England Nearly Out-Klaased as Wales Say Emotional Farewell

With an extra day in the calender year this year, there was an extra international football friendly fixture for the world to enjoy. Stuart Pearce's start as interim England manager began at Wembley against the Netherlands. The first half was a very tight affair with both teams creating opportunities, the closest came from Arjen Robben whose shot was smartly saved by Joe Hart.

There was a half-time substitute apiece as James Milner replaced Gareth Barry and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar came on for Robin Van Persie. This would be a potential game changer as Robben picked the ball up in his own half and made his way to the England goal. Huntelaar pulled Chris Smalling out of position with a diagonal run, this left space for Robben to run into before smashing a shot into the bottom corner 12-minutes into the second half. Before England knew what had hit them, they went 2-0 down when Dirk Kuyt's cross was headed in by Huntelaar a minute later. Unfortunately during the header, Huntelaar and Smalling had a clash of heads in which both players remained on the floor. Neither player could continue and Smalling had to be stretchered off.

This stoppage arguably killed Holland's momentum and the game became a little dull. The last time these two met, Holland took a 2-0 lead before Jermaine Defoe scored a brace to earn a draw. This time Gary Cahill found himself in the box in open play, Leighton Baines played the ball into him and the Chelsea man turned before shooting exquisitely to pull a goal back with five minutes left. With four minutes of injury time to be played, Phil Jones played a killer pass into the path of Ashley Young who slotted his fourth goal in five international appearances to seemingly give England a draw. But Holland went straight up the other end and poor marking allowed Robben to take a shot that deflected off Cahill before out-foxing Hart and giving the Dutch the win.

But across the border, football came second as the heroes of Welsh football all gathered together for the Gary Speed memorial. Cardiff's Ninian Park put on a fantastic pre-game show with many bands paying their tributes to the late Welsh manager. Costa Rica were Wales' opponents for Chris Coleman's first game in charge, the nation Speed played his Wales debut against. With the sombre atmosphere and the likes of Gareth Bale, James Collins and Aaron Ramsey missing from the squad, it was understandable why Wales may not have been fully up for it. The script was tore up on just seven minutes when Arsenal's Joel Campbell scored for the visitors. Wales tried their hardest to get back into it with Steve Morison coming closest but his first half header hit the bar. Unfortunately, it wasn't the result that Gary Speed deserved but the tributes and memorial service bids a fantastic farewell to a fantastic player and would-be manager who left us far too early.  

Derby Goals, Legendary Pairing and a Mid-Table Clash

Super Super returned with a triple bill that had everything to rival the Carling Cup final and much more. The day kicked-off with the North London derby. So far this season, the big games have featured a crazy amount of goals and this one was no different. The first goal rolled in after just four minutes when non-existent defending allowed Louis Saha in on goal, his shot took a deflection before looping over the goalkeeper. It got worse for Arsenal when Gareth Bale 'fell' under a Wojiech Sczcesny challenge, Emmanuel Adebayor stepped-up and converted the subsequent penalty to make it 2-0 on his 28th birthday. But Arsenal managed to fight back with Bacary Sagna heading a goal home on 40-minutes before Robin Van Persie fired them level three minutes later to make it 2-2 at half-time, the Dutchman scoring his 29th goal in all competitions this season.

The momentum was definitely in Arsenal's court following the break and a typical Arsenal attack ended with Tomas Rosicky tapping the ball home to give the hosts the lead six minutes after the restart, his first goal in over an year. It soon turned into a half Tottenham would want to forget as Van Persie played Theo Walcott in and the Englishman was only too happen to score past Brad Friedel in front on interim England Manager, Stuart Pearce. Walcott then added his second and Arsenal's fifth three minutes after his first on 68-minutes. To make Tottenham's day even worse, Scott Parker received a second yellow card three minutes before the end to rule him out of the clash against Manchester United. Van Persie received his fifth yellow card of the season, meaning he his potentially out of the clash with Liverpool. The victory also means that Arsenal move ahead of Chelsea into fourth on goal difference.

Meanwhile, at Carrow Road, Norwich entertained Manchester United. United needed to win to stay within two points of leaders Manchester City. It took the legendary pairing of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to squeeze the three points out of the surprise package of the season. Scholes headed home a Nani cross after just seven minutes to give United the lead. Giggs hit the crossbar in the second half that would have ended the game. Instead, Grant Holt broke David De Gea's fantastic resistance with an exquisite shot on the turn seven minutes from time, his tenth goal of the season. But Giggs' 900th appearance was to end with a win with the Welshman tapping home an Ashley Young cross in injury time.

The day's other game saw Stoke host Swansea in a game where the winner would go three points above the loser. The opening goal of the game after 24-minutes with Matthew Upson heading his first Stoke goal from a corner. The other goal of the game came via Ryan Shotton's Delap-esque throw was headed in by Peter Crouch just fifteen minutes later. Swansea's reserve keeper, Gerhard Tremmel, was making his debut and should have kept Crouch's header out instead of palming into his own net. Stoke sit 12th on 33-points with Swansea two places and three points behind.    

Gerrards Missing In Action

Cardiff line-up: Heaton, McNaughton (Blake, 106'), Taylor, Hudson (Gerrard, 99'), Turner, Whittingham, Cowie, Gunnarsson, Miller, Gestede, Mason (Kiss, 91') 
Liverpool line-up: Reina, Johnson, Enrique, Agger (Carragher, 86'), Skrtel, Gerrard, Henderson (Bellamy, 58'), Downing, Adam, Suarez, Carroll (Kuyt, 103')


Liverpool win the 2011/2012 Carling Cup via a penalty shoot-out in which both Gerrards missed their respective penalties. Liverpool came out stronger in the first half and Glen Johnson almost gave them the lead within the first five minutes, but his shot crashed off the bar and was cleared away.


Cardiff defended well throughout the game and after the initial quarter of an hour, they started to get on the ball. Joe Mason was then played in by Kenny Miller and the striker slotted under Pepe Reina to give Cardiff a surprise lead. From there Cardiff again had to defend for their lives as they went back to the dressing rooms with that slender lead.


The second half continued in the same vain as Liverpool had to search for that equaliser. It came on the hour mark with Martin Skrtel firing them level from a corner. From there, both teams were beginning to create chances to try and win the game for themselves. The best chance fell to Miller with less than ten minutes to go, he turned to find himself one-on-one with Reina but fired the ball over as Andy Carroll came sliding in. 


The game fell into extra time and Liverpool thought they won it with 12-minutes to spare. Dirk Kuyt had only been on the pitch for five minutes but he managed to spike a returning ball in the net from 16-yards, catching Tom Heaton unaware as it flew into the bottom corner. Kuyt then did his best to prevent Cardiff coming back, he headed a ball off the line from Cardiff's first corner with only three minutes left. A second corner came in and the Dutchman couldn't get Ben Turner off the ball as the defender scrambled it into the net to make it 2-2 and took the game into the penalty shoot-out.


This was Cardiff's third penalty shoot-out in the tournament with Heaton providing heroics against Crystal Palace in the semi-final. The ever reliable Steven Gerrard stepped up for Liverpool's opening penalty, but it was expertly saved by a strong left hand. Cardiff's ever reliable, Kenny Miller, then also missed his spot-kick by hitting the post. Charlie Adam was next to take a penalty but blasted his effort over the bar, allowing Don Cowie to give Cardiff a 1-0 lead in the contest. Dirk Kuyt equalised before Rudy Gestede also hit the post to make it 1-1 after three penalties each. Stewart Downing and Peter Whittingham both converted to take it to the final penalties. Glen Johnson smashed his effort into the roof of the net, leaving Anthony Gerrard to force sudden death. Nerves got the better of him though and the cousin of the Anfield legend fired wide to hand Steven and Liverpool the trophy.

PL Round-Up: 25/2/12

Newcastle 2-2 Wolves: Terry Connor's first ever game as manager was almost a baptism of fire. Demba Papiss Cisse put the hosts ahead with a poacher's goal on just six minutes, his second in a Newcastle shirt. That was followed up by a Jonas Gutierrez rocket 12-minutes later, scoring for the third consecutive game against Wolves. Matthew Jarvis pulled one back with a heavily deflected shot five minutes into the second half. Kevin Doyle scrambled home an equaliser from a free-kick after 66-minutes, earning Wolves a point that moves them out of the bottom three.

Manchester City 3-0 Blackburn: City move five points clear at the top as they keep up their 100% home record, a record spanning twelve months. It took half an hour for City to take the lead; Mario Balotelli tapping home Aleksandar Kolarov's cross and stating 'I love you, Rafaella' on his under-shirt. After a decent first half performance, Paul Robinson parried a ball, he maybe should have caught, into the path of Sergio Aguero and the Argentinian was more than happy to place the ball home just seven minutes after the restart. The final nail came from substitute Edin Dzeko just minutes after coming on, heading home another Kolarov cross nine minutes from time. Blackburn now slide into the relegation zone on goal difference.

West Brom 4-0 Sunderland: West Brom move to within a point of Sunderland by taking their home goals tally to 13. Kamikaze defending allowed Peter Odemwingie to head home after just three minutes. James Morrison made it two goals from two headers to double West Brom's lead four minutes before half-time. Surprise England call-up, Frazier Campbell, came off the bench at half-time but couldn't do anything to change the outcome as Odemwingie made it three just three minutes into the second half. The rout was completed in injury time with Keith Andrews scoring his second goal in his second West Brom game.

Chelsea 3-0 Bolton: Chelsea may begin to regain their form after a win that sees Bolton sit 19th via goal difference. After a goalless first half, it took David Luiz three minutes to fire Chelsea ahead after the restart. Drogba headed Chelsea's second just after the hour mark before Frank Lampard became the first player to reach double figures in nine consecutive seasons, making it 3-0 with a sweet volley 11-minutes from time. His 150th goal helps Chelsea move to fourth with Arsenal playing tomorrow.

QPR 0-1 Fulham: QPR sit outside the relegation on goal difference following their latest defeat. Pavel Pogrebnyak scored his second Premiership goal in his first two games, scoring the only goal of the game by rounding Paddy Kenny after seven minutes. Samba Diakite's QPR debut lasted only 33-minutes after receiving a second yellow card, becoming the fifth Rovers player to be sent off at Loftus Road.

Wigan 0-0 Aston Villa: Wigan will just about be the happier of the two as their point moves them level with Bolton at the foot of the table. Villa's point sees them sit in 15th, eight points ahead of the relegation zone and four points behind Sunderland in ninth.   

2012 Premier League Darts: Week Three

The oche moved across the sea this week as the Premier League headed to Belfast. Kevin Painter faced Simon  Whitlock in the opening match and Painter surged into a 3-0 lead. The Australian fought back to within one before The Artist once again extended his lead. Whitlock did make it 5-3 but Painter was in top form and took the match 8-3, scoring four points in the opening three games.

World Champion, Adrian Lewis, is still yet to win (or lose) in this year's campaign after securing a draw against Andy Hamilton in a rematch of this year's World Final. It was Hamilton that started the better this time around and found himself 3-0 in front. Lewis managed to take out 130 before finding himself 4-1 behind. But The Jackpot fought back and was able to level the match at 4-4, making it anybody's game. Hamilton never went behind in the game as Lewis won the 14th leg to earn the 7-7 draw.

James Wade is still to find a point in this year's tournament after picking his third successive loss. The 2009 Premier League Champion took on the current Premier League Champion and found himself 2-0 ahead. The Machine then found a 107-check-out to make it 3-1 and it would then be 4-2 going into the break. Anderson came flying back from the break and managed to turn it around to lead 7-4. Wade was able to prolong the inevitable for a leg as Anderson took the game 8-5 to move to the top of the league.

Anderson's lead the top lasted all of 45-minutes as Phil Taylor soon replaced him. Raymond Van Barneveld was the unfortunate victim of a Taylor master-class and it began with a 131 check-out in the opening leg. It took five legs before Barney could get a score on the board and then posted a 145-check-out to make it 5-2. But Taylor wasn't to be undone and hit managed a Shanghai 120-check-out to extend his led further. The Dutchman averaged just under 109 and against anyone else he would have surely won the game. He did manage to claw his way back to 6-4 before Taylor finished the job. The Power ended the match two darts away from another nine-darter and a 112.91 average, the second highest in Premier League history.

2011/2012 CL Round-Up: 2nd Round 1st Leg pt.2

Favourites Real Madrid haven't completed the job just yet over CSKA Moscow. Cristiano Ronaldo put the visitors ahead on 28-minutes. But Moscow will take a goal with them to the Bernabeu as Pontus Wernbloom equalised in the third minute of injury time. Real Madrid are still the strong favourites to go through with that crucial away goal.

England's Champions League hopes got even slimmer as Chelsea failed to get the desired result away to Napoli. Juan Mata did put Chelsea ahead on 27-minutes before Ezequiel Lavezzi equalised 11-minutes later. Edinson Cavani shouldered Napoli ahead just before half-time and Chelsea couldn't recover. Lavezzi then made it 3-1 on 65-minutes to give the Italians a big chance of making into the quarter finals in their debut campaign. But Chelsea do have an away goal which could prove to be an important factor.    

Perhaps the biggest shock at the half-way stage came from Switzerland. Basel met Bayern Munich and it took 86-minutes before either team secured an advantage. Valentin Stocker scored the only goal of the contest to give Basel the slender lead. But Munich are still probably the favourites when the pair meet again in the Allianz Arena.

It took even longer in France for either team to give themselves an advantage. Under-fire Claudio Ranieri will have to work hard as Andre Ayew fired Marseille ahead in injury time to take a lead to the San Siro. Again, Inter should have the advantage in the second leg but have failed to get an away goal.

FA Cup Quarter Final Draw

Liverpool v Stoke City

Chelsea or Birmingham City v Leicester City

Stevenage Borough or Tottenham Hotspur v Bolton Wanderers

Everton v Sunderland