Rainham Cricket Club VS Conchords B

Rainham Cricket Club VS Conchords B

After two wins on the bounce which has seen Rainham climb into mid table, the run looked to be bowling on with the visit of Conchords B side.

The team had one change from last week’s victory. Unfortunately the finisher from last week Gary was ill and so fresh from his holiday in the USA, Paul Swaine returned to hopefully pick up where Gary left off.

The game actually turned out to be enteraining affair as the tide swung between these two mid table teams. Tony improved on his setting and won 2 of them. For checkouts, Tony managed one of 22 whereas Paul Fry managed two checkouts of 20 and 40 respectively. The final result of 3-3 was fair of these two teams as neither had much to play for in the league.

For averages, Tony improved to a 56.3 and was quite a way ahead of Paul Fry who got 49.6. Gary's replacement Paul Swaine finished fourth with an average of 47.6 just behind Foz. In the battle of the washing up, Barry scored 35.4 which beat Ed's 27.4. However, Ed left early and so it was left to Barry to wash up.

In the doubles, Tony and Paul Swaine lost the opener but only just. Paul Fry and Foz managed to win their match and so it came down to the final doubles match. With no partner, Barry was forced to play with the scorer AKA yours truely. Even though we lost together, I actually had a good game and did not score anything below double figures ( Not to blow my own horn much ).

Overall a mixed bag of emotions for the cricket club as they feel the win was possible but it just 'slipped' from their grasp and disappeared behind the 'covers' of the night.

Braders banter Liverpool

Liverpool

This team has become the luckist in the world of football. Now many of my friends are Liverpool fans and they will disagree with the above statement but just hear me out.
Ever since 'King' Kenny came back, Liverpool have improved a little bit since Rafa's last year in charge ( Let's ignore Hodgson's reign). But that is not enough.
They may have won the Carling Cup but to be honest that competition is a bit of a joke. Just a chance for youngsters to get some football. What Liverpool should be fighting for is the Champions League or the Premiership.
However, this club has gone downhill and will only improve once Suarez stops being racist ( he got found guilty, deal with it) and Carroll actually starts scoring goals ( £35 million my arse). This was once one of the most feared clubs in England and Europe.
Now they have to resort to people missing pens to win even the Carling cup. I think that Liverpool fans need to accept they will never be as good as they were in the past and realise that the only competition they will win until they get decent players is the poor man's FA cup.

Braders banter Carlos Tevez

Carlos Tevez

This man is a joke. After arriving on the scene by keeping West Ham up, then moving to Manchester United before moving to City for big money, he was one of the most respected and feared strikers in the land. Then came Munich.

On the 27th September 2011, Tevez refused to come on as a sub against Bayern as he had a 'Headache'. Mancini then said afterwards he would never pay for him again.

After being fined 4 weeks wages which was reduced to 2 by the PFA (God knows why), he decided to bugger off and leave Manchester and improve his golf handicap in his native Argentina. After a 3 month leave of absense, he comes back and says he is ready to play.

What planet is this guy on? He even said Man City treated him like a dog when he got back to the country and yet City still treat him like he is God on Earth. Many City fans have said they do not want him back and i agree with them. It does not say much for the future of football when a greedy, selfish and disrespecting player walks back into a club that has worked hard in his absense to get to where they are, and expects to be paid and to play professional football again.

Personally, I hope Mancini wakes up and smells the coffee and tells Tevez to leave the club and go and take up golf in his native Argentina seeing has he has had plenty of practice recently.

West Ham VS Southhampton

West Ham VS Southampton

What a beautiful night it was. Little bit cold so you could snuggle up with your true love. See a bit of red as you settle in. Produce a cracking performance and finish feeling satisfied with it as well.

I am of course talking about West Ham and their top of the table clash with Southampton. For me, a single guy, going up to see the Hammers on Valentine’s Day was a foregone conclusion. And it seemed for over 30,000 others, their missus lost the battle and they got to be there with their one true love. With the team selection, I was pleased that Vaz Te was given a start as he can provide pace and threaten the defence. I do not think I was the only one surprised when Cole was left up front by himself again but I suppose Big Sam knew more than I did.

Even from the opening whistle, the referee had it in for us. As soon as a player went for the ball, he was called up on it but the Southampton defenders could man handle Cole and get away with it. In my opinion, the penalty decision could have gone either way, but one thing I do not agree with is Taylor’s red card.

He was pushed first and so pushed him back on the shoulder but the big Southampton cry baby went down holding his face and the ref produced the red card. A shambles. Even when Noble converted the penalty, I was still nervous about the result. However, I felt the sub Sam made worked and we made a great game of it with only ten men.

Green was in England form and was outstanding and was unlucky to concede their equaliser. How he lost the man of the match award was beyond not only me but everyone sitting around me.

Leaving the stadium, I was satisfied as we were still top of the league by a point and we could have the confidence to keep it going till the end of the season.

What annoyed me was listening to BBC Radio 5 Live on the way home, and hearing Nigel Adkins saying how they dominated the game. What game was he watching?! We stuffed them and were unlucky not to score again. Plus they did have 12 men on the pitch and we still beat and outplayed them with 10 men.

Going into the Palace game, hopefully we got a good result away at Blackpool and returned to the top of the table. If not then we need to produce a good performance against Palace and show Southampton that we will fight till the very end.

From Bradley Freelove 

braders banter arsenal

Arsenal

Just saying their name used to strike fear into sides within England and in Europe as they had an ability to play attractive football and sometimes score at will. At one point, Wenger was considered a ‘tactical genius’ and could of had any job in the world.

Now look at him. No trophy since 2005 and he is the laughing stock of English football. How far ‘the professor’ has fallen. I believe his problems started when he went unbeaten for a whole season. After that season, Arsenal fans expected everything and after winning the FA cup and finishing second in the league the following season; things did look bright for the gunners. But then things unravelled. Bergkamp retires Vieira moves to Juventus and Henry falls out with Wenger and is sold to Barcelona. Their replacements are good and bad.

Van persie is an amazing player and deserves all the good reviews he gets. The only other good player in that club though is Jack Wilshere and he is out injured. Theo Walcott started off amazing and was one of the best English players in the country. Now he is a shadow of his former self and is only picked for his pace as he cannot cross a ball well to save his life. Arshavin was rubbish when he first arrived and has somehow got worse and so should return to Russia quickly and find a new profession. Gervinho may have the biggest forehead in the game, but when in an Arsenal shirt, there is no footballing brain inside it.

As for Wenger himself, he is as deluded as some of his fans. He thinks that they are playing well and can win a trophy with kids. But I am sorry to report Wenger YOU’RE WRONG. Stop looking at youth players all the time and start spending some money from your ‘chairman’ who is meant to be Stan Kroenke but he is never there.

All I can say for Arsenal fans is if you love your club enough, campaign to remove Wenger despite your love for him and get someone in who can spend money and actually win trophies.   

Braders banter Chisora VS Haye

What on earth is going on with British boxing at the moment? Remember when we had the best fighters in the world and people feared us. Then Hatton got beaten and got depressed, Khan gets beaten on points and whinges about it so much he is getting a rematch, Haye loses a fight due to a ‘broken toe’ and finally the man that is Dereck Chisora.

Chisora is, in my opinion, an embarrassment to your boxing federation. He is overly confident and believes the sun shines out of places it should not shine. Ok I know David Haye acted like this but at least, for one of his fights, he backed up his claims and won the heavyweight championship. With the weigh in, Chisora looked more like a cat burglar than a boxer with his union jack bandana round his face and although the stare down is normal for these weigh ins, there was no need to slap your opponent. It is just silly and shows you’re scared of him.

The fight itself was actually a good contest which Chisora only just lost after going all 12 rounds. If that was it and everyone went home afterwards, Chisora will have started getting respected more with his peers. But then come the press conference. I agree that Haye was stirring it up for no good reason but that is what he does and he has built a career on that. But Chisora should have just sat at the table and laughed off Haye as he believes he is better than him anyway.

But no he got down to Haye’s level and, in my opinion, Haye was always going to hit him first as he is the best boxer we have had since Lennox Lewis but Chisora was an idiot for going down in the first place. Also his comments afterwards were shocking to say the least. Threatening to shoot the former heavyweight champion is pure idiotic behaviour and he deserves to be arrested for that.

If there was anything funny about all this, it is that one; David Haye hit his own trainer on the head with a tripod after all they have been though. And two that these two will not get in the ring together and threaten being banned for life cause of a stupid war of words.  

Three sisters vs rainham cricket club

Three Sisters VS Rainham Cricket Club

A night of tense darts was the perfect way to warm up on a cold and frosty Thursday night.

With Rainham playing away after a somewhat easy victory over the bottom side last week at home, the pressure was on for Rainham to push on. Before proceedings got underway, there was confusion for the away side as two of its regular members were taking a holiday and so replacements were required. Into the side came Gary and Stuart who replaced Rob and Paul Swaine and as it turned out Gary had the best game of darts I have seen in a long time! If the pressure was on at the start, it showed as team captain Tony struggled to set for the entire night.

With Three Sisters setting the entire night, it could be said that a whitewash was expected. However, with an impressive game from Tony after he recovered from setting and other people chipping in as well (Barry was shooting very well for a change!), Rainham were able to wrap up the first of six games as Gary finished. In the next game, it ebbed and flowed between these two passionate teams as Three Sisters fought back to bring it to 1-1.

Then came the game’s turning point. With both sides struggling to finish, it came down to a double 1 shoot out. After going though both teams without being successful, up stepped Barry who produced a magnificent dart to win the leg for the away side. The roar that went up when it was called in showed just how much it meant to Rainham and for the neutral in the audience, you could feel the balance of power shifting.

Over the next game, things started to go wrong for Three Sisters as they started to miss simple shots and became to get frustrated. This played into the hands of the away side as they started to play with style and flair as Gary sealed, at the very least, a draw with a superb double 16 finish.

However, disaster occurred as cocky-ness set in and even the regular top scorers, like Paul Fry, started to produce ghastly scores. There was even a quote heard from Ed who declared “I am ready to quit this game, I am so rubbish”. After the disappointment of that leg, Rainham knew that if they lost this leg, they it would be a draw and it would be a precious point lost. With that in mind, everyone rallied round and produced a magnificent final leg which, once again, Gary finished to a chorus of cheers. Gary just strolled back towards his team as if it was nothing and it had a certain Eric Cantona feeling towards it.

After shaking hands and accepting defeat, Three Sisters quickly decided on their doubles pairings and set about revenge. However for Ed, his night was over as he was replaced by Foz.

In the first doubles game, Tony and Stuart set about creating an advantage and luckily for them, it was a success as first blood went to the humble Cricket Club. For Paul Fry, who finished third in the averages, his off night continued as although he was with the demon finisher of Gary, they lost their doubles. So it all depended on Barry and substitute Foz to secure the points. And secure them they did, with Barry hitting a superb 100 score and being constant throughout, Foz stepped up and finished it off to secure a 2-1 victory.

In terms of the averages, once again, team captain Tony scored the highest with an average of 50.9. However, he was pushed all the way by Gary who only just lost out with an average of 50.8.

Overall, it was a highly successful night for Rainham Cricket Club as they secured all the points available on a bitterly cold and frosty night. Hopefully this rich run of form can continue at home next week and bring a bit of warmth back to the icy surroundings of the cricket ground.