England time for Harry?

After back to back defeats for Tottenham is now the time for Harry Redknapp to ditch his Spurs title hopes and go for the England job? At Arsenal last Sunday Spurs were humiliated, going two up through an early Saha goal and an Adebayor penalty, they conceded goals to Sagna, Van Persie, a very lively Thomas Rosicky and a Theo Walcott double to lose by a horrendous 5-2 scoreline! The pressure was on Harry to get a result against title contenders Manchester United exactly a week after. Spurs were once again torn apart at home to a Manchester side. Striker Emanuel Adebayor was first to put the ball in the net but it was disallowed for handball. Spurs were later punished for their poor defending when Wayne Rooney added to his tally with a great headed that had Kyle Walker embarrassed. It stayed one nil for the remainder of the first half but just seven minutes after the restart the controversial David De Gea was tested in the United goal as a Kyle Walker shot which deflected off Saha was excellently saved by the young spaniard. The teams were quite even until a superb acrobatic strike by Ashley Young off a Nani cross settled into the corner of Friedel's net for 2-0. Young who has only scored league goals against north London opposition added his fourth league goal of the campaign with a beautiful curled shot into the top corner of the Spurs goal to make a Tottenham comeback near impossible. The comeback was never on but Spurs did manage to claw back a fine goal from Jermaine Defoe to put a little smile on the fans faces. 3-1 it finished and with not too many big games in the run in Tottenham could clinch that vital champions league spot.

City Sink Sons

City striker David McKenna stole the show with a hat-trick at Glebe park yesterday as City netted six goals to erase the cup exit to St.Johnstone from their minds and go second in the league. The Angus side were always on top of Dumbarton throughout the match and it only took them seven minutes until they scored the first goal of the afternoon, David McKenna getting on the end of a Gerry McLaughlan header to head it in himself. It stayed at one nil for the remainder of the first half but only one minute after the restart City found the second goal to slightly ease themselves. Jamie Redman tapped in a Craig Molloy ball to double his tally for the season. Just after the fiftieth minute mark Rory McAllister added another goal to his bucket full as he rounded Sons keeper Grindlay then hit in a low shot to make it three nil. Nearing the eighty minute mark McKenna scored again this time Rory McAllister the provider. This made it three goals in the past three games for McKenna but there was more to come. Under five minutes later McAllister was at it again he played the ball to Mitch Megginson and the Aberdeen loanee scored his first goal in a City shirt. David Mckenna wrapped up the win, the points and the hat-trick on the eighty fifth minute when he knocked in a goal-mouth scramble. City now climb above Ayr to second and are so much closer to securing a play-off place. Next up for the Hedgemen is Alloa at home on the 29th then a massive game at Livingston on the saturday after.

Crusaders Climb Above Cliftonville

Crusaders climbed up to 4th in the Carling Premiership tonight with a vital one nil win at home to a poor Glenavon. Despite Cliftonville's two games in hand over Crusaders in the Northern Ireland premiership they still dropped to fourth tonight after a Michael Halliday winner in the 69th minute mark. Glenavon travelled to Seaview needing a win if they were to boast a top four spot. Crusaders started off clearly the better side but stumbled a bit near the half hour mark when defender David Magowan was sent off for pulling the shirt of Glenavon striker Mark Miskimmin, the red shown as Magowan was last man. Miskimmin was amongst more controversy when he was pushed down in the Crusaders box, soft maybe but they have certainly been given before. Ten men maybe but with the way Glenavon played it would be difficult to notice Crusaders had a defender missing! The important Crusaders goal eventually came around twenty-five minutes after the restart when a wide cross headed on by captain Colin Coates hit the bar and fell to striker Michael Halliday. The goal just thirty-five centimetres away from the Glenavon goal line proved what a good goal poacher is, right place at the right time. If you were to think there's a chance for Glenavon with a man more then you were to think again, Crusaders continued they're attacking intent despite Glenavon needing the points.  Glenavon's closest chance to equalising was right at the last, a Glenavon corner whipped into defender Jay Magee was headed an inch or two wide of Kennan's post and Crusaders held on for the win to take then only one point away from Glentoran. After the match an interview with Glenavon manager Marty Quinn produced such lines as 'abismal' and 'I was embarresed to watch us'. I think that shows a poor performance by top 6 hopefulls when the man in charge has a go like that. Its not all bad for Glenavon at the moment though, as they sit in 5th place in the Northern Ireland Carling premiership.

Fergie gets 'snoody' with players

Sir Alex Ferguson has banned his players from wearing snoods during matches. The new football fashion during the winter time has spread like butter on toast. A snood (seen in the pictures) is a warm scarf like piece of clothing worn round your neck to prevent the cold. It has caused many different opinions throughout football, personally I like the snood it looks good and is warm, but others say its a very 'wussy' thing to wear for the sport. Under armour vests, shorts and even gloves are provided to keep you warm on the pitch, now a scarf. Wuss was the first thing my father said when I wore my snood as I unwrapped it this christmas but then again he was one who played in the seventies and eighties in shorts and short sleeved shirts, anyway Alex Ferguson of Manchester United is not allowing his players to wear a snood during matches and it seems to be working as I haven't yet seen a United player with the snood. My first sight of a snood was a year or so back when Gianluigi Buffon wore his playing at Hampden park against Scotland. Since then more and more are being spotted. Man City and Tottenham Hotspur seem to have the most players with the 'fashion' on.  Ballotelli, Tevez, Yaya Toure, Bale and Nasri are just some pictured wearing it. The football season has come to a slight halt during the winter freeze, many games have been postponed so as we catch up with many cancelled games in winter (January and February) I am certain we'll be seeing more snoods on the football field.

Cam Newton- Become Legendary

Last Thursday the 28th October my friends, family and I myself lost a great young man. Andy Crowe sadly passed away after suffering a brain hemorrhage shortly after finishing up a round of one of his favourite hobbies, boxing. Andy attended Brechin High school and was a well know student. Andy was a helpful boy who was always willing to turn other pupils in the right direction, he had no enemies and was also very clever. Andy was also very fit and if he wasn't seen in the school fitness suite no doubt you would see him running round the school or even doing press ups on the drain pipes in the changing room! Since I can remember Andrew he always had his mind on become a member of the royal marines. He had his heart set on it,never before have I seen someone put in so much effort, never before have I seen someone so dedicated. He always gave 110%. He never gave up, he set a goal and he was without a doubt going to achieved it. Andy and his brother Stuart (13) lived across the road from me and my brother Max (15) for almost ten years and never to my recollection had a dull moment. One of my favourite memories was one winter when Andy, Stuart, Max and myself decided to have a friendly snow ball fight. So Stuart and I scrapped together a barrier of snow to keep the 'enemies' out. We then made snow balls and were ready for the opposition. Andy on the other hand made almost a great wall of China out of snow, he made it all the way round so me and Stuart couldn't get inside. He spent so much time on it that when he eventually did finish (even though it was a white Christmas) it was too dark out to see. This always makes me smile because it shows how even back then, even on a job like this, Andy perfected everything he did. This was one of his many brilliant qualities. Andy was a fantastic friend, he'll always be remembered but never be forgotten. My thoughts are with all his family and friends. I would love to say rest in peace but knowing Andy's character he'll be running up there, he'll be doing great and he'll be seeing everything every ones doing for him. Keep it up guys, as for Andy..... I'll miss you loads buddy, keep on running.
        By Cain Lindsay, Second year Brechin high school.

Scotland field strikers, Spain field world champions

Having netted two against possibly the worlds best goalkeeper and the world champions, Scotland were virtually ten minutes away from a very well earned, well fought and very well deserved point against the current European and world champions Spain but Spain manager Vicente Del Bosque realised his side were lacking something something during the late stages of this highly anticipated fixture so he brought on striker Fernando Llorente. Seven minutes later he broke Scottish hearts as he scored Spain's winner on the 79th minute. Scotland started the match with good movement and good attacking intent but this skill of the game was then turned over to the Spaniards as they taunted the Scots with exceptional possesion and worrying passing in and out the Scotland penalty area. Although Spain passed the ball around like the world champions they are they had some defending to do as Scotland created a few chances. One of these chances fell to the feet of James Morrison, Kenny Millers pass to him gave Morrison a shooting oportunity in Cassilas' box but he fired straight at the 29 year old. David Silva was the victim of one of Spain's best chances of the game. Xabi Alonso played a delightful chip into his path but Silva's volley was missed kicked. Scotland were lucky this time but the pressure mounted. Just before the half time whistle Spain made a break through, Sergio Ramos' shot sruck the arm of Steven Whittaker and a penalty was awarded to Spain. Whittaker recieved a yellow card which was to prove costly for him near the end of the game. Villa the top scorer at the last European Championship stepped up and scored despite McGregors touch on the way past. Half time and 1-0 the second half started pretty much as the first ended Spain dominating this time it only took tem minutes after the whistle to score. Cazorla works an opening but his shot is blocked although Iniesta is there to score what looked as though (despite it was early on) was going to be a winner. This goal had an impact on the scots as they replied just two minutes later. Steven Naismith's diving header giving Scotland hope. Less than ten minutes after their first Scotland got an equaliser. Darren Fletcher played a great ball to James Morrison who crossed into Spain's six yard box and Gerard Pique could only turn the ball into his own net. Game on! Spain passed and passed brilliantly to try and create an opening to destroy the Scots but Levein's side kept them out (at least for another ten long minutes or so). Spain did eventually get the winner. Capdevilla crossed into the box, Mcmanus completely mised a header and Llorente tapped in the winner for the Spaniards. The drama of this fantastic match ended just four minutes before the final whistle when Steven Whittaker recieved a second yellow for bad challenge on Sergio Ramos. A bad night for Steven and a mixed night for Scotland. Unlucky some would say others would compare this result to the 4-6-0 formation that lost 1-0 to the Czech Republic and ask questions. On the night no Brittish teams witnesed victory, Northern Ireland had a frustrating 1-1 draw with Faroe Islands, Kyle Lafferty proving why Nigel Worthington played him from the start with a fantastic performance. Wales lost 4-1 away in Switzerland and England were booed off to a 0-0 draw against Montenegro at Wembley. Not quite brittian but Republic of Ireland earned a 1-1 draw in Slovakia, Robbie Keane missing a penalty. Scotland now 3rd in their group although they've played an extra game. Scotland host Czech Republic next, if they play anything like tonight Scotland could ease past the Czechs.