Gutted

What a horrible afternoon. So disappointing. Congratulations to Chelsea, this seasons FA Cup Winners, for their 1-0 win earlier.

Such a shame that with all the talent on dislay; Ronaldo, Drogba, Rooney, Makele, Giggs, Terry, Vidic, Lampard et al, that the difference between the two teams was this man.

The game was not the exciting game many expected, but these two teams are so evenly balanced, they were always going to cancel each other out for the bulk of the game. Vidic and Ferdinand kept Drogba and Cole (and later Robben) quiet for almost all the game, as did the Chelsea defenders with Rooney and Ronaldo. Fergie got his tactics wrong playing a far to defensively minded team from the start, and Fletcher in place of Smith was a poor decision on his behalf.

The referee got most crucial decisions in this game wrong. He missed the penalty, he missed the first goal scored, and not given, in a game where one goal would be enough. A booking (deservedly) for Scholes that kept him subdued for the remainder of the game, yet not for Ferraria for an almost identical tackle minutes later, leaving him free to make crucial tackles later. Joe Cole's unpunished ugly, two footed lunge early on, that didn't warrant even a talking to. A perfectly timed tackle by Smith given as a free kick which led to the only allowed goal, with this man stood 5 yards away. It's not just footballers who cheat.

It's hard enough to lose a Cup Final, but to lose as a result of the referee makes it even tougher. Maybe being a referee makes me more critical, but Mr Bennett's performance was well below par.

But hey, we were there and there was nothing between the two teams, and consolation can be drawn from that, even though we didn't win. Penalties would have been a lottery, so anyone could have won that. And, overall, United have overachieved (in my opinion) this season, by winning the league, so today's result should bring things into perspective for the fans and players alike.

Bring on next season!!

Cup Final Morning

My mood is high after a great night on the tales last night, adding 110$ to my BR. Mainly thanks to 2 wins in 10$ SNG's and my 10's beating Jacks on a lucky river.

It was my turn for lie in this morning - so I'm feeling refreshed. The lads will be knocking on my door in about an hour for pre-match bacon butties and discussions over the team sheets.
Who's in for us, who's out for them. What formation, will our top players perform on the day?

Confidence - they could only draw with our 2nd string team last week.
Bravado - Ronaldo and Rooney are the best strike partnership in the world.
Realism - Chealsea are not a bad side, a few of their players can cause us problems.
Predictions - Close game, possibly extra time, United to win by 1 goal.
Confidence agin - nah, 4 - 0 like the last time we met them in the FA Cup Final.
Wembley Memories - My first cup final, Altrincham v Enfield in the FA Trophy many years ago, with my Grandad.
Good memories - Lucky to have seen quite a few wins at wembley in both FA and League Cup Finals, Cantona's strike against Liverpool in a dull game (but who cares after?).
Bad one's too - Alan Sunderlands late winner, Kanchelskis getting sent off and losing to Villa. Horrible journey home sometims.

Then it's off to the pub with a big screen and lots of atmosphere.

But before that,

Fear - what if we lose?

Apologies to any Irish Readers

But this is very funny.

Two Irishmen walk into a pet shop and head to the bird section
Gerry says to Paddy, "Dat's dem."
The owner comes over and asks if he can help them.
"Yeah, we'll take four of dem dere little budgies in dat cage up dere," says Gerry.
The owner puts the budgies in a cardboard box, they pay for the birds, leave the shop and get into Gerry's truck to drive to the top of the Connor Pass.
At the Connor Pass, Gerry looks down at the 1000 foot drop and says, "Dis looks like a grand place."
He takes two birds out of the box, puts one on each shoulder and jumps off the cliff.
Paddy watches as the budgies fly off and Gerry falls to his death at the bottom.
Paddy shakes his head and says, "Fook dat. Dis budgie jumping is too fook'n dangerous for me!"

THERE'S MORE...

Moment's later, Seamus arrives up at Connor Pass. He's been to the pet shop too and walks up to the edge of the cliff carrying another cardboard box in one hand and a shotgun in the other.
"Hi, Paddy. Watch dis," Seamus says.
He takes a parrot from the box and lets him fly free. He then throws himself over the edge of the cliff with the gun. Paddy watches as half way down, Seamus takes the gun and shoots the parrot. Seamus continues to plummet down to a splattering end.
Paddy shakes his head and says, "And I'm never trying dat parrotshooting either!"

IT IS NOT OVER YET......

Paddy is just getting over the shock of losing two friends when Sean appears. He's also been to the pet shop and is carrying a cardboard box out of which he pulls a chicken. Sean then takes the chicken by its legs and hurls himself off the cliff and disappears down and down until he also comes to an abrupt end.

Once more Paddy shakes his head. "Fook dat, lads. First dere was Gerry with his budgiejumping, den Seamus parrotshooting........ and now Sean and his fook'n hengliding!"

Tagged!

Not the electronic type, I promise.
OK, after posting the last piece, decided to catch up on reading some blogs and found I had been tagged by Acorn, and have to write 7 things about myself that no one knows. So, here goes:

1 - I am a qualified football referee. Not at all interested in refereeing 'grown up' football after witnessing so much fighting and violence, as well as uncomplimentary statements about me. I figured it was a matter of time before someone punched my lights out, so I now referee under 11's to under 16's on a Sunday.

2 - I used to work for Bobby Charlton. He has a travel agent near where I live, and I worked there for 3 years.

3 - I was in a choir as a youngster until, well, that thing that happens to boys around a certain age. And spoilt everything.

4 - I was incredibly accident prone as a youngster and have broken my arm on 5 seperate occasions, including once when it was in a plastercast from a previous break.

5 - Walking home from a club late one night after not being able to get a taxi, I passed an alleyway and intervened in a 'situation' between a woman and a strange man. I pushed him over a wall, knocking him out, she ran off and I never saw her again.

6 - I still miss my grandparents, 12 years after they died.

7 - I always wanted to be a daddy.


So I get to tag someone else, and there doesn't look like there is anyone left, so I will tag:

Resident Evil (Dudley) - hopefully giving him something to do with his first post!!

I'd also love to hear the thoughts of 88% Concentration, as his blog is compulsive viewing, if a lot scary as he depicts a man out of control - but I doubt he will read my blog.

OK, off to play the 750$ Added at PKR (They still haven't replied to my Email, which is a little surprising considering the content) - anyone care to guess where I may finish?

7th & 8th!

Delighted to see a much improved Mia over the last 2 days, back to her old self again. She remembered not to get up too early on Saturday and Sunday morning, obviously realising that Mummy and Daddy needed some sleep after a wedding on Friday that ran into the wee hours, and a dinner party of Saturday which was even later. She made up for it with a 6am start this morning, but hey, you can't have everything.

Both evenings went well, had a great laugh and it was good to catch up with old friends not seen for a while. Plenty of good food, wine and music - and even a few smootchies on the dance floor towards the end!

Poker has been a steady reward tonight, entering the 5$ - 750$ added tourny at PKR. Tonight was the third time I've played this on, and I've managed a 7th, another 7th and then an 8th tonight.

Bizzarely, I'll probably end up 7th again, as 2 players were constantly cheating throughout the tourny, telling each other what cards they had whenever in a heads up situation. Not sure if they were friends or knew each other (they seemed like they did) but I saw it myself 3 times, and other players commented on it. One particular hand, one was the SB and as it was folded to him, he raised. The other player was the BB and she was thinking about it and he typed in the chat 'I have AA, please fold'. She folded, after saying she had JJ and sure enough, he turned over AA. More than likely, she calls, goes out and we all finish one place higher (another 11$ for me!).


I got the live chat up after reading the rules on their website, and pointed out that both should be disqualified as they promise. The rules are not clear what happens with the cheating players winnings, so I have asked for a response once they have checked out my claims. I'll post their reply once I've got it.

By the way, if you play at PKR, the 2 players concerned sandwich me on the leaderboard of the image here, so be wary if they are at a table together.

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Well Done to Dudley, aka Resident Evil (just two of his many guises!) for taking down the latest Blogger Tourny, he did say in the chat that if he won, he would start a blog, so let's see if he is a man of his word! Mr Cloud managed 2nd place (for the 2nd time if memory serves me), so unlucky and well played at the same time! The walk of shame went to Juice, closely followed by the Milkman, Tan earned probably as much in bounty than he would have done if he won the thing, for taking these two out!
Anways, off to bed, have the monthly senior management meeting in the morning, and I've not even written my notes yet!