Leamington Charge For Glory
Thought I'd open with something a little bit different, as I was co-commentating on yesterday's Leam game and there wasn't as much interesting football on yesterday as usual. So Leamington were in action against top of the table Poole Town, a game which had all the hallmarks of a closely fought contest. Despite Leam's surge up the table, with sixteen points from a possible eighteen making them favourites to secure a play-off spot, Poole would have been favourites for this game, nine points ahead of Leam and sitting pretty in the only automatic promotion spot.
But then Leam showed up. And how.
I've seen some excellent performances from Leamington in recent weeks as they've hit form at the right time, loanees Baker-Richardson and Austin adding some extra dimensions to their attack and the return to form of James Mace at the back coming at the right time, but this one has to be their best. They played Poole off the park for 90 minutes, carving out chances for Baker-Richardson, Austin, a delightful flicked header from powerful central midfielder Jack Edwards and a golden opening for top scorer Ben Mackey before half time, as Leamington surged on Poole, their intensity restricting Poole to only one clean chance before the break, as a lovely passage of play released Spetch on the wing, only for Leam keeper Tony Breeden to save.
And after the half time break, Leam were even stronger, creating better chances. It was winger Lee Moore's scuffed shot that ran into the path of Mackey, who six yards out may have meant to or may have not meant to deflect the ball, but either way it ended up rolling past the despairing Poole keeper and Leam were 1-0 up.
For a game that ended 1-0, it could have easily been 3-0 or 4-0, as Lee Moore missed one of the easiest chances you'll ever see, although he was desperately unlucky as he had to stretch for it, and Sam Austin was in on goal a couple of times, particularly late on as the Poole keeper, who had come up for a corner, raced back with Austin bearing down on him. And Poole themselves only tested Breeden once in a late siege that you might have been expecting earlier than the last minute of the match.
In terms of standout performers, Mackey got the goal, but his overall play in the second half in particular was drastically better than recent home fixtures, and Sam Austin was utterly magnificent, he had the ball on a string as he stripped poor right back Lewis Tallack time and time again, as you'd expect from a League One loanee, but veteran full back/central midfielder Richard Taundry, playing at right back in this game, was the man of the match for me, as he went into every tackle, winning the ball time and again and the range of passing he showed was absolutely sublime, with his long raking balls in behind.
Leam go again on Tuesday and on this performance, with the gap cut to just six points with a game in hand on Poole, there's no telling how high Leam's ceiling is. The title is certainly a possibility.
City Flounder...
Any slender hopes that Manchester City might have had of regaining the Premier League title ended with a whimper at lunch time yesterday as their attempts to break down a Norwich side that are sitting in the relegation zone proved fruitless. The result leaves City only two points ahead of West Ham, and four ahead of United, having sacrificed their game in hand on both, and Liverpool, only seven points back, now have a game in hand on City. More importantly, as far as the blue half of Manchester is concerned, a win for Spurs today takes them seven points ahead of City, and Leicester could go twelve clear on Monday night, albeit giving City a game in hand.
And simply put, it's not acceptable. With a team containing the likes of Sergio Aguero, Wilfried Bony, David Silva and Raheem Sterling, to fail miserably to break down Norwich, who haven't won a game since the 2nd of January and are only one goal off Villa's league high of 55 conceded, is embarrassing to be frank. And other than two decent chances for Sergio Aguero, who probably should have put one away, City never looked like scoring. Jesus Navas is a man with zero end product, Bony adds nothing to this team, and Raheem Sterling is yet to look anywhere near a £49m player, as his City career has consisted of an occasional top class performance, littered with a string of then inconsistent performances. When Silva can't pick the pass and Aguero doesn't make something happen, City look hapless.
And it was Norwich, who will really be buoyed by this point ahead of a big chance for them to gain ground next weekend as Newcastle play Sunderland and they go to West Brom, who looked the more likely to score, Bamford hitting the bar the closest either side came to scoring. But a point definitely suits Norwich more than it suits City and for the visitors, this was a performance which was nothing short of awful.
...As Everton March On
Meanwhile, Everton moved into the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2012, at the expense of Chelsea in what can only be described as an "ill-tempered" clash, in which everything kicked off in the final 15 minutes. First a sensational goal from Lukaku, one of the best he's ever scored, put Everton ahead, before he added a second to put the game beyond doubt with less than ten minutes to go.
And then it all kicked off, as Diego Costa, thug supreme, showed his nasty side once again, by appearing to bite Gareth Barry. Now if this is what happened, he needs to be hit with a long ban, as Suarez was, because there is simply no place for it in the game. I've always said that Costa is an ugly, horrible individual, a player who is exceptional at what he does, but also a nasty piece of work who I wouldn't want playing for my club.
And this inciting incident caused the usually calm Barry to lose his cool, as he was also sent off for a second yellow on Fabregas. But despite this, it was Everton who prevailed. This was a must win game for both sides, whose seasons were hinging on this moment, Everton moreso. For Chelsea, winning the FA Cup wouldn't be enough to ressurect their smoldering heap of a year, but for Everton, who were always an outside bet for European football anyway, their first trophy since 1995 would represent a very good season. And they are close to that now.
And they were joined in the semis by Palace, who beat Reading 2-0 on Friday night with late goals from Cabaye and Campbell. There was more than a little bit of luck involved in their goals, but Palace overall deserved it on the night you have to say.
And to finish up this weekend's football: Southampton beat Stoke 2-1, with two goals from Pelle, who is very much a hot and cold striker. This was another great result for the Saints which keeps them in with an outside chance of a Europa League spot, should United or West Ham's performances fall off a cliff or 7th place become a spot. And Bournemouth managed to win a thrilling clash with Swansea in which they took the lead three times, only to be pegged back twice. For Bournemouth, this was another terrific result, that takes them above Watford onto 38 points, leaving them almost certainly safe now, 13 points from the drop zone. As for Swansea, they still need one or two good results to guarantee safety, as Newcastle now have two games in hand and are only nine points behind them (yes those games are against City and Leicester but it's this season, anything can happen).
The Hard and Fast Section
- Rugby talk tomorrow. But get in England.
- Barcelona scored six in 55 minutes. Without Suarez. Yikes.
- Afghanistan shocked Zimbabwe to reach the Super 10.
- Saints beat Sale. Leicester lost to Wasps. Ha.
- Benitez at Newcastle. I can't even.
No comments:
Post a Comment