Ricky Rescues Point For Clarets!

Margate 1-1 Chelmsford City

Ricky Holmes came of the bench at Hartsdown Park to rescue an opening day point for the highly fancied Chelmsford City. I was surprised when I found out he wasn’t starting as I rate him as the best player in non league football but his introduction with 30 mins left changed the game as his pace and directness left the Gates defence tied in knots.

City handed competitive debuts to Danny Gay, Lee Protheroe, Andy Duncan, Aidan Collins, Ben Sedgemore, Bertie Brayley and John Keeling but it was the home side who had struggled with financial problems in the close season who made the brighter start on a beach of a pitch with very strong winds which is why Player-Manager Robin Trott tried a cheeky lob early-on to try and catch new ‘keeper Danny Gay off his line but the former Heybridge Swifts man was equal to it. Shortly afterwards, Jimmy Jackson forced Gay into a parry which resulted in a scramble in the goalmouth but nothing came of it.

Chelmsford’s best chance of the half fell to center back Aiden Collins who turned on the edge of the box but his shot deflected off of a defender and went wide. Margate should then really have been down to 10 men when Steve McKimm tangled with former team mate Brayley having just been recently booked but the ref turned a blind eye.

The first half was a typical first game of season affair with both sides feeling each other other out and it wasn’t the best spectacle with the best action coming when a kids football bounced onto the pitch so the ref had to run about 60 yards to remove it as it was the otherside of the half to were the linesman on that side was.

Immediately after half time the home team went close when Jackson thumped a drive onto the post and forcing it to bounce agonisingly across the face of goal. But the Clarets returned the favour eight minutes later, this time Protheroe holding his head as his free-kick whacked the crossbar.

Margate then took the lead when James Haworth appeared to be pulled down for a possible penalty but, in the resulting confusion, defender Luke Coleman found the net with the loose ball. After this it was all Chelmsford as the Clarets pushed for an equaliser with Ricky Holmes at the heart of every City attack and their reward came 5 minutes from time when the ball fell kindly for Holmes, who drilled low and hard from the edge of the area to rescue a point.

After the game City manager had this to say:

“We should never have conceded in the first place. but not many teams will come to Margate and take away three points so, on this occasion, we’ll settle for one.”

I was very impressed with some of the debutantes particularly Danny Gay who showed a safe pair of hands and he claimed any balls in the air. Lee Protheroe dead ball abilities really impressed me not only did he hit the bar with a free kick outside the area but all off his corners were whipped in with purpose and all threatened. Andy Duncan and Aidan Collins were also commanding at the back and dealt with everything that came their way. I was less impressed with Bertie Brayley and John Keeling but its still very early days and I wont judge them on one game on a difficult pitch.

Chelmsford City Sign Former Ipswich Star!

Chelmsford City yesterday evening secured the signiture of local lad Aidan Collins on a one year contract. Aidan began his career at Ipswich Town and was part of a very sucessful youth side and made his first team debut at just 16 in 2003. In January 2007 he was put up for sale due to a persistant injury and was snapped up by Cambridge United. However in May 2007 he was forced to retire from professional football due to injury at the age of just 20.
Despite this though he was handed a trial with the Clarets and has impressed in the 3 friendlies I have seen him play with commanding performances in the heart of the City defence against Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town and Colchester Utd. The management team at Chelmsford obviously don’t feel his injuries will strike again and if they are right this could prove to be a shrewed signing as The Clarets look to gain promotion to the Conference South after narrowly missing out in the play offs last year.

Barnet VS Arsenal

Yesterday I went to the annual pre season friendly at Underhill to see Barnet take on Parent team Arsenal. Arsenal promised to bring a strong side and they didn't disappoint with Alumnia, Clichy, Toure, Flamini, Denilson, Walcott, Adebayor and Van Persie all in the starting line up. Eduardo was at Underhill but he wasn't named in the squad but he did chat to the fans and gave Sky Sports News at interview in which you could see me behind him which pleased me.

There was a 5 minute delay at kick off due to crowd congestion but when the game did get underway it was a fast start for the first game off the new season but there weren't really many chances until the 18th minute when Van Persie hit a low corner into Theo Walcott who chipped it in to Adebayor who half vollied the first goal. Barnet could have equalised two minutes later but Alumina pulled off a great one on one save to show the watching Fabianski he wont be giving up his position without a fight.

At Half time Arsenal made six changes including Fabianski and Nordveit who made their debuts. The first half wasn't much different to the first half but the first chance came from Walcott who sprinted down field but instead of pulling the trigger himself he decided to square it to Adebayor which in my opinion was the wrong option and I was proved right when the chance went begging. Although Walcott did have an excellent game and I think he will be amazing this season and really show his potential. Adebayor should have had his 2nd goal when Flamini put him through but in akers of space but some how dragged it wide. There was a sour note in the 2nd half when Denilson got strecthed off after a nasty tackle by Puncheon but the tannoy announcer later told us it wasn't serious but that did nothing to dampen the boos every time Puncheon was on the ball.

Barazite doubled the advantage with a rocket shot into the far corner of the goal. The Arsenal youngster received the ball in the right-hand channel and his fierce drive flew into the net, leaving Harrison helpless.

The latter stages of the match saw Richard Evans a Barnet fan in his “late 40s” and from Wembley come on. He had paid £10,000 for the privilege of coming on during the game and every time he got Barnet got the ball the fans were shouting Evan's squad number of 28. He did manger to touch the ball once but not surprisingly looked out of place as he was so slow and had no clue what he was doing but he and the 5,091 fans enjoyed it never-the-less.

Just as we didn't think the day could get any better just as we were leaving the car park me saw the one and only 'Halfur' who is a legendary Arsenal Fan who got his name by every season buying the Home and Away kit cutting them in half and sowing the home and away kits together.

The highlights of the match and Arsene's post match interview are shown below.

Chelmsford Beer Festival 2007!

Today saw the end of the 4 day long Chelmsford beer festival. Being A CAMRA member of course I went (on more than one occasion) and we were lucky to be blessed with some nice weather. I tried many different real ales to many in some peoples opinon and found lots of new ones i really liked aling with some old favourites such as Fullers London Pride, Bishops Finger from Kent and Nelsons Revenge from Norwich.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Back For A 6th Season!

HBO has officially confirmed that there will be a sixth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The new episodes will air beginning on September 9. This is a surprise to me as originally the show was only going to last for 5 seasons and the last episode in series 5 was called The End. However this is good news for all CYE fans and Cheryl is trying to convince creator Larry David to make more series beyond this current one which is pretty pretty pretty good!

Wimbledon!

Weather permitting today sees the start of Wimbledon. For the next 13 days the best men and woman competitors will be in action. Unfortunelty Andy Murray will not be taking part as he hasn't recovered from his wrist injury so I can't see Britain having anyone left in either draw by the weekend.

My favourites for the title this year are Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Federer is virtually unbeatable on grass and will be trying to equal the great Bjorn Borg record of winning 5 straight Wimbledon titles. The Womans draw is alot more open with Justine Henin the top seed but I think Maria has the power to beat her and crucially Maria has experience of winning Wimbledon at the tender age of 17 and this is the only slam that Henin hasn't won which could play on her mind. Maria also got to the final of the Nottingham tournament last week on grass and I watch every match she plays and she is looking as good as I have seen her for a while.

Bye Bye Thierry

I woke this morning to read that my hero had decided to move to Barcelona. I don't hold any grudges against him as he wants to win trophies and play on the highest stage he can and Arsenal's lack of ambition in the transfer market along with boardroom scuffles has cost us the best player we have ever had and the world have ever seen.

Arsenal have shown last year they can cope without him at we still finished 4th despite him being out for most of the season and we got some good results against the big teams and when he is not in the side Arsenal do tend to play more of a team game rather than looking for one man all of the time but we will still miss his undoubted class, his first touches and his pace.

The thing that pisses me of most about this deal though is the £16m price tag. Last year Chelsea and Barcelona were prepared to pay £50m for him but I think they would have given us a blank cheque, signed it and say write your own price down but we rejected so why accept £34m less for him a year later its stupid. Charlton are getting £17m for Darren Bent so how can the best player the world as ever seen be worth £16m he has 3 years left on his contract so he can't go anywhere so just hold out for more or say he can't go anywhere. It was the same with Vieria when he left the priced halved within a year when we didn't sell him but I think the tie was right to sell Vieria as he wasn't as good as he had been and we had Cesc Fabregas coming through the ranks but Henry is still the best player in the world right in the middle of his prime so this is a big blow as Arsenal will probably buy an 8 year old kid for a fiver to replace him.

So why did Thierry decide to leave now after all only 12 months ago he committed his future to Arsenal and said I have never played in Spain and I never will do this is my last contract? This is what he had to say

"David Dein is no longer there and there is no denying the fact this has de-stabilised the team and the manager. Arsene Wenger has said that at this moment he will not commit to the club past the expiration of his current deal, which finishes at the end of this coming season. I respect his decision and honesty but I will be 31 at the end of next season and I cannot take the chance to be there without Arsene Wenger and David Dein"

So it looks to me like Arsene Wenger will be leaving next summer otherwise why didn't he say to Henry no I will be here which would have made him stay and if Wenger does leave next summer how many of the players that he bought in will want to leave with him? - that's my main concern

Anyway Arsenal are now going to need a new captain and the obvious choice will be Gilberto has he was Henry's vice captain, he is the most experienced player and he was captain for most of last season whilst Henry was injured but I would like to give it to Kolo Toure who has all the attributes to be a good Arsenal captain and I think one day will be. Cesc Fabregas is also an option I would like.

I'm not bitter towards Henry he gave us 8 years of wonderful service and its not his fault the bored can't get their fingers out of their arses and sort all the crap out that is happening at boardroom level maybe now they will realise they need to work together for the good of Arsenal rather than squabbling like school children its just a shame this had to happen to make them realise it. Had David Dein not had been forceds to quit non of this would have happened Dein loves Arsenal and just wanted to moved the club forward is that so bad? - You can see what the manager and players thought of him and how influential he was so for god sake may him a member of the board again. I hope Thierry enjoys the rest of his career and maybe he will come back in a coaching role when he finishes playing. One thing that is certain to happen now next season is I bet Arsenal will play Barcelona at some stage in the Champions League.

Ronnie Irani Calls It A Day

Essex captain Ronnie Irani has annouced his retirement from first class cricket with immediate effect. Ronnie had planned to retire at the end of the current county season but due to a consultation with his Dr. it was discovered that his knee injury is more serious that first feared.

Muller-Wolfahrt's (Ronnie's Doctor) expert opinion is that to carry on any form of professional sport at this point would serverly affect Ronnie’s lifestyle and health and that his career should therefore end immediately.

This is what Ronnie had to say when he commented on his injury "I'm naturally disappointted things are ending this way. I was hoping to swallow this bitter pill at the end of season but unfortunetly my playing career has come earlier than anticipated."

"I feel that I still have a duty to finish off the season on the sidelines with Essex and hopefully have a small part to play in helping the team during the remainder of the campaign."

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with Essex County Cricket Club from the Committee to the members and supporters and to the players."

Ronnie's playing career stats

3 Test Match Appearances

86 runs @ 17.20

3 wickets @ 37.33

31 ODI Appearances

360 runs @ 14.40

24 wickets @ 41.20

232 First-Class Appearances

13472 runs @ 41.58

339 wickets @ 29.51

315 ‘List A’ Appearances

7733 runs @ 30.93

309 wickets @ 25.22

27 Twenty20 Cup Appearances

651 runs @ 28.30

England U21's VS Slovakia!

Last night I went to Carrow Road in Norwich to watch an Under 21 International Friendly between England and Slovakia.

In truth there was only ever gonna be one winner and before Ashley Young was tripped inside the area which resulted in Keiron Richardson scoring from the spot David Nugent had already hit the post and Nedum Onuoha forced a good save from the Slovakian Keeper. England then should have had another penalty when Ashley Young was fouled again but it was to soon after the 1st one so the referee bottled it.

England ran riot in the 2nd half and it was one way traffic as Nigel Reo Coker's drive was deflected in to make it 2-0. Newcastle defender Steven Taylor headed England's third from a good cross by Ashley Young from the left wing. The best goal of the night came from Tom Huddlestone who curled a peach from outside the box into the top left hand corner. Reading's Leroy Lita the pounced on a loose ball and calmly slotted home to complete the rout six minutes from time.

After the 90 minutes there was a penalty shoot out arranged by England manager Stuart Pearce to help his players practise in case they needed to take them in the forthcoming championships. England won the shootout 4-3 with Leighton Baines the only England player to miss.

All in all this was a useful exercise for England who will now head to the U21 championships full of confidence and no doubt believing the can win it.

Cunts XI

I was listening to a podcast on a website the other day and they asked you to submit your Premiership Cunts XI - roughly translated as players you hate or have done something to annoy the Gooners. Here is what I came up with!

GK - People who aren’t Arsenal fans will probably say Jens Lehmann but being an Arsenal fan I won’t, as it was his run of clean sheets that got us to the Champions League final. Instead my vote goes to Peter Schemical for his racist remarks to Ian Wright! Wright! Wright! and for being the keeper in Man Us treble winning season.

RB - Gary Neville – Smarmy git so overrated and excessive celebrations. – Crap for England.

CB – Alpay – Biggest cheat of all. Anyone remember the Turkey Vs England game? Of course you do!

CB - Stephane Henchoz- Handballed 3 times in the FA Cup final in 2000 and got away with everyone of them. A game in which Arsenal eventually lost 2-1 despite dominating the match because of two late Liverpool goals in the 83rd and 88th minutes – Liverpool all over though.

LB - Hmm that’s a tricky one where on earth could we start how about the money grabbing cock Ashley Cole. It was Maurico Tarrico from Spuds until last summer.

RM - Lee Bowyer – Hated so much even his own teammates starts fights with him. Only in the game for money not a true fan. Though you can say this about a lot of players. Best incident involving Bowyer was when Dennis Bergkamp elbowed him and the Dyer sending off.

CM - Robbie Savage – Biggest moaner by far, always tackles late. Mark Hughes says he is the type of player everyone wants, everyone else says he’s a knob.

CM - Ryan Giggs – I will never forget that goal in the 1999 semi final god knows I’ve tried but it doesn’t matter how much Guinness I drink it wont go away. That hairy chest will haunt me forever.

LM - Christiano Ronaldo bags of talent undoubtedly the reason Man U won the league but he still dives far too much and he will always be hated in England. Man Utd fans would feel the same if he wasn’t there player and he wasn’t so good.

ST - Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal made £18 million on him what a barging but could have been a world star at Arsenal before heading for sunnier climates and more money but look where he is now chasing long balls punted up field at Bolton. Ponder between El Hadji Diouf for his spitting antics but never done any harm.

ST - Ruud Van Nistlerooy – Scored the penalty that wasn’t to end Arsenal’s 49 unbeaten record. Where’s Martin Keown when you need him! – I didn’t even mention the diving.

Manager - David Bleat (Pleat) – Not only the worst football commentator on TV, he loves Spurs and successfully avoided the drop when appointed caretaker manager of them.

Jeff Buckley Tribute!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley. Jeff was best known for his album Grace which he released in 1994 and in my opinion if it wasn't for that moment of stupidity on the 29th May 1997 Jeff would have been a household name around the world.

Jeff died after deciding to go for a swim in the Wolf River Harbour in Mississippi whilst still wearing steel-toed boots, all of his clothing, and singing along to a radio playing Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love. A roadie of Buckley's band, Keith Foti stayed on dry land and after moving the radio and a guitar out of reach of the turbulence from a passing tugboat Keith looked up to see that Jeff was gone. The rescue effort had to be called off due to heavy rain and Jeff was found a week later by a tourist and his body was pulled ashore. The post mortem revealed that Jeff wasn't taking illegal drugs at the time of his death so this couldn't be blamed for this tragic incident. He was just 30 years old

On Saturday I attended a Jeff Buckley tribute night at St Ann's Castle near Braintree where the bands performed some of Jeff's songs and songs by the people who inspired Jeff. At the end of the night there was also a Band Aid style version of Jeff's most famous song Hallelujah. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or video from the event to post so instead please enjoy a live performance by Jeff of Hallelujah.

Jeff Buckley November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997 - gone but never forgotten.

Meat Loaf Review!

Last night I went to my 2nd gig in as many weeks at Wembley Arena. This time I went to see Meat Loaf perform on his Bat Out Of Hell III tour with Marion Raven. I have always been a fan of Meat Loaf but I was equally excited about seeing Marion Raven in the flesh after admiring her for many months on you tube and other pictures, especially as today was her birthday!

Although the gig was promoted as the Bat Out Of Hell III tour they actually performed songs for all three Bat Out Of Hell albums which made the gig better as it appealed to all the generations of fans and because some of the classics are from previous albums.

When Meat Loaf appeared on stage it was accompanied with music and videos on the big screen from earlier in his career and he was sporting long hair how he use to have it but halfway through the first song of the night Paradise By The Dashboard Lights Marion Raven revealed she found old men who wore cheap wigs embarrassing and pulled it off to reveal it was indeed a "cheap wig" before Meat Loaf revealed it wasn't a cheap wig because cheap wigs cost £20 and his had actually cost him £32.

The next song that was performed was You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth (Hot Summer Nights) and after Meat Loaf had finished performing it he started talking about London and somebody shouted out from the audience and this was Meat Loaf's response!

After this Meat Loaf performed some tracks form Bat Out Of Hell II and started with Life Is A Lemon And I Want My Money Back, followed by one of his biggest hits I'D Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That), Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer and Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire.) which had some good effects because every time the word fire was said flames ignited from the back of the stage.

It was about an hour into the show when Meat Loaf got on to his Bat Out Of Hell III - The Monster Is Loose Album from which he performed Blind As A Bat, Bad For Good, In The Land Of The Pig The Butcher Is King, If It Ain't Broke Break It and then he announced it was Marion Raven's birthday (something that I already knew) and they performed It's All Coming Back To Me Now.

Not surprisingly the last song before the Encore was the mammoth Bat Out Of Hell which you can see below.

For the encore Meat Loaf performed the Rolling Stones classic Gimme Shelter. It was a great night which I thoroughly enjoyed and I was very lucky to see two great gigs performed by artists at the top of their game. I was glad I got to see Marion Raven in the flesh and I thought I found her attractive before last night but after seeing her she has moved on to my top 3 most attractive woman and its not fair that I will never have her.

Finally I couldn't finish this blog without uploading this clear, up close video of her performing. Damn she is so fine - It ain't fair!

She was the one in the white by the way not in the black with long hair!

Jessica Jane Clement Wallpaper!

I got bored of my current wallpaper so I decided to make a new one so I have taken my favourite pictures of Jessica Jane Clement star of The Real Hustle and Dream Team and using Photoshop created a wallpaper for my desktop and it is now available for you to download if you wish.

Last FM

I have just introduced my stepbrother to a music programme I have been using for over 3 months now and like he likes me thinks it is great so I have decided to share it with the rest of you. The programme in question is Last FM and can be found here!

The programme scrobes the tracks you listen to form Winamp or Windows media player and calculates your weakly top artists, your overall top artists, your overall top tracks and your recently listened tracks and arranges them into a table for you.

The programme also makes radio stations for you based on your favourite/most listened to tracks and artists which you can share with other users if you so wish. As well as this you can also show people gigs you have or will be attending and share photos and reviews.

Last FM has a vast knowledge of information on most artists and if you find an artist that isn't on there you can add it yourself. Below is an example of the table that you can produce.

If like me you listen to a l0t of music its a worthwhile tool to get and the best thing about it is its absolutely 100% free!

Bryan Adams Review!

Yesterday I went to see Bryan Adams Live at Wembley and it was the best gig I have ever been to. Bryan came on stage at 8:30 and opened with There Will Be Never Be Another Tonight and he wasn't wrong. He actually started on the B stage which was behind everybody and the lights only came on once he had started the song which fooled a lot of people. Bryan then move to the main stage through the fans whilst performing The Best Of Me having some fun on the way as the following video shows.

When on the main stage Bryan said the reason he decided to do this tour was because he planned to have a new album out by now but he just hadn't got round to finishing it so the next time we see him unless it was walking down the street or something he would have it out which is something to look forward to. He then got back to doing what he does best and reeled off Can't Stop This Thing We've Started, Cuts Like A Knife, Run To You, Lets Make It A Night To Remember, Please Forgive Me and Open Road. Then it was time for 3 more of my favourites with Summer Of 69 (which as you can imagine bought the house down), 18 Til I Die and The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me which you can see the whole song in the video below.

Next came Everything I Do, Heaven and When Your Gone which some lucky member of the audience got picked to go up on to the stage and sing with Bryan Adams, she said she couldn't sing when she got asked and I ain't gonna disagree with her but never the less she will never forget it and unfortunately I don't think my ears will either.

For the encore Bryan made his way through the underground of the venue and appeared back on to the B stage where we were treated to Have You Really Ever Loved A Woman, All For Love and She's Only Happy When Shes Dancin'.

Bryan Adams was on stage for 2 hours and 20 mins which is a lot longer than any other the other gigs I have been to and I loved every minute of it and i can't wait for him to come back to England to preform his new album. I only hope Meat Loaf is just as good in 2 weeks time when I go and see him and I bet he will be.

Higgins Top Of The World!

Last Night John Higgins joined at elite group of players who had won the World Snooker Championship more than once though he must be wondering how it took so long to win the 6 frames he needed to reach the 18 frame winning score.

John started the 2nd day of the final 12-4 up after playing the best snooker of the tournament in the 2nd session of the first day winning it 7-1 and at this point there was serious doubts if the match could be won with a session to spare but these fears were put to bed when Mark Selby responded by winning all 6 frames in the 3rd session to make it 12-10 going into the final evening session.

The evening session started slowly as both players went 8 frames without making a single break over 50. This wasn't down to bad misses but the balls kept going safe and we saw some excellent safety play from both players in fact in one frame they spent 20 minutes on the yellow alone. Eventually Mark Selby got the scores back to 14-13 but this seemed to spur John Higgins on as he reeled of the next 4 frames in no time at all with a 57, 129 and a 78 break.

In getting to the final and Stephen Hendry's early exit in the 2nd round John also claimed enough ranking points to ensure he will once again be the world number 1 next season but he was more pleased with winning his 2nd world crown and £220 000.

Once, Twice, Three Times A Lady, No Its Four!

Arsenal Ladies won the woman's FA Cup yesterday against Charlton despite going a goal down in the first 2 minutes to seal the Quadruple. Arsenal came back and scored some stunning goals at Nottingham Forrest's City Ground with the reply coming from a sweetly struck free kick from Kelly Smith after she herself was bought down with a nasty challenge. Arsenal were soon 2-1 from another free kick taken by 19 year old Lianne Sanderson's which stand in captain Jayne Ludlow delivered the telling touch.

It was Ludlow who also got the 3rd right on half time when she connected with a cracking volley from outside the area to send Charlton in with a lot to think about. Kelly Smith also got her 2nd of the match late on but the match was already won. The match was played in front of a record crowd for the Woman's FA Cup final as 24,529 brave the cold weather to watch Arsenal beat 20/1 outsiders Charlton.

The Gunners have already sewn up the league and have yet to drop a point winning all the 20 games they have played so far. The Gunners also won the League cup against Leeds and just last last week a 0-0 at Boreham Wood was good enough to give them The Uefa cup after a 1-0 away win in the first leg to the favourites Umea IK.

Arsenal are far and away the best ladies team in England with many internationals on their bench which would walk into any other side but this is still a massive achievement not to lose a single game and to become European champions for the first time.

It's nice to see Arsenal can have some success and the Woman's game in particular especially with the European Championships coming up. I hope England can do well and I hope some of Arsenal's success will rub off on to the men next season I have a feeling it just might.

New Arsenal Away Kit Revealed!

Today I saw the new Arsenal away kit and at first I wasn't sure about but after studying it i have grown to accept it and I don't think it is as bad as I first thought in fact I am tempted to say I quite like it but I wont do just yet. Part of me can't help thinking is this another step away from the Arsenal tradition because since Arsenal was founded in 1886 the away kit was always been yellow or blue and if you put but this with losing Highbury (though this was necessary to compete with the big clubs) and the fact that we will soon be owned by an American I can't help thinking that Arsenal as I know it will soon be gone forever. I may be reading far to much into this as its only a colour of a shirt that has been changed and I hope I am but we will have to wait and see what happens next.

Chelmsford City 1 -1 Billericay Town (AET Billericay Win 5-3 On Pens)

A lackluster Chelmsford City last night failed to overcome 10 man Billericay at Melbourne Park. It was a tightly contested affair with both sides not really creating many chances.

City's first chance came from a corner kick which drifted past the far post but was then put back into the box by Captain Ben Chenerey for Fiston Manuella to head narrowly over whilst Billericay's Lee Hodges dragged a left-footer wide across the face of goal via a deflection. Towards the end of the half City enjoyed a spell of pressure, beginning with Jeff Minton's low arrow that careered wide from the edge of the box and Ricky Holmes worried the Town defence via a sweetly-struck right-footer which narrowly cleared the crossbar after a touch by 'keeper Billy McMahon.The best chance of the half came right on half time when the ball broke to right back Jay Conroy around forty yards from goal and he met it with a cracking drive which was destined for the top corner until McMahon achieved a slightest touch to guide it onto the bar and over.

The first action of the 2ND half was the the 2ND yellow card of the match for Billericay's Rikki Burbridge for clattering Ricky Holmes on the edge of the pitch so inevitably the red card followed and Billericay were reduced to 10 men to a series of cheers and chanting from the Claret Army.

City tried to make the extra man count but were left open at the back and had goalie Ashley Harrison to thank for keeping the scores level when he palmed a strike onto the bar and showed great reactions to get up and flaw the 2ND attempt when it looked like there was gonna be a tap in at the near post.

Around the middle of the half there were nervy moments at each end for both defences, Conroy sticking out a leg to divert the ball just past his own City post and Billericay's almost sliced a harmless cross into his own net but was cleared unknowingly by goalkeeper McMahon at his near post.

Jason Hallett then came on for Ibe as Chelmsford began to press-home their one-man superiority, firstly seeing a Lee Boylan cross find the head of the Hallet but he couldn't get enough on it to trouble McMahon. Ten minutes from time a Holmes centre then led to Boylan heading wide.

The goal finally came on the 82ND minute when Hallet was again in the action as Billy McMahon dropped a routine catch straight into the path of Jaime England who calmly slotted the ball home to spark frenzy in the terraces due mainly to relieve and excitement.

The 2,025 City fans were now talking about the final and wondering who would win in the other semi final tomorrow night when with 20 seconds of injury time left Chris Whelpdale (who had taken a lotof stick during the match for his extremely large noise) found himself unmarked to level the scores and Melbourne Park was stunned into silence.

Extra time was a dull affair with neither side really creating any chances so 42 games of hard work came down to the lottery of a shootout. It was Billericay who took the first penalty and it was buried into the bottom corner but Lee Boylan missed Chelmsford first penalty which proved to be the vital moment as Flack, Whelpdale (big nose) and Blewitt for Billericay and Knight, England and Minton all scored good penalties.

To be honest I don't think either side did enough to win the game and though it pains me to say it Billericay did play well with 10 men but I think Chelmsford could have upped the tempo and stretched them more but saying that we should have won the league easily if only we could win away from home. I hope Chelmsford can regroup and keep their players and if so we should go up next year and I will be cheering for the winners of The Bromley VS AFC Wimbledon in the final on Saturday!

World Snooker Championship Preview!

For the next 17 days the the worlds top 16 and 16 qualifiers will descend on the city of York to battle it out for the World Snooker crowd. Undoubtedly the bookies favourite to take Graeme Dott's title(pictured right) is Ronnie The Rocket but I wouldn't be so sure as he is known to get frustrated and I 17 long days may prove to much for him. This leaves 7 times world champion Steven Hendry but he recently changed his cue which is a massive gamble and I think this will prove to be his downfall. Personally my favourite to win it this Would be John Higgins he hasn't been in the best form of late but he has 2 finals to his name (one in 1998 which he won) and I think he will be able to raise his game for the biggest occasion despite recent disappointing form.

I will also be looking forward to see if there is any new young talent coming through to the latter stages making a name for themselves like Shaun Murphy did 2 years ago when the 125/1 outsider from Rotherham actually went on to become World Champion.

No one ever knows what to expect at the Crucible but one thing is for sure there will be plenty of shocks, misses and maybe a maxium.

Don't Give Up The Day Job!

Last night saw the first woman ever to commentate on Match Of The Day as Jacqui Oatley covered the Premiership game between Fulham and Blackburn now i was prepared to give her a chance but in my opinion she has had it and should not be allowed near a microphone again. I'm not being sexiest she was just shit. I'm all for giving woman a chance as they are no better or worse than men and I think other woman in sport do a great job such as Gabby Logan, Michela Tabb, Hazel Irvine and Sue Barker just to name a few. I think the fact that she was so poor may make it harder for good woman commentators to make the step up to important matches as the broadcasters may use last night shambolic display against them which would be a shame.

Donny In Paint Job Success!

Today my hometown club Doncaster Rovers won their first trophy in the 128 year history of the club. They beat Bristol Rovers 3-2 after extra time in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.

Bristol Rovers hadn't conceded a goal throughout the competition so far but that didn't last long - just 43 seconds was on the clock when Jonathan Forte smashed the ball home to give Donny a dream start. Things got better for the South Yorkshire side when on loan keeper Neil Sullivan launched a goal kick straight to Paul Heffernan who vollied the ball into the Bristol goal 2-0. At this point I thought job done but all credit to Bristol Rovers who was determined to make a fight of it and after the break Richard Walker pulled a goal back from the penalty spot after Sammy Igoe was fouled and then Igoe himself levelled for the League 2 side. At this point it was end to end stuff and the result really could have gone even way with chances at both ends. With the match looking like it was heading into extra time Paul Heffernan raced clear of the Bristol defence but hit his shot wide of the target. The winning goal came in the 1st period of extra time when Doncaster's captain Graeme Lee leaped highest to meet Sean Thornton's in swinging corner and bulleted a header into the net with just minutes remaining and therefore became the last goalscorer of an English football match at the Millennium Stadium and secure Doncaster's first trophy.

Remarkably 60 000 were in the Welsh capital to watch the final with Donny bringing 20,000 fans despite an average gate at the Keepmoat Stadium being around 8500 and 40 000 Bristol Rovers fans made the 40 minute journey despite an average gate of around 5000.

Its Unbelievable Jeff!

I was browsing the Internet the other day and i came across this petition to make Sky Sports presenter Chris "Kammy" Kamara an MBE. Despite presenting Goal's On Sunday he is better known for the Soccer Saturday programme, where he usually appears over live video link providing brief updates on the match he is watching and he is often known to get over excited with "Its Unbelievable, Jeff!" to host Jeff Stelling, his best known catchphrase amongst others.

Most football fans will know who is he already but if like me you want to reward Kammy for his services to football and for brightening up your day even when your team is losing (like mine are recently) then add your name to the list which can be found here http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Football/.

Top Ton

Today saw Matthew Hayden hit the fastest world cup century off of just 66 balls beating the previous record set by Canadian Jon Davidson in 2003 by just one ball. The remarkable thing about this is it wasn't against a minow but against the team currently ranked number one in the world South Africa. Hayden's innings consisted of 14 fours and 4 sixes before getting caught just 3 balls after breaking the world record for 101.

Bob Woolmer's Death

The Cricket World Cup was overshadowed tonight when the confirmation came that the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was murdered less than 24 hours after the shock defeat against Ireland sent them crashing out of the competition without progressing out of the group stage. The post-mortem examination established that the former England player had died as a result of "manual strangulation", police commissioner Lucius Thomas said.

Jamaican police say Bob may have known his killer or killers as there were no signs of forced entry into his room and none of his possessions had been taken. "Bob was a large man. It would have taken some significant force to subdue him," he said, adding that police were ruling nothing out and had "lots of lines of inquiry". Authorities are studying CCTV footage from the hotel to see who was around when the murder took place.

All i can say is i hope whoever did this will be bought to justice and and the cricketing nations who made the super 8 stage will put on a show to make Bob proud.

Six Sixes!

Herschelle Gibbs made history earlier today in the match between South Africa and the Netherlands when the South African batsman hit six sixes in one over. This is the first time it had been achieved in a one-day international. It had been done before in first class cricket with West Indian legend Sir Viv Richards the first to acheive the feat whilst playing for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in 1968. Before the tournament began American Billionnaire Johnnie Walker said anyone acheiving this feat would be donated a million us dollars to give to a charity of their choice so Herschelle has choosen the the Habitat For Humanity charity. Gibbs went in to make 72 off of 40 balls before being caught from the same bowler that he smashed for 36.

My Season Ticket!

Today i received my certificate telling me i am on the Arsenal season ticket wating list but i am 45,709th in the queue so not long to wait now!

Up The Tempo Lads!

At the start of the week i was happy when i realised that I could watch all of Arsenal's 3 games this week live on the T.V but so far we have suffered a frustrating 0-0 with Blackburn and a disappointingly embarrassing 1-0 defeat at PSV as Thierry Henry quite rightly says "they only had one shot" which is correct but the goalscorer Mendez should have been closed down by Toure and Senderos much quicker. This leaves only the Carling Cup against Chelsea this week and with Henry definitely not going to be involved it looks like another tough match but i will be rushing home from Portsmouth on Sunday to be back in time to see it never-the-less and the Fact that Mr Wenger says he will only play people who has played in the competition so far doesn't bother me as that actually only leaves Lehmann (who is suspended) Van Persie(who is injured), Gallas, Ljungberg and Henry - not as many as you may think!

So why have we been struggling to beat these medioka teams? To me and many other Arsenal fans I have spoken to its obvious. The answer is we have been playing at walking pace but when you consider in the team there is Henry, Walcott, Eboue. Clichy, Toure and Fabregas just to name a few we could out run any team in Europe as we show when we have conceded the first goal the pace shows and we get back into the game but as last night showed we cant always wait until we are 1-0 to start playing. At least in the return leg 2 weeks today at The Emirates we will start 1-0 down so we may be able to start with the fast, free flowing football Arsenal should and are capable of producing all of the time.

Good luck on Sunday lads!

Trip To The Emirates

As a Christmas present i recieved 2 tickets to tour The Emirates Stadium - the £390 million home of Arsenal.

The tour was led by former Arsenal legend Charlie George whos most famous goal was in against Liverpool in the 1971 FA Cup final which secured Arsenal the double.

On the tour i got to sit in the players horse shoe dressing room and have photos taken with the players shirts. Other parts of the tour included sitting in the directors box, the press conference room, the dug outs.

Despite all this the best bit for me was just sitting in a normal seat and looking around the stadium. I've seen it on the TV loads of time but actually just sitting there is something else you dont realise how big it is until you've been and the atmosphere is electric with just a few dozen people so i can't imagine what it must be like in front of 60 000 people. I loved the old stadium Highbury and i still get a tear in my eye when i see its sad state now the move is something that Arsenal needed to do and will allow them to compete financially with the best teams in Europe.

All in all it was a great day. I enjoyed it so much that when i got home i joined the Arsenal season ticket waiting list! Hopefully i dont have to wait too long to get my ticket now.

My First Post

I have been meaning to get a blog for a while now but due to work and other commitments I never seem to get round to setting it up. This blog will mainly consist of my general thoughts anything exciting i get upto and sport particularly football and some cricket with the world cup just around the corner.

Happy reading!