Plymouth won their away game at Loftus Road; beating the home team 0 – 2. Plymouth took the lead in the 50th minute with Peter Halmosi converting Barry Hayles pass into a power shot into the top right of the net. David Norris latched onto Peter Halmosi’s headed pass to score from a superb volley to defeat the QPR keeper for a second time in the 62nd minute. QPR had some very good chances to claim a point, but Luke McCormick was equal to it tipping shots around the post and onto the crossbar. Four days ago, Plymouth were 18th in the league and suddenly after this win, Argyle have moved up 10 places to 8th amazingly just 3 points off the top of the table! Argyle need to win their home games, that’s for certain, as per the last few seasons, so far this year Argyle have had better away form than home form, that desperately needs to change. Teams should fear coming to Home Park, every clubs home ground should be a fortress, at the moment teams come to Home Park thinking they can at least take a point back on the road with them. But I am ever the optimist, so I have faith in our boys to get the job down, whether a play off spot is achievable I don’t know, beating last seasons finishing position will be good enough for me!
Liverpool could only manage a disappointing 1 – 1 draw away at Porto in the Champions League which leaves them in joint second in the group tables after Marseille beat Besiktas last night. Liverpool got off to the worst possible start conceeding a penalty in the 8th minute which Lucho Gonzalez duly converted. This shock seems to wake Liverpool and for the next 10 minutes it was all one way traffic in Liverpool’s favour in which time Dirk Kuyt’s headed goal levelled things in the 17th minute. But in the 58th minute Jermaine Pennant saw red for a second bookable offence which left Liverpool with a man down and were lucky to survive the Porto onslaught with the home team having a man over. Not a complete disaster, but Liverpool need to win the home tie with Porto at Fortress Anfield as Porto and Liverpool are favourites to progress to the next stage, so it’s important to top to group to avoid a top team in the next stage. At least Chelsea could only manage a 1 – 1 draw with Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge, so that makes me feel a little better about things.
England have been knocked out of the Twenty20 World Cup losing all 3 of their games in the super 8’s stage. England lost by 18 runs in today’s match against India, Lost Tuesdays match to New Zealand by 5 runs and were beaten by 19 runs by South Africa on Sunday. In today’s game Yuvraj Singh clobbered Stuart Broad for 6 sixes in the 19th over (and finished with figures of 0 – 60 off 24 balls) which made the difference in the end, scoring 36 runs off one over is an amazing feat that is rarely seen. So respect to Yuvraj for a fine batting performance, and back to the drawing board for England, England really haven’t adapted to Twenty20 cricket, maybe England need to develop a specialist Twenty20 side to compete at the highest level as England were somewhat lacking in this World Cup tournament!