Mid-Week Action

Nothing like a little mid-week action to brighten the daily grind…plenty of football going on as well, so worth a quick take...

Tuesday night saw a full slate of Championship fixtures and an opportunity for the Tractorboys to build on their win at Plymouth as we welcomed Charlton and former Town hero, Matt Holland. Looked like we had this one in the bag, but that would mean two consecutive wins for the first time this year. Could it be??? No, Pablo Counago wasted a penalty and despite 20 attempts on goal, Ipswich were once again held to a disappointing draw, with the teams sharing the spoils, 1-1. Call-out to Own Garvan for knocking in his 3rd goal in the last 2 games. Other than that, yet another truly disappointing display that sees us slip further from the promotion race. Big Fat Jim (don’t know why they call him that as he’s not really fat, or big, for that matter, but we’ll figure it out another day) Magilton reckoned we created enough chances to win 3 games, and the players are trying hard, and he's really disappointed….err this is getting really old Jim. Put together a streak and lets get moving – 4 wins in 14 games keeps the Blue Tractor firmly stuck in mid-table mediocre mud, heading nowhere….again. Sort it out Jim, pick a team, and get them to play. If you can’t do it, raise your hand and move on.

Got to mention the north London derby between the purveyors of the beautiful game, Arsenal, and the current butt of all football jokes, their hated rivals Tottenham and their new manager Harry Redknapp. So it was Arsene against ‘Arry, and although Spurs took an unlikely early lead, once the Gooners got up 3-1 in the second half, who saw a 4-4 draw coming?!! Too early to tell what effect Harry will have on the men in white, but regardless, ‘Arry or not, this team won’t be in the bottom 3 come judgement time. Keep it in perspective though, they aren’t anywhere near the top 4 either. Elsewhere, Hull finally succumbed to a squad from London, with Chelsea having their way 3-0 at the KC – despite their great start, midfield maestro, Geovanni is getting a bit carried away by proclaiming, "Scolari is a top coach and I do not doubt he will be a success at Chelsea, but I feel sorry for him because we are going to beat his team.” Right you are then.

Nothing else out of the ordinary, Man U, as expected, handed Zola’s Hammers their 4th straight defeat (was Curbs really that bad? And did you fix that kit yet?), Liverpool won on a late penalty…again to stay at the top. Villa continued to confirm their status as a potential top four or five team with a good win over Blackburn.

On the US side of the house the longest 3 innings in baseball history finally ended with the Philadelphia Phillies defeating the amazing Rays 4-3, in a 50 hour game 5 of the World Series and taking the title 4 games to 1. Congratulations to both teams, the Rays for getting there and firmly shoving the Red Sox and Yankess into also-ran nobody's this year, when nobody, including this author gave them a chance. And to the Phillies on your first championship in any sport in 25 years. Now do me a favour and invite all your mates on the Eagles football team over for a right good piss-up before they head to Seattle to kick the crap out of my Seahawks this weekend. 'Till then...Cheers all.