Sunderland 0 Hull City 2

FA Premier League, Saturday 8th February 2014

Saturday saw me leave the world of non league football behind for one day and go and make the annual pilgrimage to Sunderland's Stadium of Light.  My late father was a Sunderland fan and on or around his birthday every year me and my Step Mum make the trip to watch the black cats.  We were both feeling confident ahead of the game seeing as Sunderland had been on a decent run under Gus Poyet.  However after 4 minutes that confidence was knocked completely out of us when a mistake by Sunderland full back Phil Bardsley allowed Shane Long in on goal and Wes Brown charged across to try and make a tackle but instead took Long out and the referee gave a free kick and then sent Brown off leaving the home side with ten men for 86 minutes.  This totally changed the atmosphere inside the stadium, with the majority of the 42,810 crowd fearing the worst.  On 16 minutes Shane Long nodded Hull in front following a corner that was cleared and then knocked back into the six yard box for him to nod in from barely a yard out.  Hull continued to dominate and but for Mannone in the Sunderland goal and the post it would of been a bigger lead by half time.  Adam Johnson had the home side best effort on goal when he volleyed straight at Harper but the home side were lucky to go in just a goal behind.  Sunderland came out second half with a bit more purpose and had a good chance when Colback's effort from outside the box took a deflection and Harper got down smartly to save.  Hull were still dangerous however as Jelavic got in but put wide of the goal but the killer goal came on 62 minutes when a deflected cross found Jelavic's head and he made no mistake in nodding past Manone for 2-0 and effectively end Sunderland hopes of a revival, much to the dismay of me and my step mum, and 40,000 plus others!!!  Hull easily saw out the game to win and gain a valuable three points for Steve Bruce's men.  So another year and another Sunderland defeat, lets hope it's different when we come back next February!!!

Ilford 0 Tower Hamlets 3

Essex Senior League, Wednesday 22nd January 2014

Hooray finally an Essex Senior League game after a 5 week wait!!!  I popped to Cricklefield's to watch Ilford take on Tower Hamlets.  Ilford hadn't played for almost six weeks whereas Hamlet played 11 days go so technically they had more match fitness!!!  Anyway Ilford hit the post early on and played the better stuff for the first half hour or so before Hamlet started to come back into it.  The second half was mostly Hamlet creating chances, two of them gilt edged but they couldn't hit the back of the net.  That was until substitute Killingback burst through into the box and finished well past the keeper to finally break the deadlock on 77 minutes.  This sent pretend 'commentator', who had a headset and a microphone to hand, into raptures and his speaker was taking a battering, much to the amusement of fellow supporters around me!!!  His commentary is legendary around Essex non league circles!!  On 89 minutes it was 2-0 to Hamlet when Luke With's shot took a deflection which wrong footed the keeper and crept into the goal.  3-0 came in stoppage time when Dimitriou got into the box and slid the ball past the keeper.  So in the end Hamlet deserved their win and with that went to the top of the league by three points.  Ilford remain 10th in a frustratingly inconsistent season to date.  They play some good stuff at times but not for long enough.  But all in all it was a pretty good game to watch, and to be honest it was a game to watch, not something that has happened to often of late!!!

Frenford Senior 3 Holland FC 0

Essex Premier Cup 4th Round, Saturday 18th January 2014

On a day where most non league games in the Essex area were wiped out due to the rain, Frenford Senior had no such problems with a super playing surface welcoming us all.  Holland were the visitors from Holland-on-Sea near Clacton.  The visitors had a couple of good long range efforts just wide in the first 5 minutes but that was as good as it got for them as Frenford took control soon after.  On 7 minutes they took the lead when a shot was brilliantly saved by the Holland keeper but unfortunately he parried the ball up into the air and not over the bar and Damon O'Neill was there to tap the rebound into the goal.   It was 2-0 on 25 minutes as Frenford completely stamped their authority on this tie when and fantastic passing move ended with Stuart Williams being played in and he finished emphatically past the keeper.   Holland's task was made even more difficult by the referee when they had a player sent off for what seemed a 50/50 challenge and soon after a far worse tackle only warranted a booking, such is the inconsistency of some decisions.   The second half was a more laboured affair as Frenford took their foot off the gas.  Holland huffed and puffed but really didn't trouble the home goal all afternoon.   Frenford upped the anti again towards the end of the game creating some half chances before they made it 3-0 on 86 minutes with a lovely move down the left resulting in Danny Driscoll tapping home the cross from the left for a well deserved goal.  So Frenford deserved their win and place in the next round of the EPC.