Toure Hat Trick helps City title hopes

                                                                        

 MANCHESTER   CITY                 5   -   0      FULHAM 

Manchester City kept their Premier League title hopes on track with a 5-0 thrashing of ten-men Fulham at the Etihad Stadium, the game also Ivorian Midfielder Yaya Toure netting a hat trick for the Blues to see the Cottagers sink deeper into relegation trouble at the foot of the table.

With Chelsea handing out capital punishment to their fellow London rival Arsenal in the game early kick off, it was important that Man City kept the pressure up on the teams above them with and a great opportunity to do so in the shape of bottom of the table side Fulham.

The home side was missing the services of Captain Vincent Kompany for the game after the Belgian defender was sent off in the 2-0 win at Hull last weekend for the Blues.

It saw Manuel Pellegrini using the same centre back pairing that he used in the FA Cup defeat to Wigan Athletic a couple of weeks ago, as Joleon Lescott came into replace  Vincent Kompany and saw them play very well in the City defence.

City typically threatened throughout the match with the home side restricting the play of Fulham as they never gave them a sniff all game. The home side had a good shout for a penalty claim in the 11^th minute of the game, when a Samir Nasri corner was missed by Martin Demichelis  which saw the ball strike the arm of Steve Sidwell who had put his head down  and despite the blue shirts appealing to the referee over a penalty the claims were waved away and play continued on.

Sidwell was involved in another penalty claim by the home side after City was targeting the Fulham right and so when Alvaro Negredo mis-controlled the ball, it saw the Spaniard dashing to keep the ball in play with a great backheel that saw it stop dead.  From then Pablo Zabaleta put a little ball through towards James Milner just inside the area and as the City man turned, Sidwell then tackled his man without getting the ball and saw Sidwell get away with two incidents.

The game saw all the different types of weather Manchester could muster as it was going from one extreme to the other while play was ongoing. It wasn`t the first time a game played between the two at the Etihad Stadium had saw crazy weather, as last year saw play held up for a few minutes due to the snow flurries during the game and needed the groundsmen to shovel snow off the white lines so the players and officials knew where the penalty area was.

City had the first chance of the game through James Milner after Aleksander Kolarov`s cross was deflected away ,only as far as the England man and his driving effort saw Dean Stockdale push it away and his defender had to head it out for a corner.

In the 24^th minute James Milner put a ball deep into the penalty area for the chasing Negredo to chase down and it seen the striker take a boot to his lower back from Defender Fernando Amorebieta who made a poor challenge and saw the Fulham man booked and gave away a penalty to the home side as well.

Yaya Toure stepped up to take the penalty for City and saw him side foot home into the bottom left hand corner to beat past Stockdale for a 1-0 lead. Fulham then had a chance minutes later when Kieran Richardson beat Demichelis down the left side and put a little cross towards the back post where upon Sascha Riether header was wide of the target and saw the home side showing signs of vulnerability  at the back.

The Blues midfield then almost orchestrated a fantastic goal between them all which saw James Milner lead the attack, before Fernandinho took up the play and when a ball was meant to go to the far side it seen David Silva get on it and his lovely first touch took it away from the defender, before the Spanish wizard dinked it over the keeper  with Amorebieta was on hand to clear off the line and see Fulham let off.

Kolarov then smashed the bar with a fierce shot on target after Milner again was the creator of the move, Milner had done brilliantly to chest down a Fernandinho ball before he then laid it off to the Serbian defender and he let rip with side footed effort that shook the woodwork from the shot.

Second half saw a more ruthless Manchester City side come out to play and it wasn`t too long before they doubled their lead when the home side was awarded a second penalty in the match and in the process ,saw Amorebieta getting his marching orders for a second bookable offence to go along with conceding two penalties.

The penalty came from more sublime passing play by the home side, which saw Fernandinho`s pass to Milner backheeled into the path of David Silva and saw the defender take him out to give away another penalty.

A second spot kick to Toure saw a second goal for Toure, with the Ivory Coast International placing the ball in exactly the same place as the first one and put City lead 2-0 up and all but end Fulham`s hopes of getting back in the game.

Amorebieta shown red card   PIC: news168.com

It almost became shooting practice for the Blues from that point really, with the home side having a fair few efforts on goal but not hitting the target.  James Milner saw his shot blazed over after he tricked two Fulham players in the build up and seen the midfielder firing high and wide before Kolarov strike this time round was a poor one, with it going wide of the goals but you sensed a goal was coming soon.

When Yaya Toure scores goals they are normally stunners and so when the Ivorian received a pass from outside the Fulham penalty area which was close to 35 yards out, you felt it would take a special strike to go in from that range and it was. Samir Nasri had took a free kick that was played to Toure and the midfielder took a little touch before bending the ball round the defense to beat the keeper and go in for a 3-0 score with Yaya Toure`s  completing his HAT TRICK.

Aleksander Kolarov nearly made it four for City after his drive from outside the area was stopped well by Stockdale and needed his defender`s to help in clearing the danger away after a good save.

Both of City`s midfield dynamos was then substituted when Toure and Silva made way, with them both doing their jobs to perfection and got a standing ovation from the Etihad crowd as Pellegrini had his eye slightly turned to Tuesday night`s game in the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford.

Demichelis came close to increasing the score for the home side, after his flick on at the near post beat the keeper but was kicked off the line by the Fulham defender and seen the away side under the cosh a bit. Samir Nasri was then replaced by the fit again Montenegro striker in Stefan Jovetic and that saw Nasri given a standing ovation too with the Frenchman being saved for that big game too.

City eventually scored their fourth of the game through Brazilian Fernandinho, as the midfielder ran diagonally into the penalty area before unleashing a fierce shot that gave the goalkeeper no chance of stopping and seen the home side seal the win in the 83^rd minute of play.

Toure converts penalty :Pic: ITV.COM

Milner kept plugging away in his search of what would have been a very much deserved goal in the contest, but Stockdale was equal to his shot and seen him tip it away for a corner. The Blues added one more goal to score, when from that resulting corner saw Milner take it quickly and saw play go to the far side with Javi Garcia`s shot palmed away, only as far as Martin Demichelis who stuck a foot out and saw the ball run slowly over the line with the Argentine defender hold his arm up to celebrate before the ball had even gone in.

Demichelis adds 5th  Pic: TERRASPORTS

Alvaro Negredo then really should have made it 6-0 late on after that man again James Milner, used all of his trickery to get by the Fulham defence and put a ball into the area which was stopped by Steve Sidwell. Sidwell then tried to head it back to the goalie while on his hands and knees and which saw Negredo sneak in round the back to poke the ball between the two and watched it pass the post to see the Spaniard`s goal drought continue on. City keep up their recent good form and clean sheets to complete a very impressive display by the Blues to see them heading into the important game with neighbours Manchester United on Tuesday night full of confidence.    

Bow time for Phoenix as Archer nets Three in Phoenix party!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX     5- 4    TELFORD TIGERS   

( AFTER OVERTIME )

 ARCHER   3x ,  HAND,  PSURNY                                                                 DAVIES , KUULUVAINEN , ROSE ,  KIVIRANTA            

   

This past weekend saw the English Premier League come to a conclusion in the regular season and saw the newly crowned EPL Champions the Manchester Phoenix, prove why they were worthy winners of the crown this year after picking up two tough wins against the Peterborough Phantoms on the road and then the Telford Tigers at home.

Saturday saw the League Champions travel down to the east of England and face off against the Peterborough Phantoms, which is a traditionally a very difficult place to try and get a result at.

Phoenix battled back in the game twice, after Luke Ferrara had put the hosts 1-0 up after 8 minutes of play that was before Robin Kovar equalised for the away side for 1-1 in the 16^th minute.

Phantoms took the lead once more in the game with Lithuanian forward Darius Pliskauskas netting at the back end of the second period, to see Phoenix trail once again.

Michal Psurny then fired in the visitors second goal to see Manchester level it all up a two and had another Czech player in the form of Frantisek Bakrlik who helped claim the two points for the road side, as they won it in Overtime.

Sunday evening in front of a big crowd at the Altrincham ice dome witnessed Manchester having to show their resiliency in a dead rubber game to come back against the Telford Tigers as they came back from a two goal deficit.

The game started off with the Phoenix coming hard and saw Telford almost backing off from the physical play in the early stage of the game in what was a nothing game for both sides, However that seemed to change a bit when Former Phoenix man Scott McKenzie, took a big hit and stayed down from it to which at that point seen the Tigers upped their game a bit more.

It was a fairly open game between the two sides and definitely had an end of season feel about it during periods of the game.

The game opening goal of the game came against the run of play with Phoenix being the most threatening side in the contest, with Tigers netminder Declan Ryan having yet another of his blinding games for Telford against Manchester. 

Telford`s opener came from a big error by Ben Wood when the defender tried to play the puck out through the middle of the defensive zone and his poor clearance fell perfectly onto Dan Davies stick, which then saw the forward skating freely on goal and fired over Steve Fone glove for the 1-0 lead at 7-44.

Manchester who was by far the aggressors in the opening twenty minutes of play, then finally broke through the defences of Declan Ryan when Joe Graham pass around the boards came to Tony Hand and the Player-Coach picked out James Archer who was skating towards goals and then saw  the Sheffield-born forward lift the puck over Ryan to level at 1-1 at 14-08.

In the Second period it saw Telford retake the lead in the contest after Rob Schnabel tried to clear it out of the zone and saw Rick Plant do extremely well to keep it inside the zone. Plant had caught the puck out of the air near the blue line and then passed it over to Miika Kivitanta, who then dragged the defence over to one side of the ice before finding his fellow country man and another former Manchester forward in Timo Kuuluvainen. Kuuluvainen made the Phoenix pay for not closing him down and rifled it one time past Fone for the 2-1 lead coming a 23-12.

We then saw both sides pick up penalties with Luke Boothroyd skating off for Hooking at 32-15 and when the penalty ended the Phoenix man was given the puck up ice on a breakaway chance and seen Michal Pavlu bring the Phoenix man down with no call against the Telford man. After the whistle Andy McKinney lost it with it the referee for not giving a penalty shot or even a penalty over it and instead talked himself into a 10 minute misconduct penalty as well as angering the home fans.

Less than a minute later the officials arguably made a levelling out call for the Boothroyd trip and seen Tigers Nathan Salem penalised at 34-36 for the softest Slashing call you will see. Telford then had another man go into the box when Rick Plant was called for High Sticks at 35-04 and from that resulting powerplay saw Manchester unable to draw level.

Telford then increased their lead to a 3-1 score, when some good battling by the forwards near the boards seen Dan Rose get the puck near the blue line and with Frantisek Bakrlik accidently screening his goalie at the front of the net, it saw Rose blast go in at 38-59 which saw the huge contingent of the 'Tiger Nation' celebrate down by the corner.

It also saw the distinct possibility of the away team in this series, winning every game as in the five previous games between the two sides it had the away side come out victors on each occasion.

The third period saw Manchester come back into the game after Telford had much the better of the second period and looked to be the stronger side in the middle stanza.

At 41-20 James Archer beat Declan Ryan top shelf to see the Phoenix move within one of the Telford lead, after Tony Hand and Michal Psurny assisted  Archer`s second goal, with the forward getting the puck in the slot and despite Ryan getting a piece of it, he just couldn`t keep it out.

Manchester then found themselves back on a penalty kill after a strange passage of play. It saw Jack Watkins have the puck by the boards and then Michal Pavlu came right through the youngster from behind leading to Richard Bentham taking exception to the poor hit and then had Watkins wanting some revenge on Pavlu, with the Telford man wanting no part of any Phoenix player after Bentham thrown a punch or two.

After the incident the penalties given out was that both Watkins and Bentham got called for Roughing, whilst Pavlu picked up just a two minute call for Boarding as he was lucky not to get a 2+10 for checking from behind.

That then saw Manchester shorthanded and much like what seems to happen to Phoenix a lot with their penalty kill unit popping up with a goal after James Archer had skated down the right wing and put a pass across for Frankie Bakrlik, that saw the Czech man effort saved by Ryan but Archer was there to follow up on the rebound and gave Phoenix the tying goal at 50-50 with a shorthanded goal and also James Archer`s Hat-Trick goal to boot.

Phoenix then got the go-ahead goal in the contest, when Schnabel cleared round the boards and took a funny bounce off a Tigers skate which saw the puck come straight out to Michal Psurny and then put Tony Hand clean through on goal. From there the pass went to the 'Great One'  and  as he beared down on Ryan in the Telford goals, Hand fired past him and put the hosts 4-3 up at 51-20 and had Telford well and truly rocked at that stage of game.

Telford then made it all square at 54-27 of the game after Rick Plant kept his legs going, with the forward braking through challenge after challenge which saw the Phoenix defence unable to dispossess the puck off him and then seen Plant lay it across the crease for Miika Kiviranta to score and make it 4-4.

We then had a little scuffle after Bakrik gave a little hit off the ice to Pavlu and then saw him knocked down from behind by the Tigers defenceman at the front of goal. Ryan then made a save and lost the puck in the melee which then seen McKinney jab at the pads of Ryan for the puck and had the Tigers defending their netminder by shoving the Manchester man away.

From there Bakrlik was being held down by Pavlu, which saw the Czech forward not too pleased and dropped the gloves taking his frustrations out of the defenceman. While he was throwing the punches Joe Miller was trying to break up the fight by grabbing the Phoenix man and then pulled his head down before other got involved in the altercation.

That should have seen Miller thrown out for a 3rd man in call, but the officials didn`t call it and so saw Michal Pavlu got just a two minute call for Charging, while Frankie Bakrlik was furious and got a Two for Roughing and then a 10 minute penalty for Dropping the gloves all called at 57-49.

With no further goals in the Third period we headed to overtime and saw exactly a minute of overtime gone, before a Pass by Tony Hand was cut out but only as far as Michal Psurny who collected it and saw the Czech forward skate round the back of the defence to put it in for the Overtime winner and seen Phoenix collect a four point weekend, to give them confidence heading into the playoffs next weekend against the Bracknell Bees.

The whole of the evening was more or a build up to the Trophy Presentation of the League Title being handed to Manchester Phoenix and saw Captain Luke Boothroyd  take the title and hold it aloft to preclaim themselves as Kings of the EPL for this season.

ROBIN KOVAR shows off the EPL Championship title

STEVE FONE

Rob Schnabel celebrates with figure skating for the Phoenix Faithful!

MANCHESTER PHOENIX 2013-14

English Premier League		GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Manchester Phoenix	54	33	6	2	13	232	157	80
2	Basingstoke Bison	54	31	5	2	16	205	159	74
3	Guildford Flames	54	27	5	5	17	213	174	69
4	Milton Keynes Lightning	54	24	6	4	20	200	182	64
5	Swindon Wildcats	54	23	6	2	23	190	172	60
6	Telford Tigers	54	24	4	1	25	193	182	57
7	Sheffield Steeldogs	54	18	2	8	26	194	226	48
8	Bracknell Bees	54	17	4	4	29	168	210	46
9	Peterborough Phantoms	54	18	0	9	27	177	224	45
10	Slough Jets	54	15	2	3	34	160	246	37

Phoenix Podcast: http://manchesterphoenix.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/i-hope-you-like-interviews.html 

Phoenix official:  http://www.manchesterphoenix.co.uk/news/2457/phoenix-win-final-league-game-party

Six Nations: Ireland claim title, England thrash Italy & Welsh dismantle Scots

IRELAND 2014: SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONS!

ITALY  11  - 52 ENGLAND

Mike Brown scores 1st Try    Pic: TheTelegraph

As we came to the final weekend of the Six Nations tournament it saw only England and Ireland having a chance of taking the title home with them and we wouldn`t know the ending till late Saturday night after the final match in the evening was played.

England travelled to Rome to face the winless Italians at the Stadio Olimpico, upon where Stuart Lancaster`s men knew that a victory was the most important aspect first and knew if they did win then they would need to score a fairly large total to see them try and eat into the points difference of Ireland, who had run up a mammoth margin.

It was the home side that took the lead in the game when England`s pack stood up in the scrum and saw French official Pascal Gauzere award the Italian`s a penalty and seen Luciano Orquera kick through the uprights for the 3-0 lead.

 England then responded to the host`s early lead when they turned the game in a blink of an eye, first off through Owen Farrell converting a penalty over that saw Italy concede and then that was followed up with a try from arguably the player of the tournament in Mike Brown. England`s attack saw them move the ball out wide before Luther Burrell pass towards the touchline, saw Mike Brown take the pass and left the defender for dead as he ran past him to touch down and then Farrell kicked over for the conversion for a 10-3 score.

Orquera then kicked over another penalty for the Italians to see them close the gap to four points not before England then hit back once more, as they charged towards the home side line and saw Danny Care play a little ball off to Owen Farrell and the fly half ran in from close range to make the score board say 17-6 with the kicked extras.

Mike Brown then grabbed his second try of the game for England, when good build up play by England from their own line-out seen Owen Farrell`s pass to the speedy Brown then collect and motor home through the gap in the home side defence to score another try and make it 24-6 and looked to have victory wrapped up already.

In the second forty Italy found themselves down to Fourteen-men, when Marco Bortolami grabbed a loose ball from a Luther Burrell lunging effort as it was kicked away by Leonardo Sarto and Bortolami fell on top of the ball in an offside position and was shown a yellow card for the act and sat for 10 minutes in the sin bin.

England made the most of their extra man advantage, as more good passing play by the visitor`s seen Jack Nowell dive over for a try to see them lead 31-6 and it was a case now of how many more points would get score. England then seemed to stifle their own momentum with constant changes in the side and it took a while for them to regain their play and momentum.

Mako Vunipola then scored an easy try, after Billy Twlevetrees was brought down five metres from the Italy try line and seen Vunipola take the pass and stroll over for to make it 38-6 for the visitors at that point.

The Azzuri was visibly tired with the constant defending that they were forced into making all game and saw Manu Tuilagi swat off the home side tired tackling, to see England score their Sixth try of the game for a 45-6 lead and pushing towards the 50 points barrier.

Pic: therugbyblog.com

Italy did get some consolation in the game through their stand out player in this tournament in Leonardo Sarto, with the Winger intercepting a pass by the England forwards and ran it back for a try, to give the Italian fans something to cheer on what was otherwise a miserable day for the home side.

With the last play of the game, England pushed for one more try and seen Captain Chris Robshaw go over to hit the Fifty points mark,  after George Ford put him through for a simple try and after the conversion it saw the demolition of Italy complete with the final score  52-11 to England and saw them eat into the Irish points difference too.

Match Highlights:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S_yZ_K4CAs

WALES   51- 3 SCOTLAND

Pic: BBCSPORTS

This match was the dead rubber of the games after Wales lost their chance to regain the title with defeat to England the previous week at Twickenham, For Scotland it was a chance to hand out debuts to new players ahead of their tour of American in the Summer.

Greig Laidlaw put the Scots 3-0 up with an early penalty conversion that was then cancelled out by Wales as they hit right back with a short distance kick from the boot of Dan Biggar as he put it over to draw level.

Pic: Msn.com

Wales took the lead in the game with the Welsh forwards having the ball virtually on the Scottish try line, before then switching it out wide with Scarlets player Liam Williams diving over for the try in the corner to see the home side move 10-3 in front with Dan Biggar adding the extras.

Stuart Hogg then saw his sides hopes of victory all but disappear, when the Full-back rushed at Dan Biggar with very late and ugly hit with his shoulder after the Fly half cleared the ball down field. It was a terrible and stupid move that resulting in Hogg catching Biggar flush on the chin and sent him crashing to the deck much like a boxer suffering a knockout punch does.

Originally the referee Jerome Garces, had only shown the Scotland full back a yellow card, that before the replays were shown on the big screen and the reaction of the crowd and the sight of the incident, made the referee change his mind and send him off.

PIC:  BBCSPORTS

Once Biggar had restored his faculties and dusted himself down he then slotted his kick to see Wales move 13-3 ahead. Wales then score their second try of the game after a great counter attack by Liam Williams down the left flank, saw him evade a couple of Scottish players before handing to Mike Philips and from their he passed it onto George North who ran it home for a try to led 20-3.

Jamie Roberts then went over for another try to the home side, when play down the left flank saw North and Jonathan Davies run towards the Scottish 22 metre line before a pass by Davies went to Roberts and touched down to make it 27-3 at half time.

George North then took a pass from Davies by the wing and after Dougie Fife last gasp tackle couldn`t see the maundering Winger stopped, he opened the scoring the second half. Wales then scored a superb team try that saw them play it out from a ruck that occurred from a losing Scottish line out, from that point the Scots paid the penalty for not winning their lineout with the ball going wide and seen half the Welsh side touch the ball at some point in the build up, till Faletau finally dished the ball to Roberts and he went over.

Faletau then made it 44-3 for the outgoing Six Nations champions, as they simply stampeded over a poor Scotland side that due to the Hogg red card in the opening half, it seen them hopelessly outplayed at the Millennium Stadium with James Hook rounding off the misery for Scotland, with the late substitute stretching out for the try line and made it 51-3 to see them finish with a flourish.

highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYVXZ81zCiM

FRANCE 20-22 IRELAND

Johnny Sexton celebrates try           Pic via: rbs6nations.com

The remaining match in this year’s tournament saw Brian O Driscoll swansong as his Ireland side was just 80 minutes away from lifting the Six Nations crown, needing only a win to take the crown. Ireland`s only worry was that there last victory in France or Paris was that back in 2000, when a certain Mr O` Driscoll scored a Hat-trick that day to seal victory.

It saw the French take the lead in the contest as Maxime Machenaud kicked over two penalties to see the hosts lead 6-0.

Johnny Sexton then went over from close range after Chris Henry flipped a pass out backwards and saw Ireland go over for a try and had Sexton miss a rare kick at goal to trail 6-5.

More Ireland pressure caught out the France defence horribly as they had more holes in their defence than a block of Swiss cheese, Andrew Trimble then exchanged passes with Connor Murray and he went behind the post for the 12-6 lead as Sexton added the two points.

France then grabbed a try to put them back in it, when Brice Dulin collected from a clever bit of play by the French when Remi Tales put a cross field kick over to the far side and saw France`s player of the tournament in the statuesque Yohan Hugent and he pushed the ball backwards into the path of Dulin with the Full Back getting it down, to see French back in front at 13-12.

Half time came and saw France led by a single point in what was a thrilling finale to the Six Nations tournament with the result still in the balance.

Second half saw Ireland strike back as Johnny Sexton picked up his second brace of tries in as many games, which helped see Ireland move ahead of the home team. Brian O Driscoll must have thought he was on for a try when he got ahead of his man, but he was tackled short and saw Ireland quick play the ball from the ruck and seen the incoming Sexton take the pass to dashed through the gap to score the try.

Sexton soon after made sure his kicking returned to normality, after the fly half had seen two kicks missed in the opening half and he made sure this time round as the score moved to 22-13 to the Irish.

Cian Healy was then lucky not getting a yellow card or penalty against his side, when the Irish Prop coming from the side with his head, knocking Louis Picamoles flying backwards and staying down as Picamoles stood over the ruck near the Irish line.

Dimitri Szarzewki then was awarded a try for France when he played it up against the posts which is counted as the try line, however replays shows he lost control of the ball when putting it down and seen France escaped with the try and after Machenaud kicked the conversion, it saw Ireland lead by a slim margin of two points with still quarter of an hour left to play.

Brian O` Driscoll hold the title aloft:  Pic bleacherreport.net

Drama then came right in the dying minutes of this great contest, when a pass out wide by the home side looked to gone forwards by Pascal Pape and had Damien Chouly looking like he picked it up in front of him and not behind him. Referee Steve Walsh then went upstairs for the TMO and the crucial decision came and saw no try awarded and a forward pass by the French as the cause.

France had less than a minute to score in the game and with them pushing hard and gaining in drop goal range, Ireland won a penalty and seen Walsh blow for full time to see a mixture of emotion on the Ireland side, with players celebrate and fall to their knees in joy and some exhausted and crying over their historic win by 22-20 in Paris.

Match Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRm0ccGC1TQ