CLASH OF THE TITANS
Leaving his usual haunts-a cricket or hockey pitch, John Dewhurst took time out to spend a raw night in Hull as the two best sides in RL2020 settled the Grand Final and thus many quizzers’ fates.
“Forget Real Madrid / Barcelona, Celtic/Rangers etc. this is THE sporting derby; St. Helens versus Wigan. Who says so? The 19th Earl of Derby no less whose Knowsley estate lay between the two towns. Though the game was played on neutral territory in Hull and there was no crowd to fill the largest RL ground in England, the 2020 Grand Final was a magnificent derby game, full of skill and passion. There was added piquancy with the match marking the end of the careers of two League greats James Graham (St. Helens) and Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan).
St Helens had averaged 28.7 points in getting to the final, Wigan 24.3, but anyone expecting a try fest would have been surprised by the first half when the defences were dominant. St Helens had more possession but Wigan came closest when Zak Hardacre was held up over the line. With the half running out a careless late charge by Morgan Smithies gave a penalty to St. Helens who went into the break 2-0 up.
Superb defence from both sides continued in the second half. Not until the 66th minute was there any change in the score when Jake Bibby went over the corner to give Wigan a 4-2 lead. The conversion attempt hit the cross bar but bounced out. With 7 minutes to go a rash high tackle led to a second penalty for St Helens. Score 4-4. With little time left Hardacre tried a penalty from wide in the left but missed to the right. Extra time was looming. However, there was to be one more twist to this enthralling game. With less than five seconds left Tommy Makinson launched a drop goal towards the Wigan posts, the hooter sounded, the ball hit the post, and bounced in play. The youngest player in the match, Jake Welsby aged 19 chased the kick and managed to win the race to touch the ball down giving St. HELENS the victory 8-4. Amazing game. “
Surely Q44 was a piece of cake for us quizzers when we chewed our forecasting pens back in January with a Liverpool side close to unbeatable. Far from it as Neil Southwood reports on a nail biting weekend for quizzers.
“The first quarter of the new Premier League season saw some of the competition’s most surprising results in years and regular changes at the top before SPURS eventually edged ahead on goal difference to claim pole position at the end of November. Whether they can maintain a realistic challenge into the New Year is up for debate but the path to their current perch certainly reflects one of the most open title races of the past decade.
The first ten games were again played out against a backdrop of no fans. There were VAR controversies every weekend ;staggered kick-off times that made it feel like there was televised football available at every moment from Friday tea-time until Monday night. It also descended into an incredible goal-fest at times, with reigning champions Liverpool beaten 7-2 at Villa Park, Leicester winning 5-2 at the Etihad and Spurs 6-1 at Old Trafford amongst the most eye-catching scorelines.
Everton made the early running before fading in the last month. Southampton briefly reached the top for the first time since the late 80s. For a while Leicester conjured up memories of 2016 with talisman Jamie Vardy again leading the way. Their Q44 hopes were crushed though at Anfield, where the champions rediscovered their pre-virus form in some style. Worse came in a shock 2-1 defeat at home to lowly Fulham.
Sadly, if you picked either of the Manchester clubs, you were already at a disadvantage as both City and United got the opening week off after European commitments back in August. Neither side ever looked like making up the lost ground, with United often a Jekyll and Hyde team within the space of 90 minutes and City only really hitting their best form in the recent thrashing of Burnley.
Going into the decisive weekend, it was a three-way battle between Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs. Over 150 quizzers were rooting for Liverpool, whilst the London clubs had only a handful of backers. Liverpool surely held the advantage, away at Brighton and seemingly cruising to victory even with two goals ruled out thanks to VAR. The much-maligned system struck again however in injury-time, giving Brighton a penalty to equalise and ruin Merseyside dreams of being top of the Snedden table.
Chelsea and Spurs met each other the next day, with the winner guaranteed top spot and a draw enough for Spurs. Both London clubs had reason to rue defensive shortcomings in the early weeks of the season, with the hosts drawing 3-3 at West Brom and at home to Southampton, whilst Spurs chucked away a 3-0 lead in the final 15 minutes against West Ham. Both teams though had tightened up considerably in recent weeks and so it was perhaps inevitable that such a decisive game would bring stalemate. Jose Mourinho, seemingly yesterday’s man when booted out of Old Trafford just two years ago, rediscovered his managerial touch by shoring up the Spurs defence impressively and igniting the attacking partnership between Harry Kane and Son-Heung-min that has so far bagged 16 of their 21 goals this season. The drab 0-0 scoreline may not have reflected the exciting season so far but it gave Spurs the point they needed to not only keep Chelsea at bay but also overtake Liverpool on goal difference. With returning hero Gareth Bale in reserve, it will be fascinating to see whether Spurs can keep top spot as the fixture list builds up and crowds gradually return. “
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