Friday, 18 March 2011
Champions League Quarter Final and Semi Final Draws
Real Madrid will face Tottenham in the quarter finals. There could then be an all Spanish semi final as the winners of that match will face the winners of Barcelona against Shakhtar Donetsk. Gary Lineker drew out an all English quarter final as Chelsea host Manchester United in the first leg. The winner of the English battle will face either champions Inter Milan or Shalke in the semi-finals.
Premier League Darts: Week Six
The sixth week of the Darts Premier League was at the SECC Arena in Glasgow. The opening match of the night saw seventh take on eighth as Jenkins battled James Wade. Jenkins took the first leg but Wade stormed to a 3-1 lead with the highlight being a 127 check-out in the third leg. Jenkins a leg back but Wade took out two consecutive tons (the first one with two double tops) to make 6-2. Jenkins responded with a ton of his own to then claw his way back to 6-5. It went to the wire with Wade leading 7-6 but Jenkins had the first shot at the double, he missed allowing Wade to take the final fourteenth leg to win 8-6.
The Scottish crowd were leading the Barney Army as Van Barneveld played the inconsistent Webster. Webster made it 1-1 with a ton and then 2-2 with Shanghai 120. But the crowd surged within Barney and he made three consecutive ton plus check-outs of 121, 161 and 116 to make it 5-2. Webster pulled it back to 6-4 but Barney won the eleventh and twelfth legs to seal the victory.
The third match saw Whitlock play Taylor with Taylor having the chance to go top of the league before Anderson's match. But Whitlock took the early 2-1 lead with a ton check-out. But Whitlock's problems with his doubles struck again, allowing Taylor to go 5-2 ahead. It was soon 6-3 before Whitlock planted the seed of doubt as he fought back to 6-5. But Taylor wasn't to be denied top spot and won the final two legs to win 8-5.
What happens when a crowd of Scots in Glasgow on St. Patrick's day come to watch a Scotsman take on an Englishman? Utter carnage. Unfortunately the final game of the night between home man Anderson and Lewis will be remembered for the crowd trouble rather than the actual darts. The trouble started before the action as Lewis was drenched in thrown beer as he walked to the stage. From there the boos rang out every time he took a shot and there were even objects thrown onto the stage. Anderson started by using the Partisan crowd's energy to take a 3-0 lead. But as the actions of the crowd worsened, so did Anderson's mood which effected his game. Lewis stopped the rot with a 111 check-out on his way to winning eight consecutive legs to win the game. However one of the legs Anderson showed great sportsmanship as he purposely lost the leg after picking up a coin that had been thrown onto the stage. An unfortunate way to end a great night of darts on St. Patrick's day.
The win now sees Taylor move two points clear at the top. Anderson has now been joined by Van Barneveld on eight points in second and third. Lewis has now cemented his place in fourth with six while the remaining four players all have four points.
The Scottish crowd were leading the Barney Army as Van Barneveld played the inconsistent Webster. Webster made it 1-1 with a ton and then 2-2 with Shanghai 120. But the crowd surged within Barney and he made three consecutive ton plus check-outs of 121, 161 and 116 to make it 5-2. Webster pulled it back to 6-4 but Barney won the eleventh and twelfth legs to seal the victory.
The third match saw Whitlock play Taylor with Taylor having the chance to go top of the league before Anderson's match. But Whitlock took the early 2-1 lead with a ton check-out. But Whitlock's problems with his doubles struck again, allowing Taylor to go 5-2 ahead. It was soon 6-3 before Whitlock planted the seed of doubt as he fought back to 6-5. But Taylor wasn't to be denied top spot and won the final two legs to win 8-5.
What happens when a crowd of Scots in Glasgow on St. Patrick's day come to watch a Scotsman take on an Englishman? Utter carnage. Unfortunately the final game of the night between home man Anderson and Lewis will be remembered for the crowd trouble rather than the actual darts. The trouble started before the action as Lewis was drenched in thrown beer as he walked to the stage. From there the boos rang out every time he took a shot and there were even objects thrown onto the stage. Anderson started by using the Partisan crowd's energy to take a 3-0 lead. But as the actions of the crowd worsened, so did Anderson's mood which effected his game. Lewis stopped the rot with a 111 check-out on his way to winning eight consecutive legs to win the game. However one of the legs Anderson showed great sportsmanship as he purposely lost the leg after picking up a coin that had been thrown onto the stage. An unfortunate way to end a great night of darts on St. Patrick's day.
The win now sees Taylor move two points clear at the top. Anderson has now been joined by Van Barneveld on eight points in second and third. Lewis has now cemented his place in fourth with six while the remaining four players all have four points.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Chelsea Coast Through, Real Cruise Through
The final two Champions League quarter-final places were clinched last night as the final second legs took place. Chelsea held a 2-0 aggregate advantage before kick-off at Stamford Bridge against Copenhagen. There wasn't any real trouble from Copenhagen as the omens were there from the start; Chelsea have never lost a Champions League home match by more than two goals, Copenhagen have never won a Champions League away match by more than two. The Danes did hit the post but that was about it as they were looking more like a damage limitation side. But there was to be no more damage as Chelsea didn't really test Wiland with Torres still proving one of the most expensive flops (a la Shevchenko?), so the game petered out to a 0-0 with Chelsea comfortably making it three English sides in the last eight.
The other match was finely poised at the Bernabeu as Real Madrid hosted Lyon, the aggregate scoreline was 1-1 and could still go either way. Lyon weren't impressive at all in the first half and only managed one shot at goal. So no surprise that they found themselves 1-0 down at half-time with Marcelo scoring the goal after 37 minutes. The game wasn't over though as an equaliser would bring extra time, but that never looked like materialising and Real took a 2-0 lead after 66 minutes with Benzema scoring through the legs of his former teammate Lloris. Angel Di Maria finished the game off ten minutes later to make it 3-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.
The other match was finely poised at the Bernabeu as Real Madrid hosted Lyon, the aggregate scoreline was 1-1 and could still go either way. Lyon weren't impressive at all in the first half and only managed one shot at goal. So no surprise that they found themselves 1-0 down at half-time with Marcelo scoring the goal after 37 minutes. The game wasn't over though as an equaliser would bring extra time, but that never looked like materialising and Real took a 2-0 lead after 66 minutes with Benzema scoring through the legs of his former teammate Lloris. Angel Di Maria finished the game off ten minutes later to make it 3-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
United Struggle Through While Inter Spring Shock Comeback
With half of the Champions League quarter-final places being taken last week, yesterday saw four more teams battle it out for two of the remaining places. Barcelona, Tottenham, Shalke and Shakhtar Donetsk are all in Friday's draw and are awaiting their possible opponents.
Old Trafford saw Manchester United host Olympique Marseille, with the aggregate goalless, Marseille knew that a the away goal would be priceless. But it was United who came out flying and grabbed the early goal, Rooney shooting wide along the box only for Hernandez to tap home from about six yards. Marseille were never out of the game and after the goal United seemed to step right off the gas and let the French team enjoy possession. They also had decent chances but both Gignac and Diawara missed clear cut chances to equalise. There was some bad news in the first half for United though, John O'Shea had to be replaced due to a hamstring injury. The second was very cagey and United looked settled on the 1-0 win, possibly due to Marseille's stronghold in attack. But still Marseille failed to test Van Der Sar by missing chances and also failing to take advantage of their superior average height. United then dealt Marseille a sucker punch with Giggs this time rolling the ball across the box for Hernandez to tap home again to make it 2-0 with fifteen to go. But United weren't happy with a comfortable 2-0 scoreline and gave a corner in the last seven minutes which Brown seemed to get an ambiguous touch into the net, despite Scholes' effort to keep it out. United held on though to progress with the 2-1 aggregate win.
The other tie was at the Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich were looking to hold onto their 1-0 aggregate lead against reigning champions Inter Milan. But Inter equalised on aggregate almost instantly on the night with Samuel Eto'o breaking the deadlock after three minutes, to produce the only scoreline that would bring extra time. Mario Gomez equalised on the night after 21 minutes to give Munich the lead again, before Thomas Muller made it 2-1 ten minutes later to gain full control of the tie at 3-1 on aggregate. The tie wasn't over though as Inter equalised through Wesley Sneijder three minutes after the hour to pull one back. The next goal was going to be the ultimatum and Igor Pandev scored it for Inter two minutes from time to make it 3-2 on the night but 3-3 on aggregate, but the champions progress via the away goal rule.
Old Trafford saw Manchester United host Olympique Marseille, with the aggregate goalless, Marseille knew that a the away goal would be priceless. But it was United who came out flying and grabbed the early goal, Rooney shooting wide along the box only for Hernandez to tap home from about six yards. Marseille were never out of the game and after the goal United seemed to step right off the gas and let the French team enjoy possession. They also had decent chances but both Gignac and Diawara missed clear cut chances to equalise. There was some bad news in the first half for United though, John O'Shea had to be replaced due to a hamstring injury. The second was very cagey and United looked settled on the 1-0 win, possibly due to Marseille's stronghold in attack. But still Marseille failed to test Van Der Sar by missing chances and also failing to take advantage of their superior average height. United then dealt Marseille a sucker punch with Giggs this time rolling the ball across the box for Hernandez to tap home again to make it 2-0 with fifteen to go. But United weren't happy with a comfortable 2-0 scoreline and gave a corner in the last seven minutes which Brown seemed to get an ambiguous touch into the net, despite Scholes' effort to keep it out. United held on though to progress with the 2-1 aggregate win.
The other tie was at the Allianz Arena where Bayern Munich were looking to hold onto their 1-0 aggregate lead against reigning champions Inter Milan. But Inter equalised on aggregate almost instantly on the night with Samuel Eto'o breaking the deadlock after three minutes, to produce the only scoreline that would bring extra time. Mario Gomez equalised on the night after 21 minutes to give Munich the lead again, before Thomas Muller made it 2-1 ten minutes later to gain full control of the tie at 3-1 on aggregate. The tie wasn't over though as Inter equalised through Wesley Sneijder three minutes after the hour to pull one back. The next goal was going to be the ultimatum and Igor Pandev scored it for Inter two minutes from time to make it 3-2 on the night but 3-3 on aggregate, but the champions progress via the away goal rule.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Controversy At The Britannia, City Strike It Rich
With Bolton and Manchester United safely through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the remaining two places had to be filled with yesterday's quarter-final winners. Sunday's first quarter-final was at The Britannia where Stoke hosted West Ham. They met just last week in the Premiership with West Ham winning 3-1 at Upton Park. Stoke were looking to gain revenge by ending Avram Grant's FA Cup fairytale and took the lead after twelve minutes; a trademark Rory Delap throw was met by Robert Huth who headed past Green. West Ham equalised through controversial circumstances when Piquionne looked to have handled when controlling a long ball from Parker, but referee Mike Jones waved play on and Piquionne went on to score. The second half saw Etherington fall over a slight Parker challenge in the box which Mike Jones bought and awarded the penalty. Etherington stepped up but Green saved it to let justice prevail. The winner came after 63 minutes when Carlton Cole was adjudged to have handled from a Pennant free-kick, despite Parker's appeals for self-defence. Danny Higginbotham took the second free-kick and blasted it past Green to secure Stoke's place in the semi-final for the first time in 39 years, they will meet Bolton at Wembley.
The semi-final draw took place so Manchester City and Reading knew that whoever won the tie would face Manchester United. On paper there should have been only one winner but as usual Manchester City came extremely close to an embarrassing upset. Reading gave as good as they got with keeper Alex McCarthy playing very well, City also were guilty of trying to walk it in and missing guilt-edged chances. But City did manage to get the only goal of the match with Micah Richards heading from a corner after 74 minutes.
The semi-final draw took place so Manchester City and Reading knew that whoever won the tie would face Manchester United. On paper there should have been only one winner but as usual Manchester City came extremely close to an embarrassing upset. Reading gave as good as they got with keeper Alex McCarthy playing very well, City also were guilty of trying to walk it in and missing guilt-edged chances. But City did manage to get the only goal of the match with Micah Richards heading from a corner after 74 minutes.
Sunday, 13 March 2011
Five At St. Andrew's While United Find A Twin Turbo
The Premiership took a break this weekend as the FA Cup reached the quarter finals. Yesterday's early kick-off saw Birmingham take on Bolton with Birmingham looking to become only the fourth team to win the domestic cup double, Bolton were looking to reach the semi-finals for the first time in eleven years. It was a cagey first half with a lot of the action being limited to long balls, Alex McLeish's injury got worse during the first half as both Jiranek and Ferguson had to be subbed. Despite the lack of meaningful attacks, Bolton did take the lead with Elmander breaking the deadlock after 21 minutes. From there Birmingham started the play the ball a little better and got the reward when Cameron Jerome fired a half volley into the near post corner to make it 1-1 seven minutes before half-time.
The second half had much better football with both now having settled into the tie. Referee Phil Dowd had to make a big decision when Jaaskelainen looked to have brought down Jerome in box, Dowd gave a corner and replays showed it was the right decision. Bolton went down the other minutes later and the introduction of Chung Yong Lee really helped the cause; he made a run into the box before passing it inside to Elmander, his shot was blocked but managed to poke the ball through to Kevin Davies to score, but Davies was offside and the goal didn't stand. But just a minute later Kevin Davies was hauled down by Curtis Davies in the box and Bolton were awarded the penalty, Kevin Davies stepped up and slotted past Foster after 66 minutes. Birmingham equalised ten minutes from time when Kevin Phillips managed to lob Jaaskelainen with a poke. But any chance of replay, just after these two meet in the league, were dashed when Chung Yong Lee headed past Foster in the final minute of normal time, Bolton going through 3-2 winners.
The late kick-off saw the showdown between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford. Arsenal were looking not to be eliminated from three cups in just two weeks while United were looking to bounce back after two consecutive league defeats. Both teams were injury hit with Szczesny, Fabregas and Waltcott out for Arsenal, Ferdinand, Nani and Park out for United. Although Arsenal still had a familiar looking line-up United's mid-field looked very odd, twins Rafael and Fabio were out on the wings with O'Shea partnering Gibson in the centre. It was the tale of two strategies as usual with Arsenal looking to dominate possession but try to walk it in, with United looking to counter and shoot when possible. When Arsenal did shoot they were thwarted by a fantastic Van Der Sar. But United broke the deadlock two minutes before the half hour mark; Rafael picked the ball up and ran halfway into the Arsenal half, he squared it inside to brother Fabio who played it to Rooney, Rooney chipped it over into the path of Hernandez whose shot was parried by Almunia only for Fabio to get to the rebound to score.
The second half saw Van Der Sar pull off yet more unbelievable saves and despite Arsenal's decent start to the second half, they were soon two down. The half-time introduction of the long absent Valencia was a big welcome to Sir Alex Ferguson and he soon brought back what United had missed, a decent cross mixed with creativity. Rafael made another dangerous run into the box with the ball, he played it out to Valencia who whipped in a cross but Hernandez's shot was blocked, only for Rooney to head home from a tight angle four minutes into the second half. Both could've scored after that but both Almunia and Van Der Sar pulled some great saves but apart from the obvious woes for Wenger, he suffered another injury blow with Johann Djourou looking to have sustained a dislocated shoulder in the last ten minutes of the game. United progress into the semi-finals along with Bolton.
The second half had much better football with both now having settled into the tie. Referee Phil Dowd had to make a big decision when Jaaskelainen looked to have brought down Jerome in box, Dowd gave a corner and replays showed it was the right decision. Bolton went down the other minutes later and the introduction of Chung Yong Lee really helped the cause; he made a run into the box before passing it inside to Elmander, his shot was blocked but managed to poke the ball through to Kevin Davies to score, but Davies was offside and the goal didn't stand. But just a minute later Kevin Davies was hauled down by Curtis Davies in the box and Bolton were awarded the penalty, Kevin Davies stepped up and slotted past Foster after 66 minutes. Birmingham equalised ten minutes from time when Kevin Phillips managed to lob Jaaskelainen with a poke. But any chance of replay, just after these two meet in the league, were dashed when Chung Yong Lee headed past Foster in the final minute of normal time, Bolton going through 3-2 winners.
The late kick-off saw the showdown between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford. Arsenal were looking not to be eliminated from three cups in just two weeks while United were looking to bounce back after two consecutive league defeats. Both teams were injury hit with Szczesny, Fabregas and Waltcott out for Arsenal, Ferdinand, Nani and Park out for United. Although Arsenal still had a familiar looking line-up United's mid-field looked very odd, twins Rafael and Fabio were out on the wings with O'Shea partnering Gibson in the centre. It was the tale of two strategies as usual with Arsenal looking to dominate possession but try to walk it in, with United looking to counter and shoot when possible. When Arsenal did shoot they were thwarted by a fantastic Van Der Sar. But United broke the deadlock two minutes before the half hour mark; Rafael picked the ball up and ran halfway into the Arsenal half, he squared it inside to brother Fabio who played it to Rooney, Rooney chipped it over into the path of Hernandez whose shot was parried by Almunia only for Fabio to get to the rebound to score.
The second half saw Van Der Sar pull off yet more unbelievable saves and despite Arsenal's decent start to the second half, they were soon two down. The half-time introduction of the long absent Valencia was a big welcome to Sir Alex Ferguson and he soon brought back what United had missed, a decent cross mixed with creativity. Rafael made another dangerous run into the box with the ball, he played it out to Valencia who whipped in a cross but Hernandez's shot was blocked, only for Rooney to head home from a tight angle four minutes into the second half. Both could've scored after that but both Almunia and Van Der Sar pulled some great saves but apart from the obvious woes for Wenger, he suffered another injury blow with Johann Djourou looking to have sustained a dislocated shoulder in the last ten minutes of the game. United progress into the semi-finals along with Bolton.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Premier League Darts: Week Five
Week five of the Darts Premier League headed up north into the MEN Arena in Manchester. Terry Jenkins kicked off the night up against Mark Webster, Jenkins looking to stop the rot of three defeats on the bounce against Webster who hit a 110 average in the trouncing of Adrian Lewis last week. It was Webster who struck first after Jenkins missed three darts at the double, but the Bull quickly equalised before taking out 104 to make it 2-1. Again Webster equalised but from there the Welshman just played inconsistent darts. Jenkins went onto win the next five legs to earn himself at least a point at 7-2. This somehow seemed to rejuvenate Webster as he won the following two legs but a mysterious draught seemed to divert his attention in the twelfth leg, allowing Jenkins to take the match 8-4.
We've waited five weeks for the first draw in this year's Premier League and the second match should have produced it. Phil Taylor was looking to stop Anderson's unbeaten run and quickly gained a 2-0 lead. But Anderson regained his nerves to battle back to 2-2 after four legs. From there the darts went with throw up until the fourteenth leg. Taylor had took it to 7-6 and was guaranteed a point with Anderson throwing for the draw, but the Scot somehow couldn't find the double and Taylor took out 44 to just about win 8-6.
The third match saw an out of sorts Wade take on Van Barneveld who was looking to bounce back after his bout of 'Tayloritis', but it was Wade who opened the scoring. Barneveld equalised straight away with a 107 checkout which seemed to kill Wade off as the Dutchman stormed to a 3-1 lead. Wade stopped the run with an impressive 136 but it only deterred Barney for a moment. He came back with five legs on the spin to crush Wade 8-2.
The final match in Manchester saw Whitlock take on Lewis. So far the league has proved unpredictable and going by last week's results (Whitlock winning 8-1, Lewis losing 8-2) it looked like Whitlock should win again. Although he took the the first leg, Whitlock's achilles heel was again his doubles. Whereas Lewis was deadly on his and stormed to a 7-1 lead, the highlights being a 113 checkout in the fourth leg and a 116 in the eighth. Whitlock secured a consolation but was only denying the inevitable as Lewis finished the match off in style with a 136 checkout to win 8-2.
Anderson still leads at the top on leg difference but Taylor has now levelled on points. Van Barneveld sits third with six points but Webster, Jenkins, Whitlock and Lewis are all just behind him on four points. Wade, similar to this stage last year, props up the table with just two points to his name.
We've waited five weeks for the first draw in this year's Premier League and the second match should have produced it. Phil Taylor was looking to stop Anderson's unbeaten run and quickly gained a 2-0 lead. But Anderson regained his nerves to battle back to 2-2 after four legs. From there the darts went with throw up until the fourteenth leg. Taylor had took it to 7-6 and was guaranteed a point with Anderson throwing for the draw, but the Scot somehow couldn't find the double and Taylor took out 44 to just about win 8-6.
The third match saw an out of sorts Wade take on Van Barneveld who was looking to bounce back after his bout of 'Tayloritis', but it was Wade who opened the scoring. Barneveld equalised straight away with a 107 checkout which seemed to kill Wade off as the Dutchman stormed to a 3-1 lead. Wade stopped the run with an impressive 136 but it only deterred Barney for a moment. He came back with five legs on the spin to crush Wade 8-2.
The final match in Manchester saw Whitlock take on Lewis. So far the league has proved unpredictable and going by last week's results (Whitlock winning 8-1, Lewis losing 8-2) it looked like Whitlock should win again. Although he took the the first leg, Whitlock's achilles heel was again his doubles. Whereas Lewis was deadly on his and stormed to a 7-1 lead, the highlights being a 113 checkout in the fourth leg and a 116 in the eighth. Whitlock secured a consolation but was only denying the inevitable as Lewis finished the match off in style with a 136 checkout to win 8-2.
Anderson still leads at the top on leg difference but Taylor has now levelled on points. Van Barneveld sits third with six points but Webster, Jenkins, Whitlock and Lewis are all just behind him on four points. Wade, similar to this stage last year, props up the table with just two points to his name.
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