Super Saints Go Marching On

Southampton  4       Coventry  0

                               Sharp  15    Fonte  18 

                              Hooiveld  58  Lallana  62      

Who would have thought from the ashes of League One just two seasons ago that Southampton football club would again rise to the heights of the Premier League, after they today secured back to back promotions in emphatic style. The saints were rarely troubled in front of an electric St Mary’s crowd, who watched their side prevail as worthy winners against a Coventry side whose relegation had already been confirmed. 

The early nerves were no surprise from Southampton, knowing a win would see them up presuming West Ham took three points at home to Hull. However Coventry started the brighter of the two teams, as Southampton invited pressure on themselves by sitting deep in the opening minutes.

The hosts were them lucky to stay level, after the ball fell to Gary McSheffrey only for the Sky Blue’s captain to be brilliantly denied by keeper Kelvin Davis with eight minutes on the clock.

But after that there was no looking back for Nigel Adkins’s Southampton when they opened the scoring on fifteen minutes. When Adam Lallana volley from the edge of the area was side-tracked by Billy Sharp’s deflection to give him his eighth goal in Southampton colours.

Adkins has now won two promotions in as many seasons

The pre-match nerves were all but gone three minutes later when poor defending from Coventry allowed Portuguese defender Jose Fonte to find space on a corner as he headed the Saints two up and promotion was almost guaranteed.

A young and inexperienced Coventry team showed flashes of talent, Carl Baker’s long range effort was again saved by Davis and it was clear the relegated side lacked the belief and desire of their opponents.

The game was then sealed thirteen minutes after the restart when another corner dropped to centre back Jos Hooiveld who made no mistake in adding a third, as the fans were given yet more to shout about.

The game could have got nasty for Coventry when Lallana made it four after Ricky Lambert’s great header put in on a plate midfielder. But four it stayed rounding off a great day and season for Southampton in front of 32,363 fans making a record attendance at St Marys. 

Manager Nigel Adkins later said “this is down to a lot of people who have done a lot of hard work who deserve all the praise they get”. The question now is can the Saints survive the Premier league or will their celebrations be short lived.        

Rosberg Cruises To Maiden F1 Victory

The German cruised to finish line with a twenty second lead. But this time it wasn’t Sebastian Vettel or even Michael Schumacher on the top step of the podium but Nico Rosberg who converted his first pole position in to his maiden F1 victory on a great day’s racing at the Chinese Grand Prix. 

McLaren’s Jenson Button finished a distant second, but things could have been much different him. When a costly team mistake on his final pit stop released him into the oncoming pack rather than a chance to hunt down the leader Rosberg. Lewis Hamilton scrambled to third place after battling past the Red Bull’s of Mark Webber and Vettel in the closing laps. While Roman Grosjean secured his first points in F1 bringing his Lotus through in sixth place.

Rosberg enjoys the top step for the first time in F1

Saturday’s qualifying saw an almost perfect lap from Rosberg result in his first ever pole and after a five place grid drop for Hamilton Schumacher joined his teammate on the front row. As Mercedes hoped for their first win since they changed from Brawn three sessions ago. Rosberg left the others chasing from the start as he was unharmed from the opposition behind. Schumacher remained in second place while Button worked his way up to third closely followed by Kimi Raikkonen, teammate Hamilton and Webber.

Australian Webber was first of the front runners to pit on lap six, forcing a reaction from both Hamilton and Raikkonen to cover his move. After nearly colliding with Raikkonen at the stop it was Hamilton who now led the trio on a charge after his grid penalty from qualifying.

At the front Mercedes’s faultless weekend took a significant blow when Schumacher was the unfortunate victim of a decisive pit stop error.  When the team failed to secure the nut on his right front wheel forcing him to retire on lap fourteen.

As the race went on different strategies played their part but it seemingly became a two horse race between the two stopping Rosberg against three stopping Button. But Rosberg got his lucky break when the McLaren driver looked safe to clear the oncoming pack on his final stop to have a clear run at the lead on fresher tyres. However another pits error this time from McLaren cost the Brit valuable time as he re-joined behind a line of several other cars in what turn out to be an exciting battle between drivers at different tyre stages.

The two McLaren’s managed to fight their way back up to the remaining podium spots while the two stop strategy proved effective for Vettel and Williams drivers Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado as they also finished in the points. Meanwhile Raikkonen was the big loser after his tyres suddenly let go causing him to drop from second to tenth in a single lap after wrongly choosing to two stop.      

1     Nico Rosberg                              Mercedes                         25 points

2     Jenson Button                           McLaren                            18

3     Lewis Hamilton                          McLaren                            15

4     Mark Webber                            Red Bull                              12

5     Sebastian Vettel                       Red Bull                                10

6     Romain Grosjean                      Lotus-Renault                        8                            

7     Bruno Senna                            Williams                                 6

8     Pastor Maldonado                   Williams                                  4

9     Fernando Alonso                      Ferrari                                    2

10     Kamui Kobayashi                    Sauber                                   1

             

My Ball Boy Experience

After a long nervous wait behind the scenes I tried to ignore the applauding crowd, before taking my place at the back of the court. Then once again the voice of the microphone echoed around the court as the players were finally introduced emerging from behind the curtain.

Me with Warwickshire captain Dan Evans

I gained confidence as the lengthy warm up gave me time to think through my job and positioning. The opening match was very competitive; I had to keep focused on where all the balls were and where they needed to be. We all had to stay aware of the score, while trying to avoid being hit by the ferocious serving and moving players. 

Following a fifteen minute break we were back on court ready for the next matches to start. Where we all had to refocus once the music was turned off. I found the second match a lot easier and could enjoy a great view of the players as they traded hand signals behind their back on where to serve the next ball.

Overall it was a really fun enjoyable day as well as getting the best view to some exciting high quality tennis.

Brave Britain Fall Short To Belgium

Every sportsman dreams of being their country’s hero, and twenty-one year David Goffin had the chance to be just that. When he guided Belgium’s Davis Cup team to a world group play off, sealing victory over Great Britain at the Braehead Arena.

With world number four Andy Murray again absent from the British line up, it was always going to be an uphill task against a higher ranked Belgium team containing two top hundred players. It was another step up for GB Captain Leon Smith, as he watched the experience of Steve Darcis and Olivier Rochus narrowly prevail over Josh Goodall and Dan Evans in Friday’s singles,giving the visitors a commanding lead after day one

Established doubles duo of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins had kept the tie alive on Saturday, after overcoming Ruben Bemelmans and debutant Goffin, and after news of Rochus’s withdrawal through injury Britain again believed they could cause an upset. 

     

A tough day for Goodall in his second davis cup tie

Despite this Goffin was still ranked 144 places ahead of opponent Josh Goodall, and the Belgium player looked the more confident from the start by intimidating his opponent’s serve clinching the early break.

Goffin who recently qualified for the Miami masters last month, then continued to show his potential dictating the play and taking time away from Goodall, before taking the opening set by six games to four.

 

A controversial line call in the first game of the second set saved Goodall from another early break, as his dangerous serve stayed beneath its best. But Goffin unfazed by the occasion never showed his lack of experience, as he broke just two games later to silence of the flat Braehead crowd.

Goodall running out of ideas, tried to mix up his game by coming to the net. But his inspired opponent answered everything he threw at him, while his big serving came to his rescue on Goodall’s few break points.

The Brit was again forced to save break points at the start of the third, but Goffin once more broke in game three of the set and looked to be on his way to the victory. But Goodall still had the energy for one last push, breaking straight back before saving six break points and hang on to the tie.

However Goffin once again regained momentum, as he saw out the match 6-4 6-4 6-4 to move Belgium into a world group play off. Britain will remain in group 1 but can take real promise away from this tie, after pushing Belgium all the way producing some highly entertaining tennis.

              Results

                         Friday 6^th April

S Darcis (Bel) bt J Goodall (GB)   6-7(2) 6-3 6-4 6-4

O Rochus (Bel) bt D Evans (GB)   3-6 6-4 7-6(7) 6-4 

                        Saterday 7^th April

C Fleming and R Hutchins (GB) bt R Bemelmans and D Goffin (Bel)   4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4

                     Sunday 8^th April

D Goffin (Bel) bt J Goodall (GB)   6-4 6-4 6-4

R Bemelmans (Bel) bt D Evans (GB)   6-4 6-4