Issue 9, 10nd January 1996: SPORTING ROUNDUP
By Charles Hirst.
18th:
Computing,
Law,
Science&Tech,
SciFi,
Unexplained.
Ginola Sent Off as Arsenal March On(10/1/96)
Chelsea Robbed at the Death(8/1/96)
Arsenal in a Crisis(8/1/96)
Ginola Sent Off as Arsenal March on (10/1/96)
Coca Cola Quarter Final
Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0
Arsenal blasted their way through this blood and guts Coca Cola Cup quarter final, at the expense not only of Newcastle, but more specifically, David Ginola. Ginola's automatic red card for an elbowing offence on Arsenal full back Lee Dixon, eclipsed the majestic double strike of Ian Wright.
The sending off incident escallated into a violent war of words between Arsenal's manager Bruce Rioch and his counter part Kevin Keegan. The clash hit boiling point as Keegan's right hand man Terry McDermott stepped in shooting from the lip. Whatever he said incensed Rioch and the two began an eyeball to eyeball finger wagging confrontation.
Police and stewards stepped in to seperate the warring factions as the ugly scenes were broadcasted to millions of viewers worldwide. Ginola had been closely marked by Lee Dixon all night, who epitomised Arsenal's phsyched up approach. He dogged Ginola all night, and was lucky to get away with a crunching tackle in the first half. As they tustled for position off the ball, Ginola took a swipe at Dixon, who had been pulling him back by his shirt. The knock left Dixon on the ground, and after consulting his linesman, the referee, Gerald Ashby had no hesitation in sending Ginola off.
Before the incident Arsenal had had the best of the play, forcing early chances through Wright, Bergkamp and Merson. A minute before half time Wright gave Arsenal the lead they deserved, after being put through by an incisive pass from Jensen. Wright looked to have few options as he struggled to control the ball, wide on the right hand side of the area. However some quick thinking saw him smash a half volley home, beating Pavel Srnicek with the swerve.
The second half saw Newcastle depleted to ten men, and Arsenal edging the advantage in every area of the pitch. None stood out more than Tony Adams, who was a rock in defence for Arsenal, and reacted quickly to a sloppy back pass that nearly let in Les Ferdinand. A minute before full time, the Gunners lead was doubled when Wright converted an immaculate header from a superb Helder cross.
Arsenal meet Aston Villa in the semi final, Leeds play either Birmingham or Norwich.
Double
Strike for Ian Wright
FA Cup 3rd Round
Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1
Glenn Hoddle suffered the most atrocious luck in this FA Cup tie against Newcastle. His Chelsea team had battled hard all afternoon, sticking to their astute tactics that had forced Newcastle out of contention for fully ninety minutes, when an incredible error by the Chelsea keeper, Kharine, let Newcastle back into this tie.
Chelsea were far and away the best of the teams, absorbing any Newcastle pressure well and answering them swiftly on the break. They employed their full backs, to lend pace to their counter attacks, at which Phelan was most prefficient. Wise looked lively early on, consistently foxing the Newcastle defence, who eventually took out their frustration on him. Elliot, Howey, Lee and Barton were all booked for a succession of illegal challenges on Wise and the spritely Newton.
The stop, start rythem of the game was a hinderance to the Newcastle style, who could never get into gear. They were still searching for a sustained run of play when Chelsea struck. Wise swept the ball out to the the left, finding Phelan, who galloped away, cutting into the penalty area. As he reached the byline, he chipped over a sweet cross where Hughes met it at the back post. The Newcastle defence were left exposed through excellent movement from the Chelsea forwards.
The game continued in the same vein, with Chelsea providing the fast passing movement for which Newcastle have become so famous for. It was not until late in the first half that the Magpies provided their first major assualt on the Chelsea goal. Phillipe Albert crashed a right foot volley aginst Kharine's right hand upright. He hit it so sweetly, that it appeared to be in the air for an eternity, swirling and dipping, leaving Kharine guessing at it's destination. Fortunately for him it was not goal bound.
The second half saw Chelsea pressing their advantage, with Newcastle struggling to format a realistic challenge. It became apparant that only some dramatic individual flair, or an individual error would provide Newcastle with their break through. Try as he might, Ginola could not find the flair that Newcastle required. He summoned some incredible touches, floating down the left flank, sucking in defenders and then rounding them in the blink of an eye, but the final exchange was never realised.
Ferdinand looked unlikely to improve on his impressive scoring record, being policed with extreme confidence by the young Dubbery. Not until the final minutes did Newcastle really begin to apply the pressure. And how those minutes went on. Extra time came and the crowd grew impatient, whistling the Referee, urging him to bring the game to an end.
All seemed over as Kharine took his time to clear from a goal kick, but he scuffed his clearance, which eluded Duberry, but found Albert, who headed on for Ferdinand to chase. In an instant Newcastle had equalised and the final whistle had gone.
It was a travesty for Chelsea who had out played and out thought Newcastle. The replay will be played at St James' Park, where Newcastle have won all their games this season.
Wise controlled the game for Chelsea
FA Cup 3rd Round
Arsenal 1 Sheff Utd 1
Arsenal put in another low key performance, going ahead against Sheffield United, who are first division relegation candidates, only to succumb to an equaliser and eventually come out of the game lucky to be in the hat for the fourth round draw.
Arsenal, who lost three of their last four league games, could only manage a dull 1-1 draw against Sheffield United. The atmosphere at the game belied the action on the pitch. The drummers in the North Stand banged out the rythmn to many an Arsenal tune, all heart warming stuff on a chilly winters day. Occasionally when the rythmn slipped into Samba, if you closed your eyes you might have been in Brazil! All you had to do to bring yourself back to your senses was have a peek back down onto the pitch.
Seaman made a desperate stop on his line with an outstretchd leg from David White, a recent signing from Leeds, and soon after White again broke through only to sky his effort over the bar. With Jensen having Arsenal's best early chance, it speaks for itself how unlikely the Gunners were to scoring.
The 0-0 scoreline at half time would have been a relief to Arsenal. At the restart Merson began to make an impression on the game, finding his range with a few timely passes. However the veteran Gordan Cowan's was not to be out done and none matched him for passing accuracy all afternoon.
Wright poked Arsenal into the lead with his 16th goal of the season, after Merson had made a good run into the box. For a while it looked like Arsenal had weathered the storm and squeezed through another Cup tie in typical fashion. However the Blades fought back with admirable spirit. Assistant player manager, Adrian Heath came on as sub to lead the fightback and with 11 minutes to go produced the cross that allowed Dane Whitehouse to nip in between Dixon and Adams to claim the equaliser.
Arsenal face Newcastle at home in the Coca Cola Cup on Wednesday 10th January and Sheff Utd away on Jan 17th. These games will decide the fate of Arsenal's season.
Littlewoods FA Cup 3rd Round Results
Sunday 7th January
Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1
Derby 2 Leeds 4
Everton 2 Stockport 2
Southampton 3 Portsmouth 0
Saturday 6th January
Arsenal 1 Sheff Utd 1
Barnsley 0 Oldham 0
Birmingham 1 Wolves 1
Bradford 0 Bolton 3
Charlton 2 Sheff Wed 0
Crewe 4 West Brom 3
Crystal Palace 0 Port Vale 0
Fulham 1 Shrewsbury 1
Gravesend 0 Aston Villa 3
Grimsby 7 Luton 1
Hereford 1 Tottenham 1
Huddersfield 2 Blackpool 1
Ipswich 0 Blackburn 0
Leicester 0 Man City 0
Liverpool 7 Rochdale 0
Man Utd 2 Sunderland 2
Milwall 3 Oxford Utd 3
Norwich 1 Brentford 2
Notts County 1 Middlesbrough 2
Peterborough 1 Wrexham 0
Plymouth 1 Coventry 3
Reading 3 Gillingham 1
Stoke 1 Notts Forest 1
Swindon 2 Woking 0
Tranmere 0 QPR 2
Walsall 1 Wigan 0
Watford 1 Wimbledon 1
West Ham 2 Southend 0
FA Carling Premiership Results
Saturday 30th December
Arsenal 1 Wimbledon 3
Blackburn 2 Tottenham 1
Bolton 1 Coventry 2
Chelsea 2 Liverpool 2
Everton 2 Leeds0
Man Utd 2 QPR 1
Notts Forest 1 Middlesbrough 0
Monday 1 January
Coventry 1 Southampton 1
Leeds 0 Blackburn 0
Liverpool 4 Notts Forest 2
Man City 2 Wet Ham 1
Middlesbrough 0 Aston Villa 2
Sheff Wed 4 Bolton 2
Tottenham 4 Man Utd 1
Wimbledon 2 Everton 3
FA Carling Premiership League Table
P W D L F A W D L F A Pts
Newcastle 21 11 0 0 26 5 4 3 3 16 13 45
Man Utd 22 8 3 0 24 9 4 2 5 17 18 41
Liverpool 21 8 2 1 27 8 3 3 4 13 12 38
Tottenham 22 5 3 3 16 12 5 5 1 15 10 38
Aston Villa 20 5 3 1 14 6 5 2 4 13 9 35
Arsenal 22 6 4 1 19 10 3 3 5 9 10 34
Nottm Forest 21 6 4 0 18 8 2 6 3 14 23 34
Middlesbrough 22 7 2 2 18 9 2 4 5 5 12 33
Everton 22 6 2 3 20 11 3 3 5 12 13 32
Blackburn 22 9 1 1 29 8 0 4 7 4 18 32
Leeds 21 6 2 3 14 10 3 3 4 14 17 32
Chelsea 22 4 5 2 14 12 4 3 4 9 12 32
Sheff Wed 21 4 3 4 20 18 2 4 4 12 14 25
West Ham 20 3 3 3 10 13 3 2 6 12 14 23
Wimbledon 22 2 4 5 15 19 3 2 6 16 25 21
Southampton 21 3 4 3 9 9 1 4 6 11 22 20
Coventry 21 3 4 4 16 18 1 3 6 12 25 19
Man City 21 4 3 4 7 8 1 1 8 5 23 19
QPR 22 3 3 5 12 18 2 0 9 5 15 18
Bolton 22 2 3 6 8 16 0 1 10 13 28 10
FA Carling Premiership Leading Goalscorers
L F C E O T
Shearer (Blackburn) 19 0 5 1 0 25
Ferdinand (Newcastle) 19 1 3 0 0 23
Fowler (Liverpool) 18 1 2 0 0 21
Sheringham (Tottenham) 14 0 3 0 0 17
Wright (Arsenal) 10 1 5 0 0 16
Yeboah (Leeds) 10 1 1 3 0 15
Hirst (Sheff Wed) 11 0 1 0 0 12
Holdsworth (Wimbledon) 8 0 4 0 0 12
Dublin (Coventry) 11 0 0 0 0 11
Armstrong (Tottenham) 7 0 3 0 0 10
M Bright (Sheff Wed) 7 0 3 0 0 10
Scholes (Man Utd) 7 0 2 1 0 10
Yorke (Aston Villa) 7 0 3 0 0 10
L=League, F=FA Cup, C=Coca Cola Cup,
E=European, O=Other, T=Total.
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Venables in the Balance(10/1/96)
Terry Venables has given the FA an ultimatum on his future services as the England head coach. Disturbed by reports that the FA committee was not fully behind him to renew his current contract, which runs to the end of the Euro '96 competition, Venables has asked for a decision to be made sooner rather than later.
Venables has backing from the two big fish of the FA, Sir Bert Millichip and Graeme Kelly, who were both hoping to secure Venables' services until the end of the World Cup in 1998. But the general lack of enthusiasm amongst the remaining of the FA committee, for general reasons, mostly contrived from Venables' alledged financial irregularities in the buisiness world, may leave our Tel out in the cold.
It is believed that the committee want only to extend the England coach's contract after the forthcoming European Championship. Venables hoewver, wants an earlier decision and has the backing of Kelly and Millichip. Venables has stated that he hopes the sittuation to be resolved before a ball is kicked in Euro '96.
Leyton Orient Player in Positive Drugs test
The first positive drugs test for a "performance inhancing" substance has been anounced by the FA. The perpertrator of the illegal substance is Roger Stanisluas, the Leyton Orient defender. The decision on his future will set a precedence for any future positive tests. It is thought that the player is facing a lengthly ban after cocaine traces were found in his urine.
Earlier drugs cases involved in the football fraternity have included Paul Merson's admition to experimenting with cocaine and Chris Armstrong testing positive for canabis. However neither case bears any parallel to Stanisluas' as Merson confessed his use of the drug socially, but did not fail a test, and in Armstong's case , canabis was not regarded as performance enhancing.
It is debatable whether Stanisluas was use cocaine to enhance his performance, or whether he simply used it for recreational purposes. Either way however, the player has failed a dope test abd will therefore have to face the consequences.
Andrew to Face Carling in Cup Clash(3/1/96)
The draw for the fith round of the Pilkington Cup has thrown together Newcastle against the Harlequins. Rob Andrew will lead Newcastle in an attempt to inspire an unlikely upset on Will Carling's Harlequins. Newcastle are currently lying at the bottom of the second division, with a relegation styruggle on their hands. However the cavalry is arriving at speed with the likes of Andrew, Nick Popplewell, Tony Underwood, Gary Armstrong, Dean Ryan, Doddie Weir and Graham Childs.
The tie arrives in between the England matches against France and Wales, so it could be a tricky period for Carling. The ties are to be played on January 27th.
Latest scores from England's tour of South Africa
England Throw Away Another Game
Scoreboard
1st One Day International South Africa G Kirsten lbw Cork 8 D Richardsin c Stewart b Martin 11 B McMillan c Stewart b Martin 4 D Cullinan c Stewart b Reeve 17 J Rhodes c Stewart b White 16 H Cronje run out 24 J Kallis c Thorpe b White 38 S Pollock not out 66 C Matthews c Reeve b Cork 10 Extras 17 Total 211 England M Atherton b Donald 35 A Stewart lbw b Donald 23 G Hick lbw b Donald 21 G Thorpe c Matthews b McMillan 62 N Fairbrother c Adams b Pollock 28 C White C and B Pollock 5 D Reeve c richardson b Matthews 2 D Cork run out 7 N Smith c McMillan b Pollock 3 D Gough b Pollock 3 P Martin not out 4 Extras 12 Total 205 Result: South Africa win by 6 runs
England collapsed pathetically to hand the South Africans yet another game on the plate. It was another witless performance from the England team, who after a promissing start to their tour, are now specialising on dramatic collapses. Their performance contrived to make this very average South African team look good. As a result, the English team is beginning to look not even very average.
Another rearguard offensive from the South African tailend took the initiative away from England. In the fifth and final Test at this same ground, Adams put a last wicket stand of 73 on with wicket keeper Dave Richardson. This time it was Pollock's turn, as he thrased a quickfire 66 of as many balls, to keep South Africa in the match.
Even with a total of 211 however, it needed England to throw away the game, and they duelly obliged. England reacheaded 155 for 4 before losing their last six wickets for just 50 runs. At the height of the collapse there was an atmosphere of complete panic in the England camp. This was epitomised by Cork's run out, who left his crease without even looking up at his partner Thorpe. Thorpe remained rooted to his end refusing the ridiculous run, and Donald continued his follow on to collect the ball and knock down Cork's wickets. Such stupidity is rarely seen at this level, but this was a purely idiotic scene.
Thorpe batted on, leading England's challenge, but could only watch from the other end of the wicket as a succesion of partners committed suicide. Eventually he was the ninth wicket to fall, for a fighting 62 runs, but by then England's chances had been thrown away. Atherton was predictably livid at his middle to lower order's complete ineptitude at showing any resistance whatsoever to the South African attack. He claimed they had "bottled it"and shown no experience in a situation when cool heads were needed.
Jackie Stewart to Lead New F1 Team(3/1/96)
Jackie Stewart is expected to announce that he is to lead a new Ford based team on the F1 circuit for the 1997 season.
Stewart will be the leading figure behind his son's Milton Keynes based team, Pual Stewart Racing, which will be making the step up from Formula 3000.
Stewart's connections with the buisiness world assure that the team will not lack financial support. It will bring another top British team to the F1 circuit, which is already dominated by British manufacturers.
Herbert Clinches Sauber Spot(19/12/95)
Johnny Herbert the enigmatic British Formula 1 racer has clinched the last seat for Sauber for next seasons championship. He beat of rival and compatriot Mark Blundell to the best remaining Formula 1 drive. Herbert will team up with Heinz Harold Frentzen, the highly rated young German, who raced for the Swiss team last season.
Herbert won the British and the Itallian grand prix last season and finished fourth in the driveras championship, but was not picked for a drive in the early jostling for positions and teams. This announcement confirms that he will remain on the Gran Prix circuit next season. Meanwhile, Blundell is considering a switch to IndyCar racing in the States.
Tyson Does Not Impress Against Buster Mathis Jnr(19/12/95)
Frank Bruno can feel quitely confident after witnessing a lacklustre performance by Tyson in his final warm up before the two clash in March. "Iron Mike is Rusty Mike" said Bruno after watching Tyson dispose of Mathis in three rounds.
Tyson should have finished this one in the first. The flabby Mathis was never a threat, but Tyson failed to connect with anything that he threw at his opponent. The fight resembled more of a wrestling match as Tyson and Mathis grappled for position. Eventually however, Tyson managed to slip from Mathis' clutches and landed two thirds of a three punch combo, which was enough to put Mathis on the canvas.
Bruno will certainly be delighted about the number of punches Tyson missed, as he wildly struck out into the night air. This was not even a fast opponent either. On this form Tyson should nottrouble Bruno. It is just a question of whether Iron Mike can find the devastating power that was once his trade mrk, before he takes on our Frank.
Bruno Under Fire From Tyson(13/12/95)
The war of words has already begun between the Heavyweight title contenders, Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson. Tyson has one the first round, promising to bash Bruno! He declared he knew how to fight big Frank, and tht it would not be a difficult task to overcome the British World Heavyweight Champion.
Tyson shrugged off any suggestion that Bruno hurt him with a powerful left hook, the last time they met. Tyson eventually won that contest in the sixth round, but only after Bruno had shaken him up some.
Meanwhile Big Frank had to be content with runner up in the BBC's annual Sports Personality of the Year award. Thought to be heading the list, he bowed out to Johnathan Edwards, who smashed the world record for triple jump during the summer.
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