Aston Villa FC - a Journalist's point of view.

[Philip Rolfe]

I'm not sure if I've replied yet, but I'm really enjoying this, and am picking up tips for another I'm writing

[spurzgrrl]

Enjoyment all 'round, Brian.

Now get your hands off that Welsh tart and get back to revising for the exams, you!

[Brian of Nazareth]

Glad to be of assistance Junichi

FInished exams ages ago actually , but thanks for the support

[ Thursday 26th

The Times

Oldham Out as Youngster’s Stake A Claim

By Joe Peters

Rod Davies’ side emerged victor’s last night to become the first side through to the third round of the League Cup. Due to European complications Villa played their tie a week earlier than scheduled but Davies allowed a mix of experience and youth successfully to dispose of their less illustrious division 2 opponents.

Any early thoughts of an upset were put to rest after 26 minutes when Hassan Kachloul put the home side ahead. Ulises de la Cruz threw the ball in towards the young German Thomas Hitzlesperger who fired a cross-shot fiercely across the area and The Moroccan picked up the loose ball to fire home. From this point on it was one-way traffic as Villa dominated.

Youngsters such as Peter Whittingham and Stefan Moore were experiencing the first team action for the first team, and they didn’t look out of place. A more talented side may have secured victory before half time but as it was Oldham showed little sign of threatening Stefan Postma in the Villa goal.

After the break Oldham dominated the first 10 minutes but their failing to do anything worthwhile was costly and demoralising. The introduction of Steven Davis and Luke Moore added a youthful enthusiasm that helped to curb the financially stricken side. With 15 minutes to go the match was effectively sealed as Villa finally grabbed the goal that appeared a long time coming.

A pacy run from Villa’s second Moroccan Mustapha Hadji led to an inviting ball for Peter Crouch, making a rare start, to volley goal ward. The ball was tipped wide for a corner from which the lanky forward capitalised on an accurate cross from young defender Peter Hynes. Villa will now have to wait until next week before discovering their opponents.

Aston Villa 2 Oldham 0 Kachloul, Crouch

Postma 8, A Wells 8, Whittingham 7, Hynes 7, Johnsen (.c.), Hitzlesperger 8, Hendrie 7 (L. Moore 7), De La Cruz 7 (Davis 7), Kachloul 8 (Hadji 8), Crouch 8, Moore 8.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Monday 30th September

The Game – The Times

7 home victories, 2 away victories and 1 goal less 7 home victories, 2 away victories and 1 goal less draw. In all 24 goals were scored as places changed across the league. Surprise league leaders continued their fine form with another victory at home to Southampton, but Everton slipped away following their defeat to newcomers West Bromwich Albion. Arsenal are the highest place big sides lying in 3rd spot after their defeat of struggling Chelsea. Manchester United began to creep back towards the top as they beat rock bottom Fulham in one of the 2 away victories on Saturday. Elsewhere there were wins for Bolton Blackburn Leeds Man City and Newcastle over Spurs Middlesbrough Sunderland Birmingham and Charlton. Liverpool were held by West Ham in a dull 0-0 draw at Anfield.

This week Frank Skinner reports on the magic of supporting the true local club so look forward to tales of woe surrounding the Albion.

Surprise Leaders Take Spoils Again

By Jeremy Fisher

Once again it was a sell out crowd at Aston Villa on a cool dry afternoon as the Midlanders prepared to entertain their faithful. Following on from the abundance of goals in their European forays expectations were high but today yielded just the one goal. However for one youngster it was a moment to savour.

Making a first Premiership start of the season Stefan Moore was clearly buoyed on following his fine display in midweek against Oldham and it didn’t take long for him to make his mark, scoring within 40 seconds of the kick off.

Jlloyd Samuel won the ball in the air from a Fernandes high ball and knocked the ball down for Mustapha Hadji to collect. The Moroccan ran forward 20 yards past the sluggish Southampton players and played a precise ball for Juan Pablo Angel to latch onto. The Columbian ran further and let a stinging shot fly at the Southampton goal. Anti Niemi was equal to the task but the rebound fell straight into the path of Stefan Moore who gratefully took advantage.

The contrasting emotion from two individuals was exceptional. On the one hand young Stefan Moore was absolutely thrilled to grab his first goal for the club at senior level, yelling towards the Holte End with a grin even wider than Cherie Blair and on the other the fury emanating from Gordon Strachan was a sight to behold. Hell hath no fury like Gordon’s. A fourth official had to warn the Saints manager to restrain himself or face eviction from the dugout.

The scene was set for a big win now and the home fans sensed a goal rush. From the restart Villa, with confidence brimming high swarmed forward eager to bag another goal for the fans. Juan Pablo Angel went narrowly wide with a low drive and Stefan Moore forced a point plank save from Anti Niemi with in 5 minutes of the goal as the home team dominated proceedings.

Following on from these early efforts it was one way traffic. Southampton restricted Villa to long range efforts for much of the half but were almost punished shortly before the break when a weak pass from Anders Svensson gave Angel a chance to run through on goal. Niemi however was more than equal to the task tipping over the dipping drive.

After the break however the roles were reversed and the home team were on the back foot for much of the second period as Villa old boy Mark Draper threatened to level with some long range efforts and tantalising free kicks. One such free kick fell to James Beattie and the forward was inches away from evening up matters.

As the match wore on however it was hard to see where the next goal would arrive from. Villa were keen on protecting their lead and Southampton were having an unlucky afternoon in front of goal. Late on Stefan Moore went very close to settling the contest but his weak shot didn’t trouble Niemi.

Full Time: Aston Villa 1 Southampton 0 Stefan Moore

Enckelman 8, Samuel 8, Barry 8, Mellberg 8, Johnsen 6, Taylor 8, Hendrie 8, Hadji 9 Kachloul 8, Angel 8, Moore 8

[Brian of Nazareth]

October Claret & Blue

Well events seemingly couldn’t be better at Villa Park with results all in our favour – it’s another unbeaten month for Aston Villa and you won’t find any of us complaining. Its almost boring being so successful! First up this month Mark Delaney speaks to us about life at Villa and how he sees his future developing at club and country level.

C&B Thanks Mark for being such a sport and allowing to be interviewed for Claret and Blue. One would assume that you are in a positive frame of mind?

MD Well undoubtedly. Given the fine start we’ve enjoyed. Everyone loves turning up for training now – a chance to be a part of the league leaders side is a fantastic opportunity. Getting out there on the pitch with the fans singing in loud voice is just a fantastic feeling.

C&B How do you personally feel you’ve developed since you joined Villa?

MD Well of course when I first came to Villa it was a big step up from the Cardiff. I was settled at Ninian Park and enjoying my football. Ever since I first started out at Haverfordwest I never really dreamt about joining a Premiership side. The dream move was to sign up with Cardiff and I developed my game considerably, but when the chance to join Villa came up I found it hard to turn it down. John was a manager I liked for his hands on approach and he really helped me become the player I have. Now with the current gaffer in charge I’m happy with the way things have gone. My tackling has improved and I’ve learned to read the game a lot better.

C&B From a fans point of view there’s no doubt you’ve developed considerably here during your time and now you’re a firm fixture at right back. A position you now play in for Wales. How did it feel to receive your first cap?

MD It was the proudest moment of my life when Mark Hughes called me at home to say he was bringing into the squad. I couldn’t believe it when he first called. I honestly thought it was a joke. I’ll always treasure that moment.

C&B Now that you are established in the Wales squad are you confident of the future under Mark Hughes?

MD For the first time in a long time I feel we can qualify for a major tournament. Growing up as a boy it was always disheartening watching Wales play. We tried hard but always lacked quality and when the rankings put you below such sides as Uzbekistan you know you have problems. But now we have the talent available to go forward. Sparky is a great character and has really encouraged us to beat the best. It was very disappointing to lose to Finland recently but I’m sure we can recover from this set back and touch wood I’ll be able to play in a major tournament with Wales.

C&B With 17 caps to your name and at 26 some people are saying you are one of the best right backs in the country. How do you feel about that?

MD Slightly embarrassed actually. It’s a wonderful compliment you know but I can only concentrate on my own game.

C&B Of course, now with still a good long time to go in your career, aside maybe from playing in a major tournament with Wales?

MD Aside from that well I think my short term aim is purely to become the best I can and play regular football at the highest level. The UEFA Cup is a great competition but I’d like to think we are capable of reaching Champions League standards. That is the target we have to consider as I would love to mix it regularly with the top players and hopefully I can do that with Villa. The pride from wining the FA Cup would be great you know? Internationally – I’d love to play in a World Cup above anything to be honest. I know this seems like a list most people would put down but I enjoy winning, always have done since my Haverfordwest days.

C&B You certainly respect your roots, would you ever like to return to Wales? Obviously we hope you stay as long as possible but is there a desire there?

MD To be honest, yeah I think I’d like to spend my last year or two with Cardiff. I had a really good time there and I was very happy living in Cardiff but that’s not to say I’m unhappy here. The way things are going I might never want to leave but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

C&B Can’t say fairer than that I suppose Mark! As for this season is concerned, what can we expect to realistically achieve?

MD It’s difficult to say really. We’ve started excellently and if we keep that up who knows what we can achieve. Considering that start I’d say we have to be thinking of a top 4 finish at least. We’d love to be challenging for the title but I’m not sure if we have the depth to maintain this run. I think we are capable of challenging for a cup though. The League Cup is certainly possible though, especially if the big sides give scant regard for it – playing at the Millennium Stadium is always a great experience for me!

C&B Well thank you very much for that Mark. As ever our readers love to hear from their stars and they’ll appreciate the comments. Good luck for the future with club and country!

MD It’s no problem, I welcome these opportunities to speak to the fans.

There was the big Welsh interview for you then ladies, gentlemen, boys and girls. We hope you enjoyed reading it. Earlier today Mark signed a full Villa Kit with tickets for the first derby in 16 years with Birmingham City. with his number on the back and we are offering 1 lucky reader the chance to win it. To win, just answer this simple question:

When did Mark receive his first cap and who was it against?

Please send an S.A.E. with the answer to: October Delaney Competition, Claret and Blue Just For You, Villa Park, Birmingham B6 9lJ.

The prize includes 2 tickets for Aston Villa vs. Birmingham City, A signed home and away shirt with shorts socks and a pair of diadora boots. Please attach shoe size to your entry. 5 runners up will also win a pair of boots each. Closing date for entries is 25th October. For more and fun and games please turn to the back of the magazine.

[Guest]

Wow

What a great way to do a story. I can't wait until the next update.

Lee

[Brian of Nazareth]

cheers westhamfc10, not long to wait then as I meant to get this post up earlier but got dragged off foa tennis match instead

So far this season Dion Dublin has been kept relatively quiet this year given the form of Juan Pablo, Darius and Makan. However the big man kindly agreed to answer our ten computer generated questions.

Dion Dublin’s 10 Questions

53. What rule change would you like to see made to football?

Linesmen giving strikers the benefit of the doubt far more often.

06. What is your favourite meal?

Well I’m a professional so nothing beats Pasta although in the close season I’m partial to a Kebab and chips!

25. What do you want to do once your career is over?

I dread to think! I hope it isn’t over for a while yet, but I definitely would like to pursue a coaching career and ultimately management. I’m taking a course at Lilleshall next summer.

13. Do you have any superstitions?

No! I’m not a superstitious person although some of the other lads have their bizarre ways.

72. Favourite holiday destination?

Well I was in Turkey last summer and I did have a really good time there, but I think of all time my favourite would have to be Mallorca, typically touristy but with good reason!

49. Including yourself, name a World All-Star XI

Right then, er well in goal I’d go for Peter Schmeichel – he was the best keeper I’ve ever seen including when he was here last year. In defence: Robby Carlos is one of the best so I’ll put him at left back, and probably his compatriot Cafu at right back. At the back I’ll plump for Paulo Maldini and Walter Samuel –I know Maldini plays on the left but I’ve seen him in the centre and he is superb. I’m going for a 433 so In midfield I’d have to put Patrick Vieira in there, he is simply outstanding, then I’m complementing him with Zinedine Zidane and Roy Keane. That’s a tough midfield to choose but up front I’m going for – apart from me – Raul and Thierry Henry who are easily the best strikers in the world. Spot the odd one out in that side!

11. Your shot is saved on the line – would you try and claim a goal?

I think any one would wouldn’t they? I wouldn’t protest too much about but if it was a crucial goal then definitely.

01. Would you rather win the World Cup or the FA Cup?

Now that’s a tough question! Erm for me I’d have to go for the World Cup. It’s the biggest event in football and is only once every four years so there’s

That extra pride I suppose.

76. If your house caught fire what possession would you most like to keep?

Aside from my family, I think my England cap. I was so proud when that call came, it is a memory that I will treasure for ever.

98. What was your worst football experience?

I find it hard to say. It’s a **** up between the two injuries really. The broken leg ended my career at Manchester United and I can only imagine what I could have done but more seriously at Sheffield Wednesday when my neck was in a brace. I was so scared I might never walk again that just to be playing again after that was nice.

September Match Summaries

Well once again it was another fine month for us wasn’t it? Victories in Europe, the League and the League Cup were part of an unbeaten month. The first half belonged to Marcus as the Swedish sensation secured fine away victories against first Bolton in the 1-0 win and then the 2 against Fulham days later.

Following the international break where our stars enjoyed mixed results was a return to Villa Park for first a home tie with Tottenham Hotspurs and then Maccabi Haifa in Europe. First up it was fan favourite Juan Pablo Angel who helped propel us to victory against the London side with 2 excellent goals and another for Allback before his injury blow.

That victory maintained our customary early season lead at the top of the table and confidence was high. Given how we have fallen away after early promise before optimism is understandably cautious. Of course after the bizarre diatribe emitting from the confused Mark Ansell we returned to face Haifa and Darius marked his return to the scoresheet with a fine hat trick. Even little Alan Wright managed to get in on the act. The match also saw the emergence of young Steven Davis to the fore and he certainly appears one to watch.

The winning streak did not stop there of course as domestic progress continued with success over Oldham in the league cup 2nd round. Never a truly testing encounter but nevertheless a chance for the young ones to shine and shine they did. Few people attended the encounter but I can assure you there are players of the future there and Stefan Moore was fully deserving of his Man of the Match Award. Hassan Kachloul and Peter Crouch secured the victory. After that it was back to the league and the ever tough Southampton came to visit. However I’m sure all of us will remember Stefan’s first senior goal that ultimately won it for us. With September a truly successful month – let us hope October reaps similar rewards.

September Results

Bolton Wanderers 0 Aston Villa 1 - Allback

Fulham 1 Aston Villa 2 - Allback 2

Aston Villa 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1 - Angel 2, Allback

Aston Villa 4 Maccabi Haifa 0 - Vassell 3, Wright [uEFA]

Aston Villa 2 Oldham Athletic 0 - Kachloul, Crouch

Aston Villa 1 Southampton 0 - S.Moore

[Guest]

Good stuff I'm addicted now I want more

Do you play then write or play a bit write a bit etc

Have you had writer's block?

[Guest]

KUTGW Nice Update

Got to say the way you have done this is amazing. It must takes ages to do one update. I hope more is on the way.

Lee

[King Jeff]

Fantastic stuff.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Thank you all for your support - it is appreciated .

badly drawn boy - I write to word as I play usually, but sometimes I get carried away and my postings have been right up to date with where I am which is why I suddenly have a pause to get ahead of myself. Not had writers block on this thankfully and touch wood I don't get it.

westhamfc10 - It does take a bit of time but recently I've had a lot of spare time so it's not much of a strain thankfully

KJ - Cheers as ever.

October

Wednesday 3rd – The Daily Mail

Soccer snapshots

Unhappy Everton midfielder Thomas Gravesen has finally ended his Goodison Park woe as he completed a transfer to Athletico Madrid yesterday for a fee of around £6 million pounds. The deal was struck over the weekend and he passed a medical on Monday before finalising the formalities of a 3-year deal reported to be worth just over £2.7million. He will be joined in Madrid by French forward Kapo who moved from Auxerre for a tidy sum of £4million.

Chelsea’s poor start to the season has led to star striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank questioning the clubs worth. Speaking for Radio 5 live the Dutchman has becoming disillusioned with a club that “ has become stale. We are no longer title contenders and although there have been just 8 games played we should be higher than 16th place. I am a winner and I don’t believe the side at Stamford Bridge is capable of fulfilling my ambitions.â€

The 30- year old went on to publicly announce his transfer request and criticism of Claudio Ranieri as a man who doesn’t know how to manage a big club. The club however could point to the misfiring front pair as the root of Chelsea’s poor start with just 7 goals accumulated so far in their 2 wins 2 draws and 4 defeats. If Hasselbank does leave it will mean Chelsea only have 3 forwards, 1 aging, 1 inexperienced and 1 talented. This news will no doubt upset many of the Blues followers who would have been hoping for better things.

Chelsea will be playing tomorrow evening against French side Lorient who they must beat to go through following their 0-0 draw two weeks ago. It will be interesting to see if Ranieri decides to advertise his frontman or go with Zola or Carlton Cole.

And the Award Goes To…

Last night The Premier league panel announced the winners of the respective monthly awards and West Ham manager Glenn Roeder took the Manager gong for helping his side pick up 7 points out of 12, including a spectacular 5-1 defeat of Leeds. The panel said: Glenn has recovered his side from a bad position and given that many pundits were harshly predicting relegation for the West Ham side we feel it is a credit to Glenn that he has answered his critics. With 7 points this month we wish him well for the remainder of the season.â€

The player of the month went to Arsenal full back Lauren in recognition of his “assured displays at the beck that have helped his side maintain a respectable start to the season, including some crucial tackling. The Young Player of the Month was awarded surprisingly to Liverpool’s new signing El Hadji Diouf who’s “performances have been key to Liverpool’s fine set of results in the league, including his devastating role in helping the Mersey side defeat rivals Manchester United 4-0. With 2 goals also to his name it has been an impressive start for the Senegal man and again we wish him well.â€

Whether the individuals merited the awards or not is debateable but it will be interesting to see if the so called curse works tonight. West Ham play Birmingham City in the League Cup tonight and Arsenal host West Brom at the weekend. Liverpool travel to Sunderland on Saturday.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Friday 4th

Birmingham Evening Mail

Villa completed the formalities of their European tie against Israeli side Maccabi Haifa last night, despite the absences of key players to injury. With Vassell, Allback, Hitzlesperger and Alan Wright all unavailable, boss Davies looked to his young guns to do the job required and they did so admirably.

The only concern that faced the Aston Villa side last night was the security fears given the political pressures that still exist there. With suicide bombers out in force this week it has been an uneasy time for Westerners visiting the country. The British Embassy called for all tourists to return home, and it was only via special dispensation given to Villa that the tie proceeded, although with heavy security provided. FIFA President Sepp Blatter dismissed the proposal of moving the tie to a safer area, such as in Cyprus and confirmed he had no problems in allowing the match to continue.

As it was Davies’ men seemed fully focused on the football and it paid off. Added to the injuries Villa were also missing Peter Enckelman and Mark Delaney who declined to make the journey for personal reasons. However Davies assured them no one thought any less of them as he said before the game.

“ It’s always a difficult decision to make, as we saw last year with Chelsea’s trip here so we fully respect the individuals decisions. I know Mark’s girlfriend and family had reservations about him making the trip as did Peter’s so we appreciate their decision not to come. However it should not affect our performance out here tonight too greatly.â€

Setting out to ensure that no complacency threatened their hold on the game, Villa secured an early goal through Dion Dublin on 7 minutes to wipe any fears from doubters faces. Maccabi would now need 6 goals to go through and with Postma in impressive form between the sticks, the tie was sealed.

The goal came from an early Haifa attack however but Lee Hendrie volleyed a firm clearance out of goal that actually released Stefan Moore down the wing. The young forward beat the defence and unselfishly played the ball across to Dublin to finish the move off with aplomb. It was a lovely moment for the big man who’s had a hard time getting past the other front men at the club.

Nerves in the Villa camp were nevertheless tested shortly before the break as Maccabi, eager to put a smile on their fans faces suddenly grabbed two goals in quick succession to give Davies something to chew over at half time. First of all Amir Kakoon headed home from a Tomer Cohen cross on 43 minutes, beating the inexperienced Peter Hynes and this was swiftly followed up by a second on the stroke of half time.

The second came as a result of a fault by the Dutch keeper Stefan Postma. Rushing out of goal to collect a long a ball his skewed clearance only found the feet of Cohen and the midfielder ran through on goal before setting up Nir Azulay to smash home the goal.

At this point Maccabi were on a roll but after the break Villa quelled the Israeli’s enthusiasm with a tough tackling display. The battle nullified the contest somewhat but at the same time demoralised the home team as time ran out they realised they were chasing a lost cause. With the introduction of Ronny Johnsen and Hassan Kachloul to add a little more quality, the Villains stepped up a gear and with 15 minutes to go the aggregate score was back to a 4 goal difference.

It was a first goal in Claret and Blue for Kim Kallstrom that handed Villa the draw as the dazzling midfielder struck home a wonderful curling free kick from 20 yards to blow out the last flickering hope of an amazing comeback. From this point on the youngsters were able to play with a little more confidence as the away side sought to win the tie. As it was no further goals arrived, but the result was done and dusted and Villa were threw to the fourth round.

Full Time: Maccabi Haifa 2 Aston Villa 2 Dublin, Kallstrom

Man Of the Match – For a commanding display up front and excellent leadership Dion Dublin took the gong. A well taken goal and always offering words of advice to both his strike partner Stefan Moore and the other young boys, he is despite lack of games, a valuable member of the squad.

[Brian of Nazareth]

The Independent

Sports Round Up – Success for the Home Nations

by J. Pickering

It was UEFA Cup football last night and with the exception of Glasgow Rangers who were the only British side to go out, losing as they did 4-2 on aggregate to Portuguese side FC Porto . Fellow Scottish sides Aberdeen and Livingston both continued to fly the flag as Aberdeen overcame Norwegian side Viking FK thanks to a late goal from Brian Clark that allowed Aberdeen to go through on the away goals rule despite losing 4-1 on the night. Livingston, living a dream also took advantage of the away goals rule to overcome Swedish side Djurgården. Having lost the away tie 3-1, Livingston played exceptionally well to win 2-0 on the night with goals from Scott Aitken.

Wales sole representative Bangor City also used the away goal rule to go through to the second round defeating Belgian side Mouscron . Taking a slender 2-1 lead to Belgium a late goal from David Reynolds took the tie to extra time and Mark Giles sealed the victory with penalties looming ominously.

All of England’s representatives enjoyed success in Europe as victories for Aston Villa, Blackburn, Chelsea, Ipswich and Leeds boosted British football again.

Aston Villa faced little trouble disposing of Maccabi Haifa after having secured a 4-0 lead two weeks ago in the home leg. They drew 2-2 last night courtesy of goals from Dion Dublin and Kim Kallstrom. Blackburn needed penalties to dispose of Shaktar Donesk after 1-1 draws in both legs, with Brad Friedel performing the heroics when it counted. However they could have won it in normal time had David Dunn not missed a late penalty.

Chelsea needed neither penalties nor extra time to dispose of Lorient. Following on from the goal less first leg, strikes from Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank and Jody Morris ensured a welcome victory for under fire boss Ranieri. Ipswich , who have made a mixed start to life back in division one, overcame Latvian outfit Ventspils as goals from Mark Venus and Jermaine Wright secured a 2-0 victory to complement the 1-0 victory in Latvia 2 weeks ago. Leeds meanwhile, added to their 3-0 win in the first leg over Austria Vienna with an uninspiring 2-2 draw in Austria with goals from Mark Viduka and youngster James Milner late on. The draw will take place in Switzerland at 11 a.m. today.

www.avfc.co.uk

We can report here today that Aston Villa have been handed a second round tie in the UEFA Cup with Greek side Xanthi. The first leg will be played in Greece on the 31st October with the return leg 2 weeks later. Boss Davies appeared to be quite satisfied with the draw.

“If you consider who we could have been up against, the draw has been quite kind. Thankfully we’ve avoided fellow British sides in the draw and the big guns like PSG, Lazio and Parma but it will still be tough. There are no easy games in Europe and we’ll treat Xanthi with a great deal of respect. You only have to remember sadly Villa’s failure to overcome Helsingborg and Varteks in recent years so there will be no complacency. Chelsea have struggled with minnows in Europe before too now so I’m not going to assume anything.â€

The draw also means that fixture changes have been made but don’t worry as usual if you have already purchased tickets for the Aston Villa Sunderland and Aston Villa Birmingham matches they will still be valid. The Sunderland game is now to be played on Sunday 3rd of November and the big derby game will now be moved to the 17th November.

Other notable matches in the draw are:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Livingston v Paris St. Germain

Leeds Utd v Ankaragükü

Porto v Ipswich

AEK v Aberdeen

Gorica v Chelsea

Celta v Bangor City

Blackburn v Utrecht

</pre>

Here is the rest of the draw:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Bordeaux v 1960 Munchen

Slavia Prague v PAO

Grasshopper v Fenerbache

Litex v Varteks

Bologna v Hammarby

Rapid v Belasica GC

FC Copenhagen v Betis

Wypa v Puchov

Werder Bremen v Sarajevo

Besiktas v Kutaisi

Hertha BSC v Zenith Peterburg

Zimbru v Dinamo Bucharest

Parma v Schalke 04

Heerenveen v Wisla

Red Star v Chievo

FC Karnten v Lazio

</pre>

[Brian of Nazareth]

Saturday 5th

www.avfc.co.uk

We can report that following the completion of the League Cup 2nd round in midweek that Aston Villa have been handed a home tie with Portsmouth in round 3. The tie will be played on Wednesday 6th November at Villa Park. Tickets will be on a reduced scheme whereby for every full paying adult ticket in the Trinity Road Stand there will 1 free child ticket. Subsequent child tickets after that will sell for £5. Elsewhere in the Ron Saunders Stand all adult tickets have been reduced to £15 with Student and Senior Citizens reduced to just £10.

Full Draw:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Newcastle v W.B.A

Brentford v Crystal Palace

Southampton v Middlesbrough

Barnsley v Cardiff

Boston United v Manchester City

Tottenham v Swindon

Sheffield Wednesday v Chelsea

Leeds v Blackburn

Coventry v Queens Park Rangers

Brighton v Chesterfield

Ipswich v West Ham

Aston Villa v Portsmouth

Arsenal v Manchester United

Millwall v Liverpool

Charlton v Fulham

Walsall v Burnley

</pre>

International Call Up

We are delighted to announce that 8 first team players have been called up for International duty.

Mark Delaney is our Wales representative, whilst Ronny Johnsen and Ovyind Leonhardsen fly the flag in Norway. Juan Pablo Angel has earned a call up for Columbia. Kim Kallstrom is in the Sweden squad and Joey Gudjonssen has been called into the Iceland squad. Joey is nearing full match fitness. Peter Enckelman is in the Finland squad and Gareth Barry will be involved with the England set up. We of course wish them the best of luck and hope they remain injury free.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Monday 7th The Guardian

Eager Contest Sees Spoils Shared

by Brian Cohen

The League leaders went into this game, top by 2 points with 2 games in hand and this early in the season it always help to have such confidence and that’s certainly how Villa started the game, passing with confidence, almost with an air of superiority, but Blackburn are a tough proposition regardless of their mid table position which meant this was always going to be a tough encounter.

With barely seconds on the clock, Dwight Yorke had an excellent opportunity to open the scoring when Damien Duff sent him one on one with Peter Enckelman but the former Villa striker shot tamely and it was an easy stop for the Finn. If that didn’t alert the Villa defence then David Dunn’s offside goal just 5 minutes later surely was.

Teddy Lucic played a long ball forward for David Thompson out on the right of midfield but his through ball was adjudged to be fractionally offside, but for half yard and Dunn’s wonderful curling effort would have put the home side in front. As it was, Villa appreciated the let off and began to become more involved in a battle.

With 15 minutes on the clock the game had developed into a fight for every ball and unsurprisingly a yellow card was produced. Referee Matt Messias had no choice in booking Kim Kallstrom for a very poor late tackle on his opposite number Lucas Neill. Fortunately Neill escaped injury.

However it wasn’t all blood and guts and chances did emerge as Kim Kallstrom eager to make amends for his booking picked up the ball on the edge of his area and played a ball forward to Dion Dublin, and the big man immediately set free Juan Pablo Angel who had a free sight at goal but the shot curled a good yard past the right hand post.

Shortly after however and there was an excellent chance for Graeme Souness’ side to go ahead as Damien Duff again was the provider. Sadly though his target, Andrew Cole, was unable to finish from 12 yards as he shot straight at Peter Enckelman who produced a fine reflex save.

However on the stroke of half time there was a goal and once again it went in favour of Rod Davies as Juan Pablo Angel struck. Craig Short played a weak pass across defence towards Nils Eric Johansson, but Lee Hendrie intercepted and an accurate ball allowed Juan Pablo Angel a second chance to beat Brad Friedel and the Columbian duly took advantage to put the away side ahead.

After the break however it developed into one way traffic as the home side were desperate to get back into the game and as a result David Thompson earned himself a yellow card for an overenthusiastic tackle on Ian Taylor who received some damage to his right thigh.

The spirit of the match continued in this vein as Blackburn, buoyed on by a very vocal Ewood Park tore into their opponents. For the first time in a while the league leaders confidence seemed to have been drained and they were playing second best for the half. Chances aplenty fell to both Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole but on each occasion Peter Enckelman was equal to the task – including an astonishing double save just past the hour mark – first from a Dunn drive and then from a Cole header.

However a tired Aston Villa back line was struggling, missing the injured Olof Mellberg and eventually they cracked. With 18 minutes to go Blackburn introduced fresh legs, including Matt Jansen on for Dwight Yorke and his impact was immediate, as the 24-year-old levelled matters with a fine goal.

On a rare Aston Villa attack Kim Kallstrom lost possession to Henning Berg and the Norwegian thumped a hopeful ball up field towards the front pair. It caught a static and worn out defence sleeping, with Andy Cole latching on to the loose ball. The former Manchester United Star ran to the by-line where Peter Enckelman ran to beat him to the ball. Sadly for Villa the Finn misjudged his timing and Cole slid a ball towards the goal and Matt Jansen nipped to equalise.

Having finally got their rewards, the home side’s tails were up and continued to run rings around a crestfallen Aston Villa side, who despite the introduction of Thomas Hitzlesperger and Stefan Moore were struggling to re-ignite the form of earlier games.

With 5 minutes to go, Blackburn had a golden opportunity to take home the 3 points as Gary Flitcroft sent in an enticing ball that Craig Short connected firmly with, from just 5 yards out, but the ball hit the crossbar and bounced to safety, helped by the outstanding Gareth Barry. For Blackburn though there was no further chance of securing the 3 points, something their manager clearly felt they deserved.

“ Well of course I’m disappointed with the result – it’s the story of our season so far – we should have won this match but again we dropped points. The first half was very even and maybe if they hadn’t scored we would have won it but we’re going to have to work on it. Credit to their keeper he kept them in it but I’m still immensely frustrated we haven’t picked up more points this season, but I’m confident we’ll get it sorted.â€

Even Aston Villa manager Rod Davies conceded his side had been fortunate. “ We are lucky to come away with a point I accept that. I thought we would carry on in the vein we’d been going after the break but sadly we couldn’t. Blackburn played very well and certainly tested our back line to the limit. However it’s still a good result, picking up points here will be difficult for any team that visits and we’re still top with a game in hand. I guess you can’t win every game!â€

Man of the Match: Gareth Barry for an assured display at the back. A tough tackling display he was well composed and performed some life saving tackles at the back to protect the lead until Jansen’s goal and then to protect the draw. Added to that in the first half Gareth provided attacking impetus down the left that, in a more open game would have caused serious problems.

Blackburn Rovers 1 Aston Villa 1 Angel 45, Jansen 73

Blackburn

Friedel 6, Berg 8, Johansson 7, Short 7, Lucic 6(Curtis 61 7), Thompson 8, Dunn 8, Neill 8 (Flitcroft 73 7), Yorke 6 (Jansen 73 7), Cole 8, Duff 8.

Aston Villa

Enckelman 8, Delaney 6, Barry 8, Johnsen 8, Samuel 7, Taylor 6 (Hitzlesperger 72 7), Hendrie 8, Hadji 7, Kallstrom 6, Angel 8 (S Moore 72 7), Dublin.

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brian of Nazareth:

__ And the Award Goes To…_

Last night The Premier league panel announced the winners of the respective monthly awards and West Ham manager _Glenn Roeder_ took the Manager gong for helping his side pick up 7 points out of 12, including a spectacular 5-1 defeat of Leeds. The panel said: _ Glenn has recovered his side from a bad position and given that many pundits were harshly predicting relegation for the West Ham side we feel it is a credit to Glenn that he has answered his critics. With 7 points this month we wish him well for the remainder of the season.†_ .<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Glenn Roeders Claret and Blue Army

[Kyle]

Brilliant stuff as always mate.. keep it up!

[Brian of Nazareth]

Glad, you're both continuing to enjoy it

Thursday 11th

Birmingham Post

Deadly Devils Smash Villains

by James Thorburn

Aston Villa took on an out of form Manchester United side in the hope of maintaining their unbeaten run. However tonight was a match too far for a tired away side. The honeymoon period is well and truly over now for Rod Davies after tonight’s emphatic defeat at the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson.

After 10 minutes though no-one in the ground could possibly have guessed the final outcome as the away side attacked with ferocity taking an early lead through a stunning Thomas Hitzlesperger goal, volleying in sharply from Mustapha Hadji’s pinpoint cross. That though was as good as it got for Aston Villa.

Fired into action by that goal the Red Devils, awoken from their early season slumber replied with a vengeance. The following 20 minutes yielded 3 goals for Manchester United and all of them of the highest order. The first arrived on 12 minutes with their first attack of the game.

A swift counter attacking move, started by Silvestre led to Ruud van Nistelrooy being given the time and space to wait until Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had arrived and he played the Norwegian in and the baby faced assassin curled a beautiful effort around the outstretched arm of Peter Enckelman and the score was level once more. Now though this spurred the home side on to greater things and after a dangerous attack from Beckham almost caught the Villa defence out – a second arrived moments later.

A long ball from John O’Shea was badly dealt with by Mark Delaney and Roy Keane stole in to win the ball before playing back to Paul Scholes. Easily beating Jlloyd Samuel the midfield maestro struck an astonishingly fierce drive into the top corner from 30 yards in true Paul Scholes fashion to give United the advantage.

At 2-1 down it would be easy to assume Villa were still in with a fighting chance of gaining something from this game. However with the home team in full flow, there was only one team in control and that team were about to follow up the second goal with a third, but not until they had already tested the woodwork twice through Solskjaer and Roy Keane.

Then on 25 minutes it was 3-1 to the runners up. An exchange of passes between Roy Keane and Paul Scholes caught out the napping Jlloyd Samuel and the ginger haired midfielder took his chance well, firing hard beyond the despairing dive of Peter Enckelman in the Villa goal. It was another shell shocker that further epitomised the dominance of the home side.

After that though there was somewhat of a respite for the Villains as they managed to wake up and contain their illustrious opponents and they even threatened to pull themselves back into contention shortly before the break but Marcus Allback, back from injury, fluffed his effort and at the break Villa were 3-1 down and in trouble.

Any thoughts that the league leaders would rescue this game evaporated 10 minutes into the second half as Manchester United grabbed their 4th goal. A ranging long ball from David Beckham picked out Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the right and the forward lashed in a powerful cross that fell to the feet of Ruud van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman, having had no difficulties in getting past Jlloyd Samuel, finished easily.

By this point Villa were deflated. This result didn’t affect their position at the top of the table but it did wipe off the invincibility aura they had enjoyed for so long. Davies, not enjoying his first defeat could only despair as everything his charges tried to do failed or second-guessed by Manchester United and with 15 minutes to go the game was dead. Villa had run out of steam and United didn’t want to suffer any injuries chasing an unnecessary 5th.

As unnecessary as a 5th goal was the home side still got one with just 3 minutes remaining. A Beckham cross from a Phil Neville throw was knocked back to Roy Keane and the fiery Irishman struck home with relish from 18 yards to send the Old Trafford faithful into raptures. The win now pushes United back up to 4th, just 4 points behind their opponents.

As for Villa they were simply over run by an awesome display and boss Davies conceded they were out played by the better side. “ It was extremely disappointing to be overwhelmed so greatly tonight, but we have to accept we aren’t unbeatable. The finishing of Paul Scholes and his teammates was exceptional and we were sadly second best in every department tonight. Our defence were very shaky and Jlloyd will be the first to admit it was a bad at the office, but we’ll recover. It’s only a minor set back and we still top the table. We’ll work on what we have to and focus on the next game, that’s all we can do for now.â€

Manchester United 5 Aston Villa 1 Hitzlesperger 3, Solskjaer 12, Scholes 17, 25, v Nistelrooy 56, Keane 88

Post Man of the Match Paul Scholes , the England midfielder was outstanding tonight as he ripped into the heart of the Villa midfield and defence. His tackling was ferocious and fair all night, his energy irrepressible and his finishing sublime – all you can ask of from one of the best midfielders in the country.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Sunday Telegraph – 13th October

England Suffer Shock by Slovaks

In front of a very partisan and hostile crowd England failed to secure the 3 points they were hoping for. Slovakia may not be heavy weights on the International stage but they know how to fight. In front of several Premiership managers, including Sir Bobby Robson and Rod Davies England discovered the tie trickier than they expected as they began nervously.

Chances began to fall their way midway through the first half as first Owen and second Emile Heskey missed excellent chances to open the scoring. Owen, set up by David Beckham had a free sight at goal from 12 yards yet blasted his effort over the bar whilst fellow Liverpool forward failed to make contact with the ball when the slightest of touches would have resulted in an England goal.

As it was though the longer the half wore on the more frustrating it became for England and the battle in midfield was upsetting the flow of the game, which coupled with crowd jeering incited a rash tackle from Paul Konchesky and the Charlton ad found himself in the referee’s note book.

With the scores level at the half time break, fans would have been hoping for a revitalised England to side to overpower Slovakia, yet despite an early effort from Heskey that sailed a long way wide, England were losing the edge and on 58 minutes, David Beckham petulantly kicked out at Vratislav Gresko in the box and Slovakia were ahead through Attila Pinte’s powerful spot kick.

At this point the tide turned in the home side’s favour and supported by a vociferous crowd the Slovaks grew in confidence and pressed further to push the game out of England’s sight. Sven’s response was to bring on Alan Smith Nick Barmby and Gareth Southgate for James Beattie, Jonathon Woodgate and Gareth Barry.

However despite the fresh legs the momentum was still with the Slovaks and, after a period of considerable pressure, the home team had doubled their lead as Robert Vittek converted a Jan Simcek cross. At 2-0 with 12 minutes remaining England were in a rut that they couldn’t get out of and as the clock ran down it was painful to watch a downcast England side fail to get into their rhythm. Is Sven the Man for the job? Write in and tell us.

Slovakia 2 England 0

[Brian of Nazareth]

Sad Scotts fall again

Berti Vogts must be under considerable pressure in Scotland as he continues to fail to register any points in their European Qualifying Group after first, their appalling defeat to the Faroes last month, and now this abject defeat to Iceland, which leaves them bottom of their group.

Fans must have been hoping for a backlash from the players after they succumbed to the Faroe Islands 1-0 in September, but neither their attitude nor performance warranted a positive remark to be made. Early showings were poor and unsurprisingly they fell behind to a poor goal on 15 minutes.

Iceland, disciplined and organised constructed the goal beautifully from the back to the front. Gudni Bergsson collected the ball from his keeper and played the ball forward gradually and after an exchange of passes with Herman Hreidarsson, the ball was delivered to Joey Gudjonssen in the middle of the park. The Villa midfielder, recovering from a long term injury outclassed the Scots with a superb 30 yard pass that found Eidur Gudjohnsen on the right hand side of the area. Waiting patiently for Helguson to get into position the Chelsea front man played across and Heidar Helguson finished off a fine move.

From this point the remainder of the half was one way traffic and only superb keeping from Neil Sullivan maintained the slender advantage. After the break the match continued in the same vein with Iceland, patiently waiting for their opportunities to arrive and taking them. With 20 minutes of the match to go the result was sealed, and possible Vogt’s fate. Larus Sigurdsson played a ball inside to Hreidarsson and the defender sought out Bjarni Gudjonsson with an accurate pass and Bjarni crossed in for Eidur Gudjohnsen and the striker lashed home a sweet volley to secure an impressive win for the home side.

Iceland 2 Scotland 0

[Brian of Nazareth]

Best’s Boys Unlucky In Spain

Charlie Best, Northern Ireland manager will be proud of his players after their encounter with Spain despite their 1-0 loss to the great underachievers of world football. With spirit and determination in evidence, Northern Ireland were the one home nation to do their country proud.

The result itself was not in question however since Spain scored the only goal after just 5 minutes of play. The illustrious Spaniards, looking to secure a comfortable win started very brightly and it was the Real Madrid forward Raul who scored it finishing off a fine move that started with his club team mate Ivan Helguera. The defender played in Cesar who knocked it forward to Valeron who found Raul in space and as usual the devastating forward finished superbly.

From this point on though, many would have expected the home side to go and rattle up the score quite significantly. However with Gerry Taggart and Steve Lomas marshalling the side effectively the Irish side held out firm until the break with a mixture of tenacity and intelligent defensive work.

After the break, Spain continued to threaten the Irish goal with an array of shots, from acute angles to straightforward headers to free kicks but could not penetrate a stubborn Irish back line. At the other end of the pitch Stuart Elliot had 2 very good chances to level matters as Keith Gillespie began to cause problems for the Spanish defence. On one occasion the tricky winger picked out Elliot open in the box but sadly the young Hull forward had a rush of blood to the head and blasted it wide when a more collected head would have seen a surprise goal emerge.

Nevertheless they prevented the Spaniards from causing further problems and despite lacking the quality touch to find a goal they can go home in the knowledge that they did all the could and battled until the end, proudly – which is more than can be said for other supposedly superior home nations.

Spain 1 Northern Ireland 0

www.avfc.co.uk

Sunday 13th

Today we welcome back our international players from a mixed weekend. For Joey Gudjonsson it was a welcome to return to action and in front of John Deehan he proved his fitness and skill are not lacking despite his lengthy lay off. No doubt there will be a return to first team action before long. Ronny Johnsen and Oyvind Leonhardsen were involved in Norway’s 2-1 win away to Romania. Ronny skippered the side until he was substituted late on. Oyvind came on with 15 minutes left to add some fresh impetus. Mark Delaney was involved in Wales’ 4-1 friendly win over Georgia, which was good preparation for Wednesday’s international with Italy. We all know how much representing his country means to Mark so we’re sure he’s looking forward to Wednesday’s clash.

Elsewhere Gareth Barry started the match against Slovakia which England unfortunately lost, and Peter Enckelman was a helpless spectator as Finland crashed 3-2 at home to Azerbaijan, which is good news for Wales who lost to Finland last month.

Wednesday 16th

We can announce today that non executive director Graham Taylor has taken up a managers role at Norwich City. The canaries who are currently lying 23rd in division will be hoping that Graham’s long experience in the game will help save the club from Relegation – we of course wish him well.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Thursday 17th

International Sports Round Up

www.football365.com

England 3 Macedonia 0 Owen, Smith 2

England finally picked up points in their group with a convincing victory at home to Macedonia. Electing to start with Alan Smith over Emile Heskey, Sven proved he could recognised when a player was not up to standard and now a more promising partnership showed it’s potential with several good moves leading to close chances for both forwards.

With 15 minutes gone the scoreline was broken and England never looked back. Owen racing on to a fine pass from Steven Gerrard rounded the keeper and knocked the ball into the empty net. At 1-0 the players were now more settled and confidence soon grew as the players bid to put the Slovakia game firmly behind them. Alan Smith went close with a rasping drive and a Joe Cole free kick clipped the up right but no further goals arrived before the break.

After half time however England made their superior class show and Michael Owen used his pace to leave the defence trailing, before putting in a fine cross for Alan Smith to head home. With the lead now secure, the players relaxed further and played their own game with a touch more extravagance. Long passes and fancy moves demoralised their worn out opponents and with 25 minutes remaining the result was put beyond doubt as Alan Smith grabbed his second goal for England with a fine volley, thanks again to work from Michael Owen.

The Macedon’s may not be the greatest of opponents but now let’s hope that Sven sticks with his front pairing and drops the useless Heskey from the squad. Read John Nicholson’s column for his thoughts on England’s future.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Northern Ireland 2 Ukraine 0 Williams, Hughes

A superb display from Charlie Best’s boys gave the Irish a welcome win to put them back in contention in their qualifying group. Goals from Mark Williams and Michael Hughes delighted the Windsor Park crowd who witnessed a fine overall display.

The match may have lacked an abundance of chances but it certainly did not lack passion. It became apparent early on that the encounter would be a physical one with aggression coming from both sides, but the true Irish grit prevailed in the end. Damien Johnsen and Phillip Mulryne added a touch of class missing from recent performances and Steve Lomas and Gerry Taggart continued to control the emotion with superb leadership.

After a scrappy opening half an hour the deadlock was broken by Mark Williams as the Northern Irish side broke free from the midfield tussle and Michael Hughes charged goal wards enticing the advancing Maxim Levitksy. Sadly for the Ukrainian keeper this was exactly what Michael wanted and he played across to a gleefully happy Mark Williams to poke him.

After the break the tough tackling affair continued, albeit with chances more open as legs became worn and minds began to wonder. Capitalising on one such incident Northern Ireland, broke out again from the midfield and Mark Williams returned the compliment for Hughes to seal the result. The fans went wild, and wilder at the final whistle as Charlie Best restored some pride to football in Northern Ireland.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Wales 0 Italy 1

Another defeat has hit Wales’ campaign for qualification hard after this loss to group favourites Italy. However in many respects the Welsh can feel themselves hard done by not to have at least gained a draw from this result given the opportunities they had.

Within 20 seconds Craig Bellamy was one on one with Buffon but the Newcastle forward put his tame effort wide to the dismay of the crowd. However, a minute after that Italy were up the other end of the pitch with Francesco Totti who hit the cross bar from 25 yards.

The openness of the match continued in this vein for 45 minutes John Hartson, Christian Vieri and Mark Pembridge all guilty of missing prize opportunities to open the scoring, Mark missing an open goal from 6 yards as he sliced his effort wide.

At the break most home fans will have been feeling confident of beating the Italian defence, given the chances that had befell them in the first 45 minutes, but after 50 minutes the spirit was damaged when Italy scored what ultimately proved to be the winner from Stefano Fiore. Ivan Gattuso won the ball from Pembridge in the centre of the park and battled through for 25 yards before laying off to Fiore and the Italian midfielder lashed home a stunning goal to break hearts.

Replying to that goal Wales attempted to get back into the match immediately and but for a fine reflex save from Buffon Hartson would have headed home an equaliser. As much as Wales pressed forward though Italy were just as dangerous on the attack and it will remain a mystery as to how Christian Vieri missed a late effort with the goal at his mercy.

Yet despite that miss Wales were unable to capitalise and shortly after the referee blew up for full time and a second defeat left Wales bottom of the group. Scant consolation for Wales was a man of the match award for Aston Villa’s Mark Delaney.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Monday Goals – The Sun

Another Grreat weekend of soccer action folks as goals went in, fans cheered, they cried and places changed again in the English Premier League.

League Leaders Aston Villa, stunned by their first defeat under Rod Davies’ reign to Manchester United were on their travels again, this time to face West Ham United and a much change side still lost as Arsenal over took them at the top of the table. Arsenal were 3-1 winners over Bolton, with Thierry Henry, Francis Jeffers and Oleg Luzhny securing the win. Sadly though Frenchie Robert Pires broke a leg in a disgusting challenge by Kevin Nolan who really should be severely punished by the FA for that tackle. Nearby London side Charlton Athletic also lost, going down 3-1 to Liverpool thanks largely to Milan Baros.

Chelsea continue to struggle and Ranieri’s head must be surely on the block now as they drew at home 1-1 with fellow strugglers Manchester City. Everton rescued a point with Leeds as Thomas Radzinski struck with 2 minutes to go. Middlesbrough secured a rare away win against Sunderland winning 3-2 as James Beattie was sent off and Maccarone sealed the win. Manchester United however only drew 0-0 at home with serious strugglers Tottenham Hotspur which was of course in stark contrast to their last home tie. David Dunn and Andy Cole helped Blackburn defeat Newcastle. Yesterday at St. Andrews say the first midland derby in the top flight between Birmingham and West Brom that Birmingham won thanks to a Clinton Morrison effort.

Happy Hammers

by A.B.C.Man

Aston Villa, playing their third successive league match away fell to a last ditch Di Canio effort, as their winless streak continues.

The match started well for the away side however as they attacked David James with a ferocity and desperation to eradicate the memories of the last away game the club had been involved in. Darius Vassell recently returned to the side from injury shot straight into David James’ face and put another effort just wide.

Chances fell in equal measure to both Villa and West Ham after that as the fans were always left groaning after successive misses. Thomas Hitzlesperger hit the woodwork midway through the first half with a particularly vicious and sizzling attempt whilst Freddie Kanoute smacked a good un’ narrowly wide as the game became more and more open.

Soon after that the woodwork took a further battering from Lee Bowyer in particular as the midfielder smashed the posts and crossbars from inside the 6-yard box to the clear frustration of the home support. Minutes later though and they did have the ball in the net as Ian Pearce nodded home a Trevor Sinclair corner but the ref blew up for a foul in the area.

Back at the other end though, Rod Davies’ men were not to be out done as Juan Pablo Angel combined well with Gareth Barry to create an opening but the Columbian rushed his shot as it sailed into row Z. On the stroke of half time that miss proved costly for the away side as West Ham took the lead to the relief of the fans and Glenn Roeder.

Michael Carrick out muscled his counterpart Thomas Hitzlesperger in the centre of the park and played in Bowyer where the England wannabe crossed precisely for Freddie Kanoute and the French striker lashed in a powerful strike to give the home team the half time advantage.

After the break the Hammers carried on from they left off with some forceful attacking play that left Villa often struggling to do anything worthwhile when they briefly had the ball. For half an hour West Ham dominated eager to secured a match winning second goal. Trevor Sinclair narrowly went wide early on in the half with a fine curling effort. The midfield man then further enhanced his England prospects with a fine dazzling run and beautiful cross that deserved a goal but sadly the recipient of the ball was Sebastian Schemmel who completed miskicked the ball much to the anger of Roeder who’s feelings towards Schemmel have been well documented in the papers recently.

Following on from that, Freddie Kanoute fired an astonishing shot from fully 40 yards that had Stefan Postma scrambling across the goal to tip it wide. Clearly not learning from that experience the Villa midfield backed off moments later again and this time it was Paulo di Canio who almost secured victory with a dipping effort from 30 yards. Despite the incessant pressure typically it was Villa who scored the games second goal.

Alan Wright threw the ball in towards Vassell and the young forward chipped the ball into the path of Hadji in the area. The ball was headed clear but after an interchange of passing involving Steve Staunton, Thomas Hitzlesperger Alan Wright and finally Mustapha Hadji, Vassell was given time and space in the area to lash home a quite undeserved equaliser.

With 13 minutes of the game to go it appeared as though Aston Villa were going to share the spoils from a game in which for the most part they had been second best. With 5 minutes to go West Ham fans were given a shock as again the visitors had the ball over the goal line, but this time sub Marcus Allback was penalised for being in an offside position. That heart stopping moment having passed, West Ham stepped up their efforts to seek a winner and with time seemingly over they finally got it.

Ulises de la Cruz seemed to have acres of space as he meandered forward trying to time waste further but he was caught hesitating on the ball by the eager Joe Cole and the whiz kid slid the ball across to Di Canio. The Italian maestro beat Staunton and curled a brilliant unstoppable effort past the helpless Stefan Postma to give the home side a richly deserved 3 points, and to leave Rod Davies’ wondering why things have started to go wrong.

West Ham 2 Aston Villa 1 Kanoute, Vassell, Di Canio

Postma 7, De la Cruz 6 Wright 7 Johnsen 8 Staunton 6 (.c.), Taylor 7 Hitzlesperger 7 Hadji 7 Barry 6 (Kallstrom 6), Vassell 8 Angel 7 (Allback 7).

MoM: Kanoute

[Brian of Nazareth]

Tuesday 22nd

The Guardian - Agents and Money – The Curse of Football?

by John Spencer

For many years, Football had been the game for the working class. Going down to the local ground with your dad, shouting blue murder, having a pint and a meat pie. Nowadays the game alludes itself more to that of a business, run by the extremely wealthy in order to benefit the already extremely wealthy.

Players were bound by contracts in the past, but more often than not most players were happy to give their all for the club. Money was rarely an issue with wages comparable to a typical worker of the day if not maybe a fraction more. Current standards dwarf those figures as Ronaldo’s recent demands for a £100,000 a week contract at Real Madrid. These figures are of course extortionate and are one of the crucial factors in the financial crisis faced by many lower league clubs.

Faced by the pressures to succeed from fans and demands to purchase the best players, clubs often employ agents to organise transfers behind the scenes, and more often than not a sizeable proportion of the fees find its way to the agents pocket. Another such example of this is Juan Pablo Angel’s transfer to Aston Villa from Argentinean side River Plate in 2001. In total Aston Villa paid a little more than £9.5 million for the forwards services yet only 4.5 million of this went to River Plate – the remainder going to the agent that co-ordinated the transfer – Pan Zhivi. That’s an astonishing 50% plus of the fee making it’s way towards agents – which is no wonder these people try to encourage their clients to move – or at the very least offer their services to clubs in order to speed up deals.

More so in contract demands, player power is ever increasing. The Bosman ruling a few years ago created a freedom for players that has put the ball firmly in their court. With club loyalty ever diminishing, being replaced by a desire for money and greed that until recently had blown past football and sport in general, the role of agents is now ever more decisive. Julian Gray’s decision to go public on his demands for a better contract from Crystal Palace was almost certainly influenced by the powers that be at the SFX agency. SFX look after several top players across the leagues, and of course certainly look after their bank balance in the process.

Whether it’s a simple percentage fee, bonus or what have you; agents are the biggest winners in football. It is rarely a player now who will decide if he wants’s to move, but his agent who claims to have the players’ best interests at heart. These agents coincidentally then receive profits from contract negotiations.

Yet Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Players Football Association defends their role and in an interview given yesterday goes on to explain how the PFA looks after its players.

“ Agents on the whole can play an integral part in looking after their clients and ensuring they are not short changed. Of course there is the odd exception to the rule and sadly it is these exceptions that get publicised so often. If a player is unhappy at his current club for any given reason, the agent is usually the first port of call and it is they who can then decide whether the player should stay under contract where he is currently employed or move on to where he would be more happy, and benefit financially.â€

When quizzed on the amounts of money in the game, especially in the Premiership, Gordon Taylor claimed the money was simply a part of football and that players were entitled to a fair share of the money entering the sport from companies such as BskyB. The latest Premiership TV package netted the league a little over £1.024 billion with a further £105 million coming from the BBC to win back the rights for Match of the Day – a move that has delighted many football supporters. However, although there is some logic to players wanting some of this money, there should surely be some way for clubs to keep hold of their star players without being held to ransom. Taylor disagreed.

“ In this day and age money is part and parcel of football and we must accept that. Clubs of course want to hold on their key players but they must realise that with all the money they receive from various sources, they should reward the players who ultimately are the source of further success for clubs. I cannot comment on transfer fees themselves but when it comes to wages I have to utterly disagree with the concept of a salary cap – it is a preposterous idea that infringes on the rights of the players.â€

Taylor, who helped introduce the pension scheme for footballers, in which they pay a small percentage of their wage until they retire from the game, also tries to help look after the smaller clubs, who are stricken with outstanding deficits since the ITV Digital fiasco but still insists that there is no need to worry so far, claiming the clubs have only themselves to blame, directly contradicting his previous views on the Premiership players.

“ Many of these clubs have only themselves to blame as you can never rely simply on one major source of income for your survival. I would put that down to poor budgeting and hence an over expenditure on players wages. Given the situation many of the clubs and players face I would fully back the FA’s proposed salary cap with a maximum of 65% of a clubs turnover being spent on wages. It is a sensible way forward.â€

Why then is the situation so different between the lower league clubs and the top flight. Why the attitude changes? According to Taylor it all boils down to money and the wealth of the business ran clubs. Rumoured takeover bids by wealthy magnates for example only go to serve how football has changed so much in recent years. For Taylor though, unsurprisingly, money is a good thing.

“ As I have already mentioned, the money only serves to help improve the game, but of course there is always a surplus of funds that clubs and the Premier League really do not need and this money should by rights in my opinion go towards protecting the future of many it’s players, the heart beat of football.â€

Yes, because players earning in excess of £200,000 per annum really do need to worry about their future. Gordon Taylor had to leave sadly before he had time to answer our questions on whether available dividends from the Premier League should be helped to look after the real problems in football i.e. the cash crisis of lower league clubs and of course we were unable to garner his views on club loyalty and whether he ever watched football matches as a young boy, but I’m sure his next date, with a Daily Star journalist will help to reveal all of these details.

With clubs like Huddersfield Town and Hereford falling into receivership we can only hope that somewhere in the future an end to this madness is sorted so clubs can continue to function as football clubs were meant to. In other news today, David Beckham has just sealed a new 3 year contract with the Red Devils at an estimated £110,000 per week. Of course some of that will be put into a fund through the PFA to help David Beckham maintain his lifestyle as soon as he falls upon hard times once he retires.

Daily Star

– Tayls Reveals All in a WEST LONDON EXCLUSIVE

Yes yes it’s true we have been speaking exclusively to Gordon Taylor of the PFA about the crisis in football. The great man told us about the horrid clubs who will not pay what our boys deserve. He also revealed his love for fish and chips with mayonnaise and not ketchup!! Come on I’m sure you’ll agree that all the players, especially at the Premiership level deserve what they get.

TEXTS YES TO 832222 if you believe the wages are good enough for Becks and Mikey Owen and co, and TEXT NO to 832222 if you are ********.

The other option to texting is to call us on our Premium Rate Hotline. YES is 0901 *** *** and NO is 0901 *** ***. If you hold the line we’ll take your details and enter you for our free prize draw. Calls cost £1.50p/min and should last no longer than 4 hours.

The Daily Star – your number one in fair honest and quality opinions on the world of football. Don’t miss our free give away this weekend where we’re giving away the chance to spend a night with page 3 girl Melissa, expenses paid for – open to everyone except Geoffrey Archer.

Elsewhere in today’s paper read Rodney Marsh’s clever article on his favourite names such as Danny Invincible. Trust us – its well worth the read. Also, don’t miss the chance to find out what Gordon Taylor has for breakfast and whether Kieron Dyer has two or three sausages for dinner. Patrick Vieira also talks to us about a possible £76 million pound move to Real Madrid. All this and more in another action packed issue of the Daily Star.

[Guiness Ginger]

KUTGW work mate

[Brian of Nazareth]

Cheers Guiness Ginger, appreciated

Tuesday 29th

The Observer

Villa Back On Top

by Adam Ant

Once again Aston Villa manager made several changes to his side, replacing Staunton Alan Wright and Ulises de la Cruz in the side and pushing Gareth Barry back to left back as the home side sought to overcome a Charlton side who, after the weekend fixtures found themselves bottom of the table. Villa, fourth in the league after their rivals won started the brighter side.

After early misses from Hadji, from 5 yards and Vassell, with the goal gaping the home side appeared to seize up as their grip on the game and their confidence diminished. Charlton came back at Villa soon after and Jonaton Johannsen clipped the upright with a fine drive from 30 yards. Paul Konchesky followed that effort up with a dazzling run and shot that left Stefan Postma thankful it missed the right hand post by inches.

However, after the home crowd roused their side with some loud anti Birmingham chants, Villa remembered they were the better side and began to play how they knew they could and as a result they opened the scoring on 36 minutes through Marcus Allback, returned to the side after Juan Pablo Angel picked up a slight knock in training.

Ian Taylor won the ball off Scott Parker in the centre with a fierce typical Taylor tackle and the former Moor Park midfield carried the ball into the opponents half and set Vassell free down the left and the young international played the ball across the area where Mustapha Hadji was waiting. His shot was only parried by Dean Kiely and the Charlton keeper looked on in despair as Allback swept the ball into the back of the net to send the Holte End cheering again.

There was little further action in the remainder of the half as Villa, still not quite as confident as they have been elected to hold back and defend their lead until the break and they did this easily given how depressed the Charlton players were. The goal had knocked their optimism and they were simply playing out time – hoping that Alan Curbishley would give them the secret to success in the second half.

The second half started badly for the home side as Charlton sniffed an opportunity as Ronny Johnsen was carried off with an injury on a stretcher. Given the absence of Olof Mellberg too this will give great concern to the Villa manager who as he put it “ Without Ronny and Olof we are quite vulnerable at the back, and if Ronny is out for a long time we’re in trouble.â€

His stand in Ulises de la Cruz is certainly no centre back. The Ecuadorian favours an attacking style and this was evident as he left Jlloyd Samuel alone and desperate at the back at times, as Charlton plucked up the courage to attack the Villa goal. Claus Jensen was unfortunate when his effort hit the foot of the upright and Shaun Bartlett missed a header when it seemed easier to score.

Those misses were to prove decisive though as the home side realised they could play to de la Cruz’ strength rather than worry about his frailties at the back and after a period of pressure, they were rewarded with a second goal just after the hour mark through Lee Hendrie, starting ahead of Thomas Hitzlesperger.

Ulises, desperate to shrug off the Useless tag awarded to him by a section of the home support, brought the ball forward and the International played a fine ball to Mustapha Hadji and the Moroccan crossed in for Allback who nodded back to Lee Hendrie who volleyed home impressively to give Villa a commanding two goal lead. For Hendrie it was a welcome goal given the bad press written about him recently over his 1 year ban for drink driving.

Following that goal the match petered out into a damp squib of an affair. Charlton struggled to pick up any momentum and Villa were taking it easy on a very humid evening. The introduction of Stefan Moore and Kim Kallstrom with 20 minutes to go gave the home side fresh legs and they almost forced an emphatic third.

Kallstrom, picking the ball up on the half way line ran straight at the worn down Charlton defence, evading their challenges with easy before playing a clever one-two with Stefan Moore on the edge of the area but the Swede’s shot went just wide.

That proved to be the final action of the night however and Davies was quick to acknowledge the importance of the victory. “ Well, when you’ve been in such good form and you get pegged back, psychologically it can affect you. If nothing much has changed in the game and suddenly you get tonked 5-1 it can cause a bit of frustration but thankfully we’ve got the win we needed on a rare visit to Villa Park and I’m sure we’ll be able to take this to Greece.â€

Rod Davies’ side fly out to Greece on Wednesday for their UEFA Cup tie with Xanthi. Another point that will make Davies’ happy is that this victory means Villa will now return to the top of the table, as they aim to prove that for a change they aren’t a side afraid of heights.

Aston Villa 2 Charlton 0 Allback, Hendrie

Postma 7, Delaney 8 Barry 8 Johnsen 7 (de la Cruz 8) Samuel 8, I. Taylor 8, Hendrie 8, Hadji 7, Kachloul 8 (Kallstrom 7), Allback 8 Vassell 8 (S. Moore 7).

[Brian of Nazareth]

www.avfc.co.uk/matchreport-avca

Well we’re back on the winning trail hopefully now after tonight’s 2-0 victory over struggling Charlton. Goals from Lee Hendrie and first Marcus Allback. For your benefit the scorers and the gaffer talk to us about how they felt it went.

Makan has been out of the side recently, with injury and the good form of Juan Pablo Angel, but last night his predatory instincts served a reminder to Davies’ that he really doesn’t want to be left off the team sheet and the Swede was in buoyant mood after the game.

“ It was really great to be out there tonight you know. We’ve struggled recently - well compared to the start we’ve had it was a struggle! – and the loss to Manchester really hurt everyone at the club because we don’t like losing like that. They played great sure but we let the fans down all the same. However tonight was good fun for everyone, except maybe Charlton you know? Personally to be back playing again was a relief and hopefully I can go on and hold my spot in the side for a while.â€

Little Lee was similarly pleased with the victory, especially as it will now give the press something else to talk about besides his private life.

“ Yeah, well that’s the way the press are sometimes. I know I did wrong and I am guilty as charged but all the same, the vilification by some quarters is quite upsetting, especially when you get abuse from your own fans. I’ll always suffer I suppose for having a family connected to Small Heath (Birmingham City), but it just makes me more determined to establish myself here. I was delighted to be back in the side tonight and I’m really happy to have scored as well. I know I’ve got work to do, my league form’s been too patchy really so I have no complaints about being dropped but I’m hoping that goal will have helped earn the favour of the boss for the Greece trip.â€

So those were the views on our two goal scorers this evening but what about the boss’ thoughts. How did he rate the game today?

“ A win’s always good and after a spell away from home (3 in a row), it was nice to be back at Villa Park, somewhere more friendly and relaxing. I thought we started well but there was a spell when Charlton did have their tails up and had they a little more confidence I fear the game may have finished differently so we can improve, but we were professional tonight. We took the goals well and once the second one went I was fairly confident to be honest. No disrespect to Charlton, but considering the position they’re in I knew they would have been deflated by that point. I’m also glad about how the players responded to losing Ronny. Ulises is not a centre half by any means but we played to his strengths which was good to see – although Jlloyd was certainly forced to earn his money at times! I won’t consider bringing in back up yet as I think we’ll do ok. Alpay will be back in a few months and Stan can still do a job. Thankfully for Ronny it looks as though he’ll only be out for a maximum of 2-3 days and he’ll come to Greece with the intention of playing I think.â€

With that tie coming up it is likely that Marcus and Darius will continue up front, especially when you look at their records. Marcus has already amassed 13 goals from 11 starts and 1 sub appearance, which is of course phenomenal, and Darius has 11 from 12 starts – again a highly impressive record. Xanthi are not a team to be taken lightly and hopefully we’ll have a full strength side out for the game. Playing unknown sides can be difficult mentally, which is why Aston Villa FC would also take this opportunity to announce the arrival of a new sports psychologist to the club called Tom Moody.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Daily Telegraph

The Magic of the FA Cup – the First Round Proper

by Laura Adams

For those of you who have been reading from the start of this season, you will know that the Telegraph is reporting on every round of the every game of the hallowed cup, right from the very first stages. If you remember we started off at Trafford a small side in the north who were narrowly defeated by Norfolk side Kings Lynn 3-1. From then we moved to the second qualifying round where Bromsgrove Rovers overcame Kings Lynn in an exceptionally thrilling encounter that yielded 9 goals – one of the games of the tournament possibly.

People talk about local rival derby games including the Glasgow derby, the Merseyside, Manchester and London derbies amongst many, but one of the most passionate that I have had the fortune to witness came in the third round of the qualifying stage where Bromsgrove hosted local rivals Worcester City. With another step towards the FA Cup proper at stake – and hence more money the players were certainly up for it but it was Graham Allner’s side that took the spoils winning a tense and fraught penalty shoot out 9-8. That was a game that had it all – quality, hopes, ecstasy, despondency, mud, wind and rain not to mention stands packed to the maximum with fans in loud voice.

The weekend just gone saw the latest stop on the road to Cardiff as Worcester City travelled to St. Albans eager to make that last step to reaching the first round proper. A nervous opening match saw the hosts take a 40th minute lead through Paul Martin, a fireman from Basingstoke, and that goal seemed to settle the home side down as Jack Phillip’s Worcester side were unable to impose themselves upon the game, despite the efforts of their goal keeper Joe Parks to keep the score down forward Lee Smith was having an off form day in front of goal. After the break the tie was sealed in St. Albans favour after truck driver Lee Nightingale fired home a late effort to send the home side into raptures. The delight was evident on their faces of the Ryman League side and they will now wait to see whom they face in the next round. For Worcester though it’s better luck next season.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Friday 1st November 2002

Birmingham Post

Villa grab Important away goal as players wilt

by Matt Groening

An unchanged side took on unknown Greek side Xanthi looking to ensure they went home to England this afternoon as firm favourites for the tie. Inside a minute though the Greeks were almost celebrating after a horrible hash of a clearance by Postma gave Greek forward Giannis Tsichlas a clear sight on goal but in the heat of the moment he rushed the shot and Postma was able to get back in time to collect the ball.

After that early effort though the game slowed down as despite it being the end of October it was still hot there and the players struggled to cope at times. Fluid movements were rare and chances even less so. However with 5 minutes of the half to go the match had a goal and a little over 6000 home fans were in jubilant voice as Xanthi took the lead through youngster Nikos Dimitakopoulos.

Vasilis Noumas swung in an enticing cross that Postma unwisely left for Jlloyd Samuel to clear. The young defender who wasn’t expecting his goalkeeper to leave the ball was slow to react and so Nikos Dimitakopoulos stole in to give the home side the lead and the roar from the Greek supporters was quite deafening.

Villa almost immediately hit back before the back but Hassan Kachloul’s fine volley from 12 yards skimmed the crossbar after being set up by Mustapha Hadji. However that was the final serious action of the half and so at the break Rod Davies had work to do to prevent his side from wilting in the heat. A 1-0 deficit wasn’t particularly serious but for the away side it was important not to let the score become any worse.

After the break in a flurry of activity cards were being shown left right and centre and all to villa players as Ian Taylor, Lee Hendrie, Jlloyd Samuel and Hassan Kachloul all picked up yellow cards for being over physical in tackles in the next 10 minutes as the team from Birmingham attempted to get back into the match. This intimatory style seemed to unnerve the hosts as they began to wilt under the pressure.

With twenty minutes on the clock the away side were firmly in the ascendancy despite not having grabbed an equaliser as first Marcus Allback and then Lee Hendrie went close with a dipping drive and low volley to pile the pressure on. After a triple substitution by Davies, the fresh legs of Stefan Moore and Kim Kallstrom helped fashion an equaliser that seemed to be on the cards for a long time.

The goal scorer was young international Darius Vassell grabbing his 8th goal in European competitions already this year. Kallstrom, who had only been on the field for 10 minutes, received the ball from Ian Taylor and the Swede exposed a tired Greek side, running through into a dangerous position from 20 yards before laying the ball across to Stefan Moore. The youngster skipped over a flaying challenge before being forced wide. With a deft flick he turned crossed and Vassell headed home to equalise.

That goal having been secured Villa took the foot off the gas, as they knew they had done enough to put them into a strong enough position for the return leg. Both sets of players were tired and struggling to cope with the intense heat which resulted in few chances being created in the latter stages. At one stage the football resembled a table tennis between the two goalkeepers as running was limited to Stefan Moore and Kim Kallstrom who were fresh substitutes.

With minutes to go Villa, through sub Alan Wright had a fine opportunity to win the match as one last corner resulted in all the Villa players save Ronny Johnsen going into the box. As the cross from Kallstrom swung over, Vassell flicked the ball across the goal and it found Alan Wright but the diminutive left back skewed his shot terribly and the match was drawn.

Post Man of the Match: Darius Vassell. The forward scored another important goal for his club and his running was crucial to the majority of any Villa attack. With Allback misfiring he had a lot of work to do but coped well.

[Brian of Nazareth]

November Edition Claret and Blue

Well it’s been another good month in October, although our winning run hit the skids somewhat and boy what a way to be ended. However, despite being out classed by one of the best sides in the world there’s nothing to worry too much about. We now lie in a decent position in Europe against Xanthi and despite winning just the one league match this month we are still top of the league – that felt good to write – which is a testament to our fantastic start. In this month’s issue we have details over the Mark Delaney Competition, the usual matches round up and an Interview with Darius Vassell with his young prodigy Stefan Moore answering 10 random questions.

The Darius Vassell Interview

After a phenomenal start to the season for the England International Claret and Blue caught up with Darius at Bodymoor Heath to learn a little more about his ambitions this season and for the future.

C&B: Welcome Darius, thank you for coming to talk to us. It has certainly been a good start to the season don’t you agree?

DV: Oh absolutely we’ve beaten teams we might have struggled against in the past, we’re confident and everyone gets on with the boss.

C&B: As you say the boss seems to be a plus to the side. What do you think he’s added to create such a turnaround?

DV: I don’t know really. In general though there’s simply a more positive atmosphere around the ground ever since the Hodgson takeover. There’s a sense that the club can go forward, the best players get their contracts and the manager gets real backing at board level. On the training ground everyone knows where they stand and we’ve adapted to his style of play quite well.

C&B: How would you rate the club’s form this month given the start we’ve had?

[ DV: Well I guess it would be easy to suggest that it was a fluke start to the season but really this month has gone well. Blackburn was always going to be hard game and if you’re going to lose your first game of the season, away to Manchester United is probably the best place to do it! West Ham was disappointing to go down at the death but you know we’re still top – we picked it up against Charlton and we’re still in Europe.

C&B: Having secured a 1-1 draw in Greece, would you know say that Villa are favourites to progress?

DV: You cannot say that it’s clear-cut – you should know that – it would be churlish to assume we’ve won given Villa’s record against sides in Europe but the away goal will help. I am confident that with home advantage that if we apply ourselves correctly we’ll go through.

C&B: Nice choice of words. Of course in reference to the superb start to the season one of the reasons for it must surely be down to you. 12 goals in 13 starts is an astonishing record. Marcus has also grabbed 13 from 12 so that’s some partnership!

DV: Well I’m a premiership footballer and specifically a striker – it’s my job to score goals and help set up others really so I’m delighted to have started so well. Marcus is a great partner to have – he’s very encouraging and works so hard for the side and his goals are fully deserved and I’m sure he’ll continue to get more. Of course we shouldn’t forget the impact of Juan Pablo too – he’s chipped in with a few too then we have Dion Dublin and Stefan Moore to play as well so goals should never be a problem for us I hope!

C&B: We certainly hope so anyway! What now are your expectations at club level for the coming season?

DV: I think we really have to be looking for a European spot now – it’s where we should be and considering we top the table at present we would be disappointed to fall out of the top 6. Champions League football would be excellent but we can’t afford to get carried away. Automatic UEFA would be a decent achievement as well. I’d love it if we could we win a cup and enjoy some success at the Millennium Stadium but we’ll have to see. First we have to focus on what November holds, and that includes a derby – a game we have to win above others this month for the fans.

C&B: Well said Darius, the readers will be pleased by that last comment. For you personally, do you have any goals at club or international level?

DV: At club level I’m just looking to score as many goals as I can to boost my International aims. I’ve tasted a fair bit of action with England and I’m desperate for more. Missing out on the squads for the qualifiers so far this year was really disappointing and now I’m hoping that if I maintain my current club form will persuade Sven to take me on board again.

C&B: Thanks for that Darius, one last thing, what’s the score going to be in the Derby game?

DV: Oh I don’t know – it depends how many I score ha ha! So at least 4, 5-0. Will that do?

C&B: That would be fantastic! Good luck and I’m sure we’ll see you on the scoresheet many more times this season.

[Brian of Nazareth]

10 Questions with Stefan Moore

Stefan is a young forward at the club who has already shown his promise with a goal last month against Southampton that was well taken. He will of course be looking for more action this season, but now we have his answers to the 10 questions.

99. What is your favourite personal football experience?

Well for me it has be scoring the goal against Southampton. The gaffer gave me a chance to show him what I could do and scoring in the first minute was perfect, being my first senior goal and also the winning goal made it extra special.

06. What is your favourite meal?

Err probably a good Chinese from No Wok Ing, with roast Duck and spare ribs – excellent stuff, finished with a nice glass of water because we’re not allowed to drink alcohol during the season!

56. What do hope to have achieved in 5 years time?

Well I’d love to be established in the Villa side first of and hopefully having been part of a side that’s one trophies, and if things go really well, maybe an international call up as well.

72. Favourite holiday destination?

Well I’ve not been on too many but probably a family trip to Wales – where we had a real class time.

08. How long have you been playing football?

My dad got me into football when I was 4 but I started playing seriously for clubs when I was 7 I guess.

13. Do you have any superstitions?

Yeah actually – any time I’m in the squad for a game I make sure I’m the last out the dressing room, unless I start in which case I’m always first out!

23. Favourite TV Sitcom?

Red Dwarf definitely, well up until the last series anyway.

42. Who is your role model?

The player I most admire as a forward is Thierry Henry but at Villa I have an awful lot of respect for Dion Dublin.

86. If you could be a movie star, real or fictional, who would you be?

James Bond 007 without a doubt – he’s just the archetypal Brit.

11. Your shot is saved on the line – would you try and claim a goal?

Yeah definitely you know. If I can finish the job off I will but otherwise I’ll assume it went in and try my luck.

Before we go onto our monthly round up of games Claret and Blue can announce the winner of the Mark Delaney Competition. A Mr Andy Baker from Digbeth. Congratulations to him. The five runners up were: Thomas Jerry from Solihull, Mark Bright from Swindon, Sum Yung Chik from Taiwan, Peter Beardsley from Newcastle and HRH The Prince of Wales from London – congratulations to them all.

October Matches Round Up

Well we’ve only celebrated the one win this month, but then again we’ve only played one match at Villa Park all month too. However we’re still top now so who’s complaining. We started and ended the month on the continent and both were away draws. First up there was a tricky tie to be played in Israel against Maccabi. Although we’d done a good job at home there was still work to be done but thankfully, according to our man in Israel, we were very professional and secured the win through fine efforts from the ever-dependable Dion Dublin and Kim Kallstrom. There were slight scares in the game but we passed the test and were drawn against Xanthi in round 2.

Back home in England our we started October with a trip to Ewood Park, not traditionally a happy hunting ground for us so the draw we held on for was nothing to worry about. We were slightly fortunate but thanks to Juan Pablo Angel’s first half strike we kept up our unbeaten run – until we ran into the might of Manchester United. It was a devastating display by the previous seasons runners up and it seemed they are a side desperate to reclaim their title. However, it was our first loss of the league campaign and it brought us back to reality with a bump, although after Hitz had opened the scoring many fans would have been hoping for something more. The disappointment of that defeat carried over through the international break to the game at West Ham, our third away game on the trot where we lost sadly in the last minute, although it has to be said it was a very special goal from Paolo Di Canio.

Winning ways were re-established back at fortress Villa with a victory over a Charlton side that have made a surprisingly poor start to the season. Based on some of their play they should be higher up the league, however we completed the job well enough with well taken goals from Makan and Lee Hendrie as the midfielder grabbed a rare goal. That win set us up for an end of the month trip to Greece where the weather was remarkable for late October and it looked as though our players were going to wilt under the heat especially after we went behind but another Vassell strike rescued us and we now look to be in a good position for return leg. Roll on November!

Results

Maccabi 2 Aston Villa 2 Dublin, Kallstrom

Blackburn 1 Aston Villa 1 Angel

Manchester United 5 Aston Villa 1 Hitzlesperger

West Ham United 2 Aston Villa 1 Vassell

Aston Villa 2 Charlton 0 Allback, Hendrie

Xanthi 1 Aston Villa 1 Vassell

[Brian of Nazareth]

November

4th

The Guardian

Moore of the same from Villa

by Brian Cohen

Aston Villa, returning to Villa Park, showed no ill effects from their recent trip to Greece with a commanding performance against second bottom Sunderland in front of a sell out crowd. The star performer this afternoon was young hot shot Stefan Moore who partnered Juan Pablo Angel up front as in form forwards Darius Vassell and Marcus Allback were given a rest.

In a match that also saw a rare start and goal for Joey Gudjonssen as he recovers from injury, Villa manager Rod Davies was clearly delighted with his sides form in goal, especially as they also had 3 goals chalked off for offside. He even hinted that Gudjonssen and Moore would retain their spot in the side.

“ It was very pleasing to see those who came into the side this afternoon perform very well and they’ve certainly gone and given me a selection headache as it’s going to be hard to drop them now when they performed so well this afternoon to maintain our spot at the head of the pack, however it’s a problem I love and Villa will only benefit from it.â€

The words exuded that of a confident and happy man, which is, no surprise given their unblemished home record is also the best in the league with 15 goals scored and 2 against. Kim Kallstrom, Thomas Hitzlesperger and Peter Enckelman also earned recalls to the side and did their chances of keeping their spot no harm, although Enckelman might as well not have been there such was Villa’s grip on the game.

With early chances forcing Mart Poom into diving every which way it was no surprise that a goal arrived early on in the half and on 21 minutes Johannes Karl Gudjonssen grabbed his first league goal in Villa colours in his first start. A Mustapha Hadji corner that derived from a Juan Angel header, was cleared weakly by Emerson Thome as it fell at the feet of Johannes Gudjonssen. The Iceman turned round Talal El-Karkouri and fired an instinctive shot past Poom clipping the right hand post as it went in. It was a fine goal from someone who had played so little since the summer.

Any chance Sunderland may have had of making a swift reply were thwarted just 3 minutes later as Stefan Moore in only his second start, grabbed his first of the day and second of the season as Gudjonssen was once again involved. Thomas Hitzlesperger collected a long kick from Peter Enckelman and he played in the Icelandic midfielder who darted off on a mazy run across the midfield until he reached the by line where a sharp cross was missed by all except the young Stefan Moore who volleyed home acutely to rapturous applause and celebrations from the Holte End faithful.

Now holding a 2-goal lead Villa were in the driving seat and they pressed forward searching for a decisive third before half time. Hitzlesperger almost broke the cross bar with a powerful drive and Stefan Moore missed an easier chance than that which he had scored in first half stoppage time. However there was little chance of such misses being punished as Sunderland were completely overwhelmed.

The departure of their so called talisman Kevin Phillips with a broken leg that will keep him out of action for 4 months will no doubt be a huge blow to Sunderland’s chances of survival this year. The England international suffered the injury after a collision with Jlloyd Samuel the young left back who picked up slight ligament damage, which will keep him for little more than a week. From this point it was clearly hard for Sunderland to recover and their dejected demeanour as they returned to the pitch following half time was a damning indictment of the confidence in the Sunderland camp.

However for Gudjonssen and Moore it was the perfect situation as it allowed both players to develop their confidence and improve their match fitness at this level. Gudjonssen faced little incident in the centre of the park and Moore was given the freedom of the front line despite the introduction of Darren Williams to the Sunderland defence.

The home crowd picked up on the dejected away side and they expected more goals and moments into the second half they thought they had one as Stefan Moore poked up from 12 yards after collecting the ball from Kallstrom, although the linesman brought a premature halt to the celebrations for an offside that on further inspection seems a little harsh on the forward.

That only encouraged the home side further and on the hour mark the fans were cheering momentarily again as Gareth Barry nodded home from a Hadji corner but again the linesman’s flag curtailed the joy but this time for a push by the England wannabe on Poom. The contrasting fortunes were so clear at this point between a side on the way down and that of one enjoying unexpected glory so far.

The play continued in its zestful tone from the home side as they eagerly hoped to please the expectant chants with a third and with 15 minutes to go it finally arrived and this time the linesman approved. An attack down the right saw Mustapha Hadji exchange passes with the young German Thomas Hitzlesperger and the Moroccan sent in a devilishly low cross that found the long legs of Stefan Moore who poked home to complete the days scoring. His second of the game capped a superb game for the youngster who must be hoping he will be able to gain a run in the side following this afternoon’s man of the match display.

For Sunderland though the agony increased. With defeat now set in stone they capitulated further and were highly fortunate not to concede a fourth. This time though it was the ref who fell victim to the scorn of the home side as he cancelled Stefan Moore’s brilliant half volley due to an alleged offside but replays clearly showed that El-Karkouri on the right side of the area had played him on. It was a faux pas that had cost Moore his hat trick opportunity and a deserved fourth goal but nevertheless it hardly dampened the joy that surrounded the ground as the final whistle blew.

For Villa it was another welcome victory, albeit against a poor side, that keeps them ahead of the chasing pack but for Sunderland, one can only feel sorry for a side that seemed so desperate early on but quite clearly were not up to the standards called upon them. It will be a long season for Howard Wilkinson’s men. Ladbrokes’s decision to now make him the favourite for an early dismissal will not have helped.

Aston Villa 3 Sunderland 0 Gudjonssen, Moore 2

Enckelman 7, Delaney 8 Barry 8 Johnsen 8 Samuel 7, Hitzlesperger 8, Gudjonssen 8 Hadji 8 Kallstrom 8, Angel 7, Moore 9.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Wednesday 6th www.avfc.co.uk

AVFC are here to report some unfortunate injuries that have occurred on the training ground. It seems Kim Kallstrom will miss Villas next two fixtures with a back injury occurred when landing awkwardly after trying to out jump Olof Mellberg. Sadly Hassan Kachloul who has been a ready replacement on the left of midfield will be out of action for two months according to Jim Walker “ The lad has sadly suffered a splintered pancreas after a clash with Oyvind Leonhardsen in training. I can’t recall how it happened exactly but it wasn’t pretty I know that.â€

In that collision Leonhardsen, who isn’t in Davies’ immediate plans damaged a spinal chord and will face a good month on the sidelines – nothing new there then for the misfit Norwegian. He will be sent to rehabilitation to help correct this injury. This has come at an unfortunate time for the midfielder who may have been hoping to get a chance in the League Cup third round tonight against Portsmouth.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Now I’m trying something a little different – let’s hope it works

Radio 5 Live 8:00 pm.

MP: Good evening everyone, I’m Mark Pougatch and welcome to another evening of football on radio five live. Tonight it’s the turn of the Worthington Cup to entertain you. Traditionally this has been a tournament that the big guns have turned there noses up at as they rest their star players for the European competitions but tonight, no matter what the competition we have a rivalry that is sure to bring out some cracking football as Arsenal host Manchester United in the plum tie of the round. Of course the desire to get on over will be there and neither side will wish to concede a psychological advantage to their opponents.

Of course we will keep you up to date with scores from around the country in the other ties but for now I’ll hand you over to Jimmy Armfield and first Alan Green.

AG: Thank you Mark. Just before we get started I can say that Freddie Kanoute has put West Ham a goal up against Ipswich at Portman Road, one of the many games that has already been underway for 15 minutes. You know Jimmy, these clashes are always interesting and despite the criticism this tournament gets, unfairly may I add, I somehow get the impression this game is going to be taken a little more seriously by Fergie and Wenger!

JA: Oh absolutely Alan, these kind of games are always useful even if it is just giving the fringe players a chance to show their worth. If you look at the team sheet you can tell both camps are up for it as I think this could be a big game for Fergie with his side back in 5th place in the league it would a be a good confidence booster to turn over Arsenal at Highbury.

AG: Quite right Jimmy. And as the players walk out I’ll just run through the line-ups. For Man United they have

Fabian Barthez

Gary Neville

Mikael Silvestre

Rio Ferdinand

David Beckham

Ryan Giggs

Roy Keane

Paul Scholes

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

And for Arsenal it’s an equally strong side in

David Seaman

Lauren

Ashley Cole

Martin Keown

Sol Campbell

Ray Parlour

Freddie Ljunberg

Gilberto

Patrick Vieira

Thierry Henry

Dennis Bergkamp

JA: That’s a very strong team for both sides so it’s clear they’re both desperate to win it playing their full strength sides. There’s no rest for the wicked it seems.

AG: Indeed Jimmy. Now as the game here gets underway, Arsenal kicking off from left to right in their traditional colours of red against a Man Utd side playing in Black, Green and Yellow, that’s their 8th strip for the season as they can see each other quite clearly in that one I can round up a few other scores in the third round so far. Boston United of the third division have taken a shock lead against Man City – that could be interesting, and Chesterfield are 1 up against Brighton, a game that kicked off at half past seven. Leeds through Alan Smith are 1 up at home to Blackburn and it’s 1-1 between Millwall and Liverpool, 2-0 to Spurs against Swindon, 1-0 to Chelsea against Sheffield Wednesday and I hear Newcastle have just taken the lead against West Brom thanks to a Nobby Solano penalty. Now, here comes Henry bringing the ball forward, slides it across to Ljunberg on the left but that’s a ferocious tackle from Roy Keane! He’s knee may have restricted him somewhat but he is still an outstanding player. Now I hear there’s a penalty at Villa Park, over to you Ron Jones.

RJ: Yes Alan, thanks for that, indeed we do have a penalty and it’s been awarded by Rob Styles to the home side Aston Villa after Giunluca Festa was spotted by the linesman man handling the lively Stefan Moore. It’s the diminutive left back Alan Wright who will step up take the penalty though. Here he comes…. And scores! Hard into the roof of the net and Villa take the lead, that was a good penalty.

AG: Thanks Ron. Well it seems the Villa Express is continuing. Nothing much has happened here in the meantime although Ashley Cole was awarded a yellow card for diving. Did you agree with that Jimmy?

JA: Well he was running through on goal and really it was minimal contact and he’s just made the most of it so yes I think the ref was justified in making that decision.

15 minutes later… [ I hope you understand that trying to do commentary for the whole game is just too much for me if I’m to get anywhere fast with this story – although I’ll do the whole game for the end of season important ones ]

AG: Dear me Jimmy, this game has not been the classic we were hoping for has it? The passing’s atrocious and although it’s a full strength side out there – you get the impression they don’t really care.

JA: Well yes it has been disappointing so far, and maybe the European exploits of both sides is taking it’s toll but I think we’ll have a fair amount of incident –

AG: Sorry to interrupt you there Jimmy but there’s fighting on the pitch! Utterly disgraceful. Roy Keane tackled Vieira fair and square but the Frenchman has responded with a shout and gesture and oh god this is ridiculous, little fisticuffs from grown men!

JA: You never know Alan, this may be the incident that kicks off this match now – sad it has to happen like this but sometimes a bit of passion sparks it off. Let’s hope that Graham Barber will deal with this properly and not with too much controversy.

AG: Well this ref’s already sent off 8 people this year so I’m not too hopeful – oh here comes a card…. Yes what a surprise. A rush of blood to the head for Mr Barber and he’s sent off Patrick Vieira…. And Gary Neville as well! Well that’s just frankly ridiculous – a poor decision and I can only assume that Gary has said something stupid. Oh well at least this game might actually become interesting.

MP: Thank you Alan, we’ll be back with you shortly after a check up of the scores in tonight’s games. In most of this evening’s games there has already been a half hours play but it’s half time at the Brighton versus Chesterfield game and the away side are 2 nil up and Danny Culip has been forced off injured for Brighton. Robbie Keane has also scored to give Tottenham a 2 goal lead against Swindon in what appears to be a one way tie. At the New Den though it seems as though there’s a shock on the cards as Peter Drury reports.

PD: Yes Mark, with half time approaching Millwall are leading Liverpool by 3 goals to one. Although Emile Heskey put the Merseyside club ahead, a brace from Steve Claridge and a curler from Steven Reid just a minute ago has changed the complexion of the game and it really is one way traffic with Millwall on top.

MP: Looks like there’s going to be at least one upset this evening then. Elsewhere Charlton, thanks to Scott Parker are a goal up against Fulham as they look to secure a much needed confidence booster. Elsewhere there’s little change in the other games and if your side hasn’t been mentioned this evening they’re undoubtedly involved in a goalless draw. Back to you Alan.

AG: Thanks Mark, well at last this game does seem to have come to life! The sendings off has inflamed the players and Thierry Henry moments ago brought a fine save from Barthez in goal, when Bergkamp was waiting in the area.

JA: That maybe the case but when a striker like Henry is hurtling down the pitch at breakneck speed there’s only one thought on his mind – goal.

AG: Well here come United now, back in possession eager to exploit the absence of Arsenals talisman in the centre of the park. Wes Browns knocks it out wide to Beckham, who’s form has created a mass speculation amongst the tabloids that is frankly stupid. Now here he comes looking for Solskjaer, oh that’s a fantastic pass – a good 40 yards. Solskjaer in on goal now this is a great chance for the Norwegian – he pulls back the trigger and he’s bundled to the ground! That looked a clear cut penalty if ever I saw one! Sol Campbell seemed to just knock him off balance and that was a goal scoring opportunity. Jimmy?

JA: From any position that looked a penalty although if you look closer again at the replay contact was in fact minimal and I think Ole’s over cooked that one a little.

AG: Well, it was certainly a penalty in the mind of ref Graham Barber who as per usual has overreacted and sent off the central defender. My favourite referee in this league, his decisions manage to push the boundaries of competence. I apologise listeners for my excessive sarcasm but the man’s a joke and I can’t recall him getting one decision right tonight and it’s barely 20, 25 minutes old.

JA: He’s had better games…

AG: That’s an understatement Jimmy, utterly pathetic. Anyway Van Nistelrooy has placed the ball on the spot as he faces the pony tailed David Seaman. He’s taking a short run up…. And oh he misses!! Shocking penalty! Seaman didn’t even have to move as the kick went a good half yard wide of the left hand post, oh dear! Arsenal have survived that one – let’s see if they can make amends…

JA: Well that really was an appalling penalty from someone who is usually so effective from the spot. It seems this game keeps on turning up surprises.

AG: Indeed Jimmy, let’s just hope things start to find a degree of normality. The passion is there between these sides – now lets up they find that quality we hear so much of.

8:30 pm

AG: Well this game has really disappointed Jimmy. After that penalty miss I thought we might actually have some action in this game but it seems not. Can you remember anything of particular note in this game since then?

JA: Not really actually. There was that half chance for Paul Scholes from 30 yards but that came to nothing and ever since no moves have been allowed to flourish and the ref is just ruining the flow with a persistent stop start strategy that is quite unnecessary.

AG: I totally agree – it has been a dreadful performance by Graham Barber this evening. Anyway, maybe this attack will prove more fruitful. It’s Ray Parlour on the ball, about 10 yards inside the Man United half, running with the ball. He’s beaten Wes Brown, who’s working as part of a 3-man defence and now he’s got space to run into! This is promising, he’s moving quickly and that’s a superb cross into Henry, Henry, and HENRY!!!!!!!! It’s a GOAL for Arsenal! That was a fantastic move by Arsenal and full credit to Ray Parlour who really was instrumental in that goal as he carried it down the left flank before playing a superb ball into Henry who controlled it, took a sidestep across the box before firing a sweet left footed shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net. Unstoppable and it gives Arsenal the lead! Jimmy?

JA: Well it really was a super goal from Henry. You can say that Ray did all the hard work and to an extent that’s true but you can’t ignore the skill Henry needed to create an opening for himself once he received the ball and well, maybe that will set the game up for something special.

AG: Let’s hope so. The 9 men of Arsenal are 1 nil to the good against the 10 men of Manchester United. Over to you Mark.

MP: Thanks Alan and Jimmy. We’ll be back with you shortly but most of the other games are now at half time in the Worthington Cup and we’ll go around the grounds. First off it’s Ron Jones at Villa Park.

RJ: Well Mark it wasn’t quite as comfortable as perhaps the home crowd were expecting, although that had more to do with the inexperienced line up than a good Portsmouth side. Alan Wright settled early nerves with the penalty after 16 minutes but after that it was still quite an even encounter. Paul Merson and Steve Stone combined to almost haunt their old club but thanks to Leon Hylton at half time it’s Aston Villa 1, Portsmouth 0.

MP: Thanks Ron, well another Premiership clash is taking place at Elland Road where Leeds are taking on Blackburn and commentating for us there is Simon Brown.

SB: Well it’s been a closely fought encounter here with Leeds just edging it thanks to Alan Smiths first half header from a Nick Barmby cross. Blackburn have had chances too and Dwight Yorke will be kicking himself after missing a glorious opportunity from 4 yards out. However this game is not over yet and it is set up for an intriguing second half.

MP: Thanks Simon. I can tell you that the ties between Southampton and Middlesbrough, Walsall and Burnley and Brentford and Crystal Palace are still goalless but all the others have at least a goal to report on. Ipswich have reduced the arrears through Thomas Gaardsooe against West Ham so they trail by just one goal now and Teddy Sheringham has scored Tottenham’s third goal against Swindon just before the half time whistle. Boston United still hold that impressive lead against Manchester City and that game kicked off at 7:30 so that will be just starting in the second half now, as will Brighton against Chesterfield where the hosts have given themselves a slight lifeline by scoring through Gary Hart to bring the game back to life. In the other games then its Barnsley 1 Cardiff 0, Coventry 1 QPR 0 – that was a Jay Bothroyd strike, Sheffield Wednesday 0 Chelsea 1, Newcastle 1 West Brom 0 and Millwall 3 Liverpool 1. Right that’s the half time round up completed. We’re going for a news update now and we’ll return in time for the second half of Arsenal v Manchester United.

[Gino]

This is fantastic Brian. The detail is amazing.

[Terk]

brilliant story

[Brian of Nazareth]

Cheers Gino and Terk, glad you're enjoying it! Takes bloody ages to write though

*****

9.00 pm

AG: Welcome back listeners after the break. In case you were wondering you missed absolutely nothing in the last quarter of an hour of the first half at Highbury. Not even Arsenals goal could inspire a lively exchange of swift counter attacks from either side. Let’s just hope that this second half – I see the players now – will be entertaining for all the right reasons. Your thoughts Jimmy?

JA: well absolutely – it was a pretty horrible sight seeing all those red cards and it makes you wonder what kind of a sport football is.

AG: we’ll see. Lets rely on the professionalism, if there is any in these sides to provide the paying public with some good football. Anyway Manchester United will kick off this second half from left to right now and Solskjaer plays it back to Keane who plays it back to Ferdinand, across to Silvestre, Man Utd just passing it around carefully now, just trying to get into a rhythm. They need to score quickly don’t they Jimmy?

JA: Well they need to put pressure on Arsenal definitely. A goal isn’t necessarily vital immediately because Arsenal are a man fewer than United so as long as Man U keep the tempo up I’m sure they’ll wear the home side down eventually but of course if they go too long Arsenal will get stronger and more confident so the next 10 minutes should be interesting viewing.

AG: And here is an attack from Manchester United. Paul Scholes is on the ball, about 40 yards out just left of centre, he’s searching out the run of Giggs and finds him superbly down the left as Giggs capitalises on the weakened Arsenal defence he’s still going, into the area now, past Keown, this is a glorious opportunity! He’s got a sight at goal… and he… MISSES! Oh dear me, that is a bad miss and could prove costly for United. Well the ref’s given a corner now so Seaman must have got a finger tip, but even so, from that position he should equalised for United!

JA: Oh absolutely, it was a terrible miss from Giggsy and on any other day you’d back him to score with ease, but that’s what they need to do, put pressure on the Arsenal defence and eventually they will crack.

AG: Ok, well here comes David Beckham across to take the corner. Right footed... into the area... and useless. What a rubbish corner from David Beckham, the so called king of set pieces. Useless. Anyway back to Mark in the studio.

MP: Ok, thanks for that, just to interrupt momentarily to round up a few more scores. West Ham have restored their 2 goal advantage at Ipswich as Joe Cole has fired home to make it 3-1 and Alan Shearer has doubled Newcastle’s lead against West Brom. Brighton’s hopes look to be finally over after Guy Butters was sent off and Alan O’Hare fired Chesterfield into a 3-1 lead with only 2 minutes remaining in that match. Another interesting scoreline is at Boston where, with literally just seconds to play the home side still lead their illustrious opponents Manchester City 1-0, in fact I’ve just been told that match has finished and Boston have reached the fourth round, congratulations to them. I’ll be back in about 20 minutes to round up the full time scores. Of course all other scores at present have not changed. Back to you Alan.

AG: Thanks for that Mark, well their was a cheer from the Man Utd section of the ground when they discovered the City score but their attention will swiftly return to this game where Arsenal still lead by 1 goal to 0 thanks to Thierry Henry’s first half strike. Well that effort from Giggs has opened the game up at last and now the sides are creating more opportunities. While you were away, Bergkamp hit the up right with a fierce 30-yard drive. Now though Arsenal have Man Utd again on the back foot. Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who came on for Parlour five minutes ago, is carrying the ball forward. Now he gives it to Ljunberg, and the Swede just waits for players to catch up. Ferdinand is coming to close him down and so he passes back inside to the fairly anonymous Gilberto. Gilberto now, moves out to the right hand side of the penalty area, he stops again and plays it back to Bergkamp who tries the shot and OH MY WORD IT’S IN!!! What a sublime strike from Dennis Bergkamp from 20 maybe 25 yards out on the right of the area he smashed it in beautifully past Fabien Barthez and Arsenal, despite only having 9 mine are now 2 goals to the good. What a strike that was, quite brilliant.

JA: That is classic Bergkamp, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hit a sweeter shot, simply outstanding and I think Manchester United, despite a man advantage will find it very hard to find a way back into the game now.

AG: They’ll have to respond quickly if they are to get back into this game and it will be interesting to see how Sir Alex deals with this and if he decides to go all out for the win or just be content to get through the rest of the game with no further injury. I would be surprised if he chose the latter option.

JA: Alex is not a quitter and he hates losing so he’ll try his best to win this one, especially given who the opponents are.

AG: Scholes has the ball at the moment, but Lauren disposes him again and – oh for crying out loud Mr. Barber there was nothing wrong with that tackle! This man is going to get the wrath of a vast number of people – even Arsenal fans despite their winning advantage. Oh and there’s another little gathering on the field. Ok listeners I’ll inform you of a couple of latest scores to tell you about. Charlton seem on course to win with Claus Jensen and Jesper Blomquist scoring in quick succession. That’s going to be a boost for the struggling London side. Poyet has added a fourth to Tottenham’s impending victory over Swindon and it’s now 1-1 between Southampton and Middlesbrough after Jonathan Greening and James Beattie scored within a minute of each other. Now are we going to get some play on here at last? Oh no Beckham’s injured, and there are substitutes and drinks on the pitch. Oh well. Whilst we’re waiting I think there’s been another goal at Elland Road. Commentary from Simon Brown:

SB : Kewell picks the ball up on the left now, oh and he’s given Craig Short the cold shoulder and he’s through on goal! The Aussie should score here… and it’s a terrific save from Brad Friedel but the rebounds fallen to MARK VIDUKA! It’s 2-0 Leeds and effectively game over now – he reacted quickly and now he’s put Leeds into a very strong position with not long left on the clock! Leeds 2 Blackburn 0.

AG: Well it looks like Leeds are on their way to the next round as well after, along with Spurs and probably Newcastle who are 2-0 to the good and in control against West Brom.

Right at last we have some action at Highbury, Sylvain Wiltord is coming on for Henry who’s already done what he needed to and will get a deserved rest and Quinton Fortune is replacing David Beckham who probably has some little cut that will garner the attention of the utterly obsessed media. I think Arsene Wenger will simply be looking to consolidate his position at the moment.

JA: Yes, I mean there really is no point stretching his players now. They’ve done a good job, especially with the 9 men and I expect they will take it a little easier now with just half an hour or so of the game to go.

AG: Well Man U are on the attack again now, eager to get back into the game as soon as possible and Fortune gets a quick early touch, receiving a pass from Keane, who’s had a superb start this year despite what some critics may say, and Fortune is now taking the ball down the left wing, he’s past Keown now and he’s running towards the by line. Stops, looks up and that’s a fine ball into OH! SO CLOSE! Ruud Van Nistelrooy 9 times out of ten would have buried that header. The ball came across and he had plenty of time to pick his spot and he’s missed! It’s just not Manchester United’s night.

JA: Another poor miss from United is going to cost them this evening and I think that was a really good chance to get back into the game and it may just have cost United the game now as Arsenal will start to tighten up now and hold onto what they’ve got.

9:50 pm

AG: Well this game has dissipated further sadly in the final few minutes and I think it’s quite evident that Arsenal have won this easily enough which will surely be a worry for Sir Alex, Jimmy, if his side aren’t able to overcome a side down to 9 men and I think I can comfortably say Sol Campbell and Patrick Vieira are far more crucial to the Arsenal side than Neville is to United.

JA: Indeed Alan. It may only be the Worthington Cup and doubtless their fans will try to use that as an excuse but mentally it will be a big blow for United who certainly had chances to level this match up.

AG: I suppose it does leave Sir Alex one less competition to worry about but the Scot is a winner, but here come Arsenal, deep into stoppage time, searching for a third goal. Van Bronckhorsts engine takes him past the tiring Keane. Oh dear the Man U midfield have just given up, it’s not the best news for Fergie. But the Dutch midfielder crosses for Wiltord on the right, the Frenchman now running, or jogging really as there’s no need to run, he checks inside and has a pop and… it’s 3-0! Good goal from the substitute and really it’s not much of a surprise considering the apathy demonstrated by the United players in recent minutes. A fine strike that ends the game in fact as Barber now blows up for full time. Your final thoughts Jimmy?

JA: Well it’s a nice way to finish the game with a goal that was certainly well taken by Wiltord but personally I am disappointed that we didn’t have more of a game than we did. Not even the sendings off inspired enough passion for a good even contest of quality football. Arsene will be pleased although I suspect he won’t have seen the incidents but Sir Alex will have some worries, especially over his players attitudes and I wouldn’t like to be in that dressing room right now.

AG: I’ll agree with you there. Those were the words of Jimmy Armfield everyone and if as I’m sure will have any comments on this evening’s match, ring Five Live now on 0500 909 693 and air your words with Adrian Chiles who is waiting to take your call now. Handing back to you in the studio now Mark.

MP: Thanks Alan and Jimmy. That’s Arsenal 3 Manchester United 0. Now with all the games now finished except the Crystal Palace match, which is nearing a penalty shoot out stage, we’ll round up the evening’s results and starting at Villa Park it’s Ron Jones.

RJ: Yes Thank you Mark. Well it was a close game than perhaps was expected but in the end the home side won and will progress through to the fourth round thanks to Alan Wrights first half penalty. In the second half Portsmouth did try to get back into the game and a Linvoy Primus header was narrowly wide from levelling the match. However there were further chances for man of the Match Stefan Moore, who is looking a very promising youngster and his replacement Peter Crouch as Villa looked to seal the tie. In the end however there were no further goals and the south coast side will go home empty handed.

MP: Thanks Ron, now over to Simon Brown who saw a late goal I gather.

SB: That’s right Mark – a late Andy Cole strike gave Blackburn some hope in this tie with Leeds but it was not enough and the Lancashire side are now out of the League Cup. Goals from Alan Smith and Mark Viduka had put the home side into a strong position but then Blackburn replied through the former England forward who chested a Damien Duff ball down and volleyed sweetly past Paul Robinson in the Leeds goal. Cue a frantic final few minutes but Leeds held on and it is they who progress to the next round.

MP: That’s Leeds through, 2-1 victors over Blackburn. Well Peter Drury was watching First division leaders host Premiership title chasers Liverpool at the New Den and I think we have a surprise result.

PD: Indeed we do Mark as it is Millwall who walked away 3-1 winners, with all 4 goal arriving in the first half. An even contest to begin with, the away side actually took the lead on 24 minutes through Emile Heskey’s fine low drive, but Millwall stunned Liverpool with successive goals from Steve Claridge as the aging ex-gambler stuck two away to give the home side the lead and then Steven Reid further added to Liverpool’s misery with a sweetly struck third. The second half saw a dispirited Liverpool unable to cope with a Millwall side in full flow and they now bow out, able to concentrate on Europe.

MP: Another unhappy night for Gerard Houllier then. Well as we’ve heard Boston United of the third division have shocked Manchester City and Chesterfield defeated Brighton 3 goals to 1. Now the last we heard Southampton and Middlesbrough were all square at St. Mary’s Stadium but there was a flurry of goals in the final minutes of that match. Reporting there was Stuart Hall.

SH: Indeed Mark and my what a majestic display of splendid football. A dark and gloomy first half only lit up by the menacing glare of the floodlights burst spectacularly into like life a firework on 73 minutes. The wickedly pacy Jonathan Greening stole in behind the Saints defence to finish like a devil. Soon after those saints were looking for revenge and revenge they gained thanks to a strike from James Beattie that thundered like a herd of wildebeest past the despairing Mark Schwarzer. But wait the adventure continues as Michael Ricketts soon fired a bullet into the roof of the net, in a manner akin to a Clint Eastwood film. Menacing, devastating, but unquestionably cool. The roller coaster match took an upward turn for the home sides though as Paul Telfer with a left foot as sweet as candyfloss volleyed home superbly and the watching spectators roared so loud, you could mistake them for lions in the wild. The kings of the jungle would soon be roaring again as in the final minute, Marian Pahars, the lightweight Latvian bounded athletically along, like a graceful ballerina as he pirouetted high in the air to nod home an Anders Svensson cross. Quite superb.

MP: Erm… thanks Stuart, engaging as ever. Now, with Peter Cliff waiting to deliver the news we’ll round up the final scores in full.

Arsenal 3 Manchester United 0

Aston Villa 1 Portsmouth 0

Barnsley 1 Cardiff 0, Dean Gorre with the winner there,

Boston United 1 Manchester City 0

Brentford 0 Crystal Palace 0, Palace have gone through on penalties,

Brighton 1 Chesterfield 3

Charlton 3 Fulham 0, that’s a welcome win for Charlton,

Coventry 1 Q.P.R 0,

Ipswich 1 West Ham United 3, Joe Royle’s side continuing to struggle.

Leeds 2 Blackburn 1,

Millwall 3 Liverpool 1,

Newcastle 4 West Brom 0

Sheffield Wednesday 0 Chelsea 2

Southampton 3 Middlesbrough 2

Tottenham 4 Swindon 0

Walsall 1 Burnley 1 and Ian Cox struck the winning penalty for Burnley.

That's all from us, we hope you enjoyed the nights football and we'll be back at the weekend for more top class football.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Friday 8th

www.avfc.co.uk

Well after the win over Portsmouth Villa still had interest in the fourth round of the League Cup and this morning the FA drew us at home to First division strugglers Burnley. Stan Ternant’s side though will be tough challenge, although hopefully we can make it clear why they elected to copy the colours of claret and blue all those years ago with a victory.

The full draw then:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

Coventry City v Crystal Palace

Chelsea v Leeds United

Boston United v Chesterfield

Aston Villa v Burnley

Newcastle v Southampton

Millwall v Arsenal

Barnsley v West Ham

Charlton Athletic v Tottenham Hotspur

</pre>

Monday 11th

The Times – The Game

Another interesting week of football in the Premiership with goals here and goals there and again the leaders slipped up handing top spot back to Arsenal who comprehensively defeated Middlesbrough 3-0 with goals from Gilberto Bergkamp and Ljungberg. Liverpool also leapfrogged Aston Villa as they defeated Birmingham 1-0 at St. Andrews thanks to a goal from Michael Owen. Villa slipped up at Goodison as they were outplayed by Everton, going down to a Nicky Chadwick effort. Blackburn held Spurs at Ewood Park in the only drawn game of the weekend. Charlton Athletic, bottom of the league suffered heartbreak at the Valley as a late Daniel Nardiello strike sealed a 2-1 victory for Manchester United. Under fire Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri secured a much-needed victory with a 3-0 success over Newcastle at Stamford Bridge with Hasselbank and Gudjohnsen scoring the goals. Chelsea though still lie in 16th. A Robbie Fowler brace helped Manchester City to beat Leeds in a mid table clash 3-0 and West Ham narrowly overcame Southampton at Upton Park 3-2 with Edouard Cissé heading home the winner with 5 minutes remaining. In the relegation clash between Sunderland and Fulham it was the London side who came through winners thanks to Facunda Sava and Steve Marlet which takes them along way up the table to twelfth spot in the table, indicative of how tight it is at the bottom.

Everton return to Winning Ways

[ by Roland Rat

Everton Manager David Moyes in the Matchday programme mentioned how desperate his side were to re-ignite their early season form since falling back down the league with 4 sizeable defeats and 1 draw in their last five games. The fans told me that they were still pleased with the start Moyes has made in his first full season, but they weren’t holding out serious expectations for the season as a mid table finish would be a solid base to work from.

Based on their play this afternoon though and I feel that some Evertonians would be somewhat justified in hoping for a top six finish as they defended well early on and broke when the chance arose, neither over stretching their defence or becoming a dull side. Promising youngster Nick Chadwick looked a real talent out there making his second start this year after injuries to Campbell, Ferguson and Rooney restricted the home sides options somewhat and his second half goal was well deserved.

It ultimately proved to be the winner over a Villa side who’s performance was lethargic in comparison to previous games and despite the loss of on one or two key players, Rod Davies will have been slightly concerned with his sides performance in failing to get back into the game, especially after Everton’s Chinese midfielder Lie Tie was sent off after 70 minutes.

The game began though with Everton on the back foot as Gudjonssen and Hendrie took charge of the midfield battle and providing an outlet for Thomas Hitzlesperger and Mustapha Hadji to exploit any gaps in the Everton defence. On one such occasion the Icelandic hard man let Hitzlesperger free down the left for the young German to send in a cross that was headed on by Stefan Moore for Juan Pablo Angel but the Columbian fluffed his lines as the ball rolled pathetically into the hands of Richard Wright.

From then on though the home side managed to nullify the Villa midfield effectively and they had several good chances of their own with Tobias Linderoth and Lie Tie setting up young Chadwick and the Canadian forward Thomas Radzinski in quick succession. The first chance fell in the 15th minute to Chadwick who laid a pass off to Linderoth who hit a first time cross back into the box which although initially cleared by acting centre back Gareth Barry it only fell to the 20 year old who fired past Peter Enckelman and the left hand up right.

10 minutes later and the speedy Radzinski beat the offside trap to collect a pass from Lie Tie and he faced a one on one situation with Enckelman only to blaze his effort over the bar to the frustration of the home support behind the goal. That frustration turned to anxiety as Villa then won a succession of corners in a brief spell in which they looked taking control but poor set piece play from the Villains left Richard Wright with very little to do and Angel and Stefan Moore were very frustrated.

The second half brought a livelier second half and the home side had a goal to cheer about on 53 minutes as Nick Chadwick grabbed his first of the season to the delight of Goodison Park. Superb link up play between Lie Tie and Thomas Radzinski down the right hand side of the penalty area created an opening for young Nicky Chadwick who certainly did not waste this chance thumping it into the roof of the net.

The youngster didn’t last too much longer being replaced by a Duncan Ferguson still recovering from injury but he received a standing ovation as left the pitch with a smile on his face. Everton were now the side who looked the table toppers as all the battles were won by those in a blue shot and the toffees were close to going to 2 nil up but Rodrigo was unable to convert a chance from 12 yards.

Soon after though and the game exploded further with 4 yellow cards dished out by the referee. Linderoth for Everton after a crunching tackle on Hitzlesperger and 3 for Villa as Gudjonssen Hendrie and Delaney all picked up bookings for tough tackles.

Moments later and Barry Knight caused controversy by refusing Everton a what seemed to be a stonewall penalty as the otherwise excellent Ronny Johnsen appeared to drag back Duncan Ferguson in the 6 yard box but Knight failed to see it. It wasn’t long before the volatile crowd were incensed further by Knight as he dismissed Lie Tie for a two footed challenge on Angel, but this time the crowd were quite cheeky to claim it a wrong decision. The usual anti referee chants appeared but Lie Tie still walked off.

At this point one would think that a side topping the table might be able to capitalise on holding a one man advantage against a side struggling for form, but despite the introduction of Darius Vassell, Steven Davis and Jlloyd Samuel, Villa were still unable to create anything worthwhile, with their only attack of note in the second half being a 30 yard free kick from Thomas Hitzlesperger that rattled the crossbar in the final minute. Had that gone in the visitors would have taken a point that they certainly didn’t deserve.

Everton took the 3 points and moved back to 6th in the table, 6 points and 3 places behind their opponents. If they can use this game as a benchmark for future games in how to overcome tough opposition then the Goodison faithful should be in for a rare successful season. For Villa that consistency is seemingly lacking again as their away form declines rapidly and the strength of their squad will be test further following Thomas Hitzlesperger’s departure with a torn groin muscle that will keep him out for 2 months.

Full Time: Everton 1 Aston Villa 0 Chadwick

Everton: Wright 8, Yobo 7, Pistone 8, Stubbs 8, Weir 7 (Hibbert 6), Alexandersson 6, Rodrigo 7, Linderoth 8 (Carsley 5), Lie Tie 8, Radzinski 8 Chadwick 8 (Ferguson 7).

Aston Villa: Enckelman 7, Delaney 7, Wright 6, Johnsen 8, Barry 8, Gudjonssen 8, Hendrie 7, (Davis 8), Hadji 6 Hitzlesperger 7, Angel 6 (Vassell 7) Moore 7.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Premiership Table

(N.B. Why the hell is there no print option )

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

1. Arsenal 13 8 3 2 25 8 +17 27

2. Liverpool 13 8 3 2 24 11 +13 27

3. Aston Villa 13 8 2 3 22 13 +9 26

4. Middlesbrough 13 7 2 4 24 16 +8 23

5. Man Utd 13 7 2 4 19 15 +4 23

6. Everton 13 6 2 5 13 17 -4 20

7. Bolton 12 5 4 3 15 8 +7 19

8. Newcastle 13 5 4 4 22 17 +5 19

9. West Ham 13 5 3 5 18 21 -3 18

10. Leeds Utd 13 4 5 4 19 20 -1 17

11. Man City 13 4 5 4 14 15 -1 17

12. Fulham 13 4 3 6 21 22 -1 15

13. West Brom 12 4 3 5 09 11 -2 15

14. Blackburn 13 4 3 6 19 23 -4 15

15. Tottenham 13 4 3 6 11 18 -7 15

16. Chelsea 13 3 5 5 12 12 0 14

17. Southampton 13 3 5 5 17 20 -3 14

18. Birmingham 13 3 3 7 12 25 -13 12

19. Sunderland 13 2 4 7 10 20 -10 10

20. Charlton 13 2 2 9 13 27 -14 08

</pre>

[This message was edited by Raptor on 25 August 2003 at 21:17.]

[Brian of Nazareth]

first off, thanks to Rap for sorting that table.

Friday 15th Birmingham Post

Villa Continue to Fly Flag

by Joey Verducci

On a cool November evening Villa overcome the Greek resistance of Xanthi to continue in their European Quest. The return of Olof Mellberg to defence from injury was welcomed by everyone at the club as his presence had been missed in recent games. The side was changed from that which lost to Everton, but it was still thin on the ground due to injuries so a few young players were brought onto the substitutes bench.

However the game was anything but one sided and the Greek side did very well to keep their hosts at bay for so long, Kim Kallstrom’s winning goal not coming until the 81st minute. They defended solidly, kept the ball well and the longer the first half went on, the more nervous the home side and their fidgety fans became which almost led to a shock half time lead for the Greek side when captain Vasilis Nikolaou hit the cross bar with a 20 yard effort and at the half time whistle the home side walked off to jeers from the Holte End, clearly disappointed with their sides ability to dispose of Xanthi.

After the break the game continued in similar vein as Villa struggled to make any serious inroads into the Greek’s defence and for the Villa fans at the ground there was a clear sense of déja-vu as they seemed to be heading out on away goals just like they had against Varteks and Helsingborgs in recent years. On 63 minutes though Rod Davies elected to introduce Juan Pablo Angel and Steven Davis into the fray in place of Marcus Allback and Ulises de la Cruz.

They invigorated a side that was failing to create openings and soon the dazzling runs of the Columbian and incisive pace of young Davis began causing Xanthi all sorts or trouble. Just 2 minutes after their introduction they were involved in forcing a corner as Davis took on a pass from Hendrie and found a way through to the area before crossing into the path of Angel but the skilful forwards shot was parried behind for a corner.

That corner led to nothing but the optimism had returned once more and the crowd got behind their side cheering them on to score that thus far elusive goal. Moments later and the ball was in the back of the away sides net, only to be called off for offside. Davis once again charged down the right hand side of the pitch and played inside to Kim Kallstrom where the energetic Swede managed to evade several tackles to play in Vassell who finished with aplomb and 34000 people celebrated. In 5 seconds there was a frighteningly quiet silence as it was called off by the linesman, cue a heavy amount of vitriolic abuse in the direction of Fred Jacket.

10 Minutes later and frustration had developed once more around the ground as nothing was going the way of the villains and Davies brought on the young Peter Whittingham for Alan Wright to add that youthful enthusiasm to the side which the 17 year old was keen to take advantage of. Not long after his introduction and a bursting run from the youngster led to Mustapha Hadji finding himself in acres of space outside the area. A Tidy overstep gave the midfielder a yard of space but his stinging right footed shot was a good couple of yards over the bar.

Eventually, though the breakthrough came to the relief of 34 000 and the despair of 786 travelling Greeks who had come so close to a memorable upset. It arrived thanks to a free kick won by Angel 30 yards out. Stepping up to take it was Kim Kallstrom the new signing for Villa. The kick hit the wall and Vassell swivelled to shoot, only to be denied by the crossbar as the ball rebounded back out of the box to the feet of Kallstrom who hit the ball first time into the back of the net thanks partly to the reactions of the goalkeeper who was unable to see it until the ball was almost upon him. That goal meant that Villa were through and even if Xanthi scored now there would still be extra time to contend with.

The final 10 minutes though were all Villa as they sought to secure the win and put Xanthi out of sight. The Greeks though were broken by that late goal and struggled to re-organise themselves and it was only the reflexes of Juraj Bucek in the Xanthi goal that prevented both Darius Vassell and Olof Mellberg from grabbing late goals.

The final whistle soon blew and Villa manager Rod Davies was a very relieved man. “ We always knew it would be a tough game. From what we learned in Greece they’re a stubborn side who are difficult to break down and so it proved tonight. I was slightly concerned that it took us so long to get the goal but you know as long as you keep going and believe you can win then you always have a chance and so it proved. I’m just glad we’re into the next round and hopefully we’ll avoid some of the big guns in the draw on Friday!â€

Aston Villa 1 Xanthi 0 Kallstrom

Post Man of the Match: Kim Kallstrom – one of the few midfielders who looked threatening for Villa in the match and he certainly benefited from the help of Steven Davis and Juan Pablo Angel midway through the second half.

That draw will take place in Switzerland from FIFA headquarters at around 11 am BST and Villa are not the only British side with interest in the draw as Chelsea, Leeds and Blackburn all progressed to the third round after victories over Gorica, Utrecht and Ankaragükü respectively. Aberdeen, Bangor and Ipswich all failed to get past their opponents. Newcastle will also be looking to the UEFA Cup after failing to get past the first group stage of the Champions League. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United will all be eager to discover who they will be playing in the second group stage of the Champions League.

[Brian of Nazareth]

www.avfc.co.uk

Well after our narrow victory over Xanthi we’re sure everyone is anxious to discover who we are playing in round 3. Well we certainly avoided the big guns but it’s another unknown for us in Torpedo Kutaisi, a side from Georgia. They should certainly not be underestimated given that they knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League qualifying rounds and have overcome Boavista and Besiktas to reach this stage so they are not without pedigree. The first leg is away in Georgia and tickets are available now, but book fast if you want to be on that plane to Georgia! This will now affect the home games with Burnley in the League Cup 4th round and Premiership ties with Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion. These games will now be played on Wednesday 20th November, Sunday 1st December and Sunday 15th December. The Burnley game may affect some fans but refunds are available if necessary. Otherwise there are still plenty of tickets available for the League Cup clash. There are now less than 100 tickets available in time for our big clash against Birmingham City on Sunday.

UEFA Cup 3rd Round Draw

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

PAO v Porto

Galatasary v Lyon

Parma v Fenerbache

Dinamo Bucharest v Belasica GC

1860 Munchen v Newcastle United

Spartak Moscow v Chelsea

Leeds v Bologna

Celta v Heerenveen

Partizan v Blackburn

Paris SG v Hertha BSC

Varteks v Sparta Prague

AEK v Betis

Puchov v Lazio

Werder Bremen v Ajax

Kutaisi v Aston Villa

Roma v Chievo

</pre>

[Brian of Nazareth]

Sunday 15th

Daily Telegraph

FA Cup Magic – The First Round

by Laura Adams

For those of you who have been reading from the start of this season, you will know that the Telegraph is reporting on every round of the every game of the hallowed cup, right from the very first stages. If you remember we started off at Trafford a small side in the north who were narrowly defeated by Norfolk side Kings Lynn 3-1. From then we moved to the second qualifying round where Bromsgrove Rovers overcame Kings Lynn in an exceptionally thrilling encounter that yielded 9 goals – one of the games of the tournament possibly.

People talk about local rival derby games including the Glasgow derby, the Merseyside, Manchester and London derbies amongst many, but one of the most passionate that I have had the fortune to witness came in the third round of the qualifying stage where Bromsgrove hosted local rivals Worcester City. With another step towards the FA Cup proper at stake – and hence more money the players were certainly up for it but it was Graham Allner’s side that took the spoils winning a tense and fraught penalty shoot out 9-8. That was a game that had it all – quality, hopes, ecstasy, despondency, mud, wind and rain not to mention stands packed to the maximum with fans in loud voice.

Following on from that game we saw Worcester travel to St Albans hoping to get into the first round proper. However that was where their journey ended as they went down to goals from a fireman and a truck driver. This Saturday I was off to follow St. Albans tie with Scarborough at the McCain Stadium in Scarborough. St. Albans were in for a tough ride facing opponents doing well in the conference and only recently relegated from the football league. After a scrappy first half that saw little action it was Scunthorpe through Pete Collins in the 65th minute that opened the scoring. It seemed that the more experienced side would go on to control proceedings but no. St. Albans came back with a flourish and deservedly levelled with five minutes to go through debutant Matt Holmes to send the game into a replay. Will the FA Cup Magic work again? Keep reading the Telegraph to find out

[Brian of Nazareth]

Radio 5 Live

4:00 pm

MP: Welcome to BBC Radio 5 live Sport on Five and today we have a big midland derby to bring to you, the first top flight derby between these sides in 17 years. Also this afternoon we’ll bring you updates and reports in the other Premiership matches between Leeds and West Brom, Liverpool and Chelsea, Manchester United and Blackburn, and Newcastle against Arsenal. For now though we bring you the clash between a side who are 3rd from top in the table and one who are 3rd from bottom. Commentating on this afternoons game then is Jonathan Pearce and Jim Beglin.

JP: Thank you Mark, welcome listeners to this tantalising clash between the two midland clubs. This has been built up by both sets of fans as very important for the season as will the return game in the new year. Villa have of course been in fine form this year and surprised many by topping the table but they’ve been struggling for consistency recently and Birmingham have enjoyed a baptism of fire in the league are certainly struggling to cope with the demands of top flight football. However this is a derby game and passion is in abundance as you can tell from the crowd noise. It’s the old cliché but form really does go out the window in games like these. Jim, how do you see this one going?

JB: As you say Jonathan form does go out the window but I still back Villa to nick it. It will be close, certainly but the new feeling round Villa is still evident even if their league form has dipped this will be a good game to kick-start consistency. Birmingham do have a fair chance as well and Robbie Savage will be key player here, if he winds up the players like he does so well it will be interesting. I just hope the fans behave. The problem for Birmingham is clearly up front though, with Morrison having just scored 1 from 8 starts and Stern John 2 from 13.

JP: We’ll have to see if today will be any different. Well we have the team sheets now and let’s just run through them. For Birmingham they have:

Nico Vaesen

Ferdinand Coly

Jamie Clapham

Kenny Cunningham

Matt Upson

Piotr Swierczewski

Christophe Dugarry, captaining the side,

Robbie Savage

Stephen Clemence

Clinton Morrison

Stern John

And for Villa they are starting with

Stefan Postma

Mark Delaney

Gareth Barry

Olof Mellberg

Ronny Johnsen

Ian Taylor

Lee Hendrie

Mustapha Hadji

Kim Kallstrom

Marcus Allback

Darius Vassell

Well Dugarry is going to be important for Birmingham I think and Ian Taylor, the Villa boy through and through will relish this occasion. Anyway here comes the players on to the pitch led out by Paul Durkin. It’s a full house this afternoon and it’s Aston Villa v Birmingham City.

[Brian of Nazareth]

JP: Well it’s Villa who kick off from right to left clad in their traditional blue, lining up in their 442 formation against a Birmingham side in their deep blue also playing 442. Matthew Upson now wins the ball in defence as Hadji overdoes a pass straight from a kick-off, finds Stephen Clemence in midfield, being chased down by a defence line that has pushed up high to tackle him. He plays it back to Dugarry, the Gallic man holds the ball up cleverly… and OH Clemence is through! Collecting the ball from Dugarry now! The linesman’s flags have stayed down! He’s only got Postma to beat! He’s gone round him… and GOAL GOAL GOAL for Stephen Clemence! He’s SCORED a stunning goal inside 40 seconds for Birmingham City and it’s a perfect start for the away side! Their fans are in full voice in the North Stand now!! You’re not singing anymore indeed! 1-0 Birmingham!

JB: Oh dear! What a poor start by Villa that was, the defence weren’t paying attention and it’s the worst possible start for Villa. Credit is due to Dugarry though who picked out Clemence superbly and the midfielder finished the move well, but really he shouldn’t have been allowed so much space!

JP: Well there’s some stern looks amongst the Villa camp now all trying to blame someone else for that but they have to regroup and get back into it! The fans have gone all quiet now and it’s the Blues who you can hear rejoicing!

JB: Villa need the support of their fans now to get some confidence going. Birmingham always knew they were the underdogs here and now pressure was on them, and now the pressure increases on Villa and Davies. They may be third but if they aren’t careful these little blips in the league will play on the mind and it’s very easy to get stuck in a run you can’t get out of.

JP: They certainly need to get back quickly though I think because Birmingham will be desperate to hold on to their lead, for all sorts of reasons, pride, points and to get one over on their local rivals. Well here come Villa now, eager to assert themselves. There’s a nice couple of passes between Ian Taylor and Mustapha Hadji, Taylor a Holte End regular as a boy now carries it forward into the Birmingham half, he picks out Kim Kallstrom on the left of the field, and the Swede, who has made ain impact since he arrived at the club in the summer for a little over 2 million pounds now runs at the Birmingham right back Jamie Clapham. Clapham goes in for the tackle and OH that was a dreadful tackle for the former Ipswich man! The ref is surely going to take some action here! It was late, he was no where near the ball and it’s left Kallstrom calling for the club Physio Jim Walker to come onto the pitch!

JB: That was an awful tackle Jonathan you’re right but hopefully the ref won’t send him off for it as we’re still only a few minutes old in this match, well he’s awarded him a yellow card and I suppose you can see that from the referee’s point of view but Clapham will have to watch his step now.

JP: Quite right, that’s a yellow card for Jamie Clapham, the first of the game and I wonder how many more there’ll be out there. If the volatile atmosphere emanating from the crowd is anything to go by Paul Durkin will be reaching into his pocket a fair number of times this afternoon. Anyway Kallstrom will take the free kick, left footed – finds the head of Marcus Allback who nods back towards LEE HENDRIE! What a strike that was! It just clipped the up right and bounced to safety but that’s lifted the home fans again!

JB: Aye, it has and from Lee Hendrie too! He’s disappointed me over the years that lad as I thought he had the potential to be outstanding midfielder for his country but he never progressed. Maybe this will be the year he comes good, and with his family’s notable interest in Birmingham City it would have meant an awful lot for him to score that goal.

JP: Thanks for Jim, well I hear there’s been another early goal this afternoon and Simon Brotherton is at Newcastle who host the champions, Arsenal.

SB: Yes Jonathan, and it’s gone to the home side! Newcastle have taken the advantage through a Craig Bellamy strike after 8 minutes of play here. An Arsenal attack broke down and the pacy Bellamy was able to exploit the gaps in the Arsenal defence by latching onto a through ball from Laurent Robert to round David Seaman, and put it into the back of the net to the delight of the Geordie fans! Newcastle United 1 Arsenal 0!

JP: Thanks Simon. Elsewhere it still remains 0-0 in the other 3 Premiership fixtures. Here of course Birmingham still lead by that 1st minute goal through Steven Clemence. Here come Birmingham again, Dugarry, their influential man in the middle and World Cup winner, the focal point of their attacks this season brings it forward again and plays in Robbie Savage, the combative Welsh midfielder. He’s already one of the most disliked footballers in the league or so I’ve heard, he’s got a knack of getting other players booked and acting a little unsportingly shall we say but Birmingham fans won’t complain – he’s one of theirs. Now the midfielder carries it forward towards Clinton Morrison, the 4 million pound signing from Crystal Palace. Morrison, shaking off the attention of Olof Mellberg. He’s worked himself some space on the edge of the area very well now – passed out to the Pole who’s name I can’t even be bothered to pronounce –

JB: Pio –ter Swier chooski I think!

JP: Thanks Jim! Well that man has the ball on the right of Villa’s area, waiting for runs to come into the box, some are coming now but so does Gareth Barry at last, but the Pole finds room to send in a looping cross into the centre but it’s cleared but Johnsen but only to Dugarry!! Wide. It was a decent enough effort from the Frenchman but it was also curling wide of the left hand post. Villa though should have cleared that better.

JB: Certainly should have done. Gareth Barry failed to stick with the Polish forward as he should have done but Savage could easily have been stopped better. They got away with it though but their fans will be a little anxious.

4:27

JP: Hendrie on the ball again, takes it forward into the Birmingham half, across to Ian Taylor, those two players long servants at Villa Park, and now the workhorse that is Ian Taylor has found Kim Kallstrom on the edge of the area. The Swede now jumps over the challenge of Matt Upson and plays it to the right of the area where Vassell collects it. This is a very threatening situation for Villa, in a rare good position to score here. Vassell, closed down by Cunningham, evades the challenge of the Irishman and runs towards the area BUT he’s been brought down! PENALTY FOR VILLA! Jamie Clapham, already on a yellow card has tackled the young Englishman from behind and Paul Durkin had no hesitation in pointing to the spot and awarding a penalty! The home fans have picked up their spirits once again now and they are calling for the dismissal of the Birmingham defender Clapham.. but the referee has decided to take no action, an unpopular decision with the home crowd who are voicing their disapproval quite heavily towards Mr. Durkin. However, more importantly for Villa they have a penalty and it is the Swedish striker Marcus Allback who will take the penalty. He’s had a prolific start to this year the Swede but slightly gone off the boil recently. It’s a chance for him to correct that here as he steps back, Uppp and…….. GOAL! That’s what Villa needed and it’s brought them all square now! It’s 1 a piece at Villa Park – good penalty!

JB: Yes, it was a very good penalty and Vaesen had no chance wit that one although he did go the right way. Powerful and it’s invigorated the home crowd now and it’s whoever wants it most now – a timely leveller for the Villains.

JP: Thanks for that Jim. It was certainly an important goal for Villa and they’re attacking again now, the crowd roaring them on to success here as Kallstrom takes it down the left hand side of the pitch he’s approaching the area now, swings a cross over and Allback heads over! Oh dear, that was a good chance wasted. Possibly he was caught up in the moment and he took it a little earlier when a cooler header would have sufficed. There’s a let off for Birmingham there who are having to deal with a fair amount of pressure on their defence at the moment. But now I hear there’s been a goal at Old Trafford where Manchester United are hosting Blackburn Rovers. Commentary comes from Mike Ingham.

MI: Well Tugay has the ball in midfield now and he’s searching out Damien Duff on the left of the area now, but Gary Neville intercepts the ball and he’s released David Beckham down the right and he’s got space ahead of him and Scholes and Giggs are making runs down the pitch – the Blackburn players are all over the shop – and that’s a brilliant pass by Beckham to pick out Giggs! Giggs now charges down the left of the area, the crowd are cheering him on, he’s past 1, 2, and now 3 players! Into the area now, checks looks up and crosses to van NISTELROOOOOY! He’s done it again! Ruud van Nistelrooy has scored for Manchester United with a bullet of a header, into the net and it’s Manchester United 1 Blackburn Rovers 0!

JP: There you go then, United a goal up on 29 minutes. He just doesn’t stop scoring does he? Here though the balls gone out of play on the far touchline, by the managers dug out as Clemence receives treatment for an injury suffered in a 50-50 challenge with Ian Taylor. This game’s become slightly scrappy in the past few minutes since the goal now Jim. Do you think this is going to be indicative of the tone for the rest of this match?

JB: From my experience of derbies there are always going to be periods of sustained battles on the park, it’s that extra competitive edge and desire that means that often it’s difficult to get flowing football going and I think we’ll see a lot more of this hard hitting tackling show this afternoon…

4: 47

JP: The half time whistle is drawing near now and since Aston Villa striker Marcus Allback equalised Stephen Clemence’s goal there have been very few chances for either side in a scrappy half which has been dominated by the Savages and Taylor’s of the game. I suppose this was what we expected – but here’s a chance possibly. Villa have crafted an opening down the right wing with Lee Hendrie and Mustapha Hadji exchanging passes. It’s with the one time England international now, moving towards the by-line and Cunningham comes over to check his progress. Hendrie now though turns back and plays it back to Hadji, who swings over a first time cross for ANGEL! Who nods just wide – that could have been a timely boost going into half time for Villa but as it is the whistle goes and it’s 1-1 apiece.

MP: Thanks Jonathan, we’ll return for the second half commentary of that game later but there are 4 other Premiership games going on this Sunday afternoon and there was a flurry of late first half goals to report from Elland Road where Leeds hosted West Bromwich Albion, Gary Megson’s side having made a very promising start to the year lying in mid table. Watching this one was Ron Jones.

RJ: Yes Mark and what an exciting last few minutes we’ve had here. The opening start to the game was a mixture of the dazzling and the dull. Harry Kewell, ever a live wire down the left tore hungrily into the West Brom defence but the final was always lacking and the away side simply dug in and defended doggedly, that is until 5 minutes from the half time whistle when Kewell finally delivered an inch perfect cross and his fellow Aussie Mark Viduka volleyed home superbly to give the Leeds side a deserved lead. 2 minutes later and it seemed game over as Leeds, and Viduka smashed a second when Kewell again delivered the cross and this time it was a powerful header that beat Russell Hoult. At this point West Brom might be forgiven for caving in but credit to the fighting spirit that exists within the black country team, as they hit back in first half stoppage time as Jason Roberts took advantage of a Neil Clement through ball to surprise the Leeds defence ad reduce the arrears. The second half will be a very interesting game indeed.

MP: Thanks Ron, now the last time we heard Newcastle were leading defending champions Arsenal through a Craig Bellamy strike. Is that still the case Simon Brotherton?

SB: Yes Mark, it’s still 1-0 to Newcastle thanks to Craig Bellamy’s early goal but we’ve already had some controversy in this game as Barry Knight has sent off Arsenal full back Lauren for a professional foul on Alan Shearer as the formidable striker was bearing down on goal. Arsenal are claiming Lauren got the ball but the ref was certain of his decision and now Arsene’s task becomes even harder as they try to get back into the game with 10 men. Half time here though, Newcastle 1 Arsenal 0.

MP: What price Arsene will defend his defender I wonder? Anyway Manchester United are considered to be their main rivals to the title despite a less than successful start, and they are taking on a Blackburn side who are at the wrong end of the table and Mike Ingham is watching. Anything further to report Mike?

MI: Yes Mark! We’ve had another goal here and it’s gone to the man who has been traditionally dubbed as the super sub – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer! The baby faced assassin finished low and hard after latching onto Paul Scholes’ exquisite chip pass that confounded the Blackburn defence and Man Utd look to be back to their domineering self.

MP: Blackburn clearly have a lot of work to do. Finally then we have Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool who have welcomed the visit of a Chelsea who are shockingly in relegation trouble at the bottom of the table, and it doesn’t seem as though Chelsea’s fortunes have picked up in the second half. Reporting from Anfield is Alan Green.

AG: Yes Mark, another abysmal display from Chelsea has made a frankly average Liverpool side look like world beaters. Even the Chelsea bias referee Jeff Winter could not help the ailing Stamford Bridge outfit. Jeff Winter gave almost every decision in favour of the side in blue, perhaps because he felt sorry for them, but Liverpool did not let this pathetic excuse for a referee ruin their game and after a period of sustained pressure they took the lead just past the half hour mark as Vladimir Smicer crossed in from the right and it found an unmarked Michael Owen waiting at the back post who had the simplest of tasks to finish well and give the Kop something they utterly deserved. Chelsea will seriously need to improve in the second half if they are to get anything from this game.

MP: Thank you Alan, well we’ll be back after a news update for the second half of Aston Villa vs. Birmingham.

[Brian of Nazareth]

5:02 pm

JP: Welcome back everybody to the second half of the Villa Blues derby game. At this point we also welcome listeners of the World Service for this match. Well there are no changes at half time as the players take their positions on the pitch. What do you expect from this half Jim?

JB: Well I think the break was better for Birmingham than Villa as the home side were beginning to get on top of their opponents so it has been a chance for them to regroup, whilst Villa will obviously be keen to re-establish their momentum in the game. It’s too close to call at this point.

JP: Cheers Jim. Well Blues are on the attack now and I’m sure Villa will be desperate to not make a repeat start like they did in the first half, but that Gallic man is on the ball once again now, around about 40 yards from the Villa goal, he’s running forward now but there’s a firm challenge from Ian Taylor! He’s a robust figure in the Villa midfield but his pass to Hendrie was dire and Savage can pick the ball up once again now and he immediately plays in Morrison! He’s beaten the offside trap again.. and YES! He’s SCORED! CLINTON MORRISON has put Birmingham 2-1 up and their fans are delirious! Well that was a superb strike, beating Postma at his near post but really the Villa defence should not have let him get through and that is a disastrous start for the home side! Villa 1 Birmingham City 2!! Jim?

JB: Oh dear oh dear. That is diabolical defending from Villa. Delaney and Mellberg should have communicated with each other much better and stopped his progress earlier. I don’t mean to detract from Morrison who did finish well, but really that was appalling defending from Villa and you can see the frustration on the face of Davies on the touchline.

JP: Indeed. He is FURIOUS. Hopping around like a kangaroo on speed he is not a happy man. Well he’s making a substitution now and it’s Mark Delaney who was at fault for that goal who is being sacrificed and I think he knows why he’s coming off – the morose expression on his face tells the tale. In his place comes Jlloyd Samuel the young England U21 defender who’s been in pretty decent form this year but clearly not the finished article.

JB: That doesn’t surprise me really. Delaney was looking shaky early on and now that mistake that led to the goal confirms Davies’ reason to take him off. Samuel will have to face an enthusiastic City side now.

JP: That’s true the Small Heath based team are on the up now and eager to make their advantage count and for Villa it’s just more misery.

5:19

JP: Villa now, enjoying a brief respite from sustain Birmingham pressure have their own chance to attack the goal and Kallstrom is carrying the ball forward again before playing in Darius Vassell. Vassell now, stops on the ball, he’s holding it up well here now and he’s played back to the Swede just as Matthew Upson slides in, and Kallstrom moves play wide to the left of the field with Lee Hendrie now. Hendrie avoids the challenge from Savage, shouting something back in his general direction, the Welsh midfielder has clearly antagonised him again. Just get on with it Lee and don’t get wound up. He’s played into the fee of Marcus Allback, around 25 yards out, he swivels and SHOOTS! OH! Well held from Vaesen there! That was a very well struck shot from Marcus Allback, Villa’s first half goal scorer was so close to levelling things up for Villa!

JB: Well that’s what they needed to have done a few minutes ago but they still have time to get back into the game but that’s positive anyway. Good reactions from Vaesen as well though it should be said.

JP: He did get across well Nico Vaesen who has had to get used to attacks on his goal this year. Now there have been goals around the Premiership in the second half. First up we’ll go to Newcastle and commentating on the goal is Simon Brotherton

SB: Newcastle back on the gas again, counterattacking at speed here, Izzet out wide to Viana, the Portuguese star is running down the left – in acres of space – Arsenal are looking stretched – crosses in for Shearer who nods back to JEEEEEENNNNNAAAS! Jermaine Jenas has finished this contest in favour of Newcastle with a spectacular 25 yard screamer from his captains knockdown! Absolutely brilliant strike from Jenas and surely that’s the end of Arsenal in this game! Newcastle United 2 Arsenal 0.

JP: Immediately we go to Anfield and Alan Green where I believe the home side have a penalty…

AG: Yes Jonathan, they do and I can’t believe it but Jeff Winter has actually made a CORRECT decision. Stranger things have never happened! Michael Owen was through on goal and John Terry just hacked him down when a goal seemed inevitable. There seemed no question of it and a loud cheer when up the ref made the choice. Of course Winter didn’t want to amaze people too much with his brilliance as he bizarrely refused to send off Terry – in fact he didn’t even book him when he was the last man. Complete idiot of a man. However Owen is going to step up to take this penalty now. Cuducini waits on his line… Owen runs and MISSES! But Hamann follows up and SCORES! Dietmar Hamann has scored for Liverpool, after Michael Owens penalty was well saved by Cuducini but the German midfielder lashed in the rebound and it’s deservedly Liverpool 2 Chelsea 0 as the one way traffic continues.

JP: Thank you Alan. Liverpool will overtake Arsenal at the top of the table if results stay as they are. Here Birmingham are in a position to overtake Chelsea out of the relegation zone the way things are going as they lead their rivals by 2 goals to 1. The Villa fans are launching a fight back now with a few renditions of the old My Old Man song – unrepeatable in full on the radio but I think you know what I’m talking about. Anywhere Birmingham are on the ball, looking to extend their lead and Savage is on the ball now...Mellberg comes in to make a tackle… OH WHAT A SHOCKING Tackle that was from the Swede… the two players are confronting each other – OH AND HE’S HEAD BUTTED SAVAGE! Olof Mellberg, Villa’s usually calm collected central defender has head butted Robbie Savage! Words were exchanged and the defender just launched into the Welsh midfielder and Paul Durkin has no option to send him off although he could quite easily have been sent off for that appalling tackle! So what did you make of that Jim Beglin?

JB: Well to start off we had the tackle from Mellberg which really was horrific. His legs were high, he missed the ball completely and basically he took out Savage with his legs which was easily a sending off offence but then Savage clearly said something to Mellberg but that was just so stupid to react like that and his manager will not be happy with that.

JP: You can tell from his reaction again as he glares at Mellberg. There’s going to be some stern words after this game I can say that for sure. Davies now is looking to bring on Gudjonssen for Mustapha Hadji now and this could be interesting. If you remember the fracas a while back involving Gudjonssen and Matty Upson that was reported in the tabloids could cause further friction to a game already threatening to boil over now. Villa will have to just cool themselves down now and be patient. If they overstretch themselves going for an equaliser they run the risk of opening themselves up to the passing of Dugarry and they’ve already seen how devastating he can be.

[Brian of Nazareth]

5:48

JP: Here come Villa once again! Their pressure has been relentless these past 5 minutes as Birmingham have desperately tried to cling on to their lead. Gudjonssen now, bustles his way past Savage with an intense ferocity that smacks of burning desire, he finds Kim Kallstrom in a dangerous position for Villa on the left of the penalty area, tries to find Vassell but Clapham cuts out the cross. The ball rebounds to Hendrie 30 yards out. He looks up, maybe he’ll try a shot – OH HENDRIE!!! What a strike!! It’s into the back of the net and Villa are level!! Or are they? The referee’s blown his whistle and everyone’s waiting to see what happens. The celebrations have been put on ice and – it’s NOT a goal for Hendrie – a foul was spotted by Durkin, I think it may have been Allback kicking Vaesen in the face which the ref wasn’t happy with, I’m not sure yet… but the crucial factor is that no goal has been awarded and Birmingham are still on course to win their first derby match in 17 years on Villa’s home turf. That’s going to cause a few arguments and touch a few nerves I can tell you! Now Vassell has possession once more, looking for a late late equaliser – but the WHISTLE’S GONE! IT’S FULL TIME and Villa have lost to Birmingham City! The fans are booing and sadly their seem to be some fights breaking out on the corner between Trinity Road Stand and the North Stand where the sets of fans meet and oh dear oh dear. There could be an FA inquiry if this isn’t sorted soon. The stewards are on their way though so hopefully that’s all sorted – but here it’s finished Aston Villa 1 Birmingham City 2!

MP: Thanks Jonathan, well it’s a blow for Villa but Birmingham have moved into 16th spot now, ahead of Chelsea who have lost to Liverpool at Anfield. Reporting from there is Alan Green.

AG: In a totally one way match Liverpool will feel slightly disappointed they didn’t win by a greater margin, such was the apathy of Chelsea’s performance. As it was though a first half Michael Owen goal, following work by Vladimir Smicer and a goal from Didi Hamann who followed up Owen’s missed second half penalty were enough to seal the points and it was very much the least the now league leaders deserved.

MP: Yes, Liverpool are now the outright leaders at the top of the table after Arsenal slipped up at St. James’ Park as Simon Brotherton can tell us.

SB: That’s right, Newcastle have beaten the reigning champions Arsenal 2-0 thanks to, firstly a goal from Craig Bellamy in the 7th minute and that was followed up with a superb strike from Jermaine Jenas in the second half. However there was a controversial incident in the first half when Arsenal full back Lauren was sent off for a professional foul although Wenger has claimed his Cameroon international got the ball first. A controversial incident involving Arsenal? Never!

MP: And I’m sure they’ll continue to cause controversy. Now, in the north there was a local derby of sorts as Manchester United hosted their Lancashire neighbours Blackburn Rovers and it was business as usual for Sir Alex’ men as Mike Ingham reports.

MI: 2 goals in the first half were no less than a dominant Manchester United side deserved. First the prolific Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy nodded home from Giggs cross and then Paul Scholes delightful ball allowed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to nip and bag a second. That proved to be enough as the away side struggled to fashion any further opportunities of serious note, although returning strikers Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole will feel aggrieved that Duff and Dunn were unable to provide the service that everyone knows they can. It finished here Manchester United 2 Blackburn 0.

MP: One more game to round up then on a Sunday filled with Premiership action and we join Ron Jones at Elland Road where Leeds entertained West Bromwich Albion.

RJ: It was quite a game Mark and one that the visitors will enjoy far more than their hosts after they somehow walked away from here with a point. In the first half it had been all Leeds as the majestic Harry Kewell twisted and turned, tormented the West Brom defence continuously. Eventually he managed to produce a decent ball and Viduka powered home the opener. 2 minutes later and the same combination forced another goal. Immediately though Jason Roberts struck an injury time goal to give the away side a lift and so it proved as the second half was a much more even affair. West Brom threatened regularly and Leeds did not heed the warnings of successive misses when substitute Bob Taylor, a man loved amongst the Hawthorns popped up unnoticed to head home from Jason Koumas with 5 minutes remaining. Leeds will feel aggrieved, but they only have themselves to blame as it finished here Leeds United 2 West Brom 2.

MP: Thank you Ron. That completes our premiership round up of an exciting and controversial weekend of top class football on radio 5 live. If you want to voice your opinions on any of the days games, Sunday 606 with Alan Green will be on after the news, but from us it’s goodbye.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Wednesday 20th

www.avfc.co.uk

Injury News Update:

Darius Vassell will now be out for 3 weeks with a dislocated shoulder injury that was sadly suffered in training this morning after colliding with a goal post. Olof Mellberg though should be back in time for Saturday’s trip to struggling Chelsea, although he will miss tonight’s League Cup 4th Round clash with Burnley.

Aston Villa 1 Burnley 0

Enckelman, Samuel Johnsen Staunton Wright, De la Cruz Gudjonssen Hendrie Barry, Dublin Moore.

Well we won through to the next round this evening but it took almost all of extra time to secure the victory thanks to a 111th minute strike from Marcus Allback who came on as sub late on. Rod Davies only rested a couple of major players from the side but still found it difficult to break down a tough Burnley back line.

Beginning the game in an attacking spirit Villa tested Burnley’s keeper with a succession of shots from both in the box and far outside it. Stefan Moore, partnering Dion Dublin this evening, had a sharp volley tipped over in the 4th minute and just 60 seconds later it was the experienced Dublin’s turn to hold his head in his hands after watching his powerful header clip the upright.

As the dominance continued the crowd began to heckle the players for not having scored, but on the half hour mark the ball was in the net, only to be chalked off by referee David Ellary. The move started when Ecuadorian Ulises de la Cruz, lost his man and ran straight for goal before being pushed wide. An instinctive turn and cross with his weaker left foot found Dublin’s towering presence who knocked across for Gareth Barry on the edge of the area who’s fierce drive was parried only into the path of Stefan Moore who slid home. The crowd erupted, until Ellary blew his whistle and pointed to the linesman’s flag on the side of the pitch. Moore was the apparent culprit.

The first half continued in such a vein that a breakthrough seemed inevitable but as half time arrived there had still been no goals and as Davies himself admitted it was becoming a little anxious out there.

“ It was a tough game out there for us as we really wanted to try and find some of our early season momentum and wipe out memories of certain games, but the longer the game went on the more worried I and suspect everyone in the ground who followed Villa were too. At the break all I could say was just keep on at it and you’ll find a way through eventually.â€

Credit to the Villa players who could quite easily lost some confidence after failing to score, they continued to punish a Burnley defence, pulling them this way and that way until they were completely worn down. Yet still a goal could not even be bought for love nor money.

After an hours play Davies introduced Allback into the frame, replacing young Stefan Moore and his presence added a different dimension to Villa’s attacking play as more crosses were being sent in for the big guns to try and fire home. Sadly though it seemed as though nothing would come of it as the referee blew his whistle for full time and extra time arrived.

It commenced soon after and suddenly Burnley had their tails up as they sensed a chance to upset their more illustrious opponents. Glen Davis went close with an effort from 20 yards and soon after Robert Taylor narrowly missed the goal with a header from 6 yards. Those warning signs were heeded though and it was Villa through Marcus Allback who went close to scoring next in the 102nd minute as the imposing Swede struck the crossbar from fully 40 yards.

However as the second period arrived, no-one knew which way the game would swing. Given the previous 105 minutes of football, penalties seemed an inevitable conclusion to the game. Fortunately for us though we finally found that elusive winning goal in the 111th minute. Marcus Allback sliding in to meet a De la Cruz centre and the home fans could finally start cheering. By this time there were barely 15,000 in the ground but the noise was still incredible.

That goal too was certainly appreciated by his manager Davies: “ The longer extra time wore on, the more I was focused on penalties and I was thinking of bringing Stefan Postma on for such an occasion, given his superior ability there, but I reckoned without Marcus as he did what others had been trying to do for almost 2 hours! We won though that’s the main thing and now we’ll see where we go from here.â€

Villa will now move into the quarter finals along with Chelsea who defeated Leeds 3-0 and Millwall who shocked Arsenal 2-0 to progress. Having knocked 2 of the biggest clubs in England, I’m sure Millwall are a side no-one wants in the next round. Sadly more injury problems arose from this evenings game and it was confirmed at the hospital that Jlloyd Samuel will miss 2 months of football as he recovers from surgery on his groin.

Elsewhere Mark Delaney and his Welsh colleagues enjoyed success over Azerbaijan. For more information please return to the headline page of the site.

[Brian of Nazareth]

Monday 25th Daily Express

Ranieri Escapes the Sack!

by Mr. Can’twrite-For Toffee

On a weekend when struggling sides came out on top, Chelsea emphatically overcame a desolate and desperate looking Aston Villa side. Goals from Gudjohnsen and then Emmanuel Petit from the penalty spot late on handed the Stamford Bridge faithful something to cheer about and allowed London based newspapers such as ourselves to write incomprehensible amounts of crap glorifying said London sides.

We must not forget Charlton, also from the majestic city of London, a city that is miles better than any other pathetic UK effort, such as Birmingham, a poor city that hosts barely average sides. Aston Villa in fact, are one of them. Their attempts to play solid football was pitiful. Oh yes and Charlton slaughtered the abominable side that is West Ham. Well West Ham don’t count because the East End is rubbish. Just watch Eastenders.

Anyway back to concentrating solely on Chelsea, who were majestically sweeping the ball across from side to side like Royal subjects. Ranieri’s men who have had a dire start to the year, languishing in the nether regions amongst rubbish like Birmingham, evidently decided today was the day to turn the corner. Inside 20 minutes, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank and Eidur Gudjohnsen had Peter Enckelman left for dead but the wretched linesman, Mr. Nasty as I call him, called play back for violent play, which is another turgid rule in football I despise, when accidentally taking away the legs of an opponent is a foul.

Still our boys did persevere and they continued to fight the good fight, picking up yellow cards in the process, all stupid decisions by the ref. Anyway Gudjohnsen eventually beat the offside and violent play traps to score a superb effort on 31 minutes. Villa’s goalkeeper who I couldn’t be bothered to remember was absolutely no where near it. Enckelman that’s it! I wrote it only last paragraph, oh well – shows how little I care about those weirdoes.

The first half saw no further goals but there was more to come in the way of Chelsea pressure. After Villa missed some crappy penalty, Chelsea immediately sought to wreak havoc and double their advantage. Gudjohnsen had a cracking shot flukely tipped over by whatshisname and from the corner Hasselbank was unlucky to miss from open play although it was clear to several vociferous Chelsea fans that Steve Staunton had nudged him enough to put him off. This ref is a blatant disgrace. He is showing utter bias for just the one side and not even bothering about the other, it’s like shoddy journalism at the Daily Mail.

But no fear in the second half Chelsea garnered their just rewards with a fantastic goal in the 80th minute from the penalty spot, Emmanuel Petit picked his spot and blasted it home with such ferocity that is only found amongst the very best sides. That goal sealed a fine half of football for Chelsea football club who had dominated for long periods of the game, aside from the brief spell when Villa had 7 shots on target, but that was irrelevant in the context of the game as Chelsea completed their utter pulverisation of their opponents to move up to the giddy heights of 15th in the league! Well done Chelsea, well done indeed!

Full Time: Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 0 Big Eidur and Manu!

MoM The Whole lot of them – absolutely superb!

Elsewhere , you can read our pages focusing on Chelsea’s quality this season in pages 45-976, and you can read Mr. Idiot’s orgasmic report on Fulham’s 1-0 annihilation of crummy Brummy, and Total ******* was reporting from Goodison Park where Everton were unable to cope with the Godly side that is Tottenham Hotspur. Oh and if you’re interested the other results in the top flight were:

Arsenal 1 Liverpool 1 – where Liverpool where unbelievably lucky to snatch a point, read Andy “Up the Arse†Warhols report on that.

Blackburn 4 Southampton 0

Manchester City 3 Geordies 3

Sunderland 0 Manc Tòssers 2

West Brom 3 Boro 1

Read the Express, first in wholly unbiased and quality sports writings. Voted Newspaper of the Year**

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** by our editor.