Upcoming Football fixture,09

Thursday 02nd April 2009
European Under-21 Championship Qualifying Group Six
Kazakhstan U21	v	Bulgaria U21	11.00
Blue Square Premier			Bet
Eastbourne Borough	v	Ebbsfleet	19.45
Wrexham	v	Barrow	19.45
Friday 03rd April 2009
Eircom Premier
Bohemians	v	Cork	19.35
Bray	v	St Patricks	19.45
Derry City	v	Galway Utd	19.45
Drogheda Utd	v	Shamrock	19.45
German Bundesliga			Bet
Arminia Bielefeld	v	Schalke 04	19.30
Dutch Holland Casino Eredivisie			Bet
NEC	v	FC Twente	19.45
Saturday 04th April 2009
Barclays Premier League			Bet
Arsenal	v	Man City	15.00
Blackburn	v	Tottenham	12.45
Bolton	v	Middlesbrough	15.00
Fulham	v	Liverpool	17.30
Hull City	v	Portsmouth	15.00
Newcastle	v	Chelsea	15.00
West Brom	v	Stoke City	15.00
West Ham	v	Sunderland	15.00
Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier			Bet
Celtic	v	Hamilton Acd'	15.00
Dundee Utd	v	Hibernian	12.30
Hearts	v	Kilmarnock	15.00
Inverness CT	v	St Mirren	15.00
Motherwell	v	Aberdeen	15.00
Coca-Cola Championship			Bet
Barnsley	v	Nottm Forest	15.00
Birmingham	v	Wolves	15.00
Postponed - now being played Mon, Apr 6
Blackpool	v	Plymouth	15.00
Bristol City	v	Preston NE	17.20
Coventry	v	Reading	15.00
Derby	v	Burnley	15.00
Doncaster	v	Watford	15.00
Norwich	v	Sheff Weds	15.00
QPR	v	C.Palace	15.00
Sheff Utd	v	Ipswich	15.00
Southampton	v	Charlton	15.00
Coca-Cola Division One			Bet
Cheltenham	v	Leyton Orient	15.00
Colchester	v	Leeds Utd	15.00
Hartlepool	v	Hereford	15.00
Huddersfield	v	Southend	15.00
Leicester	v	Carlisle Utd	15.00
MK Dons	v	Brighton	15.00
Millwall	v	Walsall	15.00
Northampton	v	Scunthorpe	15.00
Postponed - due to JPT Final
Oldham	v	Peterborough	15.00
Stockport	v	Yeovil	15.00
Swindon	v	Crewe	15.00
Coca-Cola Division Two			Bet
Accrington	v	Lincoln City	15.00
Aldershot	v	Rotherham	15.00
Bournemouth	v	Rochdale	15.00
Bradford	v	Brentford	15.00
Darlington	v	Morecambe	15.00
Exeter City	v	Dag & Red	15.00
Gillingham	v	Barnet	15.00
Macclesfield	v	Chesterfield	15.00
Notts County	v	Chester	15.00
Port Vale	v	Bury	15.00
Shrewsbury	v	Grimsby	15.00
Blue Square Premier			Bet
Barrow	v	Woking	15.00
Cambridge Utd	v	Forest Green	15.00
Crawley Town	v	Burton Albion	15.00
Eastbourne Borough	v	Weymouth	15.00
Ebbsfleet	v	Northwich	15.00
Postponed
Grays Ath	v	York City	15.00
Kidderminster	v	Stevenage	15.00
Lewes	v	Altrincham	15.00
Oxford United	v	Histon	15.00
R'den & Dmnds	v	Salisbury	15.00
Torquay	v	Kettering	15.00
Wrexham	v	Mansfield	15.00
Eircom Premier
Sligo	v	Dundalk	20.00
Irn-Bru Scottish Division One			Bet
Airdrie Utd	v	Dunfermline	15.00
Clyde	v	Livingston	15.00
Morton	v	Dundee	15.00
Queen o' Sth	v	Ross County	15.00
St Johnstone	v	Partick Thistle	15.00
Irn-Bru Scottish Division Two			Bet
Alloa Athletic	v	Peterhead	15.00
Ayr United	v	Stirling Albion	15.00
Brechin City	v	Queen's Park	15.00
East Fife	v	Arbroath	15.00
Stranraer	v	Raith Rovers	15.00
Irn-Bru Scottish Division Three			Bet
Annan Athletic	v	Montrose	15.00
Berwick Rgs'	v	Albion Rovers	15.00
Cowdenbeath	v	Elgin City	15.00
Forfar Athletic	v	East Stirling	15.00
Stenhousemuir	v	Dumbarton	15.00
Blue Square North
Alfreton Town	v	Southport	15.00
Blyth Spartans	v	Vauxhall Ms	15.00
Burscough	v	Hucknall	15.00
Droylsden	v	Solihull Moors	15.00
Fleetwood Town	v	King's Lynn	15.00
Gainsborough	v	AFC Telford	15.00
Harrogate Town	v	Tamworth	15.00
Hinckley	v	Hyde United	15.00
Redditch United	v	Workington	15.00
Stafford	v	Gateshead	15.00
Stalybridge	v	Farsley Celtic	15.00
Blue Square South
AFC Wimbledon	v	Team Bath	15.00
Basingstoke	v	Thurrock	15.00
Bath City	v	Braintree Town	15.00
Bishops Sford	v	Eastleigh	15.00
Chelmsford	v	Worcester City	15.00
Dorchester	v	Hampton & Richm	15.00
Havant and W	v	Maidenhead Utd	15.00
Hayes & Yeading	v	Bromley	15.00
Newport County	v	Fisher	15.00
St Albans	v	Weston-S-Mare	15.00
Welling United	v	Bognor Regis To	15.00
Spanish Primera Liga			Bet
Almeria	v	Villarreal	19.00
Athletic Bilbao	v	Mallorca	19.00
Malaga	v	Real Madrid	21.00
Real Betis	v	Numancia	19.00
Recreativo Huelva	v	Sevilla	19.00
Valladolid	v	Barcelona	19.00
German Bundesliga			Bet
Eintracht Frankfurt	v	Cottbus	14.30
Hamburg	v	TSG Hoffenheim	14.30
Hertha Berlin	v	Borussia Dortmund	14.30
VfL Bochum	v	VfB Stuttgart	14.30
Wolfsburg	v	Bayern Munich	14.30
French Ligue 1			Bet
Bordeaux	v	AS Nancy	18.00
Caen	v	Toulouse	20.00
Grenoble	v	Lorient	18.00
Le Mans	v	Lyon	18.00
Monaco	v	Le Havre	18.00
Nantes	v	Lille	18.00
Valenciennes	v	Auxerre	18.00
Dutch Holland Casino Eredivisie			Bet
AZ	v	ADO Den Haag	18.45
FC Utrecht	v	FC Groningen	17.45
Heracles	v	Heerenveen	18.45
Sparta	v	PSV	19.45
Sunday 05th April 2009
Barclays Premier League			Bet
Everton	v	Wigan Athletic	15.00
Man Utd	v	Aston Villa	16.00
Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier			Bet
Falkirk	v	Rangers	14.00
Coca-Cola Championship			Bet
Cardiff City	v	Swansea City	11.00
Coca-Cola Division One			Bet
Tranmere	v	Bristol Rovers	15.00
Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final
Luton Town	v	Scunthorpe	13.15
Italian Serie A			Bet
AC Milan	v	Lecce	20.00
Postponed
Atalanta	v	Fiorentina	12.00
Postponed
Cagliari	v	Catania	14.00
Juve	v	Chievo	14.00
Palermo	v	Torino	14.00
Reggina	v	Genoa	14.00
Roma	v	Bologna	14.00
Sampdoria	v	Napoli	14.00
Siena	v	Lazio	14.00
Udinese	v	Inter	18.00
Spanish Primera Liga			Bet
Atletico Madrid	v	Osasuna	16.00
Espanyol	v	Deportivo La Coruna	16.00
Sporting Gijon	v	Racing Santander	20.00
Valencia	v	Getafe	18.00
German Bundesliga			Bet
Cologne	v	Bayer Leverkusen	16.00
Karlsruhe	v	Borussia M'gladbach	16.00
Werder	v	Hannover 96	16.00
French Ligue 1			Bet
PSG	v	Nice	16.00
Sochaux	v	Rennes	16.00
St Etienne	v	Marseille	20.00
Dutch Holland Casino Eredivisie			Bet
FC Volendam	v	Feyenoord	13.30
Roda JC	v	Ajax	11.30
Vitesse	v	De Graafschap	13.30
Willem II	v	NAC	13.30
Monday 06th April 2009
Coca-Cola Championship			Bet
Birmingham	v	Wolves	19.45
Blue Square Premier			Bet
Burton Albion	v	Torquay	19.45
Blue Square North
Hyde United	v	Blyth Spartans	19.45
Blue Square South
Chelmsford	v	Hampton & Richm	19.45
Havant and W	v	Welling United	19.45
Tuesday 07th April 2009
European Champion Clubs Cup Quarter Final First Leg			Bet
Man Utd	v	FC Porto	19.45
Villarreal	v	Arsenal	19.45
Coca-Cola Championship			Bet
C.Palace	v	Coventry	20.00
Sheff Utd	v	Barnsley	19.45
Watford	v	Southampton	19.45
Coca-Cola Division One			Bet
Hereford	v	Brighton	19.45
Leyton Orient	v	Leeds Utd	19.45
Coca-Cola Division Two			Bet
Barnet	v	Rotherham	19.45
Chesterfield	v	Lincoln City	19.30
Darlington	v	Wycombe	19.45
Port Vale	v	Aldershot	19.45
Blue Square Premier			Bet
Altrincham	v	Eastbourne Borough	19.45
Forest Green	v	Kidderminster	19.45
Kettering	v	Barrow	19.45
Mansfield	v	Ebbsfleet	19.45
Northwich	v	Woking	19.45
Stevenage	v	Cambridge Utd	19.45
Wrexham	v	Histon	19.45
York City	v	Oxford United	19.45
Eircom Premier
Cork	v	Drogheda Utd	19.45
Dundalk	v	Shamrock	19.45
Galway Utd	v	Bohemians	19.45
Sligo	v	Bray	19.45
St Patricks	v	Derry City	19.45
Irn-Bru Scottish Division One			Bet
St Johnstone	v	Dunfermline	19.45
Irn-Bru Scottish Division Three			Bet
Forfar Athletic	v	Dumbarton	19.45
Blue Square North
AFC Telford	v	Harrogate Town	19.45
Fleetwood Town	v	Farsley Celtic	19.45
Redditch United	v	Vauxhall Ms	19.45
Southport	v	Droylsden	19.45
Stalybridge	v	Alfreton Town	19.45
Workington	v	Hucknall	19.45
Blue Square South
Bath City	v	Bishops Sford	19.45
Braintree Town	v	Fisher	19.45
Hayes & Yeading	v	Weston-S-Mare	19.45
Wednesday 08th April 2009
European Champion Clubs Cup Quarter Final First Leg			Bet
Barcelona	v	Bayern Munich	19.45
Liverpool	v	Chelsea	19.45
Clydesdale Bank Scottish Premier			Bet
Celtic	v	Falkirk	19.45
St Mirren	v	Rangers	19.45
Coca-Cola Championship			Bet
Cardiff City	v	Derby	19.45

Tottenham 1-0 Chelsea

Luka Modric capped a man-of-the-match display with a superb goal as Tottenham dealt Chelsea's title bid a huge blow with a deserved win at White Hart Lane.

The Croatian grabbed the winner on 50 minutes, drilling Aaron Lennon's cross into the corner from 18 yards.

It might have been more had Robbie Keane not been denied three times.

But Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes also played a part, saving brilliantly from John Terry before Alex headed on to the bar as the hosts desperately held on.

The three points were no more than Tottenham deserved from a full-blooded and frantic London derby, but Chelsea will be kicking themselves as their first defeat under Guus Hiddink saw them miss the chance to close the gap on league leaders Manchester United.

United's earlier 2-0 defeat to Fulham meant a win would have taken the Blues to within a point of the champions, but instead they were left to rue a disjointed display and a fine performance from Spurs.

All signs before the match pointed to a Chelsea victory, given their 100% league record under Hiddink and the fact Spurs had secured just one win in 37 league games against their London rivals.

But Tottenham, unbeaten in five matches themselves, are looking every inch an outfit rejuvenated under Harry Redknapp of late and they edged the opening 45 minutes.

With the Blues deploying a 4-3-3 formation, with Juliano Belletti wide right and Nicolas Anelka wide left, Jonathan Woodgate and Ledley King were able to nullify the threat of Didier Drogba in the centre.

And with Jermaine Jenas and Wilson Palacios impressing in midfield against Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien, Chelsea's greater possession only rarely led to clear openings.

Essien had the first chance of note, though, playing a one-two with Anelka before unleashing a skiddy shot that Gomes did well to get down and save in the Tottenham goal.

Spurs - and Keane in particular - responded well.

First the Irishman unleashed a fierce half-volley that Petr Cech did well to turn round the post from 20 yards, and the keeper then had to save from two rather tamer efforts from the striker as Tottenham's organised, thoughtful approach play almost bore fruit.

Anelka forced another smart stop from Gomes up the other end with a clipped effort from 16 yards, but it was Tottenham impressing - and they got their reward five minutes into the second half.

Lennon - kept quiet until that point - was the creator, the winger getting the better of Ashley Cole on the right and pulling back to Modric to rifle a superb right-foot shot into the corner from 18 yards.

The goal rattled Chelsea and, buoyed by a vocal home support, Spurs pressed forward.

Modric went close again with a similar effort to the goal and King headed over unmarked from a corner as the visitors backtracked.

Something had to change for Chelsea - and Hiddink obliged by sending on Ricardo Quaresma, with almost immediate affect.

The Portugal winger gained half a yard down the right and his deep cross was headed goalwards by Lampard, only for Vedran Corluka to desperately clear the Spurs lines.

Minutes later, Drogba forced a smart near-post save from Gomes, while Keane curled narrowly wide for Spurs up the other end.

It was all set up for a frantic finale - and so it proved, with Drogba heading wide when well placed and Lampard firing wide from close range at one end, and Aaron Lennon wasting a great chance to set up Darren Bent on the counter at the other.

The best chance fell to Terry, though, the Chelsea centre-half rising highest to aim a firm header towards the corner from eight yards out, but Gomes produced a stunning right-hand stop to keep it out and effectively seal the game for the hosts.

There was still time for Alex to head into the ground and onto the bar deep into injury-time, but Chelsea could not find the breakthrough as Spurs held on to jump into the top 10 for the first time this season.

---

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp:
"That is a big three points for us and we've been in great form of late, I think that's 18 points from our last nine games, which is terrific.

"We've a long way to go to get into the top four - that's very, very difficult - and I'm not going to kid myself or anyone by saying we're close to that at the moment.

"But we were excellent today and I thought we were comfortable throughout, even if they put us under pressure in the last 10 minutes.

"We're in a good situation now where we can start looking up. I don't know what it'll take to stay up but, with the way we're playing, we're all about how high up we can finish in the table now."

---

Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Woodgate, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon (Zokora 90), Jenas, Palacios, Modric (O'Hara 87), Bent, Keane.
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Bentley, Huddlestone, Pavlyuchenko, Dawson.

Booked: Palacios, Modric.

Goals: Modric 50.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien (Malouda 76), Ballack, Lampard, Belletti (Quaresma 61), Drogba, Anelka.
Subs Not Used: Hilario, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Kalou, Mancienne.

Booked: Belletti, Ballack.

A series to remember,Newzealand vs India test

It was a morning of goodbyes at the team hotel as India’s one-day specialists packed their bags and headed home. The Saturday night loss didn’t contribute too much to the memories of their 26-day stay here, and they carried back tales of dominating a team that had once intimidated all visiting sides.

Since it is likely that at least two batsmen from the group that boarded the flight on Sunday — Suresh Raina (22) and Rohit Sharma (21) — could be Team India regulars in the coming days, future generations of Indian batsmen may not travel to New Zealand with a heavy burden on their shoulders.

Until recently, due to the banana-skin tour of 2003 and four decades without any significant milestone, New Zealand-bound Indian travellers carried the trauma passed on to them by history. Tales about how the bat sways in your hands in windy Wellington, about the ball having a mind of its own in Hamilton, and about pitches seamlessly merging into the green outfield, were relived as the countdown to the ODI team’s departure started. But when the next tour of New Zealand approaches, the flashbacks are likely to have a different hue.

It remains to be seen if India can replicate their one-day form in the Tests, but the players for whom the tour ended on Sunday leave one of world cricket’s toughest outposts as winners. Of the six at the departure terminal at the Auckland airport, only Raina and Yusuf Pathan played in all matches, but the confidence of the 3-1 verdict has rubbed off on everyone in the team.

The top scorer in the last one-dayer, Rohit Sharma, said that things hadn’t been as tough as he had expected. “I wasn’t quite in the flow in the last game since I had just batted in one Twenty20 match before, but I could still stick around even with wickets falling at the other end. Being here has been an educating experience for me,” he said.

Changing perceptions

Sharma added that the big victory margins in the series had changed his perception about New Zealand. “Since many of the youngsters in the team hadn’t come to New Zealand before, there was a fear of the unknown. But the conditions this time weren’t as tough as we’d heard they would be.” Giving an example of how familiarity breeds confidence, Sharma added that his trips to Australia with the ‘A’ side had prepared him for his visit with the national team. “If one gets an idea of what lies ahead, it becomes easier,” Sharma said.

Left-hander Raina said he was going back home a wiser batsman because the adjustments he made in New Zealand had worked perfectly. He explained: “The body positioning while batting is very important. If your head drops or if you close your eyes, shot-making becomes difficult. It is very important to maintain balance for the bowlers. If you are bowling at 140 kmph with the wind, it can seem like 150, but if you are bowling against the wind, it could be like 120 or 125 kmph.”

In the days to come, these young players might end up as the senior members of the Indian side and will pass on their New Zealand experience to newcomers. With results to back their words, their advice will have more meaning.

All things considered, this wasn’t just another one-day series win for captain MS Dhoni’s Team India but the conquering of an important frontier.