The Moon of Liberty

Sunday 11th February - Kick off 4.00 pm

FA Carling Premiereship - Venue, Stamford Bridge

Chelsea Vs Liverpool - Seen on Sky Sports, Commentators Rob Hawthrone and Andy Gray

Watching this game you would hardly have known it was one both teams could have done with the win. Earlier in the day Manchester City had beaten Manchester United. This gave Chelsea the chance to gain 3 points on United to keep them in the title race, and from Liverpool's perspective meant a rival for the fourth European Cup spot had got their three points, and with other contenders, Everton and Aston Villa, both winning on Saturday, Liverpool needed the win to not lose ground.

Liverpool started the better in a cagey opening. Their passing was bright early on and they had the better of the early possession. The first chance fell to Peter Crouch after a good move by Liverpool allowed Ryan Babel to feed in Crouch who put the ball wide when he really should have at least hit the target.

After 25 minutes Chelsea put what was their first decent move of the game together. some nice play by Ashley Cole allowed him to set his namesake Joe Cole free, trying to make room for the shot Cole was seemingly brought down by Liverpool's Mascherano, the ref waved the appeals for a penalty away, replays showed it was a clear penalty and should have been given.

Crouch had two more chances before half time as Liverpool found room down the right. crosses from Finnan and Gerrard were both met by Crouch but both were tame efforts that were easy for Peter Cech to deal with. Three good chances and none taken, the story of Liverpool's so far miserable season. Liverpool looked comfortable in defence however and we went in 0-0 at half time.

While the first half was pretty open, the second half was a drab affair. Chelsea were clearly off colour, and Liverpool seemed to come out for the second half happy with a point despite the fact all three were there for the taking. Manager Benitez only used one substitute when fresh legs may have just won the game for them, this approach matched the lack of ambition the team seemed to have.

Chelsea sensing they may get something despite a poor performance took control of possession towards the end. The best chance fell to Michael Ballack who had a clear sight of goal but put his volley wide. Liverpool had one more chance to win it, Pennant put through Dirk Kuyt after a rare second half passing move by Liverpool, but before Kuyt could get a shot in he was thwarted by a superb tackle by Ashley Cole. The game therefore ended goaless, helping neither side towards their aims.

RESULT

Chelsea          (0) 0

Liverpool        (0) 0

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN - Ashley Cole (Chelsea) - Many poor performances today, Cole was one of the few exceptions, he got forward and caused what limited threat there was to Liverpool, he defended well despite his side being targetted, and his last tackle on Kuyt may have saved Chelsea a point.

 

 

Saturday 9th December - Kick off 5.15 pm 

FA Carling Premiership - Venue - Madejski Stadium, Reading

Reading Vs Liverpool - Seen on Satanta Sports,

Liverpool, on a role with five straight wins came to Reading ahead of big games with marseille and Machester United ahead in the next seven days. Manager Rafael Benitez tinkered with the team, maybe with those games in mind, he brough Sissoko for Lucas in midfield, brough in Vornonin to play on the right side meaning Crouch had to play on the left in a 4-5-1 formation, changes he would today regret.

Reading came into the game having lost every single game they had ever played against Liverpool, but soon started the better of the two sides, playing a high pressure game that ensure Liverpool could not get into any sort of rythmn.

A stalemate was broken on 15 minutes due to an incorrect refereeing decision. Gunnarson was brought down by Jamir Carragher just out side the box, after consulting the assistant, the ref pointed to the penalty spot. Stephen Hunt stepped up and sent Reina in the Liverpool goal the wrong way to give the home side the lead.

GOAL - 15 MINS - STEVEN HUNT (Pen) - READING 1 LIVERPOOL 0 

Reading then had a 10 minute spell where they were in control. Bobby Convey hit a shot the Reina did well to save, nearly doubling the lead. Liverpool by contrast looked lost as their new system did not appear to suit them. Depite this they managed to get back into the game. After a route one kick from the keeper, Torres managed to control the ball and put it into Gerrard's path for Gerrard to equalise and get into double figures for the season.

GOAL - 28 MINS - STEVEN GERRARD - READING 1 LIVERPOOL 1

From that point Liverpool were on top, winning a series of corners, but without seriously threatening to take the lead. Voronin created a couple of long range efforts for himself but never really threatened the Reading goal and Reading with a degree of comfort held the score to 1-1 at half time.

Moving to the start of the second half Liverpool created a series of chances early on to take the lead. First Peter Crouch managed to dig out a cross that Torres got on the end of but could only put it wide. Then after a free kick debutant Jack Hobbs had a golden chance to give Liverpool the lead but put it over the bar from 6 yards out. Then Risse flashed a free kick towards goal that hit the bar, these lost chances were then to prove very costly.

Reading won a free kick which Nicky Shorey swung dangerously towards the goal. Kevin Doyle managed to get the finishing touch to give the home side the lead against the run of play.

GOAL - 60 MINS - KEVIN DOYLE - READING 2 LIVERPOOL 1

Reading then took control as a stunned Liverpool failed to recover. Suddenly Reading were quicker to the ball. Convey in particular bagan to boss the midfield and he played a key role in fashioning another chance on 67 minutes, Convey played a smart through ball to James Harper who went passed Risse and then clamly rounded Reina to slot home and send the home fans into dreamland. The first ever win over Liverpool was within reach.

GOAL - 67 MINS - JAMES HARPER - READING 3 LIVERPOOL 1

Liverpool manager Benitez, who will have many questions to answer, then responded to this crisis by taking off skipper Gerrard. This mystifying decision summed up Liveprool's miserable evening. Crouch had a chance late on after a smart cross by subsititue Kewell, but apart from that they had nothing left. Reading saw out a deserved victory, and while taking nothing away from them, Benitez tactics unquestionably had a major contribution to the result. Recently Liverpool fans showed there support for their manager in the face of criticism from the American owners, but after this, surely whether Benitez is the right man to get the best out of the talent he has must be seriously questioned.

RESULT

Reading             (1) 3 (Hunt (pen) 15, Doyle 60, Harper 67)

Liverpool           (1) 1 (Gerrard 28)

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN - Bobby Convey (Reading) - Played a fine game in midfield, defended well when Reading were under pressure, a fine ball set up the third killer goal, and bossed the midfield battle with Sissoko and Gerrard playing a key part in winning the game.

  

 

England Vs South Africa

Venue - Stade De France, Paris

Saturday 20th October, Kick Off 8.00pm

The most unlikely of World Cup Finals produced a fairly dull game in terms of a spectical, but with the World Championship at stake, only the result mattered. England, the defending champions and back from the dead after the humilaiting 36-0 defeat by the same South African opponents only four weeks ago, were one more shock away from retaining the title. The South African began favouirtes and were looking for their title back after the 1995 triumph on home soil.

The momentum was with England, after surprise wins over Austrlia and the hosts France, but they began tentatively making a few mistakes. England's lineout began to creak as South Africa took the first two lineout, Pat Matfield won the first, for it it was the start of an awesome night that made Englands prospects harder the longer the game went

Kicking was a major feature of the game, as it has been so often in this world cup. Both sides looking to exploit the high ball and force the error, rarely did it though as Jason Robinson in his last game for England, and South Africa's Percy Montgomery at full back for South Africa, were up to the task again and again.

A slip by Matthew Tait lead to the first points, he then hung on tot he ball too long for the referee's liking and Montgomery slotted the penalty. England hit back to level after forcing a penalty after finally managin to create problems with a high ball which lead to a ruck in which the Springboks desperate defense infringed, Wilkinson levelled the scores at 3-3.

For the remainder of the half South Africa began to take command. England got in range for a missed Wilkinson drop goal attempt, but from then on the clincal power of South Africa began to tell. Francois Steyn along with Montgomery began find the gaps, Butch James' kicking game began to gain the terrirory. The Boks scored two more penalties and missed another in this dominant period before the break. As the whistle went for half time South Africa were in a 9-3 lead but looking more comfortable than that.

As the second half started Enlgnad needed some magic, and they found it through Matthew Tait, he created a break out of nothing, England for the first time got behind South Africa with some quick ball sending Mark Cueto towards the corner. Was he in for the try? The ref went to the video ref, after around four minutes of looking at a series of angles it was very difficult to tell if Cueto had been taken into touch by the tackle of Danny Rousseau, or if Cueto got the ball down in time. In the end the ref dissalllowed the try, he had already given a penalty which Wilkinson duely slotted over, but despite bringing the game back to 9-6, this incident took the stuffing out of England.

From that point it was almost as if South Africa had scored a try of their own, it was their confidence that grew and England begin to look like a team whose chance had gone. South Africa quickly landed another penalty and from their did nothing fancy and played territory to run down the clock. As England became desperate trying to run from anywhere to try and salvage the game, an attempted short chip by mark Cueto saw him fall foul of an obstruction which gave South Africa a long range penalty. Francois Steyn stepped up and nailed the kick, and the World Cup with it for South Africa.

England became more desperate, South Africa classily resisted the tempatation to rub it in, and played sensible conservative, risk free rugby to finish off the game. The triumph for South African coach jake White and his men was complete. The cup was heading back to South Africa, the Springboks are deserved champions of the rugby world once again.

RESULT

England ............ (3) 6   South Africa ....... (9) 15

England - Pens (Wilkinson 2)

South Africa - Pens (Montgomery 4, Steyn)

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN - Percy Montgomery (South Africa) - This game was primarily about kicking, so the key was the battle between Montgomery and Wilkinson, the huge experince and calm of Montgomery won the day, that with his 12 points, are huge reasons why South Africa are World Champions again.

FA Carling Premiership

Everton Vs Liverpool

Sat 20th October 2007

Venue - Goodison Park - Kick off 12.30 pm

A lunchtime kick off for what would prove to be a quite incredible Merseyside derby. Everton could go level with Liverpool on points with a win to maintain their good start to the season. Liverpool on the other hand, having slipped 6 points behind the leaders Arsenal, could ill afford any further slip ups at this stage.

Liverpool started the better with some fast passing early that Everton had no answer too. Benayoun looked lively on the left hand side and he pulled a cross back the the Ukrainian Vornin could not finish off.

Slowly through the first half Everton gradually got to grips with Liverpool's midfield sytem, this lead to a degree of stalemate with Everton gradually forcing a couple of corners and taking control, without hugely threatening the goal of Reina.

Then out of very little came first blood. An Arteta corner for Everton was only half cleared, the Stubbs knocked it back in the danger zone and Sami Hyypia instinctively stuck out a leg directing the ball agonisingly into his own net. After the shaky start Everton had the goal they wanted.

GOAL - 38 Minutes - Own Goal (Hyypia) - Everton 1 Liverpool 0

Without really threatening again Everton saw out the rest of the first half to take a deserved lead into the break. The second half was more of the same, Everton possession, pressure without huge threat, and Liverpool struggling to find any rythem. Everton were looking good to repeat their derby win of a year ago.

That then all suddenyl changed out of nowhere. Everton had a corner and Liverpool had left nobody up the pitch, an unlikely position for Everton to be in trouble from, but then enter Steven Gerrard. The corner was cleared and Gerrard stormed out of nowhere to be available to collect a through pass from Kuyt on the break, he was clean through with Hibbert in pursuit, at the key moment Hibbert brought down Gerrard and the referee gave the penalty, sending Hibbert off. From being comfotable 20 seconds ago, they were a man down and Liverpool had the cahnce to level the score, Kuyt stepped up and calmly obliged, equalising and giving Liverpool over half an hour with the extra man to try and win it.

GOAL - 53 Minutes - Dirk Kuyt (Pen) - Everton 1 Liverpool 1

Everton dispite the problems hit back and when Finnen had his hands on Julien Lescott, they thought, correctly, they should have had a penalty, the ref waved it away however. Then Liverpool looked to make their extra man count, Risse shot over the bar and Voronin should have done better when having a shot blocked by Tim Howard.

With Liverpool in control their manager, Benitez, mystified everyone. He decided to take Steven Gerrard off, the crowd, the players and Gerrard himself looked bemused, in his place came inexperienced Brazilian Lucas Leiva. The surprise substituation gave Everton a life, they began to keep possession better, gained some terriroty and shut out Liverpool's man advantage.

So could Everton hold out for an unlikely draw. The 4th offical held up three minutes of stoppage time, this galvanised Liverpool again. They set up one last attack. After a cross had caused confusion the aforementioned Lieva calmly put the ball passed Tim Howard, only for Phil Neville to handball it on the line. to stop it going in. The ref awareded another penalty in stoppage time, and had no option but to send Neville off. Everton down to nine men. Kuyt stepped up for the penalty, it looked like Howard got there but it skipped under his body and Liverpool had pulled it off.

GOAL - 91 Minutes - Dirk Kuyt (Pen) - Everton 1 Liverpool 2

Everton were not done however, they launched one alst attack, Lescott tangled with Carragher, this was less clear cut, but Everton again believed they had been denied a penalty as the ref waved the protests away. Then the final whistle brought a breathless game to an end. Everton feeling they had been cheated on derby day, Liverpool celebrating as if they had won the league itself, they will have to play better than this to do that, but today was all about the result, and the reds got it by a whisker.

RESULT

Everton        (1) 1 (Own Goal Hyypia 38)

Liverpool     (0) 2 (Kuyt 53 pen, 91 pen)

MOON OF LIBETY STAR MAN - Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool) - After a tough start to the season to step up and score two peanlties takes bottle, and he had it. Maybe Gordon Brown should take lessons.

 

European Championship Qualifier

England Vs Israel

Venue - Wembley Stadium Kick off 5.00 pm

With a tough game against Russia on the horizon, and after their dissapointing 0-0 draw in Israel, England needed to get a good result against the same opponenets this afternoon. Steve McLaren surprised a few people by bringing back Emille Heskey, for Israel this was always going to be a tough afternoon and they were looking to the experience of Yossi Benayoun of Liverpool to put the type of performance in that would give them a shout.

England began reasonably well and created the first chance of the game, a direct ball down the middle allowed Michael owen to knock the ball down perfectly for Heskey who blasted the ball over the bar.

From then on Israel began to look comfortable for the enxt fifteen minutes with threatening. That was until the two wingers combined, Joe Cole lofted a fine cross leaving the Israeli defense floundering and Shaun Wright Phillips struck a sweet volley home to give England the lead.

GOAL - 20 Minutes - Shaun Wright Phillips - England 1 Israel 0

It was down the flanks the England continued to get success. Wright-Phillips, Joe Cole, Micah Richards and Garath barry all put in excellent performances in the first half. Owen and Heskey up front however were wasteful, Owen had two chances from close range and failed to cpitalise, the first being save, the secon lashed over the bar. Heskey got onto a corner only to head wide. All Englands good work as a result came to nothing. The keeper also made a good save from Ashley Cole.

Israel offered little going forward, trying to get men behind the ball and only using a couple of men at any time to try and break. They did put some passes together in the last 10 minutes of the half however, and caused John Terry and Rio Ferdinand some problems, Micah Richards however was usually on hand to mop up however, and the goalkeeper Paul Robinson did not have a save to make in the first half.

Shortly in the second half England made it two. A smart passing move lead to michael Owen getting the ball on the edge of the box and he neatly turned and with a lovely strike doubled England's lead. After his wasteful efforts of the first half the goal eased the pressure on him, and on England as from here victory was secure.

GOAL - 49 Minites - Michael Owen - England 2 Israel 0

The game from this point went into a bit of a lull with little happening. Israel looked like a beaten side, England were crusing without being particularly special. On 66 minutes Micah Richards capped a fine performance by adding a third with a towering header from a corner. Israle believed Owne had tripped the keeper and the replays certainly looked that way, but Richards deserved his goal and the referee saw nothing wrong giving England their third.

GOAL - 66 Minutes - Micah Richards - England 3 Israel 0

The rest was a formality as the game petered out. A Mexican wave and people leaving early demonstrated how dull the game became from this point. Little else happened until the last minute when substitue Andy johnson won the ball and placed a delightful pass into Owen's path, Owen rounded the keeper and though he had scored only for the Israeli defnder Ziv to slided and clear off the line. Witht hat the game ended, a fourth goal would have flattered Englnad, and while they were comfortably better than a poor Israel, Russia will still fnacy their chances as there is not much inspirational about what we saw today, England did enough, but no more.

RESULT

England             (1) 3 (Wright-Phillips, Owen, Richards)

Israel                 (0) 0 

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN - Micah Richards (England) - A Powerhouse performance at the back giving Israel no encouragement at times when other defenders around him looked a bit shaky, got forward plenty to, and an excellent goal.

FA Community Shield, Sunday 5th August 2007 - Kick off 3.00 pm

Venue - Wembley Stadium 

Manchester United V Chelsea

The traditional start to the season, the Community shield, took place this afternoon with Champions Manchester United stong favourites as Chelsea were struggling with major injury problems to the point they had to draft in youth players to the bench.

United manager Alex Ferguson has described this United squad as the best he has ever had, they certainly started the stronger of the two sides with Chelsea's depleted side offering little up front for most of the first half.

Ronaldo and Rooney both had chances for United, but it was another United hero who would open the scoring. After a deflected free kick from Ronaldo came to nothing, Patrice Evra set up a smart one two, he then pulled the ball back from the touchline for Ryan Giggs to guide the ball home with a wonderful finish, as he had little to aim at. This gave United a dserved lead

GOAL - 34 Minutes - Giggs - Manchester United 1 Chelsea 0

After this Chelsea got a degree more possession and hit back just before the break. A long ball over the top caught Ferdinand out of position, and Malouda ran on with it, brushing aside Ferdinand and moving into the penalty area. From a tough angle he smartly put the ball past Van Der Sar for an equaliser they had scarcely deserved.

GOAL - 44 Minutes - Malouda - Manchester United 1 Chelsea 1

There was little time left and they went in all square after at the break. The second half began pretty much the same way. Chelsea were trying long balls over the top towards Wright Phillips while united were playing the better football. Chech made a fine save from Ronaldo on 55 minutes. From there the game began to peter out towards a penalty shoot out.

Neither side looked like winning it in the last 20 minutes as substitution came and tiredness at this early point of the season began to hit. The game ended a draw accoridngly and after a short break we moved to penalities, both managers seemed pleased with what they had seen over the ninety minutes.

In the shoot out United keeper Van Der Sar was the hero saving all three Chelsea penalties. It was left to Wayne Rooney to score the winning penalty and seal the first bit of silverware for United. Overall they deserved to win the game, but given Chelsea's injury problems they will be pleased to have gone 90 minutes and come away with an equal scoreline.

RESULT

FA COMMUNITY SHIELD FROM WEMBLEY

Manchester United      (1) 1 (Giggs 34)

Chelsea                         (1) 1 (Malouda 44) 

Manchester United win 3-0 on pens 

Manchester United win the 2007 Community Shield                                                                                     

 

 4 August 2007, Kick off 4.00 pm

 England V Wales - Venue Twickenham

Sky Sports 2, Commentators Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes

A few weeks of summer rugby for England began here with the first warm up game in the run up to defending the World Cup in France. Since winning the World Championship in Sydney 4 years ago England's form has been pachy, most recently they got well beaten on a tour of South Africa and were also well beaten earlier this year by todays opponenets Wales.

Wales themselves followed up by a strong performance in a narrow defeat against Australia. For their part today was about strangth in depth, particularly in the forwards where they left out a number of first team regulars to see if other players could step up. England put out a much stronger team today to try and take advantage of this, and they certainly did.

England's pack won the ball from Johnny Wilkinson's short kick off from the start, this set the tone of English dominence up front. Early pressure however did not lead to points as Wilkinson uncharacteristically missed two early penalties. The pressure was eased however when Nick Easter went over for the first try from short range after the English forwards battered the Welsh into submission.

From there on it was a prosession of one way traffic. The forwards dominated and by half time had added two further tries, both of a very similar close range fashion, one from Steve Borthwick and the other, a second for Easter. Wilkinson added a further penalty to give England a 22-0 lead at half time.

The only question was would the backs cut loose after the half. This did not quite happen as a couple of overlaps were wasted by the backs. It was left the the pack to continue to pile on the pressure, Easter got a hat trick from close range again, Shaun Perry added two more and the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the ever popular Laurence Dallaglio who balsted over from five meters out from a close range scrum.

A couple of substitutions by Wales made a degree of difference for around 10 minutes when they did get some ball and Dafydd James went over in the corner after a smart Welsh move. That would be all for the Welsh however, as in the last two minutes the backs finally put a couple of moves together, Jason Robinson went over to show he is still a big threat, and Matthew Tait finished the game off with an easy try under the posts from a long kick with no Welsh defender in sight. This gave England 60 points, a miserable day for Wales weakened team proving they have little strength in depth.

As for England, tougher will be to come, the pack wont have it this easy against South Africa in the World cup group game, the backs wont be able to squander chances like they did today then either, but they showed today they can compete, especially in the forwards with fine performances from Easter, Perry and Borthwick and Regan. don't right off the World Champions just yet.

RESULT

England          62  Wales          5

England - Tries (Easter 3, Borthwick, Perry 2, Dallaglio, Robinson, Tait) Conversions (Wilkinson 7) Pens (Wilkinson 3)

Wales - Tries (D James)

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN - Shaun Perry (England) - His breaks began the rout, two tries and directed the whole game from scrum half, a super performance.     

The British Open Golf Championship Final Day

Venue - Carnoustie, Scotland

Televised - BBC 1, commentators Peter Alyess & Sam Torrence.

So the scene was set early with a nast downpour of rain. WOuld this make it easier for Sergio Garcia to maintain his three shot lead as it surely would make it difficult for anyone to make a charge. In reality, the conditions did not have a huge negative effect, and a magnificent final day was in store.

The bar was set by a fine round of 64 by Andrew green of Australia. He had a score of -5 par and set the standard everyone else still out on the course. The big American names in the frame failed to fire today. Jim Furyk never got going, Steve Stricker had many chances but his putting let him down on as many as four occasions. Tiger Woods, aiming for his third straight title, has to settle for a dissappointing score of -2 for the four days.

Garcia too had a dissappointing day, dropping back to -6. He was caught by Padrig Harrington of Ireland and the ever dangerous South African Ernie Els. Els later hoever lost another shot towards the and his challenge fell away.

A major suprise was in the offing when Argentinian Andreas Romero, a man who only had played four tournaments outside South America before this, went on a late charge and took the lead going -9 after 16 holes. His inexperience however got the better of him down the final strectch losing 3 shots and finishin with -6. At that moment Garcia birdied the 15th to go -7 and Harrington landed a birdie at 17 to go -9.

Harrington went down the 18th 2 shots ahead. However, he pulled his tea shot into the water, then hit his next shot into the water too, losing two shots in the process. He recovered however to get up and down for a double bogey, a good result in the circumstances. He therefore finished on -7, to add to the drama, Garcia birdied the 17th to go -8. Was Harrington's disaster on 18 going to cost him the title.

As it happened no it wasn't. Garcia missed a 10 foot put on the 18th and dropped a shot, so he too finished -7. This would send us into a playoff between Harrington and Garcia. We had a slight delay a this point as the playoff would be over four holes, the 1st, 16th, 17th and 18th. However they could not find a flag for the first hole for around 10 minutes, eventually this arrived via a man on a golf cart, to ironic cheers of the crowd.

Harrington drew first blood in the playoff. He birdied the 1st and Garcia could only bogey to give Harrington a two shot lead. Both men parred the next two holes sending them down the 18th with a two shot difference. Harrington played safe on 18, laying up his second shot leaving 90 ards to the green after two. Garcia played a fine second shot out of the light rough to give himself a long birdie chance.

Harrington pitched onto the green but he too was some distance away. Harrington putted to within 6 feet with his first attempt. Harrington now could do no better than bogey, so if Garcia managed to birdie his long range put he would at least tie. He missed however and the put went passed 4 feet. Garcia putted out for par, leaving Harrington with a six foot put for bogey to maintain a one shot lead and land the title. He duely sank the put to become the first Irishman in 60 years to take the British open golf title.

RESULT - FINAL LEADERBOARD - British Open 2007

Harrington (Ire) -7

Garcia (Spa) -7

Romero (Arg) -6

Els (SA) -5

Green (Aus) -5

 

Screened between ITV1 and ITV4

Commentators - John Rawling and Duke McKenzie

Venue - The O2 Arena, Old Millenium Dome Site, London

Vacant WBO Fetaherweight Championship

Nicky Cooke (Eng) Vs Stephen Luevano (USA)

The first of three fights kicked off with the only World title fight on the bill. The fact this is considered the undercard, even though in terms of class it was the highest level fight of the night, shows how much hype and personality count for, sometimes in favour of quality when it comes to modern boxing.

The Californian away from home started strongly, clearly taking the first round and knocking the Londener down for the first time in the second. It set the tone of the fight, the American was consistantly sharper throughout the first five rounds and clearly built up a big lead.

In rounds 6 and 7 Cooke staged something of a comback, suddenly looking like he had some energy and caught the American with a good range of head shots. It was not to last however. Come the eighth Luevano re-establsihed his position with two knockdowns. He took Cooke down again in the ninth for the final time as Cooke failed to beat the count.

Cooke's attempt to become World Champion on home turf failed, he gave a reasonable account of himself but was outclassed by the American who can now move on to bigger and better things.

RESULT - Luevano wins by 9th round KO and wins the WBO Featherweight Championsip

Commonweath Lightweight Championship

Willie Limond (champion) (Sco) Vs Amir Khan (Eng)

This was Amir Khan's first shot at a proffessional title after 12 straight wins. Critics have said he has not been tested yet, Limond would prove to be such a test.

Unlike in so many of Khan's previous fights, Limond was not overwealmed by the task. He stood his ground when the early Khans onslaught came, and even landed with some fine shots of his own in the openeing rounds.

The longer the fight went the more Limond gained in confidence. Khan was looking uncharacteristically slow and Limond beat him to the punch again and again. As we moved into the second half of the fight, would Limond's extra experience at long distant fights tell.

In round 7 it seemed so, Limond let go an onslught of four head punches that eventually sent Khan to the canvass. Khan got up but looked completely disorganised for the rest of the round. Limond however, is not a big puncher and did not put his man away when he had the chance.

In the eighth Khan turned it around. Almost as if the knockdown was a wake-up call. He scored a kncokdown himself with punches that it later emerged broke the jaw of Limond. Limond managed to get up and survive the round but from here there was only one winner. Khan dominated the ninth and at the end of round nine, Limonds corner withdrew their man, leaving Khan with his first title.

Result - Khan wins due to Limond withdrawal at the end of the 9th round and is the new Commonwealth Lighweight Champion

Commonwealth Heaveyweight Championship

Matt Skelton (Champion) (Eng) Vs Michael Sprott (Eng)

By contrast to the previous two fights, this supposed heaveyweight world title eliminator was a real stinker. On the evidence of tonight putting either of these two in against a real champion would frankly be a joke.

Sprott actually started quite brightly, landing some good shots in the first to take the round against an opponent who barely threw a single punch. From round 2 the fight descended in a farce.

Skelton held on to Sprott at every chance he got, using this to then throw boddt punches from the clinch. Being the bigger man Skelton got the better of these ugly exhanges. When they did box from distance, barely anyone threw a punch until Skelton was able to hold on again.

By round 4 the boos around the arena summed the fight up perfectly. Neither man can shirk the blame, Sprott was bearly throwing a punch, Skelton was happy to just hold and turn this into a wrestling match. Boring does not even begin to describe it.

Most rounds were impossible to score as neither man did anything. Skelton landed with a couple of good body shots in the 6th and the nineth, Sprott landd one good shot in the 4th, thats how tedious the fight was, that one good shot would take the round.

As we got to the 12th, the announcer told us it was 'the last round', cue ironic cheers. Neither man put any more effort into the last round than the rest of the fight and thankfully the bell sounded to chants of 'What a load of rubbish.' Saddly we had to have the scorecards decide a winner, shame as in reality both men were losers. I personally scored it 118-117 to Skelton with 7 drawn rounds due to the tedium, the real cards had it 117-113 and 115-114 to Skelton, with one drawn at 114-114, so the middle card agreed with my one round analysis, few will disagree this was a simply terrible fight.

RESULT - Skelton wins by majoirty decision on points and retains the Commonwealth Heaveyweight Championship

 

8th July 2007 14:00 pm

Venue - Centre Court, Wimbledon 

Nadal (Spa) (seeded 2) Vs Federer (Sui) (Seeded 1)

This final turned out to be a great one. Federer, unbeaten in 34 matches and 4 years at Wimbledon, was aiming to equal Bjorn Borg's record of five consecutive titles. Nadal, who lost to Federer in last years final, was aiming to become the first Spanish Men champion since Manuel Sanana in 1966.

With Borg and Santana sat next to each other in the Royal box, the finalists traded a first set that went all the way to a tie break. Federer was mixng his serves well while Nadal had a clear strategy of trying to hit deep to Federe's backhand and then switching direction. In the tie break however Federer's abilty to get quick points won out while Nadal began to rush and could not set the points up as well. Federer therfore took the first set 7-6

The second set was more of the same. Nadal lead 5-4 on serve, then Hawkeye intervened. At 30 all Nadal challenged a line call that would have given Federer game point, the challenge overruled the call. The point had to be re-played, Nadal won it then then went on to break to take the 2nd set 6-4.

The third set went once again all the way to the tie break. Federer prevailed again to take a 2 sets to 1 lead. Then early in the fourth Hawkeye struck again. Nadal challenged another call successfully, this seemed to upset Federer who had a row with the umpire and quickly went 3-0 down in the fourth set. He lost this 6-2 to take the match all the way.

Unfortunately Nadal sustained a knee injusry that appeared to hamper his serving in the fifth set, but he managed to get to 2-2. Federer then held serve and then broke the next game, with Nadal clearly slowing down as he was struggling. This allowed Federer to take a 4-2 lead. Federer then saw out the next two games, finishing it with an overhead smash to seal his fifth title.

Federer's abilty to gain cheap points (24 aces to 1) espeically when Nadal was struggling and therefore had to work harder on his own serve than normal, was the key to victory today. The injury also meant Nadal was not able to go to Federer's backhand as much in the final set. having to change his tactics and playing into Federer's hands as he was able to set up more forehand winners.

So Federer deservedly in the end equals Borg's record, next year it will be all about if he can beat it.

RESULT Federer (Sui) defeats Nadal (Spa) by 3 sets to 2 - 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2