Beaten

And so it was not to be in the end, outplayed and out-thought by a Slovakian side who wanted it more. I don’t believe there was much difference between the teams in terms of ability, but perhaps dare I say it the NI team was complacent last night.

Much has been written (possibly too much) about [...]

Catalan v Matalan

The Damned United twice in one day

Tottenham got spanked good and hard by one of the \”top four\” teams in the Premier League today. It was tough to take surrounded by braying Manchester United fans in a busy pub but that\’s par for the course when your team isn\’t in this upper tier!
I followed it up with a trip to see [...]

The football run-in

It’s been a fantastic few weeks’ football in the Premiership and at international level.
Following NI’s double victories in the World Cup Qualifying campaign (and rise up to 27th(!) in the FIFA rankings), last weekend there was the rare occurrence of the Premiership’s top teams all kicking off at 3pm on Saturday. I listened to the [...]

How influential is the 12th man?

Northern Ireland pulled off another victory last night to keep in with a shout of making the 2010 World Cup finals. The atmosphere at Windsor for internationals has been phenomenal. When the team is attacking the Kop you can almost feel the crowd trying to suck the ball into the net. I’ve had some truly [...]

NI win 3-2: What was that again Lawro?

Striker Warren Feeney admitted remarks made by BBC pundits Martin Keown and Mark Lawrenson spurred Northern Ireland on to a memorable victory over Poland at the weekend.

The duo dismissed Northern Ireland’s chances of causing an upset at Windsor Park during Saturday’s Football Focus, comments that clearly riled the 28-year-old Dundee United forward and also [...]

Revolution is just a t-shirt away

Over the years I’ve accumulated a fair number of appalling football shirts. Northern Ireland’s home and away shirts by Olympic Sports being particularly bad. You know, the baggy type from the mid-nineties. I’d love to post some photos but even google is keen to forget. Nowadays a George Best or 1982/1986 shirt is the best [...]

What a sporting weekend!

I’m pretty much a casual rugby fan but it was hard not to get swept up in the hype of Saturday’s game. Last few times NI have played Wales their fans have been really annoying so I was hoping Ireland would roll over their Welsh counterparts. I don’t know why but I dislike Welsh teams [...]

If only they hadn’t kicked Ards out of Clandeboye..

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM BANGOR FOOTBALL CLUB – 1st February 2009 
“The Chairman and Directors of Bangor Football Club regret to announce that the club will not be in a position to renew its Domestic License – a requirement to play in the IFA Premiership in season 2009 – 2010. 
This is primarily due to financial difficulties experienced [...]

Following Tottenham – not dull

Spurs’ rollercoaster season continued yesterday with a tight 1-1 draw against Portsmouth. I attended the corresponding fixture last season and the stakes couldn’t have been more different.
Last March Spurs had won the Carling Cup and started coasting (ie. declining) for the rest of the season. Pompey has just reached FA Cup final and were happy [...]