The Round Ball Game

[Alison]

well he should be used to it , at least !

Nightmare for Cov tonight..

Cov at Wembley: didn't seem that likely somehow.

Colchester should never have got shot of John Ward. Poor poor decision.

[EdgeleyRob]

Not sure I want to see dear NA working for such a bunch of irascible owners.

There are a lot of them about unfortunately Alison.


Scores update -

Monday.
Chelmsford 1 Billericay Town 1

Tonight.
Cheltenham Town 1 Bristol Rovers 1
Port Vale 3 Wimbledon 0
Coventry City 0 Crewe Alexandra 3.Not good for the forum but nice to see Crewe flying the Cheshire football flag.

[teamsaint]

Might only have been a friendly, but England beating Brazil cannot pass without comment.A rare thing indeed.
Lamps sure is on fire at the moment. Not literally.
How Welbeck is a better player that Sir Richard Lambert is beyond me.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yep teamsaint .... just watched my recording of the game ... could not believe my eyes, we outplayed an admittedly sub par Brazil for a large portion of the match .... not last ditch defending but an attacking side, playing at pace and beating their defence

arise Sir Frank your seat at the Camelot table may be retained

it is the hope that kills innit tho

[aeolium]

I don't suppose anyone else has been watching any of the Africa Cup of Nations. I watched a fair bit of the second semi-final yesterday, between Burkina Faso and Ghana, played on what looked like a grassy beach. I began by rooting for Ghana as I have worked there in the past but as the game went on changed my allegiance as BF completely outplayed their more illustrious opponents and were only denied victory in normal time by some really atrocious refereeing (justice being eventually done in the penalty shoot-out). I now hope BF go on to win the final on Sunday.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yes aeolium but mostly been disappointed in the quality ... did not see the semi finals though

[johncorrigan]

Might only have been a friendly, but England beating Brazil cannot pass without comment.A rare thing indeed.

Too right....and Scotland beating anybody, never mind that it's one of the mighty Balticans, also should not pass without comment.

I've also watched a fair bit of the Africa Cup - pitches have been horrible and the football only occasionally better, and the standard of refereeing the only thing on show worse than the pitches - remember when Cameroon first burst onto the scene we saw football played in a different joyous style...now unfortunately, most of the players have been learning from Europeans and the freshness seems to have disappeared - still I agree, aeolium; I hope Burkina F do the job.

And I certainly hope there won't be any nasty shenanigans like this come the final....look away if you are of a sensitive disposition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRPrrLdPhoE

[eighthobstruction]

Ref Africa Nat Cup....with all this talk about fixing matches and the stat's of matches by referees this could be it. BF v Gh, non penalties, straight up penalties denied....player sent off....Yep I like BF too, will miss their attacker who was sent off....

[aeolium]

BF v Gh, non penalties, straight up penalties denied....player sent off....Yep I like BF too, will miss their attacker who was sent off....

Not just penalties denied, 8o, a perfectly good goal (and the Ghana penalty was a ridiculous decision). A pity BF's attacker could not get his card rescinded on appeal - tough to be booked for being fouled.

john, I've sometimes thought there should be a black card as well as the yellow and red: never to play again...

[johncorrigan]

john, I've sometimes thought there should be a black card as well as the yellow and red: never to play again...

Suspended Sin Die they used to call it in these parts aeolium. The last player to get it up here was Willie Woodburn who played for Rangers and Scotland and who is also in the Scottish Players Hall of Fame - he became strangely heroic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Woodburn
Perhaps these days, rolling cheating perpetrators should be sent to play panto in Bournemouth for the season.

[zola]

The referee from the Burkina Faso v Ghana game has been suspended.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/referee-suspended-after-scandalous-performance-in-african-cup-of-nations-semifinal-8485762.html

No news of the red card being rescinded though.

[EdgeleyRob]

I don't suppose anyone else has been watching any of the Africa Cup of Nations. I watched a fair bit of the second semi-final yesterday, between Burkina Faso and Ghana, played on what looked like a grassy beach. I began by rooting for Ghana as I have worked there in the past but as the game went on changed my allegiance as BF completely outplayed their more illustrious opponents and were only denied victory in normal time by some really atrocious refereeing (justice being eventually done in the penalty shoot-out). I now hope BF go on to win the final on Sunday.

aeolium, I've watched some of it but found the games poor in quality (Stockport fan,pot,kettle etc).

[aeolium]

aeolium, I've watched some of it but found the games poor in quality (Stockport fan,pot,kettle etc).

Actually, ER, I've watched very little of the tournament - that semi-final was the first game that I saw quite a lot of. Perhaps the poor quality had something to do with the pitches. The one in the semi-final was awful, one of the worst I've seen for any international, yet some of the football was not bad.

Edit: good to see the news about the referee. With all these reports of match-fixing, I wondered about his performance - there were so many inexplicable decisions given in favour of Ghana.

[EdgeleyRob]

C'mon Southampton,turn my into a

Well what do you know,get in !!!!!

[johncorrigan]

Did I just detect a 2nd? Get on!