Weekend round-up

When Saturday comes. Saw quite a bit of football this weekend, starting with the first half of Paulton Rovers v Norwich thanks to the truly shocking ITV FA Cup coverage. I think the only bloke on their team I would save from a burning building would be good old Jim Beglin - providing it's not 'another magical European night at Anfield' that he's commentating on - and by the way they can look forward to some cracking games with Austria Vienna and Levski Sofia in Feb, nice one Rafa.

Norwich were under a bit of early pressure but Norwich's quality and experience told in the end. Got to say I like the look of Paul Lambert as coach, looks like he would give you a very friendly 'Glasgow kiss' if you got to training 5 minutes late. As I'm on the FA Cup I watched the shit ITV highlights show - thankfully a taped version, how they strecthed it to like 2 fucking hours long I'll never know. I know there were a few upsets but I'm pretty ignorant of the opening rounds until Prem and Champ teams get chucked in. I was hoping my old man's team Lowestoft Town would scrape through a tough trip to Wrexham, but an 89th min winner from some tosser gave the Welsh a 1-0 win. I reckon all English teams should get a 2-0 head start if they get a Welsh one, no?

Next went to the Reading v Ipswich game with the old man and saw the closing stages of Swansea v Cardiff game on the telly at the ground. 3-2 to the Swans will keep them happy but Cardiff look stronger overall at the moment. I'm not saying anything ground breaking here but the Championship is so tight. 10 points from the playoffs to the relegation zone, a team who is 12th could go 3rd in one win?! Mental. The 3 in the drop zone are Peterbrough led by Fergie's determined son, Ipswich who were tipped by a lot on day 1 because of Roy Keane's record, and Reading who were 2nd for so so long last season - truly anyone can beat anyone. And in line with recent trends I watched Reading not win at home for the 15th (?) time in a row. There last win was a 1-0 over eventual league winners Wolves in January when Reading looked well on their way to getting promoted back to the promise land. 1st half against the tractor boys was pretty scrappy and was settled by Jon Stead with his vast Football League experience (still only 26 though). Reading got their deserved equaliser from a persistant Simon Church and could have won the game if it wasn't for a stone waller being turned down and some poor finishing to boot. It's the kind of game though that'll reinforce some belief from the fans for Rodgers, whose Chelsea ways have so far clouded his view of what it takes to get wins in this division.

Getting away from the Mad Stad was like trying to get served in the Oakford, a fucking mission. So I had to settle for 5live for the first 20 mins of Wolves v The Arsenal, and good job too because they had us under the cosh which would have hurt my eyes to see. The short trip from the car to sitting in front of the telly had gifted us a goal, thanks in main to Ronald Zubar's dodgy thigh into the net. Eduardo tried to double his 'thigh's into the net' following one against Liege earlier in the season but was thwarted by Zubars super finish, talk about fox in the box! Eddy was denied once again when after good play from an excellent Aaron Ramsey, he tried to lift the ball over Hennessey into the net, Jody Craddock stupid head decided to just help it in. 2-0 HT would have been nice but 3-0 knocked it on the head. Good little interchange from Cesc and Sagna before RvP stone cold killed the ball dead with a magic touch from the captain to slot in. Arshavin added another in the 2nd half and that same stupid Jody Craddock head prevented the clean sheet but I'm delighted to get out of there with the 3 points. That was the first away game since West Ham where we chucked the 2-0 lead away so things are back on track for the title tilt - more on that in the coming days.

Good to see Man City dropping more points and pretty routine wins for Spurs and Villa were the other headlines from MOTD. Things are pretty tight in the there right now but as long as the Gunners stay well clear of that nonsense I'll be pretty happy. A trophy would be nice too, mind. Chelsea v Utd yesterday was a bit of a snooze fest. Hansen on MOTD called it a great game that was full of intensity and intrigue - basically thats a way of a saying it was actually a pretty shit game with hardly any chances. There was a decent spell after the goal but that was about it. A mate of mine won stuck a tenner on 1-0 Chelsea with Terry scoring at 80-1 - nice work AJ! Hull and they're permatan wanker of a manager got a jammy win against Stoke, still think he'll be sacked by Christmas.

The boxing wasn't bad eh? Got packed into the Gateway like a fucking sardine in brine but it was good to say Haye win it. Tactically spot on and the pub went mad when the big guy starting to sway. Friday I played a gig with Woods as Inuit Monk down in Farnham - www.myspace.com/inuitmonk - and we're doing the Turtle soon so come and check that shit out.

Fuck me thats enough for now, most of these will be shorter but I tried to pack in all the weekends action as a little taster. Take her easy.