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 prove to

 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 the clock. They