|
|||||
|
Contact
Feel free to contact us by
My misc Arsenal stuff
Are you an Arsenal Supporter?
Who are ya?
Month Archive
The
Home Page displays articles for the last 3 days only. Use the links below to navigate to previous entries.
My links to other sites I like
Focus Ferrers Tigers
|
Birmingham City vs Arsenal 23rd February 2008 – Premier League – St Andrews It’s a 12.45pm Kick off today so I leave with plenty of time. 2rs 25mins for a 110 mile journey should be plenty. I was wrong. The journey up the M40, M42 and M6 motorways were fine. In fact I got the first 100 miles under my belt in about 1hr and 15 mins (don’t ask! ). 10 miles an hour and half will be no problem. The few miles from the motorway to the ground is some of the slowest miles I have ever travelled and are also through some of the shittiest towns I have ever seen. Actually, it’s very much like the Seven Sisters Road in London!! I am able to park close to the away end in Arthur Road for the standard £5 tax, and thankfully make it in time for Kick Off. Hopefully we will pick up the 3 points that we need to gives us an 8 point lead in the table over second place Man Utd (who play later today) and the drama of my journey will be the only thing of note today. Again I am very wrong. The line up today is: Manuel Almunia Philippe Senderos Gael Clichy William Gallas Bacary Sagna Cesc Fabregas Mathieu Flamini Alexander Hleb (Gilberto 90) Theo Walcott (Denilson 90) Eduardo (Nicklas Bendtner 9) Emmanuel Adebayor Arsenal start the match brightly and are looking very determined as we go on the attack straight away. After only a couple of minutes there’s a foul on Eduardo on the edge of the Birmingham area and then the Red card is shown to the Birmingham Player which receives a big cheer from the Arsenal fans. At this time the extent of the injury wasn’t known but from the reaction of the players and the medical staff that were running around the place it didn’t look good. The treatment was all on the pitch and the games was delayed for a number of minutes (9 in total). During this time I received a call from my friend in Holland who was watching the match. He explained that the red card was for Martin Taylor whose late tackle had broken Eduardo’s leg (later confirmed as an ankle break). It was so bad an injury that SKY television refused to show action replays. Eddy was stretched off to hospital with an oxygen mask on his face and was replaced by Nicklas Bendtner. Arsenal didn’t really recover from this during the first half (on TV later you could see the shock on the players faces) and even though we seemed in control of the match we still conceded the first goal. It was the 29th minute when a free kick was given to Birmingham on the edge of the Arsenal penalty area after a Flamini foul (we had plenty of time to clear the ball before this, especially Gallas). James McFadden took the free kick but even though he got a touch, Almunia couldn’t keep the ball out of the net. We created a few chances after this but nothing of note and we went in at half-time trailing 1 nil. Half-Time We came out like a different team, totally fired up and determined to win the game. We scored our equaliser in the 50th minute after 3 or 4 other good chances but the goal came from a corner. Adebayor beat the keeper Maik Taylor to the ball and nodded down to the centre of the area where Theo was waiting to divert it into the net to deservedly make us level. No messing around now as Gallas grabs the ball out of the net and puts it onto the centre spot. We turn up the pace and don’t have to wait for long to take the lead. It’s Theo again and this time is an excellent self made goal. Walcott picks up the ball outside the right side of the penalty area and runs at the defender Ridgewell taking the ball past him, running into the box and scoring an excellent goal into the bottom left corner. The Gooners fan are going mental as we sing “We’re gonna win for Eduardo”. We continue press for a third goal but the tempo slows down a bit now. Adebayor and Bendtner both have good chances but the goal doesn’t come. Amazingly there are 5 minutes added on to the second half but it looks like we have done enough to get the points. As we approach the last few seconds of the games Clichy seems to be slow clearing the ball and as Birmingham try to win the ball, Clichy kicks it away but makes contact with the Birmingham player (Parnaby) and amazingly the referee, Mike Dean, points to the spot. Unbelievable. McFadden scores the Penalty and then the final whistle is blown. Gutted would be an understatement because we let in 2 stupid goals. A penalty that shouldn’t have been given and a free kick that shouldn’t have been given either. We are still 5 points clears though, and I only hope Eduardo is back again playing soon. |
My 2007/08 Match Reports
My Other Match Reports
My Idiot Section
My Ticket Exchange
Advertising
We do not advertise on this site - This means that it remains independent, there is more room for content, the pages load quicker and there are no annoying pop-ups.
|
|||
