19 April 2006 Birmingham (0) 2 (Butt 62, Forssell 87) Blackburn (0) 1 (Savage 78) Birmingham are out of the bottom three on goal difference after a late winner from sub Mikael Forssell gave them a priceless win against Blackburn. All the goals came in the final half an hour, starting with Nicky Butt sweeping in a cross from Julian Gray. Former Blues star Robbie Savage was jeered throughout on his return to St Andrews, however it was almost written that he'd silence the fans somehow and he did just that with the equaliser as he found the net after Maik Taylor had saved superbly from Sergio Peter. With three minutes to go, Forssell sent the home fans delirious as he controlled a cross from Gray again and fired crisply home. Attendance : 25,287 Assists : Gray, n/a, Gray 18 April 2006 Wigan (1) 3 (Bullard 25, Camara 56, 60) Aston Villa (0) 2 (Angel 53, Ridgewell 67) Wigan's European dreams are still alive after a narrow win against Villa who probably cannot wait for their dismal season to end. The hosts went ahead with a beauty as Jimmy Bullard latched onto a poor clearance to send an acrobatic volley into the top corner from the edge of the area, however it was in the second half that the fun began as the game was decided by four goals in a crazy eleven minute spell. It began with Villa equalising as Juan Pablo Angel thumped in Gabriel Agbonlahor's cross for a rare goal, however Wigan were quick to regain their lead when Henri Camara scored a superb solo goal, culminating with a crisp shot inside the near post. Four minutes later, he scored again after exchanging passes with Pascal Chimbonda, but Villa battled back and pulled within a goal of a draw when Liam Ridgewell tucked Gareth Barry's cross under the keeper, the ball just having enough pace to trundle over the line. Attendance : 17,330 Assists : n/a, Agbonlahor, ?, Chimbonda, Barry 17 April 2006 Tottenham (0) 1 (Jenas 53) Manchester United (0) 2 (Rooney 8, 36) Two Wayne Rooney goals keep Man United's slim title hopes alive with a 2-1 win at Spurs whose own hopes of hanging onto fourth place took a dent. United opened the scoring with a classic counter-attack as Ruud Van Nistelrooy found Cristiano Ronaldo in space on the left and his cross was slid in at the far post by Rooney. The second was down to inept defending by Young-Pyo Lee who dallied with the ball in his own area and was robbed by Ji-Sing Park who gave Rooney a gift to score at the near post. Another gift gave Spurs some hope early in the second half when a Robbie Keane corner should have been headed powerfully away by Nemanja Vidic, however his header hit team mate Rio Ferdinand and gave Jermaine Jenas a tap in from a matter of a yard. Attendance : 36,141 Assists : Ronaldo, n/a, n/a Charlton (0) 2 (Hughes 76, Bent (D) 83) Portsmouth (1) 1 (D'Alessandro 40) Portsmouth were fourteen minutes away from putting distance between themselves and the bottom three when the proverbial roof fell in at Charlton. They went ahead with a beauty of a goal from Andres D'Alessandro who collected a throw-in by the corner flag, beat two men and fired in a cracking shot from the right edge of the area into the opposite top corner. The lead lasted until the latter stages when Charlton equalised as Darren Bent's low cross was turned in at the near post by Bryan Hughes. Even a point would have been okay for the strugglers, however it wasn't to be as, with seven minutes to go, Hermann Hreidarsson's header sent Bent clear and he finished clinically to leave Pompey looking anxiously over their shoulders. Attendance : 25,419 Assists : O'Neil (throw-in), Bent, Hreidarsson Chelsea (1) 3 (Lampard 28, Drogba 62, Essien 74) Everton (0) 0 SENT OFF: Carsley (Everton) 47 Chelsea are one point away from guaranteeing a second successive Premiership title after a comfortable win against Everton. They went ahead when Didier Drogba's tackle and pass found Frank Lampard and he struck a trademark shot into the bottom corner. Everton cause was hampered further when Lee Carsley was shown a straight red for a late challenge on Drogba, although a different official on a different day may have shown yellow instead. Chelsea took full advantage and doubled the lead when Lampard's corner was headed in powerfully at the near post by Drogba and the third followed when Claude Makelele found Michael Essien and having made space, he arrowed a shot into the top corner. Only Man United could stop Chelsea now and the pair meet on the 29th April with Chelsea knowing that just a draw will be enough. Attendance : 41,765 Assists : Drogba, Lampard (ck), Makelele Middlesbrough (1) 2 (Hasselbaink 41, Maccarone (pen) 57) West Ham (0) 0 The pre-run for next Sunday's FA Cup semi final ended with Middlesbrough gaining a psychological advantage over West Ham thanks to a goal in each half. Boro made NINE changes from Saturday's defeat at Portsmouth and although the Hammers began well, Boro were ahead by half time when a cross from Matthew Bates was crisply finished by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. The win was secured early in the second half when youngster Adam Johnson was barged over in the area by Shaun Newton and Massimo Maccarone made no mistake from the spot. Attendance : 27,658 Assists : Bates, Johnson (won pen) Sunderland (1) 1 (Hoyte 32) Newcastle (0) 4 (Chopra 60, Shearer (pen) 61, N'Zogbia 66, Luque 87) The final Tyne-Wear league derby for at least one season ended with Newcastle hammering doomed Sunderland on their own patch. It began well for already relegated Sunderland and they went ahead when Dean Whitehead's cross was tapped in by Justin Hoyte, however six minutes of second half madness turned the game around. Firstly, Newcastle brought on Michael Chopra as sub and within seconds, he'd capitalised on an awful misunderstanding between keeper Kelvin Davis and Stephen Caldwell to tap the ball over the line. At the time of writing, I'm not certain, but it's close to beating Shaun Goater's Prem record for the quickest ever goal from a sub. Within a minute, Newcastle scored again when Hoyte fouled Charles N,Zogbia in the area and Alan Shearer walloped home the penalty. It could well be Shearer's last ever goal in his career as he was later taken off with a knee injury and as he's due to retire at the end of the season, another appearance looks unlikely. Newcastle then turned the screw and added a third as N,Zogbia embarked on a sensational solo run, evading the attentions of five players before scoring and late on, Albert Luque netted a rare goal as he ran half the length of the pitch before clipping in after another defensive mix-up. Attendance : 40,032 Assists : n/a, n/a, Ameobi (won pen), n/a, n/a West Brom (0) 0 Bolton (0) 0 Goalless in a poor game at the Hawthorns as West Brom move to within three points of safety at the bottom, whilst Bolton remain in with a shout of a European place. Bolton had the better possession in a scrappy first half, however West Brom created the best, and only, chance when Zoltan Gera's deflected header was somehow kept out by a combination of keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and defender Nicky Hunt. After the break things were much the same with attempts few and far between, although Steve Watson's lob went across goal rather than towards and Gera nodded another effort over. Sub Ricardo Vaz Te livened things up late on for the visitors and sent a volley wide but the breakthrough wouldn't come for Bolton. Arguably the best chances of the game came in the final minute as Neil Clement headed just over for West Brom and then Kevin Nolan bobbled a shot over from six yards out for Bolton. Attendance : 23,181 Assist : n/a 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 |