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.