Scorecard Gujarat, overnight on 140 for 2, doubled that total on the third day to take a first-innings lead of 20 against Railways in final of the Ranji Plate League at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. In reply, Railways were at 14 for 1, still trailing by six runs.Gujarat’s lead was due in large part to Nilesh Modi, who added 41 to his overnight 66. However, they were unable to build on that as their middle order – barring Hem Joshipura, who made 36 – failed to chip in with substantial scores.Niraj Patel and Modi added 45 for the fourth wicket after Mohnish Parmar fell early in the day. After Niraj fell, Modi went on score his seventh first-class hundred before he was snared by Harvinder Singh, the former India fast bowler. Modi’s 107 came off 317 deliveries, with 18 fours.Joshipura and Timil Patel combined to help Gujarat take the lead but Joshipura’s wicket, with the score on 255, triggered a collapse; Gujarat lost the last four wickets for 25 runs. Runs came at a trickle, with Gujarat’s run-rate 1.92 runs per over. Sanjay Bangar was the most impressive bowler, with 5 for 54 from his 42 overs in Gujarat’s innings, including 19 maidens.Railways then played out eight overs before close, losing Siddharth Joshi early to Ashraf Makda. Nightwatchman Murali Kartik and Bangar negotiated the remaining overs without further damage. Railways would be pleased with conceding a lead of 20, and a good batting display by them in the second innings could put pressure on Gujarat’s batsmen on the final day.
The little hiccups are simply rolled outChris Dehring, CEO of the World Cup Organising Committee
The countdown is on for the World Cup and tickets are moving quite slow. But organisers are not too worried, and don’t expect the visa problems being experienced by some fans to have a major effect on ticket sales.The problems some nationalities were having obtaining visas were believed to be playing a major part. There were teething problems in Australia, and New Zealanders expressed dismay. Now, the Pakistanis have found out they have to send their passports to New Delhi, India.Negotiations are under way between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the Pakistani Foreign Office to get the visas issued in Pakistan instead. Ahsan Malik, a spokesman for the PCB, said there was a precedent where special visa arrangements were made for fans in the past.Citizens from Britain, Canada, Ireland and South Africa are exempt from the visa requirement but supporters from major cricketing countries like India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are not.Delroy Taylor, senior project officer for ticketing, said he didn’t believe the visa situation would stop fans from making it to the region. When the second phase of ticketing ended in November, only half the 800,000 seats had been sold. The nine local organising committees expect to rake in US$40 million from ticket revenue.Taylor added that it was strongly believed the majority of tickets would be snapped up by Caribbean fans when the final phase of ticketing started on February 1. “I wouldn’t say the visa situation could be aligned to the ticket sales,” Taylor said while at the airport yesterday. “The ticket sales opened a long time ago [May 1, 2006] and the visa system just came about a few weeks ago.”The ticket sales are slower than hoped. The ideal is that we would have loved to have sold all by this time. But we are expecting the people of the Caribbean to come on board and buy most of the tickets in the final phase. This is the phase which most people in the West Indies can relate to – first come first served. The international market has snapped up a lot of the tickets in the early stages.”Chris Dehring, the chief executive of the World Cup Organising Committee, was more upbeat. “This event has faced so many challenges that at this stage, everything is full steam ahead,” he told The Miami Herald newspaper. “The little hiccups are simply rolled out.”Today marks 44 days to go before the official start of the event and Taylor remained optimistic. He noted that the stadia were being completed and there had been a definite up-swing in spectator interest.”We were expecting this would happen,” Taylor said, “there is a feel-good factor happening around the Caribbean. A year ago there was scepticism, but now the stadia are being painted and they are right in front of us for the people to see.”
Darren Gough has said he is disappointed at not being named in England’s one-day squad for India but insisted that he is not intending to retire from international cricket.”I’m not a 20-year-old demanding a place,” Gough told the BBC. “I can understand they want to go with the young guys but I still hope I have another World Cup left in me. I am one of the best bowlers at the end of a one-day match. You can’t buy one of them at a local superstore – it takes years and years.”Gough opted out of the Pakistan leg of the winter tour to concentrate on his participation in the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, which he won, but dismissed any talk of quitting. “”I’ve got a year left at Essex,” he countered, “and they’ve offered me another year after that.”In the recent past, England have tended to make anyone who has chosen to miss a tour work to regain their place, but at 33 and with a string of knee operations behind him, time is against Gough.David Graveney, the chairman of selectors, said that others needed to be tried ahead of the 2007 World Cup. “With Liam Plunkett and James Anderson performing well in Pakistan, and Simon Jones now available for selection again, we feel the priority is for these players to gain as much experience of one-day cricket as possible.”
Mental strength is such an important characteristic, but a calf injury will get a player more sympathy than a sick mind. Steve Waugh’s most enviable trait was not run-scoring or baggy-green pride, it was the grey matter his cap protected. Unforgiving, unflinching, almost all-conquering, Waugh’s brain was the model for long-term success.Waugh grew to understand the power of the mind and set about dismantling those of the opposition with his mental disintegration. Michael Slater was a successful and senior member during the early years of Waugh’s captaincy, but while his team-mates were looking for flaws in their rivals, Slater was experiencing problems with a pattern that was last year diagnosed as bipolar disorder. His behaviour started taking noticeable turns in 2000 and over the next year his actions created much publicity but received little help. Team-mates turned from him, and professional assistance was too far away.Slater this week revealed he suffered from the manic depressive disease, which causes large mood swings, and was worried about how his announcement would be received. The threat of admitting weakness has lasted much longer than his playing days. Society says injury-induced retirees are glorified; those with sick minds are signed off as nutcases.”Are people going to think I’m a fruit loop,” he asked Enough Rope’s Andrew Denton as he shared his secret. Twenty percent of Australians experience some sort of mental illness, yet an opening batsman who thrilled and spilled in a Test career of 71 Tests, scoring 5312 runs at 42.83, was more cautious – scared even – than facing Ambrose and Walsh at their fastest.The sad case of Slater, who believes the disorder was a by-product of the spinal disease Ankylosing Spondylitis afflicting him since he was at the Cricket Academy, highlights a disturbing cricketing anomaly. The mind is a player’s greatest weapon but maintenance and repairs are generally left to the individual.Why don’t teams tour with psychologists? A usual support-staff contingent includes a coach, manager, physiotherapist, masseuse and sometimes an assistant coach, bio-mechanist, yoga instructor and chef. Bodies are temples, but minds are like mini-bar bills and are the user’s responsibility. For help it’s usually necessary to make an international phone call or have a chat with a senior figure behind the nets.The problem with the in-dressing-room solution, compared to the confidentiality of a professional, is the trusted player or coach has a team duty to pass on information about the sufferer’s mindset. Forget the personal damage, what could it do to the side? Waugh, who praised his former team-mate for talking publicly about the illness, made the selectors and Malcolm Speed, the then Cricket Australia chief executive, aware of Slater’s slide in 2001 and he was dumped, never to return, for the final Test of the Ashes tour.While losing the one-day series 5-0 to Australia, John Bracewell said his batsmen were offered the use of Gilbert Enoka, the team’s psychologist, and the reaction was the stereotypical “send them to couch” humour. At his next public outing Bracewell effectively told the doubters to grow up. Psychologists were part of professional sport.Slater will forever wonder whether things could have been different. It now seems absurd that Waugh’s golden calf injury sustained at Trent Bridge in 2001 was a national concern and the state of Slater’s seriously worsening state of mind was mockingly dismissed. Waugh recovered to play at The Oval and scored a gutsy 157 not out; Slater’s combined problems – panic attacks that rushed him to hospital, reactive arthritis that folded him into a wheelchair – forced him to retire at 34. Leaping, helmet-kissing celebrations like his Lord’s 152 were old, fanciful dreams.The first signs of Slater’s bipolar disorder came in 2000 with his television commentary debut in England, and grew to become as common as a couple a day. Panic attacks are worse than any hamstring strain or bone-spur operation. The health problems were compounded and contributed to by the separation from his wife Stephanie, the accusation that he was addicted to cocaine and the awful, false rumour that he was the father of Adam Gilchrist’s child.
During this time Slater gave regular signs of his trouble. Glass of wine in-hand, he jumped on stage to sing with Jimmy Barnes at the 2001 Allan Border Medal, then there was the Rahul Dravid outburst, the buying of his long-saved-for Ferrari and four tattoos when one would have done. “This might clear up for a few people why my behaviour appeared erratic,” he explained of his decision to go public.Why it wasn’t dealt with, and why he wasn’t properly helped as it was happening remains a mystery. The talk on that Ashes tour was Slater was running quickly off the rails, but he was left on his own. Slater said he felt isolated as his friends turned their backs.Now a commentator who talks like he batted – fresh, mostly relaxed and highly entertaining – Slater’s eye-sparkle remains but his body looks worn out for a 35-year-old. He hopes for a long career but worries the “fruit loop” reaction could hinder his prospects. If his bipolar revelation has that effect it would be a greater injustice than the lack of support he received as he careered out of international cricket.”I wish I’d been stronger,” Slater said. “I was too sensitive and wore my heart on my sleeve.” Perhaps he was just right: there were far more highs than lows. Perhaps the people around him should have worried more about their caring than the cracking up. Mental injuries must be treated more seriously than any grade-one muscle tear.
Close ScorecardWest Indies closed the fourth day of the final Test at Bulawayo needing only one more wicket to take the match, and the series, after an astonishing day’s play in which 18 wickets fell. It wasn’t easy on a crumbling pitch, but the batsmen had only themselves to blame for their own indiscipline, as was the case with West Indies, and faint hearts, as it was with Zimbabwe.West Indies started the day in confusion, crumbling to 128 all out, but finished with fierce determination, and now need only to turn up on the final morning to wrap up this topsy-turvy match. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, began with brilliance and finished in ignominy, surrendering their earlier advantage to collapse to 90 for 9.There have been many stirring passages of play in this all-too-brief series, but none more than than today. Zimbabwe needed early wickets to put West Indies under pressure, and that’s exactly what happened. Daren Ganga, who didn’t add to his overnight score of 8, drove Andy Bilgnaut straight to Stuart Carlisle at cover (17 for 2). Then Heath Streak produced the ball of the series to remove Brian Lara with a wicked inswinging yorker which pierced his high backlift and knocked his middle stump clean out of the ground (21 for 3).Zimbabwe were on fire. Wavell Hinds and Ramnaresh Sarwan did stem the vibrant bowling for a while, but without conviction. Sarwan, on 9, slashed at Blignaut and Craig Wishart picked up a sharp catch at slip (51 for 4). Hinds then played forward to Ray Price and was given out, caught at short leg by Carlisle, although television replays suggested it was pad and arm (51 for 5).Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ridley Jacobs, the last two recognized batsmen, tried to retrieve the situation before falling in consecutive overs. Streak returned to take the vital wicket of Chanderpaul, trapped lbw for 15, with a fast, straight ball (82 for 6). In the next over Jacobs edged an attempted drive at Price on to his pads, and was snapped up by Trevor Gripper at short leg (82 for 7).Omari Banks and the rest of the tail were left with the virtually impossible task of giving their team a respectable second-innings score. He and Merv Dillon fought on for more than half an hour before Price broke through, having Banks caught off pad and bat by Mark Vermeulen for 16 (127 for 8). Corey Collymore was then surprised to be bowled behind his legs by Price, and Fidel Edwards was bowled by Blignaut, ending the innings in a hurry on a meagre 128. Price took 4 for 36 – his poorest figures of the series, but still impressive – and Streak and Blignaut finished with three wickets apiece.It was a fine performance by Zimbabwe, but now came the real test of their nerve. The highest target they have successfully chased was 162, against India at Harare in 2000-01, when they won a titanic struggle by four wickets. With Zimbabwe’s tendency to choke though, nothing could be taken for granted – and they did their best to uphold their reputation.Vusi Sibanda edged Dillon to second slip in the first over of the innings, without a run on the board. Then Gripper edged a ball from Collymore low to Jacobs, and West Indies believed they had another wicket. Gripper stood his ground though, and the third umpire finally ruled not out. For once the luck was going Zimbabwe’s way, but the question remained as to whether they could take advantage of it.
And they couldn’t. Vermeulen was in fine form while scoring 24 off as many balls, but he fell just before tea to the curse of modern cricket – the one-day diagonal bat – trying to drive Hinds through the off side dragging the ball onto his stumps (32 for 2). Gripper reverted to the stonewaller he used to be, nudging a dogged 8 off 34 balls, and on tea he was given out caught at short leg by Ganga off Banks (33 for 3).Zimbabwe’s pusillanimity then reached new heights. Wishart started well, pulling Banks for a flat six over midwicket, but once again he flattered to deceive, slashing Hinds to first slip for 13 (54 for 4). With Edwards nursing a dodgy ankle and unable to bowl, Hinds did a useful job in putting the ball on the spot and letting the batsmen – and occasionally the pitch – do the work.After Wishart’s departure, the floodgates opened. Wickets fell steadily and ingloriously as the batsmen seemed to lose the will even to hit the ball off the square. Stuart Matsikenyeri ran himself out (62 for 6) and Blignaut padded up to Banks and was lbw (63 for 7) – two of the softest of dismissals imaginable. Tatenda Taibu and Price then both fell to Collymore and the white flag had well and truly been raised.Streak hit Banks over long-on for a final defiant six, and he and Blessing Mahwire showed more fight than their predecessors. But they only delayed the inevitable, and ensured that Zimbabwe survived until what will be a token fifth day.
NSW will battle against a large slice of history tomorrow after being set 406 runs for victory in its Pura Cup cricket match against Western Australia at the WACA ground.The Blues dragged back 26 runs late in the day for no loss in the knowledge that they have never scored more than 281 in the fourth innings in a match at theWACA.And they have a woeful record in recent times in the four-day game in Perth having lost four of their last five matches outright.Blues openers Brad Haddin (14no) and Grant Lambert (8no) negotiated ten overs late in the day in fading light.The Warriors earlier declared their second innings closed at 6-158, an overall lead of 405 runs nearing stumps on the third day of the match.It came after Warriors pace duo Brad Williams (4-89) and Jo Angel (4-91) skittled the Blues out for 253 in reply to the Warriors’ first innings total of 7(dec)-500.Brad Hogg (17no) and Kade Harvey (13no) were the unbeaten batsmen when West Australian captain Simon Katich finally ended the innings.Scott Meuleman (0) was the first casualty caught behind off Stuart Clark’s (2-39) bowling without a run on the board.Katich (23) fell trying to pull Clark while Ryan Campbell (11) and Marcus North (9) had their stumps rattled by Don Nash (3-59) in the rush for quick runs.Opener Michael Hussey (60) continued his good form with an entertaining knock before he was Nash’s third victim while Chris Rogers (18) swept Higgs straight to Michael Clarke.Earlier Angel and Williams wrapped up the tail after lunch to secure first innings points after Graeme Rummans’ (55) defiant knock of just under four hours came to an end.The Blues batting lineup folded after Rummans was caught behind for Angel’s third scalp, losing their last five wickets for 48 runs.Mark Higgs (23) fell soon after with Hussey taking a sharp catch in slips off Williams’ bowling.Brett Van Deinsen, who batted with a runner after injuring his back bowling yesterday, made a quickfire 27 before he became the fourth victim of theCampbell-Angel combination of the innings.Williams then took a fine return catch to dismiss Nathan Bracken for a duck before Nash (9) was run out in a mix-up with Stuart Clark (6no).Williams’ earlier claimed the crucial wicket of Michael Bevan (66) while young WA quick Michael Clark (1-33) snared captain Shane Lee’s (18) wicket.An outright win for the Warriors will see them leapfrog South Australia into second place on the Pura Cup ladder while NSW will need a miracle to win and get off the bottom of the table.
Delhi gained eight points on account of an innings and 21 run victoryover J&K in a North Zone U-14 league match at the Sports Stadium inKathua. Electing to bat on day one, Delhi declared their first inningsat 275 for 9 in 77 overs. Skipper G Chabra led the way with a stylish122 in 177 balls. Then Delhi’s Tehlan who took 4 wickets combined withKarki and Pant who both took 3 wickets to restrict J&K to just 104 in64.3 overs. Only opener I Dev offered some resistance to make 43.Then following on, 171 runs behind, J&K didn’t do well in their secondessay either by getting out for 150 in 99.4 overs. Tehlan was the mostsuccessful bowler again by taking 3 wickets. I Dev again was theleading scorer having made 46.
Two thumping wins over the best team in the world and a neighbour with whom you share a spicy rivalry is reason enough for joy. But as it came on the back of six losses in eight games in the CB series in Australia recently, it is little wonder Stephen Fleming, the New Zealand captain, was moved to call his side’s five-wicket win at Eden Park an “amazing day”.”It was an amazing day, great for the game and great for us to get across the line in a big-scoring match,” Fleming said, after his side had chased down 337 to clinch the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy with a game to spare.Before this series, New Zealand had only won two of their last 22 ODIs against their Trans-Tasman rivals, a run stretching out over five years. In less than a week, they have doubled that tally.”We’ve fallen short numerous times against Australia. A lot of work has been done behind the scenes, we’ve been smart off the field, but the performances have let us down on it.””We’ve tried to maintain a positive feel but we didn’t expect the results to be as spectacular as the last two,” Fleming added, referring also to his side’s ten-wicket win in the first game, Australia’s first such loss ever.New Zealand’s chase was the second-highest ever in ODIs, five runs more than their previous best chase, also against Australia. “Scores of around 300 and over are now gettable and teams believe they have a chance if the conditions are right,” Fleming explained.
Not that that revelation will be of any consolation to Michael Hussey, Australia’s captain in this series. Australia own many records in modern-day cricket though that of now being on the receiving end of the three largest ODI chases ever is not one they will be proud of.Worryingly, the three chases have come in the last 14 months. But Hussey insisted the personnel weren’t at fault. “I know big totals being chased down is an area of concern and we’re going to have to get better at it,” said Hussey, who himself made an accomplished 105 in the game.”But I still think we’ve got the right people in the team and in the squad. I actually don’t think we did too badly with the ball and in the field. A few things didn’t go our way, we had a few very close shaves, and on another day they might go our way.”This was Australia’s fourth straight defeat and fifth in their last six games, which as a run-in to defending their world crown, is hardly ideal. They are also fretting over injuries to key players, including Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee. But Hussey said there was no need, just yet, for panic.”It’s not ideal but though we’re disappointed the spirit is okay. We can’t afford to panic and make wholesale changes. We have to trust our personnel, our own games and each other. I know if we keep working hard we’ll be fine.”
Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly now begun talks to sign Hugo Ekitike this summer.
The Lowdown: Breakthrough season
Ekitike is having somewhat of a breakthrough season with Reims in Ligue 1, where he has managed nine goals and pitch in three assists in total in the division so far (Transfermarkt).
So much so, that the likes of Newcastle United and West Ham came knocking in the January transfer window, and more clubs are now set to follow suit in the summer.
The Latest: Tottenham talks
As per Calciomercato, Spurs have begun to build talks with Reims over Ekitike, along with North London rivals Arsenal, FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Marseille, Lyon and PSG are also thought to be in the mix for his signature, which is thought to cost in the region of €20m (£16.7m).
The Verdict: Bargain
Considering that a £33m deal for Ekitike to go to St. James’ Park fell through on deadline day, to get him for essentially half the price would prove to be a bargain.
The 19-year-old has had no shortage of praise, as his manager Oscar Garcia called him a ‘very special’ player earlier in the campaign, while many in France believe that he could be the ‘next Mbappe’.
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There are similarities to how Kylian Mbappe broke onto the scene as a French teenager at AS Monaco, and if Ekitike turns out to be anything like the player Mbappe is now, then the Lilywhites would have a real gem on their hands.
In other news, find out what injury ‘worry’ is now a ‘real problem’ for THFC here!
When I look back at Chelsea’s Champions League heartbreaks over the last nine years, I have often suggested to anyone who will listen that that last gasp defeat to Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in 2009 was the worst of all the near-misses and gut-wrenching disappointments. That was, of course, until about 10.27pm last night when it hit home that Chelsea were once again on the verge of losing the Champions League- Europe’s richest club prize- on penalty kicks.
Juan Mata had missed a third consecutive spot kick in Chelsea colours and Bayern, in front of their home fans, had established a 3-1 advantage in the penalty contest. Surely, after all the brushes with death in this year’s competition, could be no escape this time. And like a romantic who has had his heart broken one too many times, the memories of 21st May 2008 came flooding back.
Four years ago I sat in my student house on the eve of an ill-fated Land Law exam, having already convinced myself that 2008 was going to work out to be Manchester United’s year. I am not, as you might gather, the most positive of Blues supporters.
Back then my negativity appeared justified. United had toppled us in the league and in Moscow, dominated the early exchanges, scoring early through a Cristiano Ronaldo header before dominating the rest of interminable fist half. Frank Lampard, somehow, was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to level things up just before the break but you couldn’t feel positive about Chelsea’s chances.
Strangely, the Blues had the best of the rest of the game- hitting the woodwork twice in extra-time- before the bitter taste of penalty kicks and THAT slip from John Terry. In fact when Ronaldo failed to beat Petr Cech from the spot, I managed to break a broom in two in my excitement. Alas, these advantages are fragile and within five minutes Clive Tyldesley cried: “van der Sar saves it, United again!” and the dream was over.
The rest of the night was swallowed up in floods of jubilant Facebook messages from United fans, the most poisonous BLT sandwich I have ever tasted and the sudden realisation that in my football obsessed state I had neglected to study at least 70% of the syllabus for the Law exam only seven hours away. It was not my best night.
Fast forward four years and in a not dissimilar haze I came across the very same grey tracksuit that I had worn that night in Moscow. Well, OK, not that I was in Moscow in 2008 but in any case it felt prophetic. How about wearing the same clothes to help break the hex and see Chelsea over the line? Stuart Pearce I was not but at that moment the decision to dig out those old garments seemed the least I could do.
As in previous years I had been invited to a friend’s house to watch the game but I knew if the match was tight, which it was surely destined to be, I may well not have been palatable company. So, a solo trip to a pub where I knew no one inside was the answer. Anti-social, yes, but in those moments you feel that everything you do needs to be right if your side are to come out on top.
The decision to watch games of this sort on my own have often been my policy, particularly since I had to explain to a then paramour that the Argentine television graphics of Chelsea’s last 16 defeat to Inter Milan in 2010 did not mean that Didier Drogba was going to be playing in goal.
My establishment of choice was pretty quiet. In fact the sterile atmosphere of the game was reflected only in the seeming indifference of the publicans. The only moment of passion seemed to come when I let out a frantic gasp at David Luiz, who had slipped out of position, and one middle-aged gentleman asked, quite threateningly, if I was a Tottenham fan. Obviously not.
When Thomas Muller nodded in Bayern’s opener with little over seven minutes on the clock, I felt much like how Arsenal fans must have felt after Juliano Belletti’s late winner for Barcelona in the 2006 final. Their ‘destined’ triumph was cut off at the death- surely the German forward had just done the same to Chelsea.
Of course, if there was to be a way back, it had to be Didier Drogba to save the day and halt the celebrations of Bayern and Tottenham fans everywhere. His blunderbuss header was, in truth, Chelsea’s only real clear-cut opening of the match but it came in the nick of time.
Even as we entered extra-time, the docile pub dwellers may have written the game off as a Chelsea moment of destiny, but I was climbing the walls. As Drogba gave away his second Champions League penalty in two games, a bearded man from a table of bemused French watchers waved a nonchalant hand at my pained cries and simply said: “Messi, Messi!”
And by the beard of John Spencer he was right. Arjen Robben bottled a penalty kick when at Chelsea during the 2007 semi-final shootout against Liverpool at Anfield, and the Dutchman hadn’t learnt any greater composure in the five years that had since slipped by. Cech fell to his left and made a relatively straightforward stop.
“Everyone stay calm!” I shouted, not realising that I, of course, was the most animated of the swelling crowd. The spectre of penalties, I reminded myself and everyone within earshot, was not one Chelsea were likely to respond well to.
“Remember Charlton!” I bellowed- a reference to a Carling Cup penalty exit in 2005 that I’m not even sure the players involved in remember.
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As an English Chelsea fan the shootout was the first to go the way I’d wanted- two League Cup campaigns aside- since Rafael Nadal’s uncle, Miguel Angel, failed at Wembley for Spain during Euro 96- it has been a long 16 years.
Thankfully I couldn’t hear Gary Neville do his best to jinx Drogba as he made his way to the penalty spot for his moment of truth else I might have flown to Munich and throttled the newest member of the England coaching staff. Still, I was convinced there was to be a sting in the tail. Mercifully, there wasn’t.
Within seconds I was involved in a seven man hug with a set of complete strangers before leaping around like a Jack-in-the-box on hallucinogenic drugs. Football shouldn’t mean this much, but it does.
On my way out I popped into a 24 hour shop to pick up some food. This time, I am pleased to report, I ignored the strategically placed BLT and went for something a bit harder. And the tracksuit? A bit like Drogba, it might have some life it in yet.