a shame as Paul Di Resta had been setting fastest laps in the midfield beforehand.
The race began with everyone on intermediate tyres because the first part of the track was still wet despite sectors two and three being dry enough for slick tyres. Webber had a great start and managed to get himself in behind Vettel with the Ferraris also in hot pursuit. Going in to the second corner, Alonso had overtaken Massa and had managed to get in front of Webber with Vettel firmly in his sights. But Alonso was too eager and slightly went in to the back of the Red Bull, causing the Ferrari severe front wing damage.
Button had manage to propel himself up to fifth with Massa dropping to sixth. As the leaders got to the final corner, Alonso decided not to pit and change the stricken front wing. Webber managed to overtake the Ferrari on the home straight just before that front wing ended up going underneath the chassis and causing Alonso to get beached in the gravel and be out of the race, when really he should have pitted.
The pace of Mercedes was clear for much of the race and Rosberg easily overtook Button on the third lap to take fourth. By lap six the track Vettel had decided the track was dry enough to change to slicks and he was the first to come in along with Massa. In contrast to Vettel, Webber was told to stay out and this proved to be the right call.
Webber and Hamilton waited two more laps before they pitted and Webber ended up coming out of ahead of his team mate. But the drama in the pits had only just begun; when Hamilton arrived he forgot who he was racing for and ended up going into the McLaren bay, only to be moved on to the Mercedes area. Just after that, Jean-Eric Vergne was unsafely released and the Toro Rosso collided with Charles Pic's Caterham, causing both cars to have front wing damage and needing extra time in the paddock.
Pastor Maldonado struggled with the Williams all afternoon and the Venezuelan went off the track on lap-14, losing half of his front wing as he hit the kerb, but he did manage to continue. Last week's winner, Kimi Raikkonen, looked to be in a different car this race and also struggled for a lot of it. The Finn did manage to overtake Sergio Perez on lap-16 after chasing him for around five laps to gain eighth.
Webber was the first to pit for the second round on lap-20. It was a lap later when Force India began having their problems in the pits as they struggled with Di Resta's left front tyre. Many had come in and gone out again by the time Di Resta finally came out 21st and 48-seconds behind. Sutil came in on lap-23 and unfortunately suffered from the same problem.
A lap later and Di Resta was called back in to be retired as the team wouldn't have been able to cope with another pit stop. Sutil was also brought in on lap-29 to end a promising weekend for Force India on the lowest possible note.
Lap-31 saw Hamilton pit first in round three. That was followed by Webber and Rosberg a lap later before Vettel came in another lap after that. But that proved to be a mistake for the German as he ended up coming out behind Hamilton.
Button had decided to stay out for a while longer than the rest but Webber had managed to overtake him on lap-35 to regain the lead. A lap later, Button had decided to pit but was released too early with his right front tyre not fixed on. Luckily, Button stopped mid-way down the pit lane and the crew were able to wheel him back in but it pushed him down to 14th from 5th.
Vettel managed to overtake Hamilton on lap-39. Raikkonen had managed to get himself up to eighth after overtaking Nico Hulkenberg after another epic battle, two laps later. The fourth set of pit stops began with Hamilton on lap-42. Vettel came in the next lap with Webber waiting until the following one. Vettel was the one to gain as Webber came out just inches ahead of his team mate and it was the start of a huge battle.
Despite the cries from Horner, Vettel managed to overtake Webber on lap-46. From there, it would seem that Webber was told to back off as within five laps, Vettel had moved six seconds clear, thus ending a thrilling inter-team battle.
Maldonado's race ended on lap-48 after getting beached, meaning that he has failed to complete either race this season. Raikkonen and Massa managed to overtake Perez on lap-49 to move sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. The Ferrari then managed to overtake the Lotus a lap later to take sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo was retired on lap-54 for Toro Rosso. Also on that lap, Massa had tracked down Romain Grosjean to take fifth place. The final retirement came a lap later for a very disappointed Button. Rosberg would have taken third off of Hamilton if he would have been allowed to race, but unfortunately this was not the case and the German was definitely unhappy. Race result:
1. Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Webber (Red Bull), 3. Hamilton (Mercedes), 4. Rosberg (Mercedes), 5. Massa (Ferrari), 6. Grosjean (Lotus), 7. Raikkonen (Lotus), 8. Hulkenberg (Sauber), 9. Perez (McLaren), 10. Vergne (Toro Rosso), 11. Bottas (Williams), 12. Gutierrez (Sauber), 13. Bianchi (Marussia), 14. Pic (Caterham), 15. Van Der Garde (Caterham), 16. Chilton (Marussia) DNF: Alonso (Ferrari), Di Resta (Force India), Sutil (Force India), Maldonado (Williams), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren)
But Red Bull weren't the only team using team orders to make sure their drivers didn't race amongst themselves. Behind the Red Bull one-two were the Mercedes cars and with Lewis Hamilton being told to nurse the car home to save fuel, Nico Rosberg was told that he was allowed to try and take the podium off of Hamilton despite the German's pleas.
During the race, Vettel was called silly by Horner and that he will have to explain his actions after the race. Meanwhile, Ross Brawn was congratulating and thanking Rosberg for doing what he was told to which the German replied 'I won't forget this'.
Thankfully, it was a dry race despite the track being wet in parts for opening few laps. Ferrari were the team on everybody's lips for a possible one-two but Fernando Alonso crashed out in the second lap and Felipe Massa could only manage fifth. It was also a bad day in the pits as a cock-up for McLaren cost Jenson Button that fifth place and he ended up retiring as did the Force India pairing because of faulty wheel nuts, this was a shame as Paul Di Resta had been setting fastest laps in the midfield beforehand.
The race began with everyone on intermediate tyres because the first part of the track was still wet despite sectors two and three being dry enough for slick tyres. Webber had a great start and managed to get himself in behind Vettel with the Ferraris also in hot pursuit. Going in to the second corner, Alonso had overtaken Massa and had managed to get in front of Webber with Vettel firmly in his sights. But Alonso was too eager and slightly went in to the back of the Red Bull, causing the Ferrari severe front wing damage.
Button had manage to propel himself up to fifth with Massa dropping to sixth. As the leaders got to the final corner, Alonso decided not to pit and change the stricken front wing. Webber managed to overtake the Ferrari on the home straight just before that front wing ended up going underneath the chassis and causing Alonso to get beached in the gravel and be out of the race, when really he should have pitted.
The pace of Mercedes was clear for much of the race and Rosberg easily overtook Button on the third lap to take fourth. By lap six the track Vettel had decided the track was dry enough to change to slicks and he was the first to come in along with Massa. In contrast to Vettel, Webber was told to stay out and this proved to be the right call.
Webber and Hamilton waited two more laps before they pitted and Webber ended up coming out of ahead of his team mate. But the drama in the pits had only just begun; when Hamilton arrived he forgot who he was racing for and ended up going into the McLaren bay, only to be moved on to the Mercedes area. Just after that, Jean-Eric Vergne was unsafely released and the Toro Rosso collided with Charles Pic's Caterham, causing both cars to have front wing damage and needing extra time in the paddock.
Pastor Maldonado struggled with the Williams all afternoon and the Venezuelan went off the track on lap-14, losing half of his front wing as he hit the kerb, but he did manage to continue. Last week's winner, Kimi Raikkonen, looked to be in a different car this race and also struggled for a lot of it. The Finn did manage to overtake Sergio Perez on lap-16 after chasing him for around five laps to gain eighth.
Webber was the first to pit for the second round on lap-20. It was a lap later when Force India began having their problems in the pits as they struggled with Di Resta's left front tyre. Many had come in and gone out again by the time Di Resta finally came out 21st and 48-seconds behind. Sutil came in on lap-23 and unfortunately suffered from the same problem.
A lap later and Di Resta was called back in to be retired as the team wouldn't have been able to cope with another pit stop. Sutil was also brought in on lap-29 to end a promising weekend for Force India on the lowest possible note.
Lap-31 saw Hamilton pit first in round three. That was followed by Webber and Rosberg a lap later before Vettel came in another lap after that. But that proved to be a mistake for the German as he ended up coming out behind Hamilton.
Button had decided to stay out for a while longer than the rest but Webber had managed to overtake him on lap-35 to regain the lead. A lap later, Button had decided to pit but was released too early with his right front tyre not fixed on. Luckily, Button stopped mid-way down the pit lane and the crew were able to wheel him back in but it pushed him down to 14th from 5th.
Vettel managed to overtake Hamilton on lap-39. Raikkonen had managed to get himself up to eighth after overtaking Nico Hulkenberg after another epic battle, two laps later. The fourth set of pit stops began with Hamilton on lap-42. Vettel came in the next lap with Webber waiting until the following one. Vettel was the one to gain as Webber came out just inches ahead of his team mate and it was the start of a huge battle.
Despite the cries from Horner, Vettel managed to overtake Webber on lap-46. From there, it would seem that Webber was told to back off as within five laps, Vettel had moved six seconds clear, thus ending a thrilling inter-team battle.
Maldonado's race ended on lap-48 after getting beached, meaning that he has failed to complete either race this season. Raikkonen and Massa managed to overtake Perez on lap-49 to move sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. The Ferrari then managed to overtake the Lotus a lap later to take sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo was retired on lap-54 for Toro Rosso. Also on that lap, Massa had tracked down Romain Grosjean to take fifth place. The final retirement came a lap later for a very disappointed Button. Rosberg would have taken third off of Hamilton if he would have been allowed to race, but unfortunately this was not the case and the German was definitely unhappy. Race result:
1. Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Webber (Red Bull), 3. Hamilton (Mercedes), 4. Rosberg (Mercedes), 5. Massa (Ferrari), 6. Grosjean (Lotus), 7. Raikkonen (Lotus), 8. Hulkenberg (Sauber), 9. Perez (McLaren), 10. Vergne (Toro Rosso), 11. Bottas (Williams), 12. Gutierrez (Sauber), 13. Bianchi (Marussia), 14. Pic (Caterham), 15. Van Der Garde (Caterham), 16. Chilton (Marussia) DNF: Alonso (Ferrari), Di Resta (Force India), Sutil (Force India), Maldonado (Williams), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren)
Saturday 23 March 2013
Hampel Returns To The Top
After an injury hit 2012, Jaroslaw Hampel has returned and kick started 2013 off with a win in New Zealand. The Pole emerged victorious after somehow winning the semi-final from the unenviable gate four and the stroked home in the final after Tomasz Gollob allowed him to have the inside gate. Despite winning two more heats than Hampel, Gollob could only manage second in the final but got the same amount of points as Hampel
Despite recovering from broken ribs, Nicki Pedersen returned from two fourth places in his opening two heats to win his remaining three and ultimately finishing third in the final and in the points standings. The 2011 Champion and last year's Auckland winner, Greg Hancock, started off with two wins and managed to get in to the final but the outside gate was impossible for the American and he finished fourth in the final. But Hancock didn't finish fourth in the overall points scoring as debutante Darcy Ward finished a point ahead of him after three heat wins.
The Australian had the opening gate in the first semi-final but he could only finish third behind Hampel, the second winner to come from gate four all night, and Pedersen. Britain's Tai Woffinden had a great comeback to the series but he could only finish fourth in that tough semi-final. Gollob won the second semi-final ahead of Hancock. The defending Champion, Chris Holder, just squeezed in to the semi-finals on the basis he beat Freddie Lindgren in their head to head, but he could only manage third from the outside gate with the back to form Andreas Jonsson finishing fourth from the inside gate.
15 of the 23 heats were won from gate one in New Zealand but with 12 of the 16 riders picking up a heat win, this could be the start of the most competitive GP series. The night kicked off with Gollob winning the opening heat of 2013 with Woffinden in close quarters having left Matej Zagar and Krzysztof Kasprzak in their wake.
The second heat had to restarted as both Hancock and Niels-Kristian Iversen were a bit eager at the start. All four returned and the American won it ahead of Holder with the wildcard, Jason Bunyan, finishing fourth. Any thoughts of whether Ward would be caught in the headlights were quashed in the third heat as he comfortably won it ahead of Martin Vaculik, Hampel and Pedersen. Heat four saw Jonsson win it from gate four in the battle of the Swedes, Lindgren finished second with Antonio Lindback third and Emil Sayfutdinov miles behind the Swedish trio.
Hancock made it two out of two with Jonsson continuing to look back to his best in second, Gollob came third with Pedersen still yet to pick up a point in possibly, on paper, the best heat of the night. Sayfutdinov recovered to take heat six with Woffinden again taking second. Ward would also make it two out of two ahead of fellow Australian Holder who finished ahead of Lindgren, the result that got him in to the semi-finals. Kasprzak took full advantage of the inside gate to win heat eight ahead of Iversen, Hampel and Lindback.
Gollob took his second heat of the night in the ninth with Lindback managing second, Ward third and Bunyan finishing fourth for the second time. Hampel took the tenth heat ahead of Lindgren, Hancock and Woffinden. Pedersen managed his first points with the win in the 11th heat, although it ended up being by half a wheel ahead of Iversen who had been hunting him down, Sayfutdinov picked up another fourth behind Zagar. Jonsson took his second heat of the night with Holder finishing fourth from gate four.
Holder returned in the 13th heat to win from the inside gate and even Gollob couldn't make gate four work, finishing last behind Hampel and Sayfutdinov. Heat 14 had to be restarted as Iversen put the bike down in anticipation of an out of control Ward causing an accident. But the youngster held on to the bike and Iversen had to be excluded for causing the race to be stopped. Woffinden won the restart ahead of Jonsson and Ward. After a poor night, Lindback won heat 15 with Hancock only finishing third behind Vaculik but ahead of Zagar. Bunyan would go down in heat 16 under contact from Kasprzak, but the referee deemed the contact not enough for the Pole to get excluded so the Kiwi had to sit out. Pedersen won the restart to make it two in two with Lindgren taking second.
Gollob won his third heat of the night in the 17th with Lindgren almost stealing second from Iversen. Pedersen made it three out of three with Woffinden second, Holder third and Lindback completing a disappointing night in fourth. Zagar surprised the odds despite being off gate one to win heat 19 ahead of Hampel and Jonsson. The final heat was taken by Ward, his third of the night, with Sayfutdinov ending an inconsistent meeting with a second, Hancock third and Kasprzak fourth. Standings after one event:
1. Tomasz Gollob (pol) 15 2. Jaroslaw Hampel (pol) 15 3. Nicki Pedersen (den) 12 4. Darcy Ward (aus) 12 5. Greg Hancock (usa) 11 6. Andreas Jonsson (swe) 11 7. Chris Holder (aus) 9 8. Tai Woffinden (gbr) 9 9. Fredrik Lindgren (swe) 8 10. Niels-Kristian Iversen (den) 7 11. Emil Sayfutdinov (rus) 6 12. Antonio Lindback (swe) 12 13. Krzysztof Kasprzak (pol) 6 14. Martin Vaculik (svk) 5 15. Matej Zagar (slv) 5 16. Jason Bunyan (nzl) 1
Despite recovering from broken ribs, Nicki Pedersen returned from two fourth places in his opening two heats to win his remaining three and ultimately finishing third in the final and in the points standings. The 2011 Champion and last year's Auckland winner, Greg Hancock, started off with two wins and managed to get in to the final but the outside gate was impossible for the American and he finished fourth in the final. But Hancock didn't finish fourth in the overall points scoring as debutante Darcy Ward finished a point ahead of him after three heat wins.
The Australian had the opening gate in the first semi-final but he could only finish third behind Hampel, the second winner to come from gate four all night, and Pedersen. Britain's Tai Woffinden had a great comeback to the series but he could only finish fourth in that tough semi-final. Gollob won the second semi-final ahead of Hancock. The defending Champion, Chris Holder, just squeezed in to the semi-finals on the basis he beat Freddie Lindgren in their head to head, but he could only manage third from the outside gate with the back to form Andreas Jonsson finishing fourth from the inside gate.
15 of the 23 heats were won from gate one in New Zealand but with 12 of the 16 riders picking up a heat win, this could be the start of the most competitive GP series. The night kicked off with Gollob winning the opening heat of 2013 with Woffinden in close quarters having left Matej Zagar and Krzysztof Kasprzak in their wake.
The second heat had to restarted as both Hancock and Niels-Kristian Iversen were a bit eager at the start. All four returned and the American won it ahead of Holder with the wildcard, Jason Bunyan, finishing fourth. Any thoughts of whether Ward would be caught in the headlights were quashed in the third heat as he comfortably won it ahead of Martin Vaculik, Hampel and Pedersen. Heat four saw Jonsson win it from gate four in the battle of the Swedes, Lindgren finished second with Antonio Lindback third and Emil Sayfutdinov miles behind the Swedish trio.
Hancock made it two out of two with Jonsson continuing to look back to his best in second, Gollob came third with Pedersen still yet to pick up a point in possibly, on paper, the best heat of the night. Sayfutdinov recovered to take heat six with Woffinden again taking second. Ward would also make it two out of two ahead of fellow Australian Holder who finished ahead of Lindgren, the result that got him in to the semi-finals. Kasprzak took full advantage of the inside gate to win heat eight ahead of Iversen, Hampel and Lindback.
Gollob took his second heat of the night in the ninth with Lindback managing second, Ward third and Bunyan finishing fourth for the second time. Hampel took the tenth heat ahead of Lindgren, Hancock and Woffinden. Pedersen managed his first points with the win in the 11th heat, although it ended up being by half a wheel ahead of Iversen who had been hunting him down, Sayfutdinov picked up another fourth behind Zagar. Jonsson took his second heat of the night with Holder finishing fourth from gate four.
Holder returned in the 13th heat to win from the inside gate and even Gollob couldn't make gate four work, finishing last behind Hampel and Sayfutdinov. Heat 14 had to be restarted as Iversen put the bike down in anticipation of an out of control Ward causing an accident. But the youngster held on to the bike and Iversen had to be excluded for causing the race to be stopped. Woffinden won the restart ahead of Jonsson and Ward. After a poor night, Lindback won heat 15 with Hancock only finishing third behind Vaculik but ahead of Zagar. Bunyan would go down in heat 16 under contact from Kasprzak, but the referee deemed the contact not enough for the Pole to get excluded so the Kiwi had to sit out. Pedersen won the restart to make it two in two with Lindgren taking second.
Gollob won his third heat of the night in the 17th with Lindgren almost stealing second from Iversen. Pedersen made it three out of three with Woffinden second, Holder third and Lindback completing a disappointing night in fourth. Zagar surprised the odds despite being off gate one to win heat 19 ahead of Hampel and Jonsson. The final heat was taken by Ward, his third of the night, with Sayfutdinov ending an inconsistent meeting with a second, Hancock third and Kasprzak fourth. Standings after one event:
1. Tomasz Gollob (pol) 15 2. Jaroslaw Hampel (pol) 15 3. Nicki Pedersen (den) 12 4. Darcy Ward (aus) 12 5. Greg Hancock (usa) 11 6. Andreas Jonsson (swe) 11 7. Chris Holder (aus) 9 8. Tai Woffinden (gbr) 9 9. Fredrik Lindgren (swe) 8 10. Niels-Kristian Iversen (den) 7 11. Emil Sayfutdinov (rus) 6 12. Antonio Lindback (swe) 12 13. Krzysztof Kasprzak (pol) 6 14. Martin Vaculik (svk) 5 15. Matej Zagar (slv) 5 16. Jason Bunyan (nzl) 1
F1 Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying Result
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)
2. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
7. Jenson Button (McLaren)
8. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
9. Sergio Perez (McLaren)
10. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) (Given three place grid penalty for impeding Rosberg)
11. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
12. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
13. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
14. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
15. Paul Di Resta (Force India)
16. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
17. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
18. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
19. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
20. Charles Pic (Caterham)
21. Max Chilton (Marussia)
22. Giedo Van Der Garde (Caterham)
2. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
3. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
5. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
7. Jenson Button (McLaren)
8. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
9. Sergio Perez (McLaren)
10. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) (Given three place grid penalty for impeding Rosberg)
11. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)
12. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
13. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)
14. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber)
15. Paul Di Resta (Force India)
16. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)
17. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)
18. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
19. Jules Bianchi (Marussia)
20. Charles Pic (Caterham)
21. Max Chilton (Marussia)
22. Giedo Van Der Garde (Caterham)
Friday 22 March 2013
2013 Speedway GP Series - The Preview
The best action on two wheels returns with the 15-best speedway racers once again travelling the world to find out which of them is truly king of the oval. After winning his first world title last year, Chris Holder returns to defend his crown against some old rivals and new faces and it all begins in New Zealand for the second consecutive season.
This time last year, Greg Hancock was beginning his defence of his second world title and won the inaugural race of 2012. This year, the veteran American has even more fire in his belly to start this season with as he has become a father for the third time.
The end of last season saw Holder almost come to blows with second placed Nicki Pedersen. The Dane is a big shout for this year's championship, which would be his fourth crown and his first since 2008. If, probably when, controversy hits this season, it'll be fair to say that Pedersen won't be far away from it as he does add a lot of drama to the circuit. He will begin the season with broken ribs but he believes that won't slow him down in the hunt for Holder.
The 2010 Champion, Tomasz Gollob, has been a bit off par and disappointing in the last couple of seasons, finishing well off the pace. The Pole finished fourth in a injury plagued season last year but even so, he will have improve a lot this season if he's to add to that 2010 crown. What will please Gollob is the reinstating of Bydgoszcz as the Polish GP. It's the first time since Gollob won the Championship that the ZKS Polonia Stadium has been used and Gollob has won seven of the 14 Grands Prix that it has hosted, making him the huge favourite to win the second round of this season.
If there's going to be another young champion this season, Emil Sayfutdinov will be a great bet. The young, two years Holder's junior at 23, Russian has continued impress since his debut season in 2009 where he came third and won three events. Although perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Sayfutdinov has finished fifth and sixth in the last two years without winning an event since 2009. But that should change this season.
Perhaps the performer of last season, Antonio Lindback really put himself in the forefront of Swedish speedway. This will the be eighth full GP season for the Brazilian born Swede and his eighth place last year was by far his best. Lindback won both the Italian GP and the final round in Torun last season and has quickly become one of the most entertaining riders on the roster. Maybe the Swede has an outside chance of taking the glory this year, but this could be the year he definitely takes the mantle of Sweden's best rider from Andreas Jonsson.
Fredrik Lindgren may have something to say to that after finishing just a place behind Lindback last year. The pair are the same age and will both be racing in their eighth GP series. The only thing separating the pair at the minute is that Lindback took two wins last year, whereas Lindgren managed one win and one less final appearance than his compatriot.
Ninth place was very disappointing the Jonsson after finishing second in 2011. With three GP wins in that season, the zero in that column in 2012 shows how underwhelming it was for AJ. Only in 2002 & 2003 (his first two seasons) and 2012 has Jonsson done worse and he'll be hoping for a vast improvement again this time. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely as the class of the riders is becoming higher and the battle for the sacred top eight places are going to the most fiercely contested this season.
The breakthrough rider of 2012 was definitely Martin Vaculik. The Slovakian greatly benefited from Jaroslaw Hampel's injury hit season and surprised the world by winning one of his six outings. The 22-year old will really be under the microscope this season and if he performs anywhere near like in his six Grands Prix, Vaculik could be a real dark horse for winning this Championship, or at least finish well in to the top eight.
Hampel will be hoping to put his unfortunate and injury hit 2012 well and truly behind him with a great 2013. The Pole could only manage eight events last seasons and even then Hampel looked to be struggling for a lot of it, despite making two finals. He has been a regular since 2004 and he would have loved to have continued on from his second place in 2010 and third in 2011. Maybe he can do it this year as a fit Hampel is an extremely entertaining one and as he's already proven, he's a potential Championship contender.
There are five newcomers this season who weren't part of the whole 2012 series. Poland's Krzysztof Kasprzak had two Grands Prix last year and made a final appearance in one of them. His only previous full season in the GP was in 2008 where he finished 14th although he did make it to the final in his only event appearance in 2007, showing that he does have what it takes to mix it in with the big boys and hopefully he can do so this season.
Slovenia's Matej Zagar also featured in two events last season but hasn't participated in a full calender since 2007 where he finished 14th. He did manage to finish seventh in 2006 where he made it in to two finals, he also made it to that stage in one of his two appearances in 2005. The bookies believe that he is the severe underdog this year but the Slovenian believes he has what it takes to compete.
Niels-Kristian Iversen returns to the series since 2008, his last appearance was in 2010. He finished 12th in 2008 which was one better than in 2006 but his only final appearance came in 2009 where he featured in three events. Iversen has what it takes to win heats but whether he'll be competing that much this season will definitely be something to watch out for.
The biggest unknown potentially this season his Britain's Tai Woffinden. In recent years, the Brits have been getting worse and worse with Chris Harris losing his place this season. the 22-year old's only previous series came in 2010 and his naivety shone through a lot on his way to finishing 14th. Woffinden was offered a place last season but he turned it down in order to improve himself further. He is definitely the future of British speedway and it will be interesting just to see how far he has come since 2010.
With the sad news that Jason Crump chose to retire at the end of last season, there's now a huge void in Australian speedway even though Holder is taking over the winning championships side of things. This season sees Darcy Ward try to fill the tyre tracks left by Crump and the 20-year old will be the youngest full rider this season. The youngster did appear in two GPs in 2011 and actually made it to a final which shows the class that this Australian has. Like Woffinden, he will definitely be an exciting watch but being the only debutante this season, he may be a rabbit caught in the headlights.
That doesn't really seem likely and the fact there isn't really anyone apart from maybe Zagar and Iversen that you could potentially say won't compete very much, makes this GP series the most competitive one yet so watch this space.
This time last year, Greg Hancock was beginning his defence of his second world title and won the inaugural race of 2012. This year, the veteran American has even more fire in his belly to start this season with as he has become a father for the third time.
The end of last season saw Holder almost come to blows with second placed Nicki Pedersen. The Dane is a big shout for this year's championship, which would be his fourth crown and his first since 2008. If, probably when, controversy hits this season, it'll be fair to say that Pedersen won't be far away from it as he does add a lot of drama to the circuit. He will begin the season with broken ribs but he believes that won't slow him down in the hunt for Holder.
The 2010 Champion, Tomasz Gollob, has been a bit off par and disappointing in the last couple of seasons, finishing well off the pace. The Pole finished fourth in a injury plagued season last year but even so, he will have improve a lot this season if he's to add to that 2010 crown. What will please Gollob is the reinstating of Bydgoszcz as the Polish GP. It's the first time since Gollob won the Championship that the ZKS Polonia Stadium has been used and Gollob has won seven of the 14 Grands Prix that it has hosted, making him the huge favourite to win the second round of this season.
If there's going to be another young champion this season, Emil Sayfutdinov will be a great bet. The young, two years Holder's junior at 23, Russian has continued impress since his debut season in 2009 where he came third and won three events. Although perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Sayfutdinov has finished fifth and sixth in the last two years without winning an event since 2009. But that should change this season.
Perhaps the performer of last season, Antonio Lindback really put himself in the forefront of Swedish speedway. This will the be eighth full GP season for the Brazilian born Swede and his eighth place last year was by far his best. Lindback won both the Italian GP and the final round in Torun last season and has quickly become one of the most entertaining riders on the roster. Maybe the Swede has an outside chance of taking the glory this year, but this could be the year he definitely takes the mantle of Sweden's best rider from Andreas Jonsson.
Fredrik Lindgren may have something to say to that after finishing just a place behind Lindback last year. The pair are the same age and will both be racing in their eighth GP series. The only thing separating the pair at the minute is that Lindback took two wins last year, whereas Lindgren managed one win and one less final appearance than his compatriot.
Ninth place was very disappointing the Jonsson after finishing second in 2011. With three GP wins in that season, the zero in that column in 2012 shows how underwhelming it was for AJ. Only in 2002 & 2003 (his first two seasons) and 2012 has Jonsson done worse and he'll be hoping for a vast improvement again this time. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely as the class of the riders is becoming higher and the battle for the sacred top eight places are going to the most fiercely contested this season.
The breakthrough rider of 2012 was definitely Martin Vaculik. The Slovakian greatly benefited from Jaroslaw Hampel's injury hit season and surprised the world by winning one of his six outings. The 22-year old will really be under the microscope this season and if he performs anywhere near like in his six Grands Prix, Vaculik could be a real dark horse for winning this Championship, or at least finish well in to the top eight.
Hampel will be hoping to put his unfortunate and injury hit 2012 well and truly behind him with a great 2013. The Pole could only manage eight events last seasons and even then Hampel looked to be struggling for a lot of it, despite making two finals. He has been a regular since 2004 and he would have loved to have continued on from his second place in 2010 and third in 2011. Maybe he can do it this year as a fit Hampel is an extremely entertaining one and as he's already proven, he's a potential Championship contender.
There are five newcomers this season who weren't part of the whole 2012 series. Poland's Krzysztof Kasprzak had two Grands Prix last year and made a final appearance in one of them. His only previous full season in the GP was in 2008 where he finished 14th although he did make it to the final in his only event appearance in 2007, showing that he does have what it takes to mix it in with the big boys and hopefully he can do so this season.
Slovenia's Matej Zagar also featured in two events last season but hasn't participated in a full calender since 2007 where he finished 14th. He did manage to finish seventh in 2006 where he made it in to two finals, he also made it to that stage in one of his two appearances in 2005. The bookies believe that he is the severe underdog this year but the Slovenian believes he has what it takes to compete.
Niels-Kristian Iversen returns to the series since 2008, his last appearance was in 2010. He finished 12th in 2008 which was one better than in 2006 but his only final appearance came in 2009 where he featured in three events. Iversen has what it takes to win heats but whether he'll be competing that much this season will definitely be something to watch out for.
The biggest unknown potentially this season his Britain's Tai Woffinden. In recent years, the Brits have been getting worse and worse with Chris Harris losing his place this season. the 22-year old's only previous series came in 2010 and his naivety shone through a lot on his way to finishing 14th. Woffinden was offered a place last season but he turned it down in order to improve himself further. He is definitely the future of British speedway and it will be interesting just to see how far he has come since 2010.
With the sad news that Jason Crump chose to retire at the end of last season, there's now a huge void in Australian speedway even though Holder is taking over the winning championships side of things. This season sees Darcy Ward try to fill the tyre tracks left by Crump and the 20-year old will be the youngest full rider this season. The youngster did appear in two GPs in 2011 and actually made it to a final which shows the class that this Australian has. Like Woffinden, he will definitely be an exciting watch but being the only debutante this season, he may be a rabbit caught in the headlights.
That doesn't really seem likely and the fact there isn't really anyone apart from maybe Zagar and Iversen that you could potentially say won't compete very much, makes this GP series the most competitive one yet so watch this space.
Thursday 21 March 2013
Magic Mike Goes Top, Lewis Out Of Relegation, Taylor Stops Rot
With the relegation trap door opening in just two weeks' time, we aren't any closer to knowing which two fall at the first hurdle. But what we did see in Cardiff was another heap of amazing darts with changes to the top and bottom of the standings, as well as everyone getting closer together.
Another magic performance from Michael Van Gerwen sees him move to the top of table, thrashing Gary Anderson who didn't actually do a lot wrong. The defeat for the Scot sees him move in to the relegation zone as Adrian Lewis managed to beat Robert Thornton to move out of the drop zone for the first time in the competition. Another defeat for Wes Newton meant that Phil Taylor didn't lose three on the bounce for the first time Premier League history, but it also sets up a huge relegation battle against Anderson next week in Glasgow. There was also a win for Andy Hamilton in the rematch from last year's semi-final against Simon Whitlock.
It was those two who started the show in Wales and on his fourth attempt, Whitlock levelled the match in the second leg to win his first leg in Cardiff since March 2011. Hamilton then moved in to a 3-1 lead before making it 4-1 at the seventh attempt after the Aussie also missed three darts of his own to pull a leg back. Whitlock did manage to find a crucial break in the ninth leg, making it 5-4, but Hamilton responded by breaking back and assuring a point in the next leg after Whitlock missed the double for a 114-checkout. The match was completed in the following leg with Hamilton earning a 7-4 victory, a great way to continue on from his defeat of Taylor last week.
It's not often that a player will average 96.8 and get battered 7-1. But that's exactly what happened to Anderson as he was unfortunate enough to walk in to the Van Gerwen express. A 121-checkout in the second leg saw the Dutchman take a 2-0 lead in just 25-darts. If that wasn't good enough, Anderson would miss the bull in the third leg to allow Van Gerwen to make it 3-0 with a 120-checkout. But the best was yet to come as it would be 4-0 with Van Gerwen firing in a magnificent 164-checkout with Anderson waiting on-40, meaning the Dutchman was still to miss a dart at the double. Anderson's only leg came in the fifth leg after Van Gerwen missed his first dart at the double. But Anderson couldn't gain any momentum from that and Van Gerwen remained in full control. The Dutchman was able to secure a point at the fifth attempt before winning the match 7-1 after Anderson missed three darts at the double. After four legs, Van Gerwen was looking to set a world record average, but he ended up having to settle for 107.22 and a place at the top of the table.
Lewis fought hard to move out of the relegation zone for the first time in this tournament, having to beat Thornton in the deciding leg. The six legs all went with throw with neither player really challenging the other when they were throwing second. That all changed in the seventh leg as Lewis managed to break, only for Thornton to break back and level the score once again at 4-4. Thornton missed a dart at the bull to hold his throw in the ninth leg and it was duly punished with a classy 155-checkout from Lewis. This time Lewis held on to his throw to secure a point, but Thornton would force a deciding leg with an amazing 162-checkout. Lewis had the throw in the all important final leg and a double five was enough to see him over the line, winning 7-5.
Some people were seriously wondering if Taylor could possibly lose three Premier League matches on the bounce, not winning in four, in his match against Newton. In the beginning those thoughts may have increased as Taylor didn't start off quickly. But a missed dart from Newton allowed The Power to win the first leg before instantly doubling his advantage. As the game progressed, Taylor began to find his rhythm and a 126-checkout put the World Champion 4-1 ahead. Newton missed the double for a 125-checkout in the sixth leg and a 115-checkout from Taylor earned a point at 6-2. The game would only last one more leg as Taylor would win it to finish with a 101.7 average. Newton now knows that if he doesn't beat Anderson next week, it could be curtains for the Premier League newcomer.
The final match of the night was billed as the highlight match, but it was more intriguing rather than exhilarating. Neither Wade or Van Barneveld were at their best despite Wade kicking off with a 118-checkout. Wade should have made it 2-0 but missed six darts to take it, gifting Barney the chance to level the scores. The gave the Dutchman the impetus somewhat as he went in to a 3-1 lead. But three consecutive 40-checkouts from Wade turned the match on its head and put The Machine 4-3 in front. A 124-checkout consolidated that in to a 5-4 lead before a 50-finish gave Wade the point with the deciding leg to play. Van Barneveld managed to hold on to Wade and seal that final leg to make it two draws on the spin as he surrenders his top spot. Table after week seven:
1. Michael Van Gerwen 10 +15
2. Raymond Van Barneveld 10 +10
3. Phil Taylor 8 +8
4. James Wade 8 +6
5. Andy Hamilton 8 +3
6. Robert Thornton 7 -1
7. Simon Whitlock 6 -5
8. Adrian Lewis 5 -10
9. Gary Anderson 5 -12
10. Wes Newton 3 -14
Another magic performance from Michael Van Gerwen sees him move to the top of table, thrashing Gary Anderson who didn't actually do a lot wrong. The defeat for the Scot sees him move in to the relegation zone as Adrian Lewis managed to beat Robert Thornton to move out of the drop zone for the first time in the competition. Another defeat for Wes Newton meant that Phil Taylor didn't lose three on the bounce for the first time Premier League history, but it also sets up a huge relegation battle against Anderson next week in Glasgow. There was also a win for Andy Hamilton in the rematch from last year's semi-final against Simon Whitlock.
It was those two who started the show in Wales and on his fourth attempt, Whitlock levelled the match in the second leg to win his first leg in Cardiff since March 2011. Hamilton then moved in to a 3-1 lead before making it 4-1 at the seventh attempt after the Aussie also missed three darts of his own to pull a leg back. Whitlock did manage to find a crucial break in the ninth leg, making it 5-4, but Hamilton responded by breaking back and assuring a point in the next leg after Whitlock missed the double for a 114-checkout. The match was completed in the following leg with Hamilton earning a 7-4 victory, a great way to continue on from his defeat of Taylor last week.
It's not often that a player will average 96.8 and get battered 7-1. But that's exactly what happened to Anderson as he was unfortunate enough to walk in to the Van Gerwen express. A 121-checkout in the second leg saw the Dutchman take a 2-0 lead in just 25-darts. If that wasn't good enough, Anderson would miss the bull in the third leg to allow Van Gerwen to make it 3-0 with a 120-checkout. But the best was yet to come as it would be 4-0 with Van Gerwen firing in a magnificent 164-checkout with Anderson waiting on-40, meaning the Dutchman was still to miss a dart at the double. Anderson's only leg came in the fifth leg after Van Gerwen missed his first dart at the double. But Anderson couldn't gain any momentum from that and Van Gerwen remained in full control. The Dutchman was able to secure a point at the fifth attempt before winning the match 7-1 after Anderson missed three darts at the double. After four legs, Van Gerwen was looking to set a world record average, but he ended up having to settle for 107.22 and a place at the top of the table.
Lewis fought hard to move out of the relegation zone for the first time in this tournament, having to beat Thornton in the deciding leg. The six legs all went with throw with neither player really challenging the other when they were throwing second. That all changed in the seventh leg as Lewis managed to break, only for Thornton to break back and level the score once again at 4-4. Thornton missed a dart at the bull to hold his throw in the ninth leg and it was duly punished with a classy 155-checkout from Lewis. This time Lewis held on to his throw to secure a point, but Thornton would force a deciding leg with an amazing 162-checkout. Lewis had the throw in the all important final leg and a double five was enough to see him over the line, winning 7-5.
Some people were seriously wondering if Taylor could possibly lose three Premier League matches on the bounce, not winning in four, in his match against Newton. In the beginning those thoughts may have increased as Taylor didn't start off quickly. But a missed dart from Newton allowed The Power to win the first leg before instantly doubling his advantage. As the game progressed, Taylor began to find his rhythm and a 126-checkout put the World Champion 4-1 ahead. Newton missed the double for a 125-checkout in the sixth leg and a 115-checkout from Taylor earned a point at 6-2. The game would only last one more leg as Taylor would win it to finish with a 101.7 average. Newton now knows that if he doesn't beat Anderson next week, it could be curtains for the Premier League newcomer.
The final match of the night was billed as the highlight match, but it was more intriguing rather than exhilarating. Neither Wade or Van Barneveld were at their best despite Wade kicking off with a 118-checkout. Wade should have made it 2-0 but missed six darts to take it, gifting Barney the chance to level the scores. The gave the Dutchman the impetus somewhat as he went in to a 3-1 lead. But three consecutive 40-checkouts from Wade turned the match on its head and put The Machine 4-3 in front. A 124-checkout consolidated that in to a 5-4 lead before a 50-finish gave Wade the point with the deciding leg to play. Van Barneveld managed to hold on to Wade and seal that final leg to make it two draws on the spin as he surrenders his top spot. Table after week seven:
1. Michael Van Gerwen 10 +15
2. Raymond Van Barneveld 10 +10
3. Phil Taylor 8 +8
4. James Wade 8 +6
5. Andy Hamilton 8 +3
6. Robert Thornton 7 -1
7. Simon Whitlock 6 -5
8. Adrian Lewis 5 -10
9. Gary Anderson 5 -12
10. Wes Newton 3 -14
Sunday 17 March 2013
Win For Controversial Wigan, Spurs Slump and Super Frank Hits 200
Wigan 2-1 Newcastle: Wigan move three points from safety, with a game in hand, after this controversial win over Newcastle. Wigan took the lead on 18-minutes when Jean Beausejour benefited from a Callum McManaman cross to score his first goal for Wigan, also his first for two years. But the first half, and match, was marred by a horror challenge by McManaman on Massadio Haidara which left the Newcastle man in severe pain with suspected knee ligament damage. Referee Mark Halsey didn't get a good view of the incident and McManaman luckily stayed on the pitch. This caused chaos at half-time with a coach from either side being sent to the stand for causing a fracas at half-time. Newcastle managed to get an equaliser on 72-minutes through Davide Santon, his first goal for The Magpies, with a good finish from an acute angle. But Wigan would win the match with the last kick of the game when a corner was helped on by Maynor Figueroa's hand. That caused an almighty scramble in the six yard box before Arouna Kone smashed it home even though the play should have been stopped for Figueroa's handball.
Chelsea 2-0 West Ham: Chelsea reclaim third spot by going a point ahead of Spurs. But the headlines will only concern a certain Frank Lampard who netted his 200th goal against his boyhood club. He got the opener with a great header on 19-minutes before Eden Hazard continued to take centre stage with a great finish five minutes in to the second half to ensure the points.
Tottenham 0-1 Fulham: Spurs hadn't lost at home since November, Fulham hadn't won against a London club away from all season and the visitors hadn't won at White Hart Lane in nine years, also not scoring for five years. But someone failed to inform a certain Dimitar Berbatov about that. The former Tottenham player scored the only goal of the game seven minutes in to the second half to leave Tottenham just four points ahead of Arsenal and one behind Chelsea.
Sunderland 1-1 Norwich: Another potential mid-table match-up produced another draw which leaves Sunderland not just four points above the bottom three with Norwich a further three points ahead. Norwich took the lead on 26-minutes when Kei Kamara's header from a corner was headed home by Wes Hoolahan from less than a yard. Things got tough for the visitors on the half hour mark when they were reduced to ten men; Mark Bunn sent off for apparent handball outside the area when he came rushing out. Sunderland were given another helping hand five minutes before half-time when Sebastien Bassong was adjudged to have handled in the box and Chris Foy pointed to the spot. Craig Gardner stepped up and expertly dispatched it in to the top corner to earn the point.
Aston Villa 3-2 QPR: Villa came from behind and ended retaking the lead to move three points clear of the relegation zone, although Wigan have a game in hand. The defeat for QPR sees them stay at the bottom on goal difference and now seven points from safety. Rangers took the lead on 23-minutes when Jermaine Jenas was first to a Brad Guzan parry to score against his former loan club. Villa crucially equalised in first half injury time when Gabriel Agbonlahor floated in and headed a Matt Lowton cross home just moments after QPR had hit the post. Villa took the momentum to be the force in the second half that they weren't in the first and Andreas Weimann put Villa in front just before the hour mark with a good finish just inside the area. Like last week, Andros Townsend joined Jenas on the scoresheet when his low effort from outside the box somehow beats Guzan and finds the corner on 73-minutes. The winner came nine minutes from the end when Weimann's pull back was slotted home by Christian Benteke for his 17th goal of the season.
Everton 2-0 Manchester City: Ten man Everton push Manchester City 15-points behind Manchester United whilst boosting themselves to six points behind Tottenham in fourth. Leon Osman gave Everton the lead 13-minutes before half-time with a fantastic curling effort with the outside of his boot, completely bamboozling Joe Hart. Steven Pienaar was shown a second yellow card just after the hour mark for a high studs in challenge and duly walked down the tunnel. City couldn't take any advantage and deputy keeper Jan Mucha did a fine job. Everton managed to somehow get away with a penalty appeal late on when Marouane Fellaini handled in the box and the referee gave a free-kick just outside the box. The points were then wrapped up in injury time when Everton broke with Fellaini. The Belgian fed the ball to substitute Nikica Jelavic and the Croatian turned back inside before curling the ball over Hart and in to the top corner.
Southampton 3-1 Liverpool: The win for Southampton sees them move seven points ahead of the relegation while Liverpool now sit three points behind their Merseyside rivals. Morgan Schneiderlin broke his hoodoo, where every time he has scored this season the Saints have lost, with the games opener six minutes from time. Rickie Lambert made it 2-0 with a deflected free-kick against the team he supports 12-minutes before half-time. Philippe Coutinho pulled one back in first half injury time, smashing the ball home after Daniel Sturridge's effort was blocked. The points were wrapped up ten minutes from the end when Jay Rodriguez broke through and coolly slotted home.
Manchester United 1-0 Reading: United stretch their lead to 15-points and have now gone nine hours without conceding in the Premier League. It wasn't a vintage display and Reading weren't as far away as the bookies tried making out they would be at the start despite parting with Brian McDermott earlier in the week. The only goal of the game on 21-minutes when Rio Ferdinand's marauding run ended with a pass to Wayne Rooney and the striker's shot deflected off Alex Pearce before beating Stuart Pearce in to the bottom corner. Reading now sit seven points from safety after this defeat they can take some heart from.
Swansea 0-2 Arsenal: Arsenal move to four points behind Tottenham with a game in hand in the race for Champions League football. After hitting the woodwork on a numerous times in the first half, Arsenal couldn't break the deadlock until the 74th minute when Nacho Monreal scored his first for the Gunners; stroking the ball home after the ball had broke to him following a tackle on Olivier Giroud. The win was guaranteed in injury time when Aaron Ramsey played Gervinho through and the Ivorian easily slotted home under Michel Vorm.
Stoke 0-0 West Brom: Perhaps a real mid-table match where both teams know they'll be in the Premiership next year and that's it. The goalless draw was probably a typical one at The Britannia and one that sees Stoke ten points clear of relegation and West Brom and further ten points ahead of Stoke.
Chelsea 2-0 West Ham: Chelsea reclaim third spot by going a point ahead of Spurs. But the headlines will only concern a certain Frank Lampard who netted his 200th goal against his boyhood club. He got the opener with a great header on 19-minutes before Eden Hazard continued to take centre stage with a great finish five minutes in to the second half to ensure the points.
Tottenham 0-1 Fulham: Spurs hadn't lost at home since November, Fulham hadn't won against a London club away from all season and the visitors hadn't won at White Hart Lane in nine years, also not scoring for five years. But someone failed to inform a certain Dimitar Berbatov about that. The former Tottenham player scored the only goal of the game seven minutes in to the second half to leave Tottenham just four points ahead of Arsenal and one behind Chelsea.
Sunderland 1-1 Norwich: Another potential mid-table match-up produced another draw which leaves Sunderland not just four points above the bottom three with Norwich a further three points ahead. Norwich took the lead on 26-minutes when Kei Kamara's header from a corner was headed home by Wes Hoolahan from less than a yard. Things got tough for the visitors on the half hour mark when they were reduced to ten men; Mark Bunn sent off for apparent handball outside the area when he came rushing out. Sunderland were given another helping hand five minutes before half-time when Sebastien Bassong was adjudged to have handled in the box and Chris Foy pointed to the spot. Craig Gardner stepped up and expertly dispatched it in to the top corner to earn the point.
Aston Villa 3-2 QPR: Villa came from behind and ended retaking the lead to move three points clear of the relegation zone, although Wigan have a game in hand. The defeat for QPR sees them stay at the bottom on goal difference and now seven points from safety. Rangers took the lead on 23-minutes when Jermaine Jenas was first to a Brad Guzan parry to score against his former loan club. Villa crucially equalised in first half injury time when Gabriel Agbonlahor floated in and headed a Matt Lowton cross home just moments after QPR had hit the post. Villa took the momentum to be the force in the second half that they weren't in the first and Andreas Weimann put Villa in front just before the hour mark with a good finish just inside the area. Like last week, Andros Townsend joined Jenas on the scoresheet when his low effort from outside the box somehow beats Guzan and finds the corner on 73-minutes. The winner came nine minutes from the end when Weimann's pull back was slotted home by Christian Benteke for his 17th goal of the season.
Everton 2-0 Manchester City: Ten man Everton push Manchester City 15-points behind Manchester United whilst boosting themselves to six points behind Tottenham in fourth. Leon Osman gave Everton the lead 13-minutes before half-time with a fantastic curling effort with the outside of his boot, completely bamboozling Joe Hart. Steven Pienaar was shown a second yellow card just after the hour mark for a high studs in challenge and duly walked down the tunnel. City couldn't take any advantage and deputy keeper Jan Mucha did a fine job. Everton managed to somehow get away with a penalty appeal late on when Marouane Fellaini handled in the box and the referee gave a free-kick just outside the box. The points were then wrapped up in injury time when Everton broke with Fellaini. The Belgian fed the ball to substitute Nikica Jelavic and the Croatian turned back inside before curling the ball over Hart and in to the top corner.
Southampton 3-1 Liverpool: The win for Southampton sees them move seven points ahead of the relegation while Liverpool now sit three points behind their Merseyside rivals. Morgan Schneiderlin broke his hoodoo, where every time he has scored this season the Saints have lost, with the games opener six minutes from time. Rickie Lambert made it 2-0 with a deflected free-kick against the team he supports 12-minutes before half-time. Philippe Coutinho pulled one back in first half injury time, smashing the ball home after Daniel Sturridge's effort was blocked. The points were wrapped up ten minutes from the end when Jay Rodriguez broke through and coolly slotted home.
Manchester United 1-0 Reading: United stretch their lead to 15-points and have now gone nine hours without conceding in the Premier League. It wasn't a vintage display and Reading weren't as far away as the bookies tried making out they would be at the start despite parting with Brian McDermott earlier in the week. The only goal of the game on 21-minutes when Rio Ferdinand's marauding run ended with a pass to Wayne Rooney and the striker's shot deflected off Alex Pearce before beating Stuart Pearce in to the bottom corner. Reading now sit seven points from safety after this defeat they can take some heart from.
Swansea 0-2 Arsenal: Arsenal move to four points behind Tottenham with a game in hand in the race for Champions League football. After hitting the woodwork on a numerous times in the first half, Arsenal couldn't break the deadlock until the 74th minute when Nacho Monreal scored his first for the Gunners; stroking the ball home after the ball had broke to him following a tackle on Olivier Giroud. The win was guaranteed in injury time when Aaron Ramsey played Gervinho through and the Ivorian easily slotted home under Michel Vorm.
Stoke 0-0 West Brom: Perhaps a real mid-table match where both teams know they'll be in the Premiership next year and that's it. The goalless draw was probably a typical one at The Britannia and one that sees Stoke ten points clear of relegation and West Brom and further ten points ahead of Stoke.
Two Stops Wins It For Kimi
1978 was the last time Lotus won the first race of the season and that year they went on to win both the Drivers and the Constructors Championships. In 2013, Kimi Raikkonen has got off to the best start in his bid to lift the Drivers crown this year. His two pit stop strategy proved to be the better one in the dry Australian race and the Finn ended up easing to victory with Fernando Alonso being a bit behind in second.
The pace that everyone thought the Red Bulls had was largely non-existent during the race. Sebastian Vettel did lead until the first pit stops from Pole but ended up finishing third whereas an awful start from Mark Webber virtually cost him a decent a place and ended up finishing sixth.
Lewis Hamilton's first race for Mercedes saw him finish fifth behind the rejuvenated Felipe Massa. But Hamilton will surely take some solace that his former team mate, Jenson Button, could only manage ninth with Sergio Perez just missing out on the points. Paul Di Resta managed to finish eighth but the performance of the race was Adrian Sutil who ended up leading for a lot of it but the supersoft tyres cost him a potential podium or even fourth place and he ended up slipping down to seventh.
Before the race had started, Nico Hulkenberg had to pull out due to a problem with the fuelling area on the car. Despite not getting the 107% time, Charles Pic did start at the back of the grid in the Caterham. From the start, Vettel got away cleanly and both Ferraris were just as good as last year at getting off the line, Massa moved up to second with Alonso third. Webber had fallen down to seventh with Hamilton, Raikkonen and Rosberg also all overtaking the slow Red Bull. The only 'incident' saw Daniel Ricciardo go off track and rejoin 21st.
By the second lap, Vettel had already gained a two second lead and Raikkonen overtook Hamilton to go fourth. With the top ten all on the supersoft tyres, Button came in on lap four, Webber lap six and Vettel lap seven to go on to the medium tyres. Massa pitted on lap nine and ended up coming out ahead of Vettel. Raikkonen pitted on lap ten and just came out behind Alonso and Pastor Maldonado, but the Williams ended up going off track, probably distracted from the action coming out of the pits, and allowed Raikkonen through.
By lap-14, Sutil had the lead of the race due to not having pitted and having started on the medium tyre. At the beginning, the Force India was slowing the pack down but he was soon setting the pace and even ended up getting a second and a half ahead. Alonso pitted again on lap-21 as everyone but Raikkonen was on a three stop race. Sutil and Vettel pitted on lap-22 and the Force India stayed ahead of the Red Bull but Alonso ended up ahead of both of them.
Vettel finally managed to overtake Sutil a lap later. A poor pit judgement by Ferrari saw Massa pit on lap-24 but it cost him dearly as he ended up coming out behind all three. Massa may have felt that he could have done a two stop and whilst both Alonso and Vettel were behind Sutil, Ferrari seemed to be okay with that. But as soon as Sutil was behind the two, Ferrari pulled Massa in straight away and it potentially cost him a shot at the podium.
Maldonado's race lasted 25-laps when he hit the wet yellow line on the home straight, this caused the Williams to spin and then ultimately get beached in the gravel track. Two laps later, Nico Rosberg had to pull over and retire from the race due to electronic problems which was a common theme for Mercedes last season, it also means that Rosberg has now failed to finish five of his last seven races.
There was a slight threat of rain on lap-30 but it came and went without any need for intermediates or even wets. Alonso overtook Hamilton on the next lap to take second before Hamilton pitted. Raikkonen pitted for the second and last time on lap-34, he came out behind Massa in fifth. Four laps later, Vettel pitted as did Alonso on lap-39, this left Sutil back in front with Raikkonen now up to second.
Daniel Ricciardo became the last retirement on lap-41 due to a broken exhaust. Raikkonen managed to overtake Sutil on lap-43 to take the lead of the race for the first time. The fresher tyres of Alonso saw the Ferrari overtake Sutil on lap-46 and the Spaniard had 12-laps to try and track down the Lotus. Sutil had to pit on lap-47 to fulfil the two compound rule, he came out in fifth. But with 11-laps remaining, the supersofts quickly degraded and cost Sutil a couple of places on lap-51 as Hamilton and Webber both overtook the stricken Force India. For a time, Alonso did look to be closing the gap on Raikkonen but the Finn had the last word with a quickest lap on the penultimate to drive home his advantage and ease to take the first race of the season. Result:
1.Raikkonen (Lotus), 2.Alonso (Ferrari), 3.Vettel (Red Bull), 4.Massa (Ferrari), 5.Hamilton (McLaren), 6.Webber (Red Bull), 7.Sutil (Force India), 8.Di Resta (Force India), 9.Button (McLaren), 10.Grosjean (Lotus), 11.Perez (McLaren), 12.Vergne (Toro Rosso), 13.Gutierrez (Sauber), 14.Bottas (Williams), 15.Bianchi (Marussia) 16.Pic (Caterham), 17.Chilton (Marussia), 18.Van Der Garde (Caterham) DNF: Maldonado (Williams), Rosberg (Mercedes), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) DNS: Hulkenberg (Sauber)
The pace that everyone thought the Red Bulls had was largely non-existent during the race. Sebastian Vettel did lead until the first pit stops from Pole but ended up finishing third whereas an awful start from Mark Webber virtually cost him a decent a place and ended up finishing sixth.
Lewis Hamilton's first race for Mercedes saw him finish fifth behind the rejuvenated Felipe Massa. But Hamilton will surely take some solace that his former team mate, Jenson Button, could only manage ninth with Sergio Perez just missing out on the points. Paul Di Resta managed to finish eighth but the performance of the race was Adrian Sutil who ended up leading for a lot of it but the supersoft tyres cost him a potential podium or even fourth place and he ended up slipping down to seventh.
Before the race had started, Nico Hulkenberg had to pull out due to a problem with the fuelling area on the car. Despite not getting the 107% time, Charles Pic did start at the back of the grid in the Caterham. From the start, Vettel got away cleanly and both Ferraris were just as good as last year at getting off the line, Massa moved up to second with Alonso third. Webber had fallen down to seventh with Hamilton, Raikkonen and Rosberg also all overtaking the slow Red Bull. The only 'incident' saw Daniel Ricciardo go off track and rejoin 21st.
By the second lap, Vettel had already gained a two second lead and Raikkonen overtook Hamilton to go fourth. With the top ten all on the supersoft tyres, Button came in on lap four, Webber lap six and Vettel lap seven to go on to the medium tyres. Massa pitted on lap nine and ended up coming out ahead of Vettel. Raikkonen pitted on lap ten and just came out behind Alonso and Pastor Maldonado, but the Williams ended up going off track, probably distracted from the action coming out of the pits, and allowed Raikkonen through.
By lap-14, Sutil had the lead of the race due to not having pitted and having started on the medium tyre. At the beginning, the Force India was slowing the pack down but he was soon setting the pace and even ended up getting a second and a half ahead. Alonso pitted again on lap-21 as everyone but Raikkonen was on a three stop race. Sutil and Vettel pitted on lap-22 and the Force India stayed ahead of the Red Bull but Alonso ended up ahead of both of them.
Vettel finally managed to overtake Sutil a lap later. A poor pit judgement by Ferrari saw Massa pit on lap-24 but it cost him dearly as he ended up coming out behind all three. Massa may have felt that he could have done a two stop and whilst both Alonso and Vettel were behind Sutil, Ferrari seemed to be okay with that. But as soon as Sutil was behind the two, Ferrari pulled Massa in straight away and it potentially cost him a shot at the podium.
Maldonado's race lasted 25-laps when he hit the wet yellow line on the home straight, this caused the Williams to spin and then ultimately get beached in the gravel track. Two laps later, Nico Rosberg had to pull over and retire from the race due to electronic problems which was a common theme for Mercedes last season, it also means that Rosberg has now failed to finish five of his last seven races.
There was a slight threat of rain on lap-30 but it came and went without any need for intermediates or even wets. Alonso overtook Hamilton on the next lap to take second before Hamilton pitted. Raikkonen pitted for the second and last time on lap-34, he came out behind Massa in fifth. Four laps later, Vettel pitted as did Alonso on lap-39, this left Sutil back in front with Raikkonen now up to second.
Daniel Ricciardo became the last retirement on lap-41 due to a broken exhaust. Raikkonen managed to overtake Sutil on lap-43 to take the lead of the race for the first time. The fresher tyres of Alonso saw the Ferrari overtake Sutil on lap-46 and the Spaniard had 12-laps to try and track down the Lotus. Sutil had to pit on lap-47 to fulfil the two compound rule, he came out in fifth. But with 11-laps remaining, the supersofts quickly degraded and cost Sutil a couple of places on lap-51 as Hamilton and Webber both overtook the stricken Force India. For a time, Alonso did look to be closing the gap on Raikkonen but the Finn had the last word with a quickest lap on the penultimate to drive home his advantage and ease to take the first race of the season. Result:
1.Raikkonen (Lotus), 2.Alonso (Ferrari), 3.Vettel (Red Bull), 4.Massa (Ferrari), 5.Hamilton (McLaren), 6.Webber (Red Bull), 7.Sutil (Force India), 8.Di Resta (Force India), 9.Button (McLaren), 10.Grosjean (Lotus), 11.Perez (McLaren), 12.Vergne (Toro Rosso), 13.Gutierrez (Sauber), 14.Bottas (Williams), 15.Bianchi (Marussia) 16.Pic (Caterham), 17.Chilton (Marussia), 18.Van Der Garde (Caterham) DNF: Maldonado (Williams), Rosberg (Mercedes), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) DNS: Hulkenberg (Sauber)
Saturday 16 March 2013
New Season, No Changes In Qualifynig
The 2013 Formula One season has already had a dramatic beginning before a race has even started. Awful weather conditions yesterday meant that Q2 and Q3 had to be postponed until today with the race in five hours time.
In the wet, it was all about Nico Rosberg. But as the track dried out, the line-up kind of went true to practice with the Red Bulls once again at the front of the pack. Sebastian Vettel clearly hasn't had enough of rewriting history and today sees him qualify on the front row for the 50th time and on Pole for the 37th time. Friday practice saw a Red Bull one-two and that's exactly how qualifying ended up.
In qualifying was completed yesterday, there would have been little doubt that Rosberg would have got Pole and easily out-qualified Lewis Hamilton. But as the supersoft tyres came out midway through the final qualifying session, Hamilton began to find his rhythm and managed to qualify third, way ahead of the McLarens who made crucial technical errors.
The Ferraris sit fourth and fifth with Felipe Massa looking somewhat toward his best which helped him out qualify Fernando Alonso, who looked to be competing for Pole in Q2, for the third consecutive race. Rosberg could only manage sixth in the dry with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean seventh and eighth for the Lotus. Paul Di Resta will start the race ninth in a great performance for Force India, perhaps an early indication for the midfield battle this year.
McLaren suffered in Q2 by trying out the supersoft tyres far too early and it cost Sergio Perez a chance to make it in to Q3. Button soon realised the mistake and changed back to the intermediates which did enable him to progress. But again McLaren were too quick to start on the slick tyres and Button missed on on competing with the rest and will start tenth, which perhaps the first sign of a tough season ahead for McLaren. Perez will start way down in 15th, but he started 22nd for Sauber last year and finished eighth so he's not out of it yet.
Apart from the McLarens, Valtteri Bottas, the only debutante to make it past Q1, and Jean Eric-Vergne also tried the slick tyres and both quickly made friends with the gravel off the track. Bottas will start 16th with Vergne still managing to out-qualify Daniel Ricciardo in 13th and 14th respectively for the Toro Rossos. The other two drivers to miss out on Q3 were Nico Hulkenberg in his first qualifying session in a Sauber and Adrian Sutil on his return to Force India who will start 11th and 12th respectively.
The action in Q1 yesterday was mainly cars spinning all over the place and front wings parting from the rest of the chassis'. Amongst the victims were Massa, Hamilton, Maldonado, the Saubers and the Caterhams. Pastor Maldonado was the one of the now two unknown names to fall in Q1 and will begin 17th with Esteban Gutierrez beginning his first F1 race in 18th for Sauber.
Unsurprisingly, Marussia and Caterham will be on the back two rows. The Marussias look to have improved immensely, easily out-qualifying the stricken Caterhams. Jules Bianchi out-qualified Britain's Max Chilton in 19th and 20th with Giedo Van Der Garde beating Charles Pic at the back. Pic has failed to get in to the 107% time but he should still be allowed to race later.
In the wet, it was all about Nico Rosberg. But as the track dried out, the line-up kind of went true to practice with the Red Bulls once again at the front of the pack. Sebastian Vettel clearly hasn't had enough of rewriting history and today sees him qualify on the front row for the 50th time and on Pole for the 37th time. Friday practice saw a Red Bull one-two and that's exactly how qualifying ended up.
In qualifying was completed yesterday, there would have been little doubt that Rosberg would have got Pole and easily out-qualified Lewis Hamilton. But as the supersoft tyres came out midway through the final qualifying session, Hamilton began to find his rhythm and managed to qualify third, way ahead of the McLarens who made crucial technical errors.
The Ferraris sit fourth and fifth with Felipe Massa looking somewhat toward his best which helped him out qualify Fernando Alonso, who looked to be competing for Pole in Q2, for the third consecutive race. Rosberg could only manage sixth in the dry with Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean seventh and eighth for the Lotus. Paul Di Resta will start the race ninth in a great performance for Force India, perhaps an early indication for the midfield battle this year.
McLaren suffered in Q2 by trying out the supersoft tyres far too early and it cost Sergio Perez a chance to make it in to Q3. Button soon realised the mistake and changed back to the intermediates which did enable him to progress. But again McLaren were too quick to start on the slick tyres and Button missed on on competing with the rest and will start tenth, which perhaps the first sign of a tough season ahead for McLaren. Perez will start way down in 15th, but he started 22nd for Sauber last year and finished eighth so he's not out of it yet.
Apart from the McLarens, Valtteri Bottas, the only debutante to make it past Q1, and Jean Eric-Vergne also tried the slick tyres and both quickly made friends with the gravel off the track. Bottas will start 16th with Vergne still managing to out-qualify Daniel Ricciardo in 13th and 14th respectively for the Toro Rossos. The other two drivers to miss out on Q3 were Nico Hulkenberg in his first qualifying session in a Sauber and Adrian Sutil on his return to Force India who will start 11th and 12th respectively.
The action in Q1 yesterday was mainly cars spinning all over the place and front wings parting from the rest of the chassis'. Amongst the victims were Massa, Hamilton, Maldonado, the Saubers and the Caterhams. Pastor Maldonado was the one of the now two unknown names to fall in Q1 and will begin 17th with Esteban Gutierrez beginning his first F1 race in 18th for Sauber.
Unsurprisingly, Marussia and Caterham will be on the back two rows. The Marussias look to have improved immensely, easily out-qualifying the stricken Caterhams. Jules Bianchi out-qualified Britain's Max Chilton in 19th and 20th with Giedo Van Der Garde beating Charles Pic at the back. Pic has failed to get in to the 107% time but he should still be allowed to race later.
Friday 15 March 2013
2012/2013 Champions League Quarter Final Draw
Paris St.Germain v FC Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Juventus
Malaga CF v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Galatasaray SK
Bayern Munich v Juventus
Malaga CF v Borussia Dortmund
Real Madrid v Galatasaray SK
Dutch Top Two as Taylor Loses Again
The MEN witnessed history as the sixth week of the Premier League saw Phil Taylor lose for the second consecutive week, a feat that hasn't happened since 2008. The win for Hamilton sees him level with The Power with Simon Whitlock also joining them on six after beating the in form James Wade. A draw against Robert Thornton was enough Raymond Van Barneveld to keep his place at the top with fellow Dutchman Michael Van Gerwen moving in to second after seeing off Wes Newton. The defeat for Newton has allowed Adrian Lewis to move level on points at the bottom of the table after drawing with Gary Anderson.
Van Gerwen looked in the mood in the opening match of the match and produced an 11-darter in the second leg to go 2-0 up. Newton was also playing well and replied with a 110-checkout before finding himself 3-2 behind. A 10-darter in the eighth leg saw Newton level the match at 4-4 before Van Gerwen powered away to take the following three legs to win 7-4 and claim that second spot.
It perhaps a must-win game for both Lewis and Anderson in which both players ended with a point. It also unsurprising to see a colossal 32-missed darts at the double throughout the encounter. Anderson got out of the blocks quickly to take a 2-0 lead before levelled the match with the next two legs. Five missed darts allowed Lewis to turn that in to a 3-2 lead which was then stretched further in the following leg. Anderson responded with a ton checkout before levelling the match himself with a classy 116-finish. Anderson again had to equalise to make it 5-5. As the game drew closer to the end, the doubles began to miss and Lewis just about managed to guarantee himself a point first. But Anderson performed a fantastic 10-dart leg in the last to earn a deserved draw.
The best game of the night has to be between Whitlock and Wade who provided six ton plus checkouts in the 11-legs. A monumental 170-checkout from Wade put him 2-1 ahead after losing the initial leg. Whitlock replied with a ton checkout with two double tops and then a 103-finish to turn the match around. The crucial leg was the sixth as Wade missed four darts to level the match and allowed Whitlock to go 4-2 in front. That became 6-2 when the Australian fired in a 101-checkout. Whitlock then missed three darts to win the match 7-3 and Wade managed to keep himself in the match with a 144-checkout. But The Wizard atoned for his error with a Shanghai 120-checkout to win 7-4.
Van Barneveld wasn't at his best against Thornton but the Scot still had to win the last two legs to earn the point. Thornton took the opening leg but then had to win the fourth to level the match. Thornton missed a dart in the fifth leg to take the lead before Barney then made it 4-2 with his sixth dart at the double in that leg. Thornton missed another two darts to level the match at 4-4 and the score would soon read 6-5 as the Dutchman secured the point. Thornton forced that deciding leg with a ton checkout before holding his nerve to rescue a valuable point.
Andy Hamilton had already beaten Phil Taylor last weekend and definitely had the momentum over the underwhelming World Champion. Taylor started okay with the first and third legs but he would then miss three darts to make it 3-2 and duly found himself behind. With a sniff of the lead, Hamilton quickly extended that to 5-2 before missing two darts to seal at least a point in the eighth leg. But it didn't deter The Hammer as he would take the next two legs to record a huge 7-3 victory over Taylor. Table after week six:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 9 +10
2. Michael Van Gerwen 8 +9
3. James Wade 7 +6
4. Robert Thornton 7 +1
5. Phil Taylor 6 +3
6. Andy Hamilton 6 0
7. Simon Whitlock 6 -2
8. Gary Anderson 5 -6
9. Wes Newton 3 -9
10. Adrian Lewis 3 -12
Van Gerwen looked in the mood in the opening match of the match and produced an 11-darter in the second leg to go 2-0 up. Newton was also playing well and replied with a 110-checkout before finding himself 3-2 behind. A 10-darter in the eighth leg saw Newton level the match at 4-4 before Van Gerwen powered away to take the following three legs to win 7-4 and claim that second spot.
It perhaps a must-win game for both Lewis and Anderson in which both players ended with a point. It also unsurprising to see a colossal 32-missed darts at the double throughout the encounter. Anderson got out of the blocks quickly to take a 2-0 lead before levelled the match with the next two legs. Five missed darts allowed Lewis to turn that in to a 3-2 lead which was then stretched further in the following leg. Anderson responded with a ton checkout before levelling the match himself with a classy 116-finish. Anderson again had to equalise to make it 5-5. As the game drew closer to the end, the doubles began to miss and Lewis just about managed to guarantee himself a point first. But Anderson performed a fantastic 10-dart leg in the last to earn a deserved draw.
The best game of the night has to be between Whitlock and Wade who provided six ton plus checkouts in the 11-legs. A monumental 170-checkout from Wade put him 2-1 ahead after losing the initial leg. Whitlock replied with a ton checkout with two double tops and then a 103-finish to turn the match around. The crucial leg was the sixth as Wade missed four darts to level the match and allowed Whitlock to go 4-2 in front. That became 6-2 when the Australian fired in a 101-checkout. Whitlock then missed three darts to win the match 7-3 and Wade managed to keep himself in the match with a 144-checkout. But The Wizard atoned for his error with a Shanghai 120-checkout to win 7-4.
Van Barneveld wasn't at his best against Thornton but the Scot still had to win the last two legs to earn the point. Thornton took the opening leg but then had to win the fourth to level the match. Thornton missed a dart in the fifth leg to take the lead before Barney then made it 4-2 with his sixth dart at the double in that leg. Thornton missed another two darts to level the match at 4-4 and the score would soon read 6-5 as the Dutchman secured the point. Thornton forced that deciding leg with a ton checkout before holding his nerve to rescue a valuable point.
Andy Hamilton had already beaten Phil Taylor last weekend and definitely had the momentum over the underwhelming World Champion. Taylor started okay with the first and third legs but he would then miss three darts to make it 3-2 and duly found himself behind. With a sniff of the lead, Hamilton quickly extended that to 5-2 before missing two darts to seal at least a point in the eighth leg. But it didn't deter The Hammer as he would take the next two legs to record a huge 7-3 victory over Taylor. Table after week six:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 9 +10
2. Michael Van Gerwen 8 +9
3. James Wade 7 +6
4. Robert Thornton 7 +1
5. Phil Taylor 6 +3
6. Andy Hamilton 6 0
7. Simon Whitlock 6 -2
8. Gary Anderson 5 -6
9. Wes Newton 3 -9
10. Adrian Lewis 3 -12
Wednesday 13 March 2013
F1 2013 - The Preview
This weekend signifies the start of the 2013 Formula One season where some new faces, old rivalries and even more unpredictability will be on show. After the six different winners in the opening six races last season, it would be hard to envision something that will be even more difficult to predict, but it seems that this season will produce it. No team has edged ahead in practice, with many drivers from different constructors topping the time sheets. But this does mean that the 2013 Australian GP will be extremely exciting and a must-see, even though there will only be 11-teams on the grid this season. Here's a run down of the constructors and drivers for this season:
Red Bull - The three time Constructors Champions cannot surely make it a fourth in a row this time around? What is for sure, is that the competition will be even fiercer this season and Red Bull may finally be knocked off the top of the tree. Sebastian Vettel will again be on the shortlist for the 2013 Drivers Champion, but again, surely he can't make it four in a row as well. His win last season was perhaps the best and most deserved of the three because he was made to work for it and didn't win it at a canter. Hopefully Mark Webber will challenge more this season, but it is unlikely that he will come close to win it. Another really quiet season for the Australian may leave many people thinking his time with Red Bull could be nearing the end, however a great performance on his home track this weekend may quash those thoughts for now.
Ferrari - Hopefully, this will be the first season in a while that Ferrari really come back in to Constructors contention. The last few seasons have the Prancing Horse somewhat stumble to begin with and gradually get back up, just a little too late. The speculation over Felipe Massa is something that is unlikely to go away until the Brazilian produces that quality everyone knows he has. Fernando Alonso will definitely be in contention for the Drivers Championship again this year and a better start may give him the impetus he needs to take his third crown. This is a huge season for Ferrari and one that will be very intriguing to watch.
McLaren - Perhaps the final of the real Constructors Championship contenders, but the first few races will be all about life after Lewis Hamilton. Like him or not, the departure of Hamilton has left a huge hole in McLaren and it probably won't be one that Sergio Perez will fill this season. The Mexican will hopefully have a season of brilliance after bursting on to the scene with Sauber, but if McLaren are going to have a Drivers Championship in their office at the end of this season, it's more than likely going to be Jenson Button's. In terms of progression from last season, I think McLaren may be the weakest out of the big teams this season and could have a really disappointing campaign.
Lotus - Lotus are going to be the team to watch out for. They did extremely well last season, with Kimi Raikkonen having an outside chance of winning the Championship up until the end. His driving skill is definitely something to be admired and he is definitely a contender again for the Championship this year. Now that Romain Grosjean has got over his tough first season, the Frenchman must show his class this season. If Grosjean does well, Lotus have a real outside chance of stealing the Constructors Championship but again if the Drivers Championship is headed to Lotus it will be in the hands of Raikkonen for his second crown.
Mercedes - After an extremely disappointing season last year, Mercedes will be hoping that they are the most improved team in 2013. If the car is more reliable and competes, there's no reason to think that Nico Rosberg and Hamilton can't produce enough points between them to perhaps stake a claim for the Constructors Championship. Rosberg perhaps hasn't quite fulfilled his potential yet in Formula One but the German definitely has the talent and even showed it last year. Unfortunately for Rosberg, this season will be all about Hamilton and whether his move was the right decision. This is the year Hamilton will prove how good a driver he really is and, again providing the car competes on all levels, maybe even have a shout for the title.
Sauber - There's an all new look to Sauber with Perez moving to McLaren and Kamui Kobayashi being surprisingly being shown the door. Nico Hulkenberg takes one of the seats, moving from Force India after scoring three points more than Kobayashi and three points less than Perez. Hulkenberg has been around for a while now and continues to do well for the middle order teams. It's a case of one Mexican out another in for Sauber as 22-year old Esteban Gutierrez claims Perez's seat. Gutierrez has basically been promoted from Sauber's reserve driver after finishing third with three wins in GP2. Sauber will be in be in the hunt with Force India, Williams and Toro Rosso for the best of the midfield. As they seemed to have the most reliable drive last year, they may again pick up some fantastic finishes this time around which could give them the edge over their main rivals.
Force India - They are will most likely the closest to Sauber in that heated mid-field battle. Paul Di Resta's second F1 season was a rather disappointing one at times especially finishing 17-points behind his then team-mate Hulkenberg. Now that the German has left, Di Resta should be the main points earner for Force India. But with the team failing to acquire Jules Bianchi, they have gone for an old friend in Adrian Sutil. Sutil failed to have a drive last year but was with Di Resta at Force India in 2011 after being with the team since it was Spyker in 2007. Back in 2011, Sutil was the main points earner but that should change this time around. If Sutil begins the campaign the way he finished 2011, Force India will have a very competitive garage although maybe not enough to catch Sauber and their former employer.
Williams - Possibly the most inconsistent team last season, Williams at times looked like that were coming out of the motor racing doldrums. With Pastor Maldonado earning a victory last season, it really gave Williams something to build on and hopefully they perform and become a real dark horse this time around. If Maldonado can keep his discipline in check, he will continue to upset the big boys by taking places and earning points. With Bruno Senna dumped by Williams, Finland's Valtteri Bottas comes in. He has also technically replaced Heikki Kovalainen as Finland's number two driver in Formula One. Again Bottas has just been promoted from being Williams' reserve driver and did take Bruno Senna's seat for many of the practice sessions last year so the tracks shouldn't be a problem for him. He won the GP2 series in 2011 which was his debut season. Providing Maldonado keeps on the right side of the stewards and Bottas performs, Williams could really compete with Sauber and Force India.
Toro Rosso - Maybe somewhat surprisingly, Toro Rosso remain unchanged from last season despite being the lowest scorers in the midfield. The Toro Rossos were constantly the 'plus one' to fall from Q1 last season and, unless they've improved immensely this time around, they may fall even further behind the mid-field. Jean-Eric Vergne outscored Daniel Ricciardo in his debut Formula One season by six points but the Frenchman still only scored almost half the amount of points as Senna who finished in the place directly above him. Like Mercedes, they have to become the most improved car of the year to make any in roads within the competition and if they're not careful, Caterham could potentially catch up with them.
Caterham - Without Kovalainen this year, Caterham may not be as strong in the chase of the midfielders. Vitaly Petrov wasn't really close to Kovalainen last year and that has cost him his seat for this. Charles Pic makes the move from Marussia after competing and beating Timo Glock a lot last season. The young Frenchman will be hoping to build on that in his second season and carry on from where Kovalainen left off. Giedo Van Der Garde becomes the first Dutch driver since Jos Verstappen in 2003. Van Der Garde raced for Caterham in the GP2 as well as being the F1 reserve driver, so again it's another easy promotion. The Dutchman finished sixth in the GP2 with two wins under his belt. It's unlikely that we'll see the best of him in a Caterham, or with any points to his name. But Caterham have been getting closer and closer to the midfield in recent years and they'll be hoping to carry that on this year.
Marussia - If that is the case with Caterham, Marussia could be in a league of their own without HRT this season, unless they've immensely improved of course. There's a completely new look with Pic moving to Caterham and the underwhelming Glock being shown the door. In comes Britain's fourth driver, Max Chilton, and Bianchi who has had a bit of a time of it recently. Much like Van Der Garde, it's unlikely we'll see the best from these two as they are unlikely to get anywhere near the points, but it may be interesting to see who becomes the more dominant out of the two. Chilton is 22-years old and was Marussia's reserve driver after being Force India's in 2011. The progression for Chilton is again a natural one and he did manage to finish fourth in last season's GP2 with two victories. Bianchi on the other hand was all set for Force India, where we probably would have seen his skill and the Frenchman amongst the points, until a sponsor pulled out and left him in the cold. Thankfully, he found the money from another sponsor and Marussia offered the seat. He was Force India's reserve driver last year and manage to finished second in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series after two consecutive second overall places in GP2.
Red Bull - The three time Constructors Champions cannot surely make it a fourth in a row this time around? What is for sure, is that the competition will be even fiercer this season and Red Bull may finally be knocked off the top of the tree. Sebastian Vettel will again be on the shortlist for the 2013 Drivers Champion, but again, surely he can't make it four in a row as well. His win last season was perhaps the best and most deserved of the three because he was made to work for it and didn't win it at a canter. Hopefully Mark Webber will challenge more this season, but it is unlikely that he will come close to win it. Another really quiet season for the Australian may leave many people thinking his time with Red Bull could be nearing the end, however a great performance on his home track this weekend may quash those thoughts for now.
Ferrari - Hopefully, this will be the first season in a while that Ferrari really come back in to Constructors contention. The last few seasons have the Prancing Horse somewhat stumble to begin with and gradually get back up, just a little too late. The speculation over Felipe Massa is something that is unlikely to go away until the Brazilian produces that quality everyone knows he has. Fernando Alonso will definitely be in contention for the Drivers Championship again this year and a better start may give him the impetus he needs to take his third crown. This is a huge season for Ferrari and one that will be very intriguing to watch.
McLaren - Perhaps the final of the real Constructors Championship contenders, but the first few races will be all about life after Lewis Hamilton. Like him or not, the departure of Hamilton has left a huge hole in McLaren and it probably won't be one that Sergio Perez will fill this season. The Mexican will hopefully have a season of brilliance after bursting on to the scene with Sauber, but if McLaren are going to have a Drivers Championship in their office at the end of this season, it's more than likely going to be Jenson Button's. In terms of progression from last season, I think McLaren may be the weakest out of the big teams this season and could have a really disappointing campaign.
Lotus - Lotus are going to be the team to watch out for. They did extremely well last season, with Kimi Raikkonen having an outside chance of winning the Championship up until the end. His driving skill is definitely something to be admired and he is definitely a contender again for the Championship this year. Now that Romain Grosjean has got over his tough first season, the Frenchman must show his class this season. If Grosjean does well, Lotus have a real outside chance of stealing the Constructors Championship but again if the Drivers Championship is headed to Lotus it will be in the hands of Raikkonen for his second crown.
Mercedes - After an extremely disappointing season last year, Mercedes will be hoping that they are the most improved team in 2013. If the car is more reliable and competes, there's no reason to think that Nico Rosberg and Hamilton can't produce enough points between them to perhaps stake a claim for the Constructors Championship. Rosberg perhaps hasn't quite fulfilled his potential yet in Formula One but the German definitely has the talent and even showed it last year. Unfortunately for Rosberg, this season will be all about Hamilton and whether his move was the right decision. This is the year Hamilton will prove how good a driver he really is and, again providing the car competes on all levels, maybe even have a shout for the title.
Sauber - There's an all new look to Sauber with Perez moving to McLaren and Kamui Kobayashi being surprisingly being shown the door. Nico Hulkenberg takes one of the seats, moving from Force India after scoring three points more than Kobayashi and three points less than Perez. Hulkenberg has been around for a while now and continues to do well for the middle order teams. It's a case of one Mexican out another in for Sauber as 22-year old Esteban Gutierrez claims Perez's seat. Gutierrez has basically been promoted from Sauber's reserve driver after finishing third with three wins in GP2. Sauber will be in be in the hunt with Force India, Williams and Toro Rosso for the best of the midfield. As they seemed to have the most reliable drive last year, they may again pick up some fantastic finishes this time around which could give them the edge over their main rivals.
Force India - They are will most likely the closest to Sauber in that heated mid-field battle. Paul Di Resta's second F1 season was a rather disappointing one at times especially finishing 17-points behind his then team-mate Hulkenberg. Now that the German has left, Di Resta should be the main points earner for Force India. But with the team failing to acquire Jules Bianchi, they have gone for an old friend in Adrian Sutil. Sutil failed to have a drive last year but was with Di Resta at Force India in 2011 after being with the team since it was Spyker in 2007. Back in 2011, Sutil was the main points earner but that should change this time around. If Sutil begins the campaign the way he finished 2011, Force India will have a very competitive garage although maybe not enough to catch Sauber and their former employer.
Williams - Possibly the most inconsistent team last season, Williams at times looked like that were coming out of the motor racing doldrums. With Pastor Maldonado earning a victory last season, it really gave Williams something to build on and hopefully they perform and become a real dark horse this time around. If Maldonado can keep his discipline in check, he will continue to upset the big boys by taking places and earning points. With Bruno Senna dumped by Williams, Finland's Valtteri Bottas comes in. He has also technically replaced Heikki Kovalainen as Finland's number two driver in Formula One. Again Bottas has just been promoted from being Williams' reserve driver and did take Bruno Senna's seat for many of the practice sessions last year so the tracks shouldn't be a problem for him. He won the GP2 series in 2011 which was his debut season. Providing Maldonado keeps on the right side of the stewards and Bottas performs, Williams could really compete with Sauber and Force India.
Toro Rosso - Maybe somewhat surprisingly, Toro Rosso remain unchanged from last season despite being the lowest scorers in the midfield. The Toro Rossos were constantly the 'plus one' to fall from Q1 last season and, unless they've improved immensely this time around, they may fall even further behind the mid-field. Jean-Eric Vergne outscored Daniel Ricciardo in his debut Formula One season by six points but the Frenchman still only scored almost half the amount of points as Senna who finished in the place directly above him. Like Mercedes, they have to become the most improved car of the year to make any in roads within the competition and if they're not careful, Caterham could potentially catch up with them.
Caterham - Without Kovalainen this year, Caterham may not be as strong in the chase of the midfielders. Vitaly Petrov wasn't really close to Kovalainen last year and that has cost him his seat for this. Charles Pic makes the move from Marussia after competing and beating Timo Glock a lot last season. The young Frenchman will be hoping to build on that in his second season and carry on from where Kovalainen left off. Giedo Van Der Garde becomes the first Dutch driver since Jos Verstappen in 2003. Van Der Garde raced for Caterham in the GP2 as well as being the F1 reserve driver, so again it's another easy promotion. The Dutchman finished sixth in the GP2 with two wins under his belt. It's unlikely that we'll see the best of him in a Caterham, or with any points to his name. But Caterham have been getting closer and closer to the midfield in recent years and they'll be hoping to carry that on this year.
Marussia - If that is the case with Caterham, Marussia could be in a league of their own without HRT this season, unless they've immensely improved of course. There's a completely new look with Pic moving to Caterham and the underwhelming Glock being shown the door. In comes Britain's fourth driver, Max Chilton, and Bianchi who has had a bit of a time of it recently. Much like Van Der Garde, it's unlikely we'll see the best from these two as they are unlikely to get anywhere near the points, but it may be interesting to see who becomes the more dominant out of the two. Chilton is 22-years old and was Marussia's reserve driver after being Force India's in 2011. The progression for Chilton is again a natural one and he did manage to finish fourth in last season's GP2 with two victories. Bianchi on the other hand was all set for Force India, where we probably would have seen his skill and the Frenchman amongst the points, until a sponsor pulled out and left him in the cold. Thankfully, he found the money from another sponsor and Marussia offered the seat. He was Force India's reserve driver last year and manage to finished second in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series after two consecutive second overall places in GP2.
Arsenal Defiance Just Not Enough, Roque Sees Off 10-Man Porto
The quarter final line-up for this year's Champions League has been completed and, for the first time in 17-years, there's no British contingent. Arsenal were the final British to be knocked out of the competition, but they did show defiance to lose on away goals and preventing Bayern Munich from scoring for the first time in over 40-matches. So Bayern join Real Madrid, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Galatasaray, Juventus and also Malaga who beat 10-man Porto in the night's other tie.
Arsenal's starting line-up did look like Arsene Wenger had already wrote the tie off. But those that thought this would be proved very wrong and Arsenal's attempt at coming back from a 3-1 aggregate deficit began after just three minutes when Olivier Giroud poked home a low ball across the six yard box from Theo Walcott after just three minutes.
The early goal almost caused a massive shift within the ground. The Allianz stadium was unusually quiet and Bayern weren't sure whether they should sit back and protect their lead or go out and add to it. This really caused the game the be at a rather slow pace for much of it and the ball was in the midfield an awful lot.
Despite Arsenal looking seemingly comfortable on the ball, Bayern actually had more possession and even more shots than the Gunners. Perhaps the most disappointing part of the match was the fact that neither Manuel Neuer nor Lukasz Fabianski were really tested at any point of the match. The hope for Arsenal came four minutes from time when Laurent Koscielny headed home from a corner to level the tie up. But a lot of time wasting and a lack of any more attacking intent meant Bayern would on and progress on away goals. But Arsenal produced a very spirited display despite the overall defeat, however they can also take with them the fact they are the first English side to beat Bayern in Munich since Norwich in the 1993 UEFA Cup.
Porto travelled to Spain with a 1-0 advantage over Malaga and the second leg was really all about Porto defending what they already had. They managed to hold on for 43-minutes until Isco hit a superb shot in to the top corner to level the tie up, a result which would bring extra time.
Porto's task of holding off Malaga became even harder just four minutes in to the second half when Steven Defour was shown a second yellow card for a late tackle. But the away side still resisted the Spanish inquisition until 77-minutes when substitute Roque Santa Cruz headed Malaga in to the quarter finals of a tournament they will not compete in for at least four years after this season due to the new financial restrictions that UEFA have imposed.
Arsenal's starting line-up did look like Arsene Wenger had already wrote the tie off. But those that thought this would be proved very wrong and Arsenal's attempt at coming back from a 3-1 aggregate deficit began after just three minutes when Olivier Giroud poked home a low ball across the six yard box from Theo Walcott after just three minutes.
The early goal almost caused a massive shift within the ground. The Allianz stadium was unusually quiet and Bayern weren't sure whether they should sit back and protect their lead or go out and add to it. This really caused the game the be at a rather slow pace for much of it and the ball was in the midfield an awful lot.
Despite Arsenal looking seemingly comfortable on the ball, Bayern actually had more possession and even more shots than the Gunners. Perhaps the most disappointing part of the match was the fact that neither Manuel Neuer nor Lukasz Fabianski were really tested at any point of the match. The hope for Arsenal came four minutes from time when Laurent Koscielny headed home from a corner to level the tie up. But a lot of time wasting and a lack of any more attacking intent meant Bayern would on and progress on away goals. But Arsenal produced a very spirited display despite the overall defeat, however they can also take with them the fact they are the first English side to beat Bayern in Munich since Norwich in the 1993 UEFA Cup.
Porto travelled to Spain with a 1-0 advantage over Malaga and the second leg was really all about Porto defending what they already had. They managed to hold on for 43-minutes until Isco hit a superb shot in to the top corner to level the tie up, a result which would bring extra time.
Porto's task of holding off Malaga became even harder just four minutes in to the second half when Steven Defour was shown a second yellow card for a late tackle. But the away side still resisted the Spanish inquisition until 77-minutes when substitute Roque Santa Cruz headed Malaga in to the quarter finals of a tournament they will not compete in for at least four years after this season due to the new financial restrictions that UEFA have imposed.
Tuesday 12 March 2013
Barca Create History Again, Someone Other Than Yilmaz Scores For Gala
Barcelona became the first team in Champions League history to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit and progress in to the next round. AC Milan couldn't produce the heroics from the first leg and Lionel Messi and co took full advantage to win 4-0. Barcelona will be joined by Galatasaray who edged a five goal second leg thriller in Germany, with Burak Yilmaz getting a little help in the scoring department. It is the first time in 12-years that Galatasaray will feature in a quarter final.
Barcelona's comeback began after just five minutes when a typical passing move saw the ball go to Messi. Despite being surrounded, the Argentine managed to curl the ball exquisitely in to the corner. It was a historical moment for Messi as it was his first goal in open play against an Italian side. Milan were a shadow of the side in the San Siro and Barcelona were smelling blood.
Milan survived a penalty scare when Ignazio Abate seemed to bundle Pedro to the floor following a Xavi ball. The Italians' only real outlet looked to be the pace of Stephan El Shaarawy. The one time the winger did break the offside trap, El Shaarawy scuffed his shot and it dribbled to Victor Valdes.
Life is full of ifs and buts and the biggest one Milan will think about in this match came six minutes before halt-time. Milan had again broke the offside trap and 18-year old M'Baye Niang was bearing down on goal. But the youngster agonisingly saw his shot expertly beat Valdes but hit the post. This could have turned the game as 68-seconds later Andres Iniesta had gained possession, fed the ball to Messi and Messi struck the ball home from 20-yards for his 53rd goal of the season, his seventh in this competition.
Milan hadn't improved much in the second half and Barcelona finally had the lead in the tie, just ten minutes after the restart. Xavi played the ball through to David Villa and striker curled the ball in to the top corner. It wasn't until the latter stage of the match that Milan, who still only needed a goal to progress, began to pepper the Barca box.
Unfortunately for Milan, their peppering didn't lead to Valdes ever really being worked as the likes of Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano were all putting in goal saving tackles. Alba stopped substitute Robinho from a tap in in injury time. Moments later, Robinho decided to play a deep free-kick short instead of possibly finding a defender in the box. The sluggish play was intercepted and Barcelona sprung the counter attack. Messi was played out wide before he whipped the ball across the box where Alba was on course to stab the ball home and put the tie beyond all doubt.
If the Camp Nou had witnessed something special, there's probably not many words to describe what happened in Germany between Schalke and Galatasaray. Schalke had the advantage of an away goal following the 1-1 draw in Turkey. Unsurprisingly, it was Galatasaray on the front foot in search of eradicating that away goal.
But Schalke hit Galatasaray with the sucker punch on 17-minutes when an undefended corner fell to Roman Neustadter to poke home. But this didn't deter the Turkish side and they continued to attack the Schalke goal. Before tonight, Burak Yilmaz had scored seven of the eight goals for Galatasaray this season, Aydin Yilmaz with the other. But Galatasaray had their equaliser on 37-minutes when former Schalke player, Hamit Altintop smashed a long range effort past Timo Hildebrand.
Galatasaray then deservedly took the lead three minutes before half-time when a defensive mistake allowed Burak Yilmaz through to score past the marooned, on-rushing Hildebrand for his eighth goal in the competition.
With Schalke now in need of two goals to go through, it was they who were the more attacking in the second half. The Germans hit the woodwork before Fernando Muslera's mistake by failing to properly smother the ball saw it fall to Michel Bastos and the Brazilian smashed the ball home to equalise both on the night and on aggregate.
A game saving stop from Muslera in injury time allowed Galatasaray to go on the counter attack saw Umut Bulut go through on goal. The striker managed to play a one-two off of Hildebrand before stroking the ball home and ensuring Galatasaray's progression in to the last eight.
Barcelona's comeback began after just five minutes when a typical passing move saw the ball go to Messi. Despite being surrounded, the Argentine managed to curl the ball exquisitely in to the corner. It was a historical moment for Messi as it was his first goal in open play against an Italian side. Milan were a shadow of the side in the San Siro and Barcelona were smelling blood.
Milan survived a penalty scare when Ignazio Abate seemed to bundle Pedro to the floor following a Xavi ball. The Italians' only real outlet looked to be the pace of Stephan El Shaarawy. The one time the winger did break the offside trap, El Shaarawy scuffed his shot and it dribbled to Victor Valdes.
Life is full of ifs and buts and the biggest one Milan will think about in this match came six minutes before halt-time. Milan had again broke the offside trap and 18-year old M'Baye Niang was bearing down on goal. But the youngster agonisingly saw his shot expertly beat Valdes but hit the post. This could have turned the game as 68-seconds later Andres Iniesta had gained possession, fed the ball to Messi and Messi struck the ball home from 20-yards for his 53rd goal of the season, his seventh in this competition.
Milan hadn't improved much in the second half and Barcelona finally had the lead in the tie, just ten minutes after the restart. Xavi played the ball through to David Villa and striker curled the ball in to the top corner. It wasn't until the latter stage of the match that Milan, who still only needed a goal to progress, began to pepper the Barca box.
Unfortunately for Milan, their peppering didn't lead to Valdes ever really being worked as the likes of Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano were all putting in goal saving tackles. Alba stopped substitute Robinho from a tap in in injury time. Moments later, Robinho decided to play a deep free-kick short instead of possibly finding a defender in the box. The sluggish play was intercepted and Barcelona sprung the counter attack. Messi was played out wide before he whipped the ball across the box where Alba was on course to stab the ball home and put the tie beyond all doubt.
If the Camp Nou had witnessed something special, there's probably not many words to describe what happened in Germany between Schalke and Galatasaray. Schalke had the advantage of an away goal following the 1-1 draw in Turkey. Unsurprisingly, it was Galatasaray on the front foot in search of eradicating that away goal.
But Schalke hit Galatasaray with the sucker punch on 17-minutes when an undefended corner fell to Roman Neustadter to poke home. But this didn't deter the Turkish side and they continued to attack the Schalke goal. Before tonight, Burak Yilmaz had scored seven of the eight goals for Galatasaray this season, Aydin Yilmaz with the other. But Galatasaray had their equaliser on 37-minutes when former Schalke player, Hamit Altintop smashed a long range effort past Timo Hildebrand.
Galatasaray then deservedly took the lead three minutes before half-time when a defensive mistake allowed Burak Yilmaz through to score past the marooned, on-rushing Hildebrand for his eighth goal in the competition.
With Schalke now in need of two goals to go through, it was they who were the more attacking in the second half. The Germans hit the woodwork before Fernando Muslera's mistake by failing to properly smother the ball saw it fall to Michel Bastos and the Brazilian smashed the ball home to equalise both on the night and on aggregate.
A game saving stop from Muslera in injury time allowed Galatasaray to go on the counter attack saw Umut Bulut go through on goal. The striker managed to play a one-two off of Hildebrand before stroking the ball home and ensuring Galatasaray's progression in to the last eight.
Sunday 10 March 2013
FA Cup Semi-Final Draw
Manchester United/Chelsea v Manchester City
Wigan Athletic v Millwall/Blackburn Rovers
Wigan Athletic v Millwall/Blackburn Rovers
FA Cup Quarter Final Results
Manchester United 2-2 Chelsea: Chelsea fight back from two goals down to force a replay back at Stamford Bridge. If United were reeling from their controversial European exit, it wasn't showing. They kicked in to gear almost immediately and were ahead after five minutes when Michael Carrick's inch perfect chip through ball was headed majestically past a marooned Petr Cech by Javier Hernandez, keeping his glittering record against Chelsea going. If anyone was reeling from their European exploits this week, it looked to be Chelsea as they still struggled to get in to the game and United doubled their lead after 11-minutes, the headline writer, Wayne Rooney, striking a free-kick that missed everyone on its way to the corner of the net.
As the first half progressed, United seemed to get a little complacent and began to give the ball away cheaply in their own half. Chelsea quickly gained momentum and began to pepper United's box, forcing a lot defensive headers and a couple of saves from David De Gea. The same continued in the second half and Chelsea pulled one back just before the hour mark; substitute Eden Hazard curling a sublime effort in to the far corner. Chelsea would level nine minutes later with a great counter attack that was finished off clinically by Ramires, the second time he's scored Chelsea's second to come back against United. Chelsea almost completed the turnaround late on, but Juan Mata's effort was stupendously saved by De Gea to make sure the replay was the outcome.
Millwall 0-0 Blackburn Rovers: These two hadn't produced a goalless draw since the early part of the last century, so this was perhaps well overdue. Unlike the two fixtures on Saturday, this game didn't produce anything of any real quality that would suggest that these two could really mix it in with the Premiership sides.
The 2004 finalists did look the more dangerous with Jake Kean being the busier keeper. Danny Shittu perhaps produced his best save with an outrageous 40-yard dipping strike that Kean tipped over the bar. Everyone will be hoping that the replay at Ewood Park is a bit better.
Manchester City 5-0 Barnsley: The 2011 Champions ease into the semi-finals with a lot of help from their driving force, Carlos Tevez. The Argentine made the headlines for the wrong reasons earlier this week but he put that behind him by opening the scoring after just 11-minutes; Yaya Toure feeding David Silva but the Spaniard's shot was saved on to the post before Tevez rolled it home. It was 2-0 on 27-minutes when Tevez pulled the ball back for Aleksandar Kolarov to expertly finish in to the bottom corner from just outside the box. Barnsley would go in at half-time 3-0 down as Tevez scored his second four minutes later, Silva playing the ball across the crowded six yard box, Tevez managed to turn on the ball and slot home.
Barnsley attacked more in the second half, but it was still to no avail. If the game wasn't over before half-time, it certainly was five minutes after the restart when Tevez scored his hat-trick after finishing off Samir Nasri's cross. Barnsley's best chance fell to Manchester United loanee, Ryan Tunnicliffe, who managed to break through the defence but couldn't beat Costel Pantilimon. The scoring was finished on 65-minutes with Tevez again involved. This time it was his cross that fell to Silva, the Spaniard's first effort was saved by Luke Steele before Silva converted on the second attempt.
Everton 0-3 Wigan Athletic: Perhaps a shock at Goodison Park as Wigan come out and put Everton to the sword, which means they will compete in their first ever FA Cup semi-final. It was three goals in three minutes and 23-seconds that won the game for Premiership side in a fierce relegation battle in the league.
Everton had started the better without really creating any chances. The atmosphere was unusually quiet in the stadium and it looked to impact the sluggish Everton players. Wigan grew in to the game and the deadlock was broken on the half hour mark when Maynor Figueroa headed home a Jordi Gomez cross. Everton were then struck down by a lifelong fan just moments later; Callum McManaman pounced on a poor pass from Phil Neville before running in to the box and finishing wonderfully past Jan Mucha. The damage was completed on 33-minutes when Arouna Kone's pass to Gomez was fantastically finished in to the bottom, leaving Mucha helpless. Everton never really looked like scoring and David Moyes will be extremely upset with his team's performance.
As the first half progressed, United seemed to get a little complacent and began to give the ball away cheaply in their own half. Chelsea quickly gained momentum and began to pepper United's box, forcing a lot defensive headers and a couple of saves from David De Gea. The same continued in the second half and Chelsea pulled one back just before the hour mark; substitute Eden Hazard curling a sublime effort in to the far corner. Chelsea would level nine minutes later with a great counter attack that was finished off clinically by Ramires, the second time he's scored Chelsea's second to come back against United. Chelsea almost completed the turnaround late on, but Juan Mata's effort was stupendously saved by De Gea to make sure the replay was the outcome.
Millwall 0-0 Blackburn Rovers: These two hadn't produced a goalless draw since the early part of the last century, so this was perhaps well overdue. Unlike the two fixtures on Saturday, this game didn't produce anything of any real quality that would suggest that these two could really mix it in with the Premiership sides.
The 2004 finalists did look the more dangerous with Jake Kean being the busier keeper. Danny Shittu perhaps produced his best save with an outrageous 40-yard dipping strike that Kean tipped over the bar. Everyone will be hoping that the replay at Ewood Park is a bit better.
Manchester City 5-0 Barnsley: The 2011 Champions ease into the semi-finals with a lot of help from their driving force, Carlos Tevez. The Argentine made the headlines for the wrong reasons earlier this week but he put that behind him by opening the scoring after just 11-minutes; Yaya Toure feeding David Silva but the Spaniard's shot was saved on to the post before Tevez rolled it home. It was 2-0 on 27-minutes when Tevez pulled the ball back for Aleksandar Kolarov to expertly finish in to the bottom corner from just outside the box. Barnsley would go in at half-time 3-0 down as Tevez scored his second four minutes later, Silva playing the ball across the crowded six yard box, Tevez managed to turn on the ball and slot home.
Barnsley attacked more in the second half, but it was still to no avail. If the game wasn't over before half-time, it certainly was five minutes after the restart when Tevez scored his hat-trick after finishing off Samir Nasri's cross. Barnsley's best chance fell to Manchester United loanee, Ryan Tunnicliffe, who managed to break through the defence but couldn't beat Costel Pantilimon. The scoring was finished on 65-minutes with Tevez again involved. This time it was his cross that fell to Silva, the Spaniard's first effort was saved by Luke Steele before Silva converted on the second attempt.
Everton 0-3 Wigan Athletic: Perhaps a shock at Goodison Park as Wigan come out and put Everton to the sword, which means they will compete in their first ever FA Cup semi-final. It was three goals in three minutes and 23-seconds that won the game for Premiership side in a fierce relegation battle in the league.
Everton had started the better without really creating any chances. The atmosphere was unusually quiet in the stadium and it looked to impact the sluggish Everton players. Wigan grew in to the game and the deadlock was broken on the half hour mark when Maynor Figueroa headed home a Jordi Gomez cross. Everton were then struck down by a lifelong fan just moments later; Callum McManaman pounced on a poor pass from Phil Neville before running in to the box and finishing wonderfully past Jan Mucha. The damage was completed on 33-minutes when Arouna Kone's pass to Gomez was fantastically finished in to the bottom, leaving Mucha helpless. Everton never really looked like scoring and David Moyes will be extremely upset with his team's performance.
Cisse Wins It For Newcastle, Gerrard Fires Liverpool Back In To European Contention
Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham: Liverpool move level on points with Everton and two behind Arsenal, both have a game in hand, in the race for European football. Tottenham miss the chance to close to within a point of Manchester City being the only team in the top five to play in the league this weekend. Who else but Luis Suarez was on hand to give Liverpool the lead after 22-minutes finishing off a great move between Philippe Coutinho and Jose Enrique. Tottenham equalised just before half-time with Jan Vertonghen heading home from a Gareth Bale cross. Spurs would then take the lead eight minutes in to the second half with Vertonghen again on the scoresheet after another Bale cross wasn't really cleared by Jamie Carragher. This time Liverpool had to find an equaliser and did so on 66-minutes, Stewart Downing benefiting from a loose back pass from Kyle Walker and the rest of the defensive failed to stop the winger, despite their comedic attempts. The winner came eight minutes from time when Benoit Assou-Ekotto fouled Suarez in the box. The iconic Steven Gerrard stepped up and sent Hugo Lloris the wrong way.
Newcastle 2-1 Stoke: Newcastle move level on point with Stoke and, more importantly, nine points clear of the drop zone thanks to an injury time winner. Stoke took the lead on 67-minutes when Cheick Tiote fouled Jon Walters in the box. Walters got up and took the penalty, clinically finishing it. Stoke's lead lasted five minutes though as Yohan Cabaye equalised with an exquisite free-kick in to the top corner. Sylvain Marveaux then played Papiss Cisse through in injury time and the Senegalese won the game for the Magpies.
QPR 3-1 Sunderland: Harry Redknapp's escape act is still well and truly on after beating Sunderland at Loftus Road. The win puts them level on points with Reading and now just four points from safety. It wasn't looking as good for QPR after 20-minutes as Steven Fletcher bagged his 11th goal of the season, scoring from a sucker punch counter-attack where Adam Johnson's ball across was touched in by the striker. Sunderland's lead only lasted ten minutes as QPR were level on the half hour mark; Andros Townsend's shot was blocked but fell in to the path of Loic Remy and the Frenchman made no mistake in scoring his third goal in five games. QPR went on to take a deserved lead with 20-minutes remaining; Townsend scoring a fantastic half-volley from 25-yards. The win was secured in injury time with Jermaine Jenas firing a spectacular shot in to the bottom corner from virtually the same spot as Townsend. The defeat for Sunderland edges them further in to the darkness, sitting unnervingly six points ahead of the bottom three.
Reading 1-2 Aston Villa: Villa move out of the bottom three after this crucial six-pointer. They move three points clear of safety with Wigan now having a game in hand, where a win would put them level again. Although this is a momentous blow for Reading, they're still just four points from avoiding the drop. Reading actually took the lead on 32-minutes when Jobi McAnuff's cross was missed by Nathan Baker but the ball came off his standing foot a bounced in to the empty net. Villa instantly equalised though when Andreas Weimann's pull-back was met by Christian Benteke whose deflected shot bamboozled Adam Federici and went in to the net. Villa won it in first half injury time when a lengthy passing spell saw the final cross defended poorly and Barry Bannan would hit the post before Gabriel Agbonlahor smashed it home. Reading had numerous chances to equalise but they couldn't force the ball home, when they did the flag was rightly up for offside.
Norwich 0-0 Southampton: Norwich are quietly becoming the goalless draw specialists, this being their fourth in their last eight games, they've also not scored in another two of those last eight. The point for Southampton does move them four points clear of the relegation zone. Both teams attacked quite well in the awful weather conditions but neither could find a killer touch. There was controversy in injury time when Grant Holt went down far too easily under Luke Shaw in the box. Mark Clattenburg took a long view at it and seemed to change his mind by pointing to the spot. This enraged the Southampton fans as it did look harsh but Holt's attempt was smartly saved by the heroic Artur Boruc. Norwich had waited a long time for their first penalty of the season, so it was a waste for Holt not to score it and it puts them nine points above the relegation zone, which should just about be enough.
West Brom 2-1 Swansea: Another Romelu Lukaku display enables West Brom to move three points clear of Swansea and two points behind Everton, who now have a game in hand, in the race for sixth. Swansea broke the deadlock on 33-minutes with Luke Moore scoring against his former club, heading home a Jonathan De Guzman corner to make it two in two for the striker. West Brom levelled five minutes before half-time with Lukaku scoring his 13th goal of the season, sliding the ball home from a low Graham Dorrans cross. West Brom were awarded a penalty in the second half but Lukaku's effort was saved by Michel Vorm. The winner came just after the hour mark when Angel Rangel's attempted clearing header from a corner hit De Guzman on the back and rebounded in to the net. Swansea thought they had equalised late on when Roland Lamah scored his first Swansea goal. But the goal was ruled out for offside when the ball actually came back to the striker from a defender and maybe shouldn't have been disallowed.
Newcastle 2-1 Stoke: Newcastle move level on point with Stoke and, more importantly, nine points clear of the drop zone thanks to an injury time winner. Stoke took the lead on 67-minutes when Cheick Tiote fouled Jon Walters in the box. Walters got up and took the penalty, clinically finishing it. Stoke's lead lasted five minutes though as Yohan Cabaye equalised with an exquisite free-kick in to the top corner. Sylvain Marveaux then played Papiss Cisse through in injury time and the Senegalese won the game for the Magpies.
QPR 3-1 Sunderland: Harry Redknapp's escape act is still well and truly on after beating Sunderland at Loftus Road. The win puts them level on points with Reading and now just four points from safety. It wasn't looking as good for QPR after 20-minutes as Steven Fletcher bagged his 11th goal of the season, scoring from a sucker punch counter-attack where Adam Johnson's ball across was touched in by the striker. Sunderland's lead only lasted ten minutes as QPR were level on the half hour mark; Andros Townsend's shot was blocked but fell in to the path of Loic Remy and the Frenchman made no mistake in scoring his third goal in five games. QPR went on to take a deserved lead with 20-minutes remaining; Townsend scoring a fantastic half-volley from 25-yards. The win was secured in injury time with Jermaine Jenas firing a spectacular shot in to the bottom corner from virtually the same spot as Townsend. The defeat for Sunderland edges them further in to the darkness, sitting unnervingly six points ahead of the bottom three.
Reading 1-2 Aston Villa: Villa move out of the bottom three after this crucial six-pointer. They move three points clear of safety with Wigan now having a game in hand, where a win would put them level again. Although this is a momentous blow for Reading, they're still just four points from avoiding the drop. Reading actually took the lead on 32-minutes when Jobi McAnuff's cross was missed by Nathan Baker but the ball came off his standing foot a bounced in to the empty net. Villa instantly equalised though when Andreas Weimann's pull-back was met by Christian Benteke whose deflected shot bamboozled Adam Federici and went in to the net. Villa won it in first half injury time when a lengthy passing spell saw the final cross defended poorly and Barry Bannan would hit the post before Gabriel Agbonlahor smashed it home. Reading had numerous chances to equalise but they couldn't force the ball home, when they did the flag was rightly up for offside.
Norwich 0-0 Southampton: Norwich are quietly becoming the goalless draw specialists, this being their fourth in their last eight games, they've also not scored in another two of those last eight. The point for Southampton does move them four points clear of the relegation zone. Both teams attacked quite well in the awful weather conditions but neither could find a killer touch. There was controversy in injury time when Grant Holt went down far too easily under Luke Shaw in the box. Mark Clattenburg took a long view at it and seemed to change his mind by pointing to the spot. This enraged the Southampton fans as it did look harsh but Holt's attempt was smartly saved by the heroic Artur Boruc. Norwich had waited a long time for their first penalty of the season, so it was a waste for Holt not to score it and it puts them nine points above the relegation zone, which should just about be enough.
West Brom 2-1 Swansea: Another Romelu Lukaku display enables West Brom to move three points clear of Swansea and two points behind Everton, who now have a game in hand, in the race for sixth. Swansea broke the deadlock on 33-minutes with Luke Moore scoring against his former club, heading home a Jonathan De Guzman corner to make it two in two for the striker. West Brom levelled five minutes before half-time with Lukaku scoring his 13th goal of the season, sliding the ball home from a low Graham Dorrans cross. West Brom were awarded a penalty in the second half but Lukaku's effort was saved by Michel Vorm. The winner came just after the hour mark when Angel Rangel's attempted clearing header from a corner hit De Guzman on the back and rebounded in to the net. Swansea thought they had equalised late on when Roland Lamah scored his first Swansea goal. But the goal was ruled out for offside when the ball actually came back to the striker from a defender and maybe shouldn't have been disallowed.
Thursday 7 March 2013
Barney Goes Top as Taylor, MVG & Thornton All Lose. Lewis Picks Up First Win
Week Five of the Darts Premier League has seen the table change somewhat in another great night in Nottingham this time. Gary Anderson beat Phil Taylor for the first time on TV since the Scot came to the PDC. The result sees Taylor lose his unbeaten status as have Robert Thornton and Michael Van Gerwen. Raymond Van Barneveld took full advantage of this to take the lead at the top of the table while at the bottom, Adrian Lewis has finally picked up his first win, and points, of the competition.
The night began with one of the three unbeaten players, Thornton, take on James Wade. Wade was bang in form once again and The Machine basically did to Thornton what The Thorn did to Anderson last week. The Scot missed the double for a 135-checkout in the second leg before missing two more darts at the double in fifth leg to stare down the barrel of a 5-0 scoreline. A majestic 121-checkout gave Wade at least a point and put Thornton one leg away from a rare Premier League whitewash. Fortunately for Thornton, he managed to win the seventh leg but another fantastic 121-checkout gave Wade the thumping 7-1 victory with a 105.78 average. The defeat really does bring Thornton back down to earth after an unbelievable first four weeks for him.
With 17 wins in 18 matches against Hamilton, you could understand if The Hammer was a little wary of facing Van Barneveld. It took five darts for Hamilton to finally level the match in the second leg. Barney then missed two darts to break in the fifth leg before a 121-checkout of his own put him 4-3 ahead. Again Hamilton equalised and the match looked to be heading for a well deserved draw. Hamilton missed the bull for a 170-checkout and Barney punished him by finding the first break of throw in the following leg to lead 6-4. The Dutchman would miss one dart to win the match and Hamilton broke back to force a deciding leg in which he would have the throw. But Van Barneveld chose this leg to produce his best darts and win it to win the match 7-5. This means that Barney has now won four out of his five matches and is deservedly on top of the league.
Van Gerwen was the second to lose his unbeaten status as Adrian Lewis finally turned up to play darts. After missing two darts to take a 2-0 lead, it was though that Lewis would once again be missing in action but when Van Gerwen missed four darts in the fourth leg, Lewis found himself 3-1 ahead. That was soon consolidated to 5-2 before Lewis finally earned his first point of the competition at 6-3. Jackpot then missed a dart to win the match but it didn't knock him off his stride as Lewis would take the following leg to win the match 7-4, really opening up the bottom of the table.
It became a historical day for Anderson, managing to find that first TV victory over Taylor since joining the PDC. It was a nervy start as Taylor needed six darts to win the opening leg before taking a 2-0 lead with a classy 101-checkout. Anderson's doubles were flawless in the early part and the Scot quickly levelled the match. A ton checkout from Anderson again equalised the match at 3-3. Taylor then crucially missed a dart to take a 5-3 lead and Anderson then managed to break Taylor to go 5-4 in front. Then it was Anderson's turn to miss a dart at the double, allowing Taylor to level the score. The 11th leg saw Anderson miss another three darts to guarantee himself a point. This Taylor wasn't as ruthless and he missed a dart at the double himself to give Anderson that 6-5 advantage. The Scot was at his best again in the final leg and missed the double for a Shanghai 120-checkout. Taylor wasn't on a finish though which left Anderson to take-40 and take the two points.
The final match of the night turned in to a bit of a basement battle between Wes Newton and Simon Whitlock. Newton was emphatic in the early going, cruising into a 4-1 lead with Whitlock requiring a 116-checkout to win the third leg. Newton's first miss at a double came in the seventh leg and Whitlock responded with a colossal 120-checkout to make it 4-3. The Aussie then turned the match on its head and took a 6-4 lead to give himself a point. Whitlock then missed two darts to prevent a final leg but the Wizard recomposed and won the deciding leg to win only his second game of the tournament so far. Table after week five:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 8 +10
2. James Wade 7 +9
3. Phil Taylor 6 +7
4. Michael Van Gerwen 6 +6
5. Robert Thornton 6 +1
6. Andy Hamilton 4 -4
7. Simon Whitlock 4 -5
8. Gary Anderson 4 -6
9. Wes Newton 3 -6
10. Adrian Lewis 2 -12
The night began with one of the three unbeaten players, Thornton, take on James Wade. Wade was bang in form once again and The Machine basically did to Thornton what The Thorn did to Anderson last week. The Scot missed the double for a 135-checkout in the second leg before missing two more darts at the double in fifth leg to stare down the barrel of a 5-0 scoreline. A majestic 121-checkout gave Wade at least a point and put Thornton one leg away from a rare Premier League whitewash. Fortunately for Thornton, he managed to win the seventh leg but another fantastic 121-checkout gave Wade the thumping 7-1 victory with a 105.78 average. The defeat really does bring Thornton back down to earth after an unbelievable first four weeks for him.
With 17 wins in 18 matches against Hamilton, you could understand if The Hammer was a little wary of facing Van Barneveld. It took five darts for Hamilton to finally level the match in the second leg. Barney then missed two darts to break in the fifth leg before a 121-checkout of his own put him 4-3 ahead. Again Hamilton equalised and the match looked to be heading for a well deserved draw. Hamilton missed the bull for a 170-checkout and Barney punished him by finding the first break of throw in the following leg to lead 6-4. The Dutchman would miss one dart to win the match and Hamilton broke back to force a deciding leg in which he would have the throw. But Van Barneveld chose this leg to produce his best darts and win it to win the match 7-5. This means that Barney has now won four out of his five matches and is deservedly on top of the league.
Van Gerwen was the second to lose his unbeaten status as Adrian Lewis finally turned up to play darts. After missing two darts to take a 2-0 lead, it was though that Lewis would once again be missing in action but when Van Gerwen missed four darts in the fourth leg, Lewis found himself 3-1 ahead. That was soon consolidated to 5-2 before Lewis finally earned his first point of the competition at 6-3. Jackpot then missed a dart to win the match but it didn't knock him off his stride as Lewis would take the following leg to win the match 7-4, really opening up the bottom of the table.
It became a historical day for Anderson, managing to find that first TV victory over Taylor since joining the PDC. It was a nervy start as Taylor needed six darts to win the opening leg before taking a 2-0 lead with a classy 101-checkout. Anderson's doubles were flawless in the early part and the Scot quickly levelled the match. A ton checkout from Anderson again equalised the match at 3-3. Taylor then crucially missed a dart to take a 5-3 lead and Anderson then managed to break Taylor to go 5-4 in front. Then it was Anderson's turn to miss a dart at the double, allowing Taylor to level the score. The 11th leg saw Anderson miss another three darts to guarantee himself a point. This Taylor wasn't as ruthless and he missed a dart at the double himself to give Anderson that 6-5 advantage. The Scot was at his best again in the final leg and missed the double for a Shanghai 120-checkout. Taylor wasn't on a finish though which left Anderson to take-40 and take the two points.
The final match of the night turned in to a bit of a basement battle between Wes Newton and Simon Whitlock. Newton was emphatic in the early going, cruising into a 4-1 lead with Whitlock requiring a 116-checkout to win the third leg. Newton's first miss at a double came in the seventh leg and Whitlock responded with a colossal 120-checkout to make it 4-3. The Aussie then turned the match on its head and took a 6-4 lead to give himself a point. Whitlock then missed two darts to prevent a final leg but the Wizard recomposed and won the deciding leg to win only his second game of the tournament so far. Table after week five:
1. Raymond Van Barneveld 8 +10
2. James Wade 7 +9
3. Phil Taylor 6 +7
4. Michael Van Gerwen 6 +6
5. Robert Thornton 6 +1
6. Andy Hamilton 4 -4
7. Simon Whitlock 4 -5
8. Gary Anderson 4 -6
9. Wes Newton 3 -6
10. Adrian Lewis 2 -12
No Miracle Comeback For Celtic, PSG Hold Off Valencia
Juventus and PSG have joined Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in the quarter finals, with half of the field now completed. There would be no miracle comeback for Celtic in Italy and a 5-0 aggregate scoreline is possibly a bit harsh form. Much like Shakhtar Donetsk, the Scots will be wondering how they didn't score in the second leg. There was no European début for David Beckham so he was made to sit watch his PSG side draw 1-1 at home to Valencia, a result that squeezes the French giants in to the next round by a 3-2 aggregate victory.
The only thing that missing from Celtic's performance inside the Delle Alpi was their finishing. Gianluigi Buffon was also in very good form to help prevent the likes of Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras from reducing the deficit. Celtic's hearts were ultimately broken on 24-minutes when Juventus attacked following Joe Ledley's agonising miss across goal. Federico Peluso fed Fabio Quagliarella in but the striker's shot was parried away by Fraser Forster. Unfortunately the ball only went in front of the keeper and not very far away, Alessandro Matri was then on hand to poke the ball home and virtually seal Juve's progression after 24-minutes.
Despite being 4-0 down on aggregate, Celtic continued to fight and show their heart. Buffon was again called in to action. Celtic's best chance to level in the first half came ten minutes before the whistle when Samaras found space in the box. The Greek flashed the ball across the goal line and if Gary Hooper was a couple of inches taller, he would have slid the ball home.
The second half saw Kris Commons become the latest Bhoy to test Buffon but the Italian keeper just wasn't going to be beaten. On 65-minutes, the second leg was also out of Celtic's reach when Juventus showed their class and, more crucially, a killer finishing touch. Andrea Pirlo expertly found Matri in behind the defence, Matri then played the ball across for Quagliarella to tap home his fourth of the competition.
The passage in to the quarter finals wasn't as straightforward for PSG who were really made to sweat in the Parc Des Princes. The French side came in to the second leg with a 2-1 lead after beating Valencia in the Mestalla.
The nerves would have began ten minutes in to the second half when Jonas let rip from 25-yards and his effort beat Salvatore Sirugu in to the corner, his fifth of the competition. This did level the aggregate score, but it didn't actually chance the match as PSG would still progress at this stage on away goals.
But Valencia's lead would only last 11-minutes. Substitute Kevin Gameiro barged his way in to the box before the ball fell to Ezequiel Lavezzi. The Argentine's first effort was initially parried by the keeper, but Lavezzi made no mistake with the second attempt and did score his fifth goal of the tournament to definitely confirm PSG's first appearance in the quarter finals for 18-years.
The only thing that missing from Celtic's performance inside the Delle Alpi was their finishing. Gianluigi Buffon was also in very good form to help prevent the likes of Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras from reducing the deficit. Celtic's hearts were ultimately broken on 24-minutes when Juventus attacked following Joe Ledley's agonising miss across goal. Federico Peluso fed Fabio Quagliarella in but the striker's shot was parried away by Fraser Forster. Unfortunately the ball only went in front of the keeper and not very far away, Alessandro Matri was then on hand to poke the ball home and virtually seal Juve's progression after 24-minutes.
Despite being 4-0 down on aggregate, Celtic continued to fight and show their heart. Buffon was again called in to action. Celtic's best chance to level in the first half came ten minutes before the whistle when Samaras found space in the box. The Greek flashed the ball across the goal line and if Gary Hooper was a couple of inches taller, he would have slid the ball home.
The second half saw Kris Commons become the latest Bhoy to test Buffon but the Italian keeper just wasn't going to be beaten. On 65-minutes, the second leg was also out of Celtic's reach when Juventus showed their class and, more crucially, a killer finishing touch. Andrea Pirlo expertly found Matri in behind the defence, Matri then played the ball across for Quagliarella to tap home his fourth of the competition.
The passage in to the quarter finals wasn't as straightforward for PSG who were really made to sweat in the Parc Des Princes. The French side came in to the second leg with a 2-1 lead after beating Valencia in the Mestalla.
The nerves would have began ten minutes in to the second half when Jonas let rip from 25-yards and his effort beat Salvatore Sirugu in to the corner, his fifth of the competition. This did level the aggregate score, but it didn't actually chance the match as PSG would still progress at this stage on away goals.
But Valencia's lead would only last 11-minutes. Substitute Kevin Gameiro barged his way in to the box before the ball fell to Ezequiel Lavezzi. The Argentine's first effort was initially parried by the keeper, but Lavezzi made no mistake with the second attempt and did score his fifth goal of the tournament to definitely confirm PSG's first appearance in the quarter finals for 18-years.
Tuesday 5 March 2013
Ref Enables Ronaldo Winner For Real, Dortmund Crush Donetsk
The first two teams through to the quarter finals of this season's Champions League are Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, although the two progressed in very differing circumstances. Dortmund cruised past Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 (5-2 agg) in Germany, although the Ukrainians did have a lot of good opportunities. But Real's progression was largely helped by a Turkish referee who changed the match at Old Trafford with a surprise red card.
The hype for the second leg at Old Trafford was second to none with all the side stories, Ryan Giggs' 1000th senior appearance for United, Cristiano Ronaldo's comeback to Old Trafford and then the battle between Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
The first half saw Ronaldo get booed by the United fans and looked rather uninspiring. Giggs took centre stage on his momentous achievement by pulling out all the skills and putting in a great shift going forwards and back. Neither team could really get a stronghold in the half and after the first five to ten minutes, United were the more threatening and came closest to scoring with Nemanja Vidic's header from a corner cannoning off the post.
It was advantage United at half time as 0-0 would put the hosts through on the away goal and Real Madrid hadn't really troubled David De Gea. The dynamics would slightly change three minutes into the second half when Nani picked up a loose ball inside the left hand side of the box. He flashed the ball across the six yard box, Danny Welbeck got the slightest of touches which caught Sergio Ramos off guard. The ball poked off of Ramos' foot and past Diego Lopez.
This gave United the clear advantage but it didn't really alter anything as Real Madrid still only needed a goal to still be in the tie and take it in to extra time. The Spaniards were beginning to find an onslaught on the United goal with numerous corners coming in. But Real Madrid were then able to consolidate this pressure just 11-minutes in to the second half when Nani looked to try and control the ball with his foot in air but ended up colliding with Alvaro Arbeloa's abdomen. Both of the players ended up on the floor and in pain and everyone expected to see a Madrid free-kick and possibly a yellow card for the high foot. Once Nani had got up, a couple of minutes after the challenge, the referee, Cuneyt Cakir, shockingly brandished a red card and United were somehow down to ten men.
This changed the whole complexion of the game, even though Madrid had been in the ascendency United were looking equally as capable at clearing their lines. Substitute Luka Modric found some space twenty yards from goal and he smashed an effort which hit the post and found its way in to the net to give Madrid the equaliser just ten minutes after the red card, 66-minutes.
The tie had completely changed just three minutes later and United were crushed when Mesut Ozil and Gonzalo Higuain linked up well and the Argentine flashed the ball across goal where, who else, but Ronaldo would be on hand to slide the ball home and virtually knock his former, but beloved, side out. Respectfully, Ronaldo refused to celebrate his 40th goal of the season which put United out.
To their credit, United didn't completely buckle at 2-1 and with 20-minutes remaining. Substitute Wayne Rooney blazed a glorious opportunity over the bar from seven yards and Diego Lopez pulled off some fantastic saves from point blank range to keep United at bay. De Gea also produced a couple of fine saves from Ronaldo to keep the score at 2-1 but it is Real Madrid who go through, 3-2 on aggregate.
Dortmund's victory over Shakhtar was much less controversial but every bit just as action packed. The game was end to end throughout and the visitors will be bewildered at how they didn't score inside the Westfalen Stadium. The first leg finished 2-2 which gave Dortmund the advantage on the away goal ruling.
The deadlock was broken just after the half hour mark when Felipe Santana found a bullet header from a corner that beat the man on the post. The tie then looked all but over six minutes later when Robert Lewandowski's ball across goal was poked home by Mario Gotze for his second of the competition.
The icing on the cake came just before the hour mark when Ilkay Gundogan's powerful shot was spilt by Andriy Pyatov and Jakub Blaszczykowski jumped at the chance to round the keeper and tap home Dortmund's third to win the tie 5-2 on aggregate.
The hype for the second leg at Old Trafford was second to none with all the side stories, Ryan Giggs' 1000th senior appearance for United, Cristiano Ronaldo's comeback to Old Trafford and then the battle between Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho.
The first half saw Ronaldo get booed by the United fans and looked rather uninspiring. Giggs took centre stage on his momentous achievement by pulling out all the skills and putting in a great shift going forwards and back. Neither team could really get a stronghold in the half and after the first five to ten minutes, United were the more threatening and came closest to scoring with Nemanja Vidic's header from a corner cannoning off the post.
It was advantage United at half time as 0-0 would put the hosts through on the away goal and Real Madrid hadn't really troubled David De Gea. The dynamics would slightly change three minutes into the second half when Nani picked up a loose ball inside the left hand side of the box. He flashed the ball across the six yard box, Danny Welbeck got the slightest of touches which caught Sergio Ramos off guard. The ball poked off of Ramos' foot and past Diego Lopez.
This gave United the clear advantage but it didn't really alter anything as Real Madrid still only needed a goal to still be in the tie and take it in to extra time. The Spaniards were beginning to find an onslaught on the United goal with numerous corners coming in. But Real Madrid were then able to consolidate this pressure just 11-minutes in to the second half when Nani looked to try and control the ball with his foot in air but ended up colliding with Alvaro Arbeloa's abdomen. Both of the players ended up on the floor and in pain and everyone expected to see a Madrid free-kick and possibly a yellow card for the high foot. Once Nani had got up, a couple of minutes after the challenge, the referee, Cuneyt Cakir, shockingly brandished a red card and United were somehow down to ten men.
This changed the whole complexion of the game, even though Madrid had been in the ascendency United were looking equally as capable at clearing their lines. Substitute Luka Modric found some space twenty yards from goal and he smashed an effort which hit the post and found its way in to the net to give Madrid the equaliser just ten minutes after the red card, 66-minutes.
The tie had completely changed just three minutes later and United were crushed when Mesut Ozil and Gonzalo Higuain linked up well and the Argentine flashed the ball across goal where, who else, but Ronaldo would be on hand to slide the ball home and virtually knock his former, but beloved, side out. Respectfully, Ronaldo refused to celebrate his 40th goal of the season which put United out.
To their credit, United didn't completely buckle at 2-1 and with 20-minutes remaining. Substitute Wayne Rooney blazed a glorious opportunity over the bar from seven yards and Diego Lopez pulled off some fantastic saves from point blank range to keep United at bay. De Gea also produced a couple of fine saves from Ronaldo to keep the score at 2-1 but it is Real Madrid who go through, 3-2 on aggregate.
Dortmund's victory over Shakhtar was much less controversial but every bit just as action packed. The game was end to end throughout and the visitors will be bewildered at how they didn't score inside the Westfalen Stadium. The first leg finished 2-2 which gave Dortmund the advantage on the away goal ruling.
The deadlock was broken just after the half hour mark when Felipe Santana found a bullet header from a corner that beat the man on the post. The tie then looked all but over six minutes later when Robert Lewandowski's ball across goal was poked home by Mario Gotze for his second of the competition.
The icing on the cake came just before the hour mark when Ilkay Gundogan's powerful shot was spilt by Andriy Pyatov and Jakub Blaszczykowski jumped at the chance to round the keeper and tap home Dortmund's third to win the tie 5-2 on aggregate.
City Re-Close Gap To-12
Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester City: City close the gap once again to 12-points with an extremely close win over Villa. The only goal of the game came crucially in first half injury time when Ciaran Clark was dispossessed by Edin Dzeko. The Bosnian ran through on goal before squaring to Carlos Tevez and the Argentine rounded Brad Guzan to slot home. The defeat for Villa keeps them in the bottom three on goal difference with two crucial games against Reading and QPR coming up.
Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal: Spurs reclaim third spot after winning one of the most crucial North London derbies for a long time. The victory puts them seven points clear of Arsenal and step closer to finishing above them for the first time since 1995. Too high defending eight minutes before half-time allowed Gylfi Sigurdsson to slide the ball through for, who else, Gareth Bale to score his 16th goal of the season and become the first Welshman to do so in the Premiership. It was deja vu two minutes later as Scott Parker was able to play Aaron Lennon through the open defence and double the lead. Arsenal threatened a comeback when Per Mertesacker's header took a deflection from a corner six minutes into the second half. But Arsenal didn't find an equaliser and now slip five points behind Chelsea. The win means that Spurs have now been unbeaten in their last 12-league games, which is a record for them.
Southampton 1-2 QPR: In the battle of the birthday boys, Harry Redknapp managed to out fox Mauricio Pochettino to put QPR four points from safety. The deadlock was broken when Loic Remy scored for his second away game in a row on 14-minutes. Southampton were level in first half injury time when a Julio Cesar parry was pounced upon by Gaston Ramirez who cheekily chipped the rushing Cesar. The winner came 13-minutes from the end when Ji-Sung Park's cross was tapped home by Jay Bothroyd. Southampton remain three points clear of the relegation zone.
Manchester United 4-0 Norwich: With the hype all about Ryan Giggs making his 1000th senior appearance, there was a lot of disappointment to see the winger left out of the squad and rested for the game against Real Madrid. But United carried on without him and ended up easing to maintain their 12-point gap. United took the lead in first half injury time when Robin Van Persie's flick was tapped home by Shinji Kagawa. Norwich were the last team to beat United in the league and should have levelled before United took a 2-0 lead on 76-minutes when Wayne Rooney's pull back was coolly converted by Kagawa for his second of the game. The Japanese midfielder had only scored two goals for United before today and that soon became five when he scored his hat-trick three minutes before the end, exquisitely chipping Mark Bunn after a good move. But the best goal came in injury time with Rooney finding a fantastic dipping shot from 25-yards. Norwich remain eight points above the bottom three.
Wigan 0-4 Liverpool: A Luis Suarez hat-trick keeps Wigan just above the relegation on goal difference. Stewart Downing opened the scoring by heading home from a Philippe Coutinho cross after just two minutes. Suarez's first game came on 18-minutes when Coutinho slid the ball through to the Uruguayan to waited for Ali Al-Habsi to dive before slotting home. The third came 11-minutes before half-time when Suarez's deflected cross hit the post and went in. The hat-trick was completed four minutes into the second half when Glen Johnson played him through down the wing for Suarez to cut inside and finish between Al-Habsi's legs. The win keeps Liverpool in seventh and three points behind Everton.
Everton 3-1 Reading: Everton go two points behind Arsenal and five behind Chelsea in the race for Europe while Reading remain a point from safety. Marouane Fellaini headed Everton ahead from a Seamus Coleman cross three minutes before half-time. Steven Pienaar smashed Everton 2-0 in front with a great effort from 20-yards 14-minutes in to the second half. The points were sealed on 66-minutes when Kevin Mirallas played a neat one-two with Pienaar to cut the defence open for Mirallas to slot home. Reading managed to score a consolation six minutes before the end with Hal Robson-Kanu headed a cross home.
Sunderland 2-2 Fulham: Fulham remain three points ahead of Sunderland after a point at the Stadium of Light. The deadlock was broken after 16-minutes when Ashkan Dejagah was lightly tripped by Craig Gardner in the box. Dimitar Berbatov stepped up and nonchalantly converted into the bottom corner. It was 2-0 ten minutes before half-time when Dejagah's effort was parried in to the path of Sascha Riether to score his first Fulham goal. Sunderland pulled one back two minutes later when Philippe Senderos was adjudged to have fouled Gardner. Gardner then stepped up and also finished the spot-kick. The point was earned 20-minutes from the end when a counter attack, which started from a brilliant Simon Mignolet save, saw the ball end up coming back to Stephane Sessegnon on the edge of the box and the Frenchman slotted home. Sunderland remain six points clear of relegation with Fulham a further three points ahead.
Chelsea 1-0 West Brom: Chelsea remain fourth and two points behind Tottenham with a tight fought victory over West Brom. The only goal of the game came on 28-minutes when David Luiz beat Ben Foster in the air to head back for Demba Ba to tap home. West Brom are now well and truly looking like a settled, mid-table team on 40-points and away from the battles for Europe and relegation.
Stoke 0-1 West Ham: West Ham move level on points with Stoke with this victory in the Britannia. The winner came crucially in first half injury time when Jack Collison was played through by Ricardo Vaz Te for him to slot home. Both teams sit nine points above the relegation zone and still aren't totally safe with ten games remaining.
Swansea 1-0 Newcastle: The League Cup winners returned the league with a win over the in form Newcastle. The only goal of the game came five minutes before the end when poor defending from a cross saw the ball break loose for Luke Moore to finish from close range. The defeat sees Newcastle remain six points above the bottom three with Swansea hitting the magic 40-mark.
Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal: Spurs reclaim third spot after winning one of the most crucial North London derbies for a long time. The victory puts them seven points clear of Arsenal and step closer to finishing above them for the first time since 1995. Too high defending eight minutes before half-time allowed Gylfi Sigurdsson to slide the ball through for, who else, Gareth Bale to score his 16th goal of the season and become the first Welshman to do so in the Premiership. It was deja vu two minutes later as Scott Parker was able to play Aaron Lennon through the open defence and double the lead. Arsenal threatened a comeback when Per Mertesacker's header took a deflection from a corner six minutes into the second half. But Arsenal didn't find an equaliser and now slip five points behind Chelsea. The win means that Spurs have now been unbeaten in their last 12-league games, which is a record for them.
Southampton 1-2 QPR: In the battle of the birthday boys, Harry Redknapp managed to out fox Mauricio Pochettino to put QPR four points from safety. The deadlock was broken when Loic Remy scored for his second away game in a row on 14-minutes. Southampton were level in first half injury time when a Julio Cesar parry was pounced upon by Gaston Ramirez who cheekily chipped the rushing Cesar. The winner came 13-minutes from the end when Ji-Sung Park's cross was tapped home by Jay Bothroyd. Southampton remain three points clear of the relegation zone.
Manchester United 4-0 Norwich: With the hype all about Ryan Giggs making his 1000th senior appearance, there was a lot of disappointment to see the winger left out of the squad and rested for the game against Real Madrid. But United carried on without him and ended up easing to maintain their 12-point gap. United took the lead in first half injury time when Robin Van Persie's flick was tapped home by Shinji Kagawa. Norwich were the last team to beat United in the league and should have levelled before United took a 2-0 lead on 76-minutes when Wayne Rooney's pull back was coolly converted by Kagawa for his second of the game. The Japanese midfielder had only scored two goals for United before today and that soon became five when he scored his hat-trick three minutes before the end, exquisitely chipping Mark Bunn after a good move. But the best goal came in injury time with Rooney finding a fantastic dipping shot from 25-yards. Norwich remain eight points above the bottom three.
Wigan 0-4 Liverpool: A Luis Suarez hat-trick keeps Wigan just above the relegation on goal difference. Stewart Downing opened the scoring by heading home from a Philippe Coutinho cross after just two minutes. Suarez's first game came on 18-minutes when Coutinho slid the ball through to the Uruguayan to waited for Ali Al-Habsi to dive before slotting home. The third came 11-minutes before half-time when Suarez's deflected cross hit the post and went in. The hat-trick was completed four minutes into the second half when Glen Johnson played him through down the wing for Suarez to cut inside and finish between Al-Habsi's legs. The win keeps Liverpool in seventh and three points behind Everton.
Everton 3-1 Reading: Everton go two points behind Arsenal and five behind Chelsea in the race for Europe while Reading remain a point from safety. Marouane Fellaini headed Everton ahead from a Seamus Coleman cross three minutes before half-time. Steven Pienaar smashed Everton 2-0 in front with a great effort from 20-yards 14-minutes in to the second half. The points were sealed on 66-minutes when Kevin Mirallas played a neat one-two with Pienaar to cut the defence open for Mirallas to slot home. Reading managed to score a consolation six minutes before the end with Hal Robson-Kanu headed a cross home.
Sunderland 2-2 Fulham: Fulham remain three points ahead of Sunderland after a point at the Stadium of Light. The deadlock was broken after 16-minutes when Ashkan Dejagah was lightly tripped by Craig Gardner in the box. Dimitar Berbatov stepped up and nonchalantly converted into the bottom corner. It was 2-0 ten minutes before half-time when Dejagah's effort was parried in to the path of Sascha Riether to score his first Fulham goal. Sunderland pulled one back two minutes later when Philippe Senderos was adjudged to have fouled Gardner. Gardner then stepped up and also finished the spot-kick. The point was earned 20-minutes from the end when a counter attack, which started from a brilliant Simon Mignolet save, saw the ball end up coming back to Stephane Sessegnon on the edge of the box and the Frenchman slotted home. Sunderland remain six points clear of relegation with Fulham a further three points ahead.
Chelsea 1-0 West Brom: Chelsea remain fourth and two points behind Tottenham with a tight fought victory over West Brom. The only goal of the game came on 28-minutes when David Luiz beat Ben Foster in the air to head back for Demba Ba to tap home. West Brom are now well and truly looking like a settled, mid-table team on 40-points and away from the battles for Europe and relegation.
Stoke 0-1 West Ham: West Ham move level on points with Stoke with this victory in the Britannia. The winner came crucially in first half injury time when Jack Collison was played through by Ricardo Vaz Te for him to slot home. Both teams sit nine points above the relegation zone and still aren't totally safe with ten games remaining.
Swansea 1-0 Newcastle: The League Cup winners returned the league with a win over the in form Newcastle. The only goal of the game came five minutes before the end when poor defending from a cross saw the ball break loose for Luke Moore to finish from close range. The defeat sees Newcastle remain six points above the bottom three with Swansea hitting the magic 40-mark.
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