Weekend Roundup and Team of the Week
Without reservation my team of this weekend is Cambridge United. Finally they managed to go and get themselves three point son their travels. A 1-0 win away at Woking may not seem much but to them it represents breaking an abysmal runof only getting one away win a season. Jamie Guy was the man who stepped up in the 72nd minute and rifled home a 25 yard shot and then we defended as if our lives depended on it. I am also pleased to see that Rob Newman has not got carried away with this and demanded that we produce the goods again next week at Tamworth. Now I'm not to sure what caused this momentous change in our fortunes, perhaps it was the sports pyschologist they bought in during the week. I would like to think that it was because we actually tried to attack our opponents instead of trying to hit them on the break. If we start the game with a positive attitude it will mean that the home side will then have to think about how to play against us as opposed to us letting them play waiting for mistakes. If our away form does change dramatically it is still too late for this season to produce anything other than a top half finish. Given the situation we were in at the start of the season Rob Newman has done a fantastic job. I would like to see a positive response to this win on Tuesday night when we take on Grays. After all we owe them a beating after they thrashed us at their place. Finger crossed next weekend we can win away again and have recorded three wins in a row for the first time in about 83 years!
Closely running Cambridge for team of the week are the England cricket team who got themselves a very creditable draw in the first test in India. This is a great result considering the disastrous tour to Pakistan, and the best thing to come out of this game is that there seem to be some good new talent coming through who can put pressure on the established England stars. Top of the list at the moment will be Alastair Cook who hit two great innings including a maiden test century, this is good news and will I'm sure Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell will now feel the pressure to start scoring big. Monty Panesar looks a good challenge to Ashley Giles's spin crown. What this test also showed was the potential in Andrew Flintoff to be a future England captain. Sure on the last day he could have changed his tactics a bit to try and get that second wicket. But he got the declaration spot on and was very good at using his bowlers throughout the Indian first innings. I was a little bit disappointed in the form of Steve Harmison in this test and would like to hope this will improve. If he has another poor tour it will be up to the selectors to decide whether it will be worth while taking him to Australia in the autumn when we have to defend the ashes. I personally think the big man will come good, and if we continue to play like this we have the potential to win this series. Its then a matter of trying to sort out the one day team.
Moving on to Rugby Union. I have just sat and watched the Hurricanes roll over and lay down for the Cheetahs. So it looks like the traveling sickness has hit the Hurricanes again. After weathering the storm thrown at them for 60 minutes that had scrapped and kicked their way to a 25-10 lead. They were sitting pretty but had also passed up two really good opportunities to extend their lead further and the they were made to pay. The defense that had continued to push back the Cheetahs all game was starting to crack and after an endless amount of pressure a try and drop goal were conceded. Then to cap it all Nonu makes a stupid late tackle and they are down to 14 men for 10 minutes. The cheetahs then proceeded to bully their way to line and make the decisive score. Now I don't care whether you are playing at home or away, if you want to be a successful side you must be able to close games out like this one. A three score cushion with a quarter of the game left should be enough. However if you pass up opportunities prior to pushing the self destruct button then this is always going to happen. The defense needs to be 100% all the time, I know its a big ask but if you want to make the semi-finals of the Super 14 there can be no excuses. The Hurricanes credentials as a top four team will be tested again next weekend, and they will need to come out of it with more than just a bonus point to show for all of their hard work.
In Rugby League, the new NRL season starts next week and I will preview that in more detail later this week. Over here Warrington, as predicted lost to St. Helens by 18 -10 on Friday night. This actually was an excellent performance by the Wolves and it wasn't until a late penalty by St. Helens stretched their lead to 8 points that they felt comfortable. The Wolves will rue the fact that they passed up on a lot of decent opportunities to make this a closer game than what it actually was. Their defense was solid for most parts and they tried to take them game to St. Helens. I'm not saying that they would have won had they managed to convert some of their opportunities but they would have had a better chance of winning. All in all Paul Cullen seems to have turned around the poor start to the season. However all this good work could be undone very quickly if they are to lose against Wigan next weekend. Lee Briers is currently starting to emerge as the key player to the squad and if he can continue with the sorts of performances that he has done over the last two weeks then the Wolves will get a better team. They missed the experience of Logan Swann, but that is no excuse. Currently St. Helens are the best team in the league, this loss will not and should not hurts Warringtons campaign at all.
Finally the Golden State Warriors appalling form continues with a home loss to the Lakers. There form since the All Star break has been disastrous and they now sit two game a drift at the bottom of the Pacific Conference. There next five games are all on the road and I cannot see myself writing about any victories for quite while. I'll admit that I don't follow basketball as closely as I should, but given the last few weeks results you can see why. I'll do a bit more research into the Warriors and there current run of form to see if I can come up with a more intelligent comments than "Bugger". Watch this space.
Closely running Cambridge for team of the week are the England cricket team who got themselves a very creditable draw in the first test in India. This is a great result considering the disastrous tour to Pakistan, and the best thing to come out of this game is that there seem to be some good new talent coming through who can put pressure on the established England stars. Top of the list at the moment will be Alastair Cook who hit two great innings including a maiden test century, this is good news and will I'm sure Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell will now feel the pressure to start scoring big. Monty Panesar looks a good challenge to Ashley Giles's spin crown. What this test also showed was the potential in Andrew Flintoff to be a future England captain. Sure on the last day he could have changed his tactics a bit to try and get that second wicket. But he got the declaration spot on and was very good at using his bowlers throughout the Indian first innings. I was a little bit disappointed in the form of Steve Harmison in this test and would like to hope this will improve. If he has another poor tour it will be up to the selectors to decide whether it will be worth while taking him to Australia in the autumn when we have to defend the ashes. I personally think the big man will come good, and if we continue to play like this we have the potential to win this series. Its then a matter of trying to sort out the one day team.
Moving on to Rugby Union. I have just sat and watched the Hurricanes roll over and lay down for the Cheetahs. So it looks like the traveling sickness has hit the Hurricanes again. After weathering the storm thrown at them for 60 minutes that had scrapped and kicked their way to a 25-10 lead. They were sitting pretty but had also passed up two really good opportunities to extend their lead further and the they were made to pay. The defense that had continued to push back the Cheetahs all game was starting to crack and after an endless amount of pressure a try and drop goal were conceded. Then to cap it all Nonu makes a stupid late tackle and they are down to 14 men for 10 minutes. The cheetahs then proceeded to bully their way to line and make the decisive score. Now I don't care whether you are playing at home or away, if you want to be a successful side you must be able to close games out like this one. A three score cushion with a quarter of the game left should be enough. However if you pass up opportunities prior to pushing the self destruct button then this is always going to happen. The defense needs to be 100% all the time, I know its a big ask but if you want to make the semi-finals of the Super 14 there can be no excuses. The Hurricanes credentials as a top four team will be tested again next weekend, and they will need to come out of it with more than just a bonus point to show for all of their hard work.
In Rugby League, the new NRL season starts next week and I will preview that in more detail later this week. Over here Warrington, as predicted lost to St. Helens by 18 -10 on Friday night. This actually was an excellent performance by the Wolves and it wasn't until a late penalty by St. Helens stretched their lead to 8 points that they felt comfortable. The Wolves will rue the fact that they passed up on a lot of decent opportunities to make this a closer game than what it actually was. Their defense was solid for most parts and they tried to take them game to St. Helens. I'm not saying that they would have won had they managed to convert some of their opportunities but they would have had a better chance of winning. All in all Paul Cullen seems to have turned around the poor start to the season. However all this good work could be undone very quickly if they are to lose against Wigan next weekend. Lee Briers is currently starting to emerge as the key player to the squad and if he can continue with the sorts of performances that he has done over the last two weeks then the Wolves will get a better team. They missed the experience of Logan Swann, but that is no excuse. Currently St. Helens are the best team in the league, this loss will not and should not hurts Warringtons campaign at all.
Finally the Golden State Warriors appalling form continues with a home loss to the Lakers. There form since the All Star break has been disastrous and they now sit two game a drift at the bottom of the Pacific Conference. There next five games are all on the road and I cannot see myself writing about any victories for quite while. I'll admit that I don't follow basketball as closely as I should, but given the last few weeks results you can see why. I'll do a bit more research into the Warriors and there current run of form to see if I can come up with a more intelligent comments than "Bugger". Watch this space.
posted by Sports Potato at 1:25 PM
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