Millwall's fight against the hooligans looks to have succeeded but, as Lance Bellers writes, the troublemakers won't be the only ones missing out on the FA Cup Final this month
Picture this: your team have just reached football’s most famous cup final for the first time. Imagine the scenes at the first home match after the semi-final: a sea of flag-waving happy faces, drunk on euphoria and the doors locked an hour before kick-off.
Time to stop the wild demands for world superstars on silly contracts – be thankful that your club can restrain theirselves from overspending and heading for oblivion
Discuss the playing standard in the First Division with people who have followed it all season and there’s a chance that they’ll wince and shake their heads and point out that West Brom have been promoted. In fact Albion’s return to the Premiership, whatever one may think of their playing style, is one of the more heartening stories of the season: a team that struggled against relegation from the top level throughout 2002-03 have bounced straight back, rather than being preoccupied with escaping from the financial hole they dug for themselves through trying to stay up.
Saturday 3 Man Utd beat Arsenal 1-0 in their FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park, Paul Scholes scoring to deny the holders a fourth successive final. “We didn't deserve to lose,” says Arsène, graciously. “I wouldn't bet on them on Tuesday night,” says Sir Alex, employing spare mind games on behalf of Claudio Ranieri. In the league, Chelsea win 1-0 at Spurs to cut Arsenal’s lead to four points. In his first start for six months, Jamie Redknapp needs plastic surgery after being accidentally punched in the mouth by his cousin Frank Lampard. Newcastle take fourth off Liverpool with a 4-2 win over Everton. Wolves lose 4-1 at home to Southampton; Claus Lundekvam scores his first goal in 296 games for the Saints. At the bottom of the First, Derby lose 1-0 to a disputed penalty at home to Walsall. Wimbledon end a run of 11 straight defeats and stave off relegation for a few days by beating Wigan 1-0. In the game of the day in the Second Division, 19,041 see Bristol City beat QPR 1-0 to draw level on points in the automatic promotion race behind Plymouth, who stay seven points clear despite a 1-0 loss at Barnsley. At the bottom Brentford and Chesterfield draw 1-1, both goals in the final minute, but slip below Peterborough, Grimsby and Stockport, who all win. Wycombe stay alive with a 2-1 win at home to Port Vale. “The lads are going through brick walls,” explains Tony Adams. In the Third Doncaster extend their lead with a 3-1 defeat of Bury, while Carlisle narrow the gap at the bottom with a 2-1 win at Swansea. In Scotland Celtic open up a 20-point lead over Rangers, coming from two down to draw with Hearts.
Dear WSC
There’s something that’s puzzling me about this year’s title race. In every previous season when Manchester United have been trailing by a stack of points Alex Ferguson has talked about the opposition “doing a Devon Loch”. This season he hasn’t mentioned that unfortunate horse once, though. It’s almost as if he’s lost all enthusiasm for racing.
Chris Front, Redcar
It's often said that football has gone soft. However Philip Cornwall not only approves of that but believes the whole history of the game has been one of taming the back line
A brisk walk from The Valley is the home of a rugby side often known simply as Club. But while they are hardly giants of any game now and have never played Charlton Athletic, Blackheath’s role in the history of rugby and also football is a crucial one – had they not stood up for the rights of defenders, who knows what either game would be like today.