Updated:

http://www.geocities.com/softie02/bbscl.html

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

Answers

A great win for the Athletic, coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 thanks to a last minute penalty.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

Foul! HTF can The Fatties be beaten by the Woefield Warriors? I smell a rat (but that's probably 'cos I haven't cleaned for weeks months. Bah. The sooner we start to play some home games at the Pudding Bowl, the better. I blame LR (shouldn't that be LRd - Ed). I took him to that bliddy game at Cov :-(

Still, I'm sure The Fatties will bounce back.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

We won a game, we won a game must be time to change the squad then, they have just ruined our consistency!

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

The 'morons were inspired by force feeding of large quantities of cake at Employee Appreciation Day. It was an experimental tactic, which seems to have worked.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2002

This game is fcked. Must be an error in the logic somewhere. Just ask Clarky.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Wahey. Second and still unbeaten, can I play at home every week?

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

The Cunning linguists after a wondefull start ,are now in freefall they cant eem to win away. Manager Kennyboy's job is now on the line - theres defo something fishy going on here....

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Kegsy, if you really want to challenge at the top, you have to show the Droopers away form of 4 wins out of 5 ;-) Well, that should guarantee us losing the next game. I might as well start applying the egg to my face now ;-)

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Pete, I'm desperatley trying to get as many points aspossible as I fear a tough second half to the season. I'll be happy to stay up.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

As a reminder of Softie's chosen match:

By John Curtis, PA Sport

Coventry City made it another miserable away-day for the Toon Army as they cashed in on a Newcastle side which committed defensive suicide.

And wing-back Warren Barton added to the woes of Newcastle who have now lost all six Premiership matches away from St James' Park and conceded 20 goals in the process.

Barton was red-carded for violent conduct after half an hour when he looked to throw a right arm jab at the throat of Coventry midfielder Youssef Chippo.

In many ways it was a bizarre match. The score-line would suggest a comfortable victory for the home side but in reality the 10 men of Newcastle matched and sometimes outplayed their opponents.

Only the brilliance of Coventry 'keeper Magnus Hedman prevented Alan Shearer and Co taking a decisive grip on proceedings in an opening 15 minutes dominated by the visitors. Then in the second period it was Coventry who were often back- pedalling as Newcastle showed plenty of the spirit and fight that was seldom evident in the latter days of the Ruud Gullit reign. But the harsh facts are that you cannot afford to hand out goals on a plate in the way that Newcastle did - particularly when players of the skill of Robbie Keane and Mustapha Hadji can exploit the situation.

Despite their second half fade-out, Coventry will take much satisfaction from avenging last season's 5-1 home drubbing by Newcastle. Skipper Gary McAllister is clearly relishing having more licence to roam forward now that Carlton Palmer has been brought in to occupy a holding midfield role.

There was little inkling of the mayhem that was to follow for Newcastle in the opening minutes and the home side were indebted to a fine double save from Magnus Hedman. The Swede had helped to give England a Euro 2000 life-line when helping his country to defeat Poland in Stockholm last weekend. And he showed his quality in first parrying a powerful header from in form Alan Shearer and then recovering to somehow parry away the rebound effort from Didier Domi. Hedman then beat out another powerful effort from Domi - but then it all fell apart for Bobby Robson's side.

The Sky Blues broke the deadlock in the 14th minute as the Newcastle defence went AWOL to allow on loan midfielder Carlton Palmer to send a glancing header past Shay Given from a Gary McAllister free-kick. Then seven minutes later Coventry doubled their lead in spectacular style through Paul Williams after Domi had headed out a corner from McAllister. The defender let fly with a shot from fully 30 yards which Given could only stand and watch as it rocketed past him into the roof of the net. Newcastle's misery was added to on the half hour mark with the red card to Barton. It was their second sending-off in four days following the sending- off of Steve Harper in the Worthington Cup tie at Birmingham. Given did well to turn over a header from Paul Telfer but he was badly at fault with Coventry's third goal after 38 minutes. Keane was put through by Hadji after the two had combined - but Given was still favourite to collect the through ball from the Moroccan. However, he somehow allowed the ball to slip under his body to leave Keane to tap the ball into an empty net. Hedman again performed heroics just before the interval to block a powerful shot from Kieron Dyer after he had been found in space by Nolberto Solano. The second half was tame in comparison although Newcastle deserved credit for not letting their heads drop when facing an impossible looking task. They continued to pushy forward despite their numerical disadvantage and Hedman again earned his spurs when pushing a pile-driver from Solano around the post. It was Coventry who were having to rely on the counter-attack and Chippo shot into the side netting after Keane's pass had allowed him to burst forward and run into the Coventry penalty area. Newcastle finally earned some deserved reward in the 82nd minute when Domi scored with a sweetly struck left-footed drive from 15 yards out. But in injury time Hadji put the icing on the cake for the Sky Blues when he scored direct from a free-kick on the edge of the area.

Teams:

Coventry: Hedman, Edworthy (Froggatt 72), Shaw, Williams, Hall, Telfer, Palmer, McAllister (Roussel 85), Chippo, Keane, Hadji.

Subs Not Used: Nuzzo, Strachan, Eustace.

Booked: Chippo, Palmer, Edworthy.

Goals: Palmer 13, Williams 21, Keane 39, Hadji 90.

Newcastle: Given, Barton, Domi, Dabizas, Hughes, Solano, Dyer, Speed, Lee, Shearer, Gallacher.

Subs Not Used: Harper, Maric, Glass, McClen, Pistone.

Sent Off: Barton (29).

Booked: Solano, Dabizas.

Goals: Domi 81.

Att: 23,031

Ref: A Wiley (Walsall).

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

I must be up for manager of the month award! I can see GMF looking nervously over their collective shoulder at the rise and rise of Wark this Way.

Obviously the Panzer analogy worked (verked?) wonders!

-- Anonymous, May 10, 2002