football rambles

  Superb performances from Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, Ollie Watkins and John McGinn gave Villa victory that was made even sweeter as Man United lost ground on Villa. Luiz was on a mission, Bailey couldn't be stopped, Watkins was always finding the right position and McGinn was all over the pitch fighting for possession.  Villa found the back of the net after just 4 minutes when Bailey's trickery left the Forest defence wheeling and Watkins peeled off the final defender to shoot home in front of the Holte End to give Villa an early lead. From this point on Forest looked in disarray. The second goal came after 29 minutes and again came from an attack down Forest's left-hand side. Cash this time went through the defence before finding Ramsey who then set up Douglas Luiz for his second. Villa weren't done though and 2 soon became 3 when yet another attack down that side saw McGinn cross the ball for Luiz to head home his second and give Villa a three goal cushion before 40 ...

 So my run of unimpressive home performances continued for another wee. With next week being Villa, I sincerely hope that comes to an end very soon. Posh have been  having a few dodgy results of late despite still being in the play-off positions. The opponents on Saturday, Blackpool, sit just below them. Both of these teams have struggled for form of late and also meet each other in the semifinal of the Football League Trophy on Tuesday. The first half was a fairly dull affair, but it was Posh who struck first when Hector Kyprianou gave the home team the lead 5 minutes before the break. Strangely, Posh seemed to be the better team in the second half after what was a fairly evenly matched first half. However, Blackpool were awarded a penalty on 56 minutes and Shane Lavery converted for the equaliser. For long periods it looked like Posh would be the team to find the winner, but in stoppage time Karamoko Dembele, once seen as the saviour of Scottish football, came on as sub and ...

 This was the first time that I have seen Cheltenham play and it wasn't a game that I expect to live long in the memory. On paper, I would have expected Cambridge to get a result against a struggling Cheltenham, especially with the way in which Cambridge have strengthened the squad. Maybe the changes will click soon. They certainly need to. The game was not really high on quality. Cheltenham seemed happy to play the ball in the air and feed off scraps. Cambridge tried to play the ball on the floor, but lacked a clinical edge. It was scrappy throughout the game. The teams went in 0-0 at halftime with the best chances having fallen to Jack Lankester, who fluffed his chance and Lyle Taylor who must have though he was offside when he pulled up instead of firing home. The second half was more of the same, but after a battle in midfield without much happening, Will Ferry broke through the Cambridge defence and fed the ball to Matt Taylor who slotted the ball home. The goal coming in the ...

 Yesterday Ely took on Mulbarton  in the Eastern Counties League. I went expecting a heavy home defeat for the Robins who are heading down the league and who are probably relieved that  a restructuring of the league means there is no relegation this year against a Mulbarton team who are hopeful of getting promotion. It looks like Mildenhall will get the automatic promotion spot, but Mulabraton are currently in the playoffs with only Dereham and Downham in positions to usurp them. The game was pretty short on action, especially in the first half. Surprisingly, the Robins were the better team but didn't really create anything that suggested that they were going to score.  The second half saw Mulbarton come out with a lot more intent, but for the most part Ely were resolute despite having a makeshift defence. However, as has been the case on a number of occasions over the last few seasons a lapse in defence saw Angus Fraser MacKie get the winner with 20 minutes left on ...

 Saturday saw me take a trip with Dean to Top Fields in Hitchin to see the Southern Premier Central match between Hitchin and Kettering. After seeing Maidstone beat Ipswich in Molly Malone's near the station we made our way to the ground. I had been to Hitchin before and it is an impressive ground and being able to race their lineage back to 1865 makes them amongst the oldest teams in the world. They started off the season pretty well, but a run of 5 (now 6 ) injuries has seen them start to plummet down the table, although they still are comfortable mid-table. Speaking to locals this seemed to be due to the fact that they have an ever growing injury list and more youngsters are having to be recruited to the first team. Kettering on the other hand have been facing a relegation struggle, however the result today did manage to raise them out of the relegation places. With Nuneaton Borough going bankrupt this week too there are question marks over what will happen to the teams at the b...

  Yesterday was a very frosty day and Posh were one of the few teams in the are who managed to keep their game on and that was after two pitch inspections. In fact when I got on the train to go there, there was no guarantee that the game was on, but fortunately it was, so I was able to buy tickets on the phone while I was on the train and pop into the Blind Tiger for a pre-match pint. Peterborough are currently second in the league and this has been mainly down to their attacking play. They have sured up the defence too by signing Jed Steer in goals. He surely should already be playing in the Championship! Shrewsbury on the other hand are lower mid-table and are known for their spoiling tactics to stay in games. This game started off as expected with wave after wave of Peterborough attack and resolute and tenacious defending from Shrewsbury. However, it was the visitors who went in ahead at the break. Jordan Shipley scoring a well taken goal after a poor clearance on 41 minutes. Po...

Last month I saw the same fixture between Cambridge and Fleetwood in the FA Cup. In that game the Us won 4-0. Neil Harris who took over at the helm for Cambridge shortly after that game got off to a good start, but things have been a bit disappointing of late, so he really needed to get a result against the team who are bottom of the table. The stats show that Fleetwood had 18 shots and Cambridge 15, but it felt quite a cagey affair with very few chances created until late in the second half. Fleetwood defended with two banks of 4 and Cambridge had the energy but lacked the creativity at times. The only real chance of the first half fell to Jack Lankester of the Us who hit the bar.  The second half started in pretty the same way as the first half, what really changed the game was the introduction of Lyle Taylor. Taylor, who signed for Cambridge on Thursday, was introduced on 71 minutes and proved the point he had to prove. After being released by Forest, a move to Wycombe didn't re...