Carling Cup Semi-Final 1st Legs (and Spurs win again)

The first legs of the Carling Cup semi-final took place on Tuesday and Wednesday with both games only finishing 1-0, leaving both ties tantalisingly close for the second leg. Tuesday saw the two Championship sides do battle at Selhurst Park. Dougie Freedman didn't know who would be playing until the very last moments as his side and been plagued by a mystery bug. But it didn't faze the Palace side as Anthony Gardner headed home the winner three minutes before half-time to give Palace a slight edge for when they cross the border.

Wednesday's semi-final became a rather heated one as Manchester City were still reeling from their FA Cup defeat. The only goal of the game after thirteen minutes when talisman Steven Gerrard scored from the spot after Stefan Savic had brought Daniel Agger down. The match ended on a heated note as Roberto Mancini and Gerrard clashed over a tackle from Glen Johnson on Joleon Lescott, Mancini branded it worse than Vincent Kompany's who had his four match ban appeal turned down. Johnson received no punishment.

Meanwhile, Tottenham and Everton played out their game in hand. Aaron Lennon put the hosts ahead after 35 minutes before Benoit Assou-Ekotto doubled the score on 63 minutes. This now puts Spurs level on points with Manchester United in second place.  

FA Cup 4th Round Draw

Brighton & Hove Albion/ Wrexham v Newcastle United
Sunderland v Middlesbrough
Dagenham & Redbridge/ Millwall v Southampton
Hull City v Crawley Town
Milton Keynes Dons/ Queen's Park Rangers v Chelsea
West Bromwich Albion v Norwich City
Blackpool v Sheffield Wednesday
Arsenal v Aston Villa
Stevenage Borough v Notts County
Watford v Tottenham Hotspur
Liverpool v Manchester United
Derby County v Stoke City
Everton v Fulham
Macclesfield Town/ Bolton Wanderers v Swansea City
Sheffield United v Birmingham City/ Wolverhampton Wanderers
Nottingham Forest v Leicester City/ Swindon Town

FA Cup 3rd Round

Liverpool 5-1 Oldham: An expected result that has been soured by another racism claim, this time from the crowd with Tom Adeyemi the target. Craig Bellamy (30) and a Steven Gerrard penalty (45) gave the hosts a 2-1 half-time lead after Robbie Simpson put Oldham ahead (28). Jonjo Shelvey (68), Andy Carroll (89) and Stewart Downing (90) completed the Friday night rout.

Birmingham 0-0 Wolves: Wolves hit the post in injury time after Birmingham made a good account of themselves. The pair will now meet at Molineux for another Midlands derby.

Dagenham & Redbrige 0-0 Millwall: London pair will meet at the New Den to settle stalemate.


Barnsley 2-4 Swansea: Man of the moment Ricardo Vaz Te put Barnsley ahead (28) but Angel Rangel equalised a minute later. Danny Graham (45) and Nathan Dyer (53) made it 3-1 before Vaz Te scored his second (64). Any nerves were settled with two minutes left with Graham also scoring his second.

Brighton 1-1 Wrexham: Non-league Wrexham secure a replay back at the Racecourse Ground. Jake Forster-Caskey (47) gave Brighton the lead before Adrian Cieslewicz (61) forced the return leg.

Coventry 1-2 Southampton: Gary McSheffrey (4) gave the hosts the lead before James Ward-Prowse (63) and Aaron Martin (82) earned high-flying Saints a ticket to round four.

Crawley 1-0 Bristol City: League Two Crawley beat Championship Bristol City courtesy of Matt Tubbs' 73rd minute winner.

Derby 1-0 Crystal Palace: Palace have their Carling Cup semi-final 1st leg this week but Theo Robinson (8) denies the Eagles a place in the FA Cup 4th round.

Doncaster 0-2 Notts County: Championship Doncaster knocked out by League One Notts County. Jeff Hughes scored both goals (36) and a 69th minute penalty.

Everton 2-0 Tamworth: John Heitinga (4) and Leighton Baines' penalty (78) prevent any shock against non-league Tamworth.

Fleetwood 1-5 Blackpool: Lomana LuaLua (23) gave Blackpool the lead. Matt Phillips (46) and Thomas Ince (54) made it 3-0. Jamie Vardy (69) made it 3-1 before Matt Phillips completed his hat-trick (76 & 80)

Fulham 4-0 Charlton: Clint Dempsey scores hat-trick (7, 60 & 80pen) and Damien Duff completes rout (86) to ease Fulham into the fourth round.

Gillingham 1-3 Stoke: Danny Kedwell (15) gave the League Two side the lead before Jon Walters (33), Cameron Jerome (43) and Robert Huth (48) spared the Premiership side's blushes.

Hull 3-1 Ipswich: Aaron McLean (26) and Tom Cairney (31) gave Hull a 2-0 lead before Jason Scotland (56) pulled one back. Cameron Stewart (90) finished the game off for Hull.

Macclesfield 2-2 Bolton: League Two Macclesfield will travel to the Reebok for a replay. Ivan Klasnic's (6) goal was ruled out by Colin Daniel (15). Arnaud Mendy (67) then put Macclesfield ahead before David Wheater (76) rescued the struggling Premiership side.

Middlesbrough 1-0 Shrewsbury: Marvin Emnes (39) puts the Championship side into the fourth round.

MK Dons 1-1 QPR: Dean Bowditch (64) put the League One side ahead before Heidar Helguson (88) gave the Premiership side a chance to redeem themselves at Loftus Road. 

Newcastle 2-1 Blackburn: David Goodwillie (34) put the struggling Premiership side ahead. Hatem Ben Arfa (69) equalised with Jonas Gutierrez won it in injury time.

Norwich 4-1 Burnley: Grant Holt (5) and Simeon Jackson (11) put Norwich 2-0 up before Jay Rodriguez (14) pulled one back. Andrew Surman (59) and Steve Morison (72) eased Norwich into the next round.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Leicester: Championship stalemate will have to be settled at the Walkers Stadium.

Reading 0-1 Stevenage: Darius Charles (20) earns League One Stevenage a cup shock against Championship Reading.

Sheffield United 3-1 Salisbury: Chris Porter (17), Ched Evans (59) and Daniel Webb own goal (71) assured hosts of win. Lloyd Macklin (85) gave non-league visitors a consolation goal.

Swindon 2-1 Wigan: League Two Swindon become giant killers against Wigan. Callum McManaman (34) gave Wigan the lead before Alan Connell (39) and Paul Benson (75) gave Swindon the win.

Tottenham 3-0 Cheltenham: Jermain Defoe (23), Roman Pavlyuchenko (42) and Giovanni Dos Santos (86) give Spurs easy passage into the fourth round.

Watford 4-2 Bradford: Troy Deeney (2) was cancelled out by James Hanson (7). Marvin Sordell (39) and two from Craig Forsyth (55 & 58) made it 4-1 with Nahki Wells (87) earning a second for the visitors.

West Brom 4-2 Cardiff: Premiership hosts edge six goal thriller against Championship counterparts. Peter Odemwingie (6) and Simon Cox (32) gave West Brom a 2-0 lead. But former Baggie Robert Earnshaw (35) and Joe Mason (49) brought the game back on level terms.

Bristol Rovers 1-3 Aston Villa: Marc Albrighton (34), Gabriel Agbonlahor (63) and Ciaran Clark (77) put Villa 3-0 ahead. Scott McGleish (89) pulled one back before having a penalty saved in injury time.

Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United: Wayne Rooney (9) gave United lead before Vincent Kompany received a straight red for a two footed tackle two minutes later. Danny Welbeck (29) and Rooney again (39) after scoring the rebound from his saved penalty put United 3-0 ahead. City came back with an Aleksandar Kolarov free-kick (47) and a mistake from the returning Paul Scholes allowed Sergio Aguero (64) to set up a grandstand finish.

Chelsea 4-0 Portsmouth: Juan Mata (47), two from Ramires (84 & 86) and Frank Lampard (90) ease Chelsea into the fourth round.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 West Ham: Chris O'Grady secured the shock with three minutes left to play. West Ham had missed a penalty.

Peterborough 0-2 Sunderland: Sebastian Larsson (47) and James McLean (57) continue Sunderland's revival under Martin O'Neill.

Arsenal 1-0 Leeds: The returning Thierry Henry (78) put Arsenal through on his second debut for the club.

First PL Programme of 2012

Aston Villa 0-2 Swansea: Villa came back down to earth following their victory over Chelsea. Nathan Dyer put Swansea ahead after just four minutes before Wayne Routledge scored against his former club with Stephen Warnock playing a short back pass just two minutes into the second half.

Fulham 2-1 Arsenal: Fulham came back from 1-0 down to provide a shock against Arsenal. Laurent Koscielny headed Arsenal ahead after 21 minutes. Johan Djourou then received his second yellow card for bringing Bobby Zamora down twelve minutes from time. The hosts took full advantage and Steve Sidwell equalised seven minutes later with the returning Zamora earning the victory in injury time.

QPR 1-2 Norwich: Norwich secured a similar comeback against ten man QPR. Joey Barton fired the hosts ahead after eleven minutes before getting sent off for an alleged head butt on Bradley Johnson nine minutes before half-time. Norwich also took full advantage with Anthony Pilkington equalising six minutes later before Steven Morison won the game seven minutes from time.

Wolves 1-2 Chelsea: Chelsea started 2012 by forgetting their troublesome end to 2011. Ramires put Chelsea ahead nine minutes into the second half but Stephen Ward equalised with six minutes left to play. But Frank Lampard gave his under fire boss the win in the final minute of normal time.

Blackburn 1-2 Stoke: Blackburn couldn't continue their fantastic end to 2011 with Peter Crouch bringing Steve Kean back down to Earth. Crouch scored his 100th league goal after seventeen minutes before making it 2-0 just before half-time. Substitute David Goodwillie gave Blackburn a little bit of hope with 21 minutes left but Stoke were able to hold on.

Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool: Manchester City went three points clear on Tuesday with a comprehensive win over Liverpool. Luis Suarez started his eight match ban and Liverpool severely missed him. Sergio Aguero gave City the lead after just ten minutes following Pepe Reina's poor attempt at a save. Yaya Toure scored the second twelve minutes before half-time. Gareth Barry received his second yellow card after 73 minutes but it didn't deter them as James Milner made it 3-0 just two minutes from the spot.

Tottenham 1-0 West Brom: Spurs went to within three points of Manchester United with a close fought victory against West Brom. The only goal of the game came after 63 minutes through Jermaine Defoe. It's not all good news though as both Sandro and William Gallas were forced off with calf injuries.

Wigan 1-4 Sunderland: Sunderland started 2012 the same way they ended 2011. Craig Gardner put the hosts ahead just before half-time via a brilliant free-kick with James McClean scoring his first senior goal ten minutes into the second half. Hugo Rodallega made it 2-1 after 62 minutes but Stephane Sessegnon restored the two goal cushion eleven minutes later. David Vaughan completed the rout with ten minutes to play to move them into the top ten.

Newcastle 3-0 Manchester United: United commenced 2012 with the same attitude they concluded 2011 as Newcastle beat them for the first time in ten years. Demba Ba scored his his fifteenth goal of the season, his fourth in three  games against Manchester United, with a great half volley after 33 minutes, Anders Lindegaard's first goal conceded in the Premiership. Phil Jones then needlessly fouled Ba two minutes into the second half and Yohan Cabaye hit a scorching free-kick in off the crossbar. Jones' match got worse as he scored an own goal in injury time to keep United three points behind City. Newcastle move to within a point of Liverpool and stop United unbeaten away record this season and also prevented United from scoring, the first team to do that in the league this season.

Everton 1-2 Bolton: Bolton move off the bottom of the table with a win over Everton. The hosts took the lead in extraordinary circumstances. Tim Howard hit a clearance into the wind and managed to lob counterpart Adam Bogdan after 63 minutes. David N'Gog equalised four minutes later with Gary Cahill perhaps leaving Bolton by presenting them with three points twelve minutes from time.

Double Jackpot Win

Adrian 'Jackpot' Lewis came back from 2-0 down in the first round to Nigel Heydon to win 3-1. He then held off Terry Jenkins' surge in the quarter-finals to win 5-3. Lewis then managed to stage an even better comeback in the semi-finals coming back from 5-1 behind against James Wade to put himself into last night's final.

Lewis has now joined Eric Bristow and Raymond Van Barneveld as the only men to retain the World Championship after winning it for the first time. Andy Hamilton was the severe underdog and Lewis took the first set 3-2 with a 122 checkout. But Hamilton wasn't going to be embarrassed and he levelled with a 3-1 second set victory. Both players then took one of the next two sets 3-1 to make it 2-2, Hamilton again equalising. From there Lewis hit another gear and came from 2-1 down in the fifth set to win it with a 112 checkout. Lewis then extended his lead a 3-1 win in the sixth set before Hamilton made it 4-3 with a whitewash in the set. It didn't deter Lewis though and he took the eighth set 3-1 before crucially winning the ninth set via the decider to go just one set away. Hamilton looked to put another set on the board after going 2-0 ahead but Lewis fought back to win the set 3-2 and reclaim the World Championship with a 7-3 victory.

New Year's Fireworks and Darting Drama With Draughtgate

With the darting world kicking off the New Year with the World Championships semi-finals, we were treated to two unbelievable games. The night started off with Andy Hamilton and Simon Whitlock, they met back in the World Matchplay where Whitlock was 15-8 ahead before Hamilton won the match 16-15. The match see-sawed as Hamilton took the first set without conceding before Whitlock equalised via the deciding leg in second. Hamilton then took control, winning the next two sets 3-1 to race into a 3-1 lead, halfway to victory. But Whitlock fought back, taking the fifth set 3-0 and then equalised via another fifth leg shoot-out. Whitlock then took the lead by taking the next two sets without conceding to go within one set of victory. Deja vu then kicked in as Hamilton found a Blackpool style comeback. The Hammer took the ninth set via the decider before levelling the match at 5-5 with a 3-1 tenth set victory. The eleventh and final set also went to 2-2, forcing the win by two legs scenario. Hamilton took both the fifth and sixth legs to win the set 4-2 and progresses into his first World Championship final.

The second semi-final saw defending World Champion Adrian Lewis take on the best player to have never won the World Championship, James Wade. Wade came out quickest by taking the first set 3-1 and the second 3-2. Lewis started to throw tantrums as both players complained about being affected by an unknown draught. Both of the players decided to come off the oche and play stopped as the technical team tried to sort the draught out. This caused pandemonium amongst the crowd who didn't want to be kept waiting and the experts were split as to whether the draught would actually cause as much disruption as the players insisted on. The players returned after five minutes and Lewis took the third set 3-2 before he again moaned about the draught, which Wade agreed with. After another twenty minute break, the players returned with Lewis much more perturbed than Wade. This allowed the Machine to take full control to take a 5-1 lead, the third set was won without conceding and the following two were won 3-1. Wade then 2-0 ahead in the seventh set before a cataclysmic shift appeared in the game. Lewis was able to gain two points on his three dart average as Wade suddenly dropped two points. The World Champion came back to win the set 3-2 and the revolt started as Wade lost his doubles. Lewis won the next three sets without conceding to come back and win the match 6-5 in one of the most historic comebacks in World Championship history.

New Year's Football (Ji Dong-Won It)

Liverpool 3-1 Newcastle: The New Year's weekend started with Steven Gerrard returning to action and inspiring his side to victory. It was Newcastle who took the lead through Daniel Agger's own goal after 25 minutes but Craig Bellamy equalised four minutes later. Bellamy then made it 2-1 after 67 minutes with Gerrard putting his name on the score sheet from a tight angle to secure the points twelve minutes later.

Manchester United 2-3 Blackburn: New Year's Eve kicked off with the birthday boy, Alex Ferguson, entering his 71st year with a shock defeat to bottom of the league Blackburn. It was a game United were seemingly in control of until Dimitar Berbatov hauled Christopher Samba down in the box after sixteen minutes, Yakubu stepped up and converted the spot kick. It got worse for United, who could have been top of the league at the end of 2011 if they prevented defeat, when Michael Carrick failed to defend properly and Yakubu doubled his tally six minutes into the second half. It took just 23 seconds for United to respond and it was Berbatov who headed past Mark Bunn and then levelled ten minutes later to set up a grandstand finish. From there, the game could have gone either way and it was David De Gea who decided it, the Spaniard came but failed to collect a corner and Grant Hanley took full advantage to give Blackburn a precious three points.

Arsenal 1-0 QPR: Arsenal became the big winners of the New Year's Weekend after overcoming a tough test against QPR. It would be their talisman, Robin Van Persie, who spared Arsenal's blushes on the hour mark. This left the Dutchman one goal short of Alan Shearer's record of goals in a calender year.

Swansea 1-1 Tottenham: Spurs should have won the match but a defensive frailty cost them two points. Rafael Van Der Vaart gave the visitors the lead just before half-time. But poor defending and a mistake from Brad Friedel allowed Scott Sinclair to equalise from two yards six minutes from time.

Chelsea 1-3 Aston Villa: Chelsea received strong boos around the terraces of Stamford Bridge after their latest disappointing result. Richard Dunne conceded a penalty in the 23rd minute which Didier Drogba converted to give Chelsea the lead, Stephen Ireland equalised two minutes later. Chelsea's lack of defending cost them as Villa hit them on the break and Stiliyan Petrov made it 2-1 with seven minutes to go. Darren Bent then secured the points three minutes, another shock to end the year.

Norwich 1-1 Fulham: Norwich secure another hard fought point despite falling behind. Orlando Sa gave Fulham the lead after just seven minutes but Simeon Jackson rescued a point in second half injury time to move up to eleventh.

Bolton 1-1 Wolves: Two teams already facing a relegation fight secured a point apiece at the Reebok. Sam Ricketts put the hosts ahead after 22 minutes before Steven Fletcher equalised four minutes into the second half.

Stoke 2-2 Wigan: Another struggling club found themselves a point in a game full of controversy. Wigan took the lead through Victor Moses just before half-time. Stoke were then awarded a penalty with fourteen minutes to go when Gary Caldwell handled on the line, the defender rightly received a red card and Jon Walters converted the penalty. Cameron Jerome then scored his first goal in 33 games to give Stoke the lead with six minutes later. But Wigan were awarded a lifeline when they were awarded a penalty three minutes later, substitute Ben Watson stepped up to equalise with his first kick of the game.

West Brom 0-1 Everton: The New Year kicked off at The Hawthornes and David Moyes received the best possible start to 2012. The only goal of the game came Victor Anichebe three minutes from time to move up to ninth and still have a game in hand on their closest rivals.

Sunderland 1-0 Manchester City: With United losing on New Year's Eve, City had a great chance to start the New Year by stretching a lead. The visitors did hit the woodwork on two occasions but couldn't break the Sunderland defence down. Then the first shock of the year came in the final moments when Sunderland broke, Ji Dong-Won received the ball in an offside position but the linesman didn't give it. The South Korean played on and round Joe Hart before rolling the ball into the net with the last kick of the game.