Apologies for the delay, but here we go again :)

As I've said in the title, there was a bit of delay between this post and my last post (9 days incase you're wondering) and so apologies for that, but let's get down to business shall we?

In this blog, I'm not only going to look at Football, but also the World Snooker Championships that got underway at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield on Saturday. Also on Saturday, I went to see the mighty, mighty Swans beat Barnsley (who looked off the pace for the entire match in all fairness) 3-1. That was a nice little day for me and I was very pleased with a performance that showed the rest of the Championship what we can do if we're put under pressure, as we were by Blackpool's 3-1 victory over Nottingham Forest. We're going to need to show that grit and determination against Sheffield United this Saturday and against Doncaster Rovers a week on Sunday if we want to book our place in the play-offs come the end of the season, especially considering the fact that Blackpool's last 2 opponents are already-relegated Peterborough United, and nothing-to-play-for Bristol City. It's going to be very, very scary the next 2 weeks. Staying in the Championship, I would like to congratulate Cardiff City (and yes, I know I should hate them, but you gotta give them credit) on booking their own place in the play-offs. After the heartbreak of the 1 goal difference last season, you have to say they well and truly deserve to be there this season and I applaud them. Let's just hope if they meet the Swans in the play-offs that we cruise past Cardiff :P

So, Saturday, 12:45 kick-off, an absolutely MASSIVE game for the Manchester rivals and one that neither team wanted to lose. This desire not to lose the game shone through in the first 91 minutes of the game as both teams cancelled each other out and it looked to everyone as though it would end in a 0-0 draw and a bad day at the office for both teams. However, no-one thought that the hero of the game would be the smallest man (and worst tackler) on the pitch. After 92 minutes, Patrice Evra pinged a beautiful cross into the Manchester City area and Paul Scholes met it with a beautiful header which flew past the despairing dive of City keeper Shay Given (a man I have said on numerous occassions is the best keeper in the Premier League) and that sent the red half of the stadium into absolute ecstasy knowing that they would be closing the gap on Chelsea, if only for a few hours. But that wasn't the end of the day. Chelsea faced Tottenham at White Hart Lane in the late kick-off, with Spurs knowing that Man City had dropped points and that they could go fourth with a win. And win they did. 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur, not usually a result welcomed by United fans, or Arsenal fans, but by beating Chelsea, Spurs helped both of these Premier League giants get ever closer to Chelsea in what is a truly enthralling title race.

We then come to Sunday. Any advantage Arsenal had gained from Spurs' win over Chelsea was killed in the last 10 minutes at the DW Stadium as Wigan came from 2-0 down, to beat their opponents 3-2. Now I hate Wigan, but even I said that it was a superb performance from them. In my opinion, anyone who can score 3 goals against Arsenal, in such a short space of time, and with so much riding on it, deserves all the credit and all the plaudits given to them so well done to Wigan on that front.

Enough Football??? I think so, and also, I really want to write about the Snooker now because it didn't get enough coverage last time so it's getting more now :)

So far, we've only had 4 first-round matches that have been completed, but there's already been some belting results and a huge surprise so keep reading on for that one. The first match that was completed at this years Crucible was John Higgins' 10-6 victory over Barry Hawkins. To me, that's a very, very impressive result on the part of John Higgins as Hawkins is a very good player who is up and coming and in a few years could be something quite special. It shows that John has come into the tournament on some impressive form and with that sort of a first round victory, he gains the momentum which is always so important over the two weeks at the Crucible, so he will be one to watch over the coming few weeks. We've also had Mark Williams (10-5 over Marcus Campbell) and Ali Carter (10-4 over Jamie Cope) progress to the 2nd round of the tournament, and again, these are two extremely capable players, and although most bookies will have them both as massive outsiders to win the tournament, you'd have to suggest that these 2 would be worth a cheeky bet if you're looking to make a lot of money. Realistically, Mark is a former champion and so is always going to be dangerous as he knows how to go out and win this tournament, and Ali Carter has been to the final before and so his ability to get there shouldn't be doubted either and I doubt many players would be ecstatic about the chance to face either of these two men in the next round.

So, I promised you a BIG surprise as the last fully finished first-round match, and here it is. Most people who have been snooker fans for any prolonged amount of time will recognise the name of Marco Fu, the man who has led a wave of young Asian players into the game, and is seen as a genuine challenger in any tournament that he gets to. However, in his first-round match at the Crucible this year, he came up against a former Poker croupier who goes by the name of Martin Gould and I'm pretty sure you can guess the result. Yes, indeed Martin Gould knocked out the first top-16 player to leave the tournament this year with a fantastic fightback, eventually ending with the Englishman triumphing 10-9. Phenomenal performance, but I sincerely doubt this man will be competition to any of the big boys still in the tournament. I promise I will write more as I get the news, so there may be a blog everyday in the next couple of weeks, or there may just be a massive round-up one at the end, we'll see how it goes. As always it's been a pleasure and I hope you enjoy it, but for now, I'm gonna go outside in this beautiful weather and have a read of some notes for uni. Thanks guys :)