27 March 2006 Tottenham (0) 2 (Keane 68, (pen) 89) West Brom (1) 1 (Davies (C) 21) Spurs came from behind to beat lowly West Brom, largely thanks to a late howler from away keeper Tomasz Kuszczak. The visitors were ahead at half time thanks to a set piece as Jonathon Greening's free kick was nodded in at the far post by Curtis Davies. Spurs surged back after the break and after almost constant pressure, equalised midway through the half. Michael Carrick was the provider with a lovely through ball that Robbie Keane collected and then clipped brilliantly over the keeper and in. A draw looked likely and fair, however with two minutes to go, Kuszczak's clearance was charged down by Jermain Defoe and as it bounced toward goal, the keeper hailed down the Spurs forward and although Ahmed Mido put the ball in, the referee had already blown for a penalty. The keeper was booked and could do nothing as Keane dispatched his spot kick into the top corner. Attendance : 36,152 Assists : Greening (fk), Carrick, Defoe (won pen) 26 March 2006 Manchester United 3 (Giggs 3 fk, Giggs 15, Rooney 83) Birmingham 0 Man United regained second place from Liverpool after a comfortable win against struggling Birmingham. United began in superb style and were two goals ahead inside fifteen minutes, both from Ryan Giggs. His first had an element of luck about it as his 20 yard free kick was tipped onto the post by keeper Maik Taylor, however it then rebound against his back and bobbled over the line. His second came from a through ball from Wayne Rooney that he neatly slotted in. Following their seven goal hammering at the hands of Liverpool, another Birmingham slaughter looked on the cards, however they rode their luck and improved after the break and only conceded once more, late on when Cristiano Ronaldo's header sent Rooney clear and having missed two similar chances earlier, he made no mistake the third time. Attendance : 69,070 Assists : ?, Rooney, Ronaldo Charlton (2) 3 (Bent (D) (pen) 24, Bowyer (og) 37, Bothroyd 89) Newcastle (1) 1 (Parker 35) Charlton move above Newcastle in the table after a comfortable win against the Tyneside club. The home side went ahead from a firmly struck Darren Bent penalty after Craig Moore had tripped Jerome Thomas, although part of the blame should go to Peter Ramage for an awful clearance in the first place. Former Charlton star Scott Parker equalised with a stunning 30 yard shot into the top corner after being found by Alan Shearer, however within two minutes, Charlton were back ahead thanks to another of their former players. A long ball into the area was nodded on and as Moore blasted the ball away, it hit team-mate Lee Bowyer on the leg and rocketed back into the net for a freak own goal. The win was secured late on when Dennis Rommedalh's run and cross was headed in at the near post by Jay Bothroyd less than a minute after coming on as sub. Attendance : 27,019 Assists : Thomas (won pen), Shearer, n/a, Rommedahl Middlesbrough 4 (Hasselbaink 8 Pen, 47, Viduka 30, Parnaby 92) Bolton 3 (Giannakopoulos 4, Okocha 58, Jaidi 81) Stuart Parnaby scored a last minute winner as Middlesbrough edged out Bolton by the odd goal in seven after a remarkable game at the Riverside. It began as it was to go on as Bolton netted early when a long ball by Jay-Jay Okocha was headed on by Boro's Ugo Ehiogu, allowed Stelios Giannakpolous to collect and wriggle through challenges before firing in. Boro were level within five minutes as Joey O'Brien's handball allowed Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to score from the penalty spot, although keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen almost saved it, the ball dribbling under his body and trickling over the line. The hosts then took command as Fabio Rochemback's chip was chested into the path of Mark Viduka by Hasselbaink and the Aussie made no mistake with his close range shot. Early in the second half it was 3-1 when a long ball found it's way through to Hasselbaink and he clipped the ball past the advancing keeper and in off the post. Bolton then battled back, aided by the luckless Ehiogu who hauled down Jared Borgetti in the area and although Okocha's weak penalty was saved by Mark Schwarzer, he was on hand to wallop in the rebound. Nine minutes from time and Bolton were level as Rahdi Jaidi lost his marker to head home Okocha's cross, however in stoppage time, Yakubu produced a brilliant cross from the left and Parnaby pounced at the far post to fire in the winner. Attendance : 25,971 Assists : n/a, n/a, Hasselbaink, Quedrue, n/a, Yakubu 25 March 2006 Aston Villa 0 Fulham 0 Fulham collected a rare away point against Aston Villa whose boss David O'Leary is coming under increasing pressure from the fans. Villa came close to opening the scoring in a poor game when Lee Hendrie's skimmed the bar, but in truth this was nothing to write home about. Attendance : 32,605 Assist : n/a Chelsea 2 (Drogba 30, 33) Manchester City 0 Chelsea edged closer to back-to-back titles with a comfortable win against Man City, however Didier Drogba was involved in a hand ball controversy for the second successive match. His first goal was legal enough as he collected a pass from Eidur Gudjohnsen, cut back inside a defender and blasted a shot past David James, however three minutes later after James had saved brilliantly from John Terry's header, Joe Cole volleyed the ball back into the area and after Asier Del Horno headed across goal, Drogba controlled with his arm and fired in. Heavy City protests resulted in Kiki Musampa and Sylvain Distin being booked and at half time, the latter continued his protests and was shown a second yellow card and subsequent red. Attendance : 42,321 Red Card : Distin 45 (Manchester City) Assists : Gudjohnsen, Del Horno Sunderland 0 Blackburn 1 (Reid 15) Blackburn's European hopes remain on target after a victory at bottom club Sunderland. The only goal was a solo effort from Steven Reid who was allowed to run from his own half to the edge of the area before drilled a fine shot into the net. Attendance : 29,593 Assist : Nelsen Wigan 1 (McCulloch 45) West Ham 2 (Harewood 52, Reo-Coker 90) West Ham came from behind to put a dent in Wigan's European dreams. The hosts went ahead when Jimmy Bullard found Lee McCulloch and his long range shot found the corner with keeper Shaka Hislop rooted to the spot. The Hammers equaliser when Paul Scharne's weak back header was nicked past the keeper by Marlon Harewood and tapped into the empty net and in stoppage time they won it when Nigel Reo-Coker turned in Teddy Sheringham's cross at the near post. Attendance : 18,736 Assists : Bullard, n/a, Sheringham Liverpool 3 (Neville 45 og, Luis Garcia 47, Kewell 84) Everton 1 (Cahill 61) Red Cards : Gerrard 18 (Liverpool), van der Meyde 74 (Everton) Four goals, nine yellow cards and two red cards as Liverpool won the Merseyside derby at Anfield with a 3-1 win over arch rivals Everton. The first half was a bit of an oddity in that it was littered with fouls, pettyness and bookings, yet produced two hugely significant moments to talk about. The first came when Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was booked for kicking the ball away after a decision when against his side and then within a minute, he caught Kevin Kilbane with a late scything challenge and was shown a second yellow and subsequent red. It looked to be heading for a goalless half time teaktalk, but in stoppage time, Xabi Alonso swung in a vicious near post corner that Phil Neville, in an attempt to clear, only headed it into his own net to the delight of the home fans who'd been giving the former Man United star plenty of stick throughout. The second half began as the first ended with a goal for Liverpool as Jose Reina's long kick was headed on by Peter Crouch and after Luis Garcia put himself through with a neat header, he lobbed the advancing keeper to double the lead. Everton battled back and reduced the lead when Tim Cahill wasn't pick up to head a corner from Leon Osman in off the far post, however it spurred on Liverpool more than the visitors as Alonso hit the bar with a free kick and Harry Kewell ws denied by a brilliant save from Richard Wright. Among all this, Everton brought on Duncan Ferguson and Andy Van Der Meyde, however the latter lasted less than six minutes as his arm was a little too high when challenging Alonso for a header and having caught the Liverpool man with his elbow, he was shown a straight red card. Liverpool wrapped up a remarkable game late on when Steven Finnan found Kewell in space and his fierce shot swerved inside the far post from 20 yards. Attendance : 44,923 Assists : n/a, Crouch, Osman (ck), Finnan Gary Dowden - Joint Admin Topica Premier-L list http://www.topica.com/lists/premier-L/ Leeds United and Scotland and proud of it http://footiemad.95mb.com http://www.peanutsfan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/footiemad The Unofficial Premiership Site |