‘Competitions’ Archives
Birmingham 2-1 Blackburn
Craig Gardner scored twice as Birmingham came from behind to beat Blackburn in a really good game. Michael Oliver (at 25) became the youngest-ever Premier League referee and didn't do a bad job to be fair.
Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool
It was nice while it lasted. Blackpool, who had spent a few hours on top of the Premier League's table last Saturday, experienced the flipside of life among the elite. Theo Walcott scored Arsenal’s first hat-trick in the Premier League since Arshavin scored four at Anfield against Liverpool in April, 2009.
Wigan 0-6 Chelsea
Magnificent Chelsea hit six goals for the second game in succession to leave Wigan at the foot of the table. Chelsea now have 29 goals in their past five league matches. Chelsea became the first-ever top-flight side to record a goal difference of +20 over 3 consecutive matches. After two successive Premier League hat-tricks for Chelsea, Didier [...]
West Ham 1-3 Bolton
Already for West Ham the new season is beginning to look grim - after two defeats - and may soon get grimmer. Three of their next four Premier League matches are against Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham, with a visit to Stoke City, which is hardly a respite, in between. Unless their defending improves West Ham could well find themselves [...]
Everton 1-1 Wolves
Everton failed to press home their advantage, allowing Sylvan Ebanks-Blake to grab a draw for Wolves at Goodison Park. Wolves’ last win away at Everton came in 1979 when Andy Gray netted on his debut for the Midlands side. They another year to wait at least.
Liverpool 1-0 Trabzonspor
Ryan Babel scored the only goal and Joe Cole continued his remarkable start to life at Liverpool by missing a penalty as Liverpool beat Trabzonspor in a fairly entertaining Europa Tin Pot qualifier.
Young Boys 3-2 Tottenham
Three goals down after 28 minutes to Young Boys of Bern in the play-off first leg, Tottenham prepared to watch a season of hard work and achievement turn to crap. Tottenham gradually managed to play themselves back into the game, though. Sébastien Bassong's header just before the interval gave them hope and, despite further anxious moments in the [...]
Wigan 0-4 Blackpool
Premier League newcomers Blackpool got off to a dream start as they demolished a shambolic Wigan. On the final day of last season Wigan were thrashed 8-0 by Chelsea and, instead of getting that out of their system, they are off to the worst possible start.
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Manchester City
Tottenham should have won this opening game and must be wondering how they didn't. Big-spending, crap-looking Manchester City were indebted to keeper Joe Hart for a 0-0 draw against Spurs in the Premier League's first game of the season.
When Gloucester City hypnotised their players
On 22nd August, 1959 Gloucester City tried hypnosis to analyse the possible winning effects on the team. Led by the celebrity hypnotist Henry Blythe, they proceeded to trounce Merthyr Tydfil 3-1. They again tried this on 19th September against their great rivals Cheltenham Town, and went on to lose 3-1 to the Robins. The experiment was briskly [...]
