A Cumbrian Challenge

It seems that some of the longest trips in Bristol Rovers season have all coincidentally been placed together. Last weekend the Gas made a 272 mile trip up to play Hartelpool United, where a late, late show saw them come from 2-0 down with five minutes left to take a point away from County Durham with a point. And this weekend it's the opposition that make the long journey, Carlisle United visiting from Cumbria. Following that is Plymouth away, a long enough trip for a Tuesday night and ending up with an FA Cup tie at Darlington, but the focus for now is that upcoming Carlisle game.

Memorial Stadium to Victoria Park, Hartlepool - 272 miles, 4 hours 40 minutes
Brunton Park, Carlisle to Memorial Stadium - 274 miles, 4 hours 29 minutes
Memorial Stadium to Home Park, Plymouth - 126 miles, 2 hours 13 minutes
Memorial Stadium to Echo Arena, Darlington - 260 miles, 4 hours 24 minutes

Games between the two sides have been both tight and high scoring over the past two seasons, 16 goals in the last four matches and this season should prove to be no different. The two sides sit four places apart in the current league table but are still both on 19 points, showing how close the battle in the top half of League 1 will bee this season. Of the five teams that have gained 19 points thus far Rovers sit at the bottom of the pack with a goal difference of -2, scoring 16 and conceding 18 while the Cumbrians have a very healthy GD of +6, leaking just eleven goals.

Carlisle P13 GD+6 PTS19
Rochdale P13 GD+5 PTS19
Exeter P13 GD-2 PTS19
Charlton P13 GD-2 PTS19
Rovers P13 GD-2 PTS19

With Rovers struggling to defend and Carlisle being completely the opposite it's fair to say that the away side could very well come away with the win although recent form would suggest a slim Gas win, shown by the 7/5 odds offered by SkyBet. The form table for League 1 puts Rovers in third, behind only the top two in Brighton and Bournemouth while Carlisle are in a meager 17th place, all change from the start of the season.

Carlisle set off like a house on fire, going unbeaten in their first 7 games including a 4-1 win over MK Dons and an away win at one of the league favourites in Sheffield Wednesday. Rovers start, however, was a 3-0 loss at Peterborough immediately followed by an embarrassing 6-1 Carling Cup loss to Oxford, as well as a 4-0 home defeat by a struggling Southampton in Alan Pardew's final game in charge of the Saints.

Last weekend both sides showed spirited comebacks, Rovers, as aforementioned, coming back from two goals down with five minutes remaining to draw with Hartlepool, a header from Jo Kuffour and Byron Anthony's second of the season cancelling out goals from Joe Gamble and Antony Sweeney, but the game of the day came at Brunton Park. Charlton got off to a barnstorming start, 2 up at half time and 3 goals to the good after 47 minutes, they looked as if they had the game wrapped up but the Carlisle fightback soon came. Mike Grella, on loan from Leeds, scored in the 58th minute to spark an unlikely comeback. By the 77th minute it was all square, Craig Curran and Gary Madine scoring, but it all ended in tears for the Blues, Paul Benson scoring his second of the game in the 2nd minute of stoppage time to seal the win for the travelling Londoners.

Rovers will hope that summer signing Will Hoskins gets his scoring boots back on after drawing a blank in his last 3 matches. The former Rotherham striker is top scorer for his club this season with 6 goals in all competitions and is looking every bit as good as the last of a string of top strikers to come out of the club in Rickie Lambert. At the other end of the field Byron Anthony has put in a number of superb performances at the back. Moving into the centre for James Tunnicliffe following the dreadful display against Southampton he has worked his socks off, also scoring two last minute goals which have earned his side four points already this term.

The danger men for Carlisle will be their strikeforce of Gary Madine and Mike Grella. Madine, a home grown talent who came close to joining Coventry, is the clubs top scorer this season with seven while Grella, an American by birth, has shown his ability to score during his time with parent club Leeds, where he has made a number of impressive appearances from the bench.

Paul Trollope has spoken to the media recently about his teams habit of scoring goals in the final 10 minutes of games, 6 times in the last 5 games, he told the Bristol Evening Post:

"I'm pretty sure that last year the Hartlepool game was one we would have lost – and lost heavily – so credit for the fact we came away with a point goes to the team ethic and the fact we keep believing,".

"We pushed them back over the last 15 minutes and turned the tables on them. But there were a lot of aspects during the middle hour of the game that we need to work on ahead of Saturday's home game with Carlisle because we weren't firing on all cylinders.

"But the sort of comeback we made last weekend will only add to the confidence of the group."

Rovers should go into the game with the same team that has featured in the previous two matches, though Will Hoskins was suffering from a virus at the start of the week while Harry Pell took a slight knock in a reserve team game with Hereford in midweek, but it is hoped that he will be able to make the match day squad if called upon. That reserve team game finished all square, John Akinde scoring the goal Rovers goal, former Notts County striker Sean Canham netting for the Bulls.

With the home support behind them Bristol Rovers can go into this game with a good level of confidence of getting the result they need, indeed, a win could see the Gas move up into the play-off places and with the form their in, who would bet against it.

Two Halves, Two Rovers

This weekends game was always going to be a big one, not because of the opposition in Rochdale, but because of the importance of getting a result, getting things back on track after a dissapointing loss to Swindon in Mondays west country derby and boy are the wheels turning again.

This isn't usually a fixture that produces great games, thirteen of twenty-two league results between the two sides ending in draws. I remember being at one of those games, a 0-0 in September 2006, Richard Walker missing a penalty for the Gas. But until yesterday that was the last we had seen of Rochdale at the mem as Rovers won promotiion at the end of that season. That can't be labelled as too much of a surprise either, Rochdale being in any division except the bottom being a rarity, the club having spent 36 consecutive years in what would come to be known as League 2 until their automatic promotion last term.

Coming into the match Rochdale had lost their previous two games, both 1-0's against west country opposition in Exeter and Yeovil while Rovers had that aforementioned loss to Swindon. With Dale in the higher league position, though, this match could have gone either way and if it weren't for a bit of luck which saw the ball rebound off of Mikkel Andersen's right hand post it could have gone to Rochdale. As it was, however, Rovers took the lead on the stroke of half time, Marcus Holness tripping Jo Kuffour in the area and Jeff Hughes bundling a soft penalty past Josh Lillis, who would have been dissapointed not to get more behind the spot kick. That first half was another drag for Rovers fans, lots of long balls and deep defensive play meant that both sides looked as if they deserved to lose, but during the half time team talk, Paul Trollope must have put some fire in the belly of the Rovers players.

The second half got off to a much better start, Rovers looking brighter and passing the ball around with comfort. Will Hoskins, arguably signing of the season, was unlucky not to score when some good head control lead to a shooting oppurtunity, only for the keeper to deny his lob. But in the end it was Hoskins who teed up Chris Lines to score the second and give the Gas some breathing space. It was a cracking finish from Lines, who turned around a few mediocre performances so far this season by taking control of the attacking play in the second half.

Unfortunately for Rovers there was unnecessary pressure towards the end of the game, Byron Anthony turning a cross into his own net to set up a tense finish but the home side held firm and prevented an equaliser, the referee ending the game after four and a half minutes injury time to give Rovers the victory that their second half display deserved.

The man of the match award went to Will Hoskins, a constant threat throughout the match, setting up the second Rovers goal, but could also have easily gone to Byron Anthony who, despite his own goal, held the Rovers line well and won numerous defensive headers all game. The surprise team selection was that of Charlie Reece. He replaced John Akinde in the starting line up, moving to the right had side of midfield, and showed great ability to get into some good positions linking up especially well with full back Carl Regan. Some work needs to be done on his crossing ability but that aside he proved a good option for Paul Trollope. Reece's place on the right also allowed Will Hoskins to move back into his preferred position in the front two where he was able to excel.

The biggest question mark of the day has to hang over the head of Danny Coles who once again had a poor game. It's been a difficult season for Coles, who had his injury problems the previous year, finding it difficult to get back to full fitness and find some form to boot. His distribution during the match was made up of far too many hopeful long balls up to strikers who were easily dominated by much bigger centre halfs.

What the Blackthorn End were up to, though, I don't know. 'We're the left side, we're the left side, we're the left side over here' and then the same for the right side, ad nausuem, was just a little bit crazy, but fair play, it was one of the best atmospheres heard at the mem for a good few games, although what the Rochdale fans must have thought, I don't know.

If Rovers can keep playing as they did in the second half then they have good potential this season to push towards upper mid table and make further progress. Some were calling for a play off push this season but I think that might be just out of reach, but keeping plying away and who knows, we might just see something special.

Goodnight Irene

A Malaysian Masterclass

Two dissapointing footnotes can be added underneath the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the English story of badminton, not only did England fail to make the final of the team event for the first time but they will also leave the games without a single gold medal to speak of.

But that's not to say they should go away dissapointed as they still won five medals, two bronze and three silver, an considerable achievement, expecially with the badminton world being increasingly dominated by Asia. The final day of action at the commonwealth games saw English participants in three of the five matches but the Malaysian squad proved the stronger in each of them.

The day started off with the English pairing of Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork losing out to Malaysia's Koo Kien Keat and Chin Eei Hui in the mixed doubles final, the first game being a tight 22-20 steal for the Malaysians before they came out comfortably in the second 21-12 winners. It was a shame for Robertson who was looking to defend the mixed title he won at the Melbourne games in 2006.

The second match of the day was the final of the womens doubles draw. The pairs battling for the gold medals were India's Jwala Gutta and Ashwina Ponnappa and Sari Shinta Mulia and Yao Lei of Singapore. This proved to be an even contest but eventually Gutta and Ponnappa took control when it mattered and ran out 21-16 21-19 winners.

Third on court gave the capacity crowd the chance to see world number one Lee Chong Wei, he faced off against English number one and world number sixteen Rajiv Ouseph, the second seed for the games. Ouseph looked as though he may cause an unlikely upset, racing into a 5-1 lead before the class of Lee Chong Wei came out in abundance, eventually winning 21-10. In the second game the Malaysian's victory never looked in doubt as the two-time Japan Open cahmpion walked away with a 21-8 win for the gold medal.

The usually gracious Lee surprised many in a post match interview, telling the BWF website that there was 'no competition' for him, the level was 'easy' and that he was only using the commonwealths as preparation for the Asian Games next month. This is certiainly true as he waltzed through each round of the tournament, but to come out and say this is rather our of character.

Up next was another England v Malaysia tie, seeing Nathan Robertson and Koo Kien Keat face eachother for the second time in the day, this time partnered by Anthony Clark and Tan Boon Heong respectively. Clark and Robertson took the first points and controlled the early play, taking an 11-8 lead into the mid game interval before they eventually lost out 21-19, the Malaysians not having lead until they reached eighteen points.

The second game saw a similar pattern up until the mid game interval, which the English pair once gain went to in the lead. But after the break there was no contest, Koo and Tan reigning victorious as 21-14 winners.

The final match of they day saw home favourite Saina Nehwal play yet another Malaysian in Wong Mew Choo. Despite having the crowd behind her Nehwal lost the first game 21-19 and nearly threw her medal chance away in the second. At 21-20 Wong had the oppurtunity to take the title, though she lost the next point and, eventually, the game by a score of 23-21. That was about that for the Malaysian, as Nehwal pulled away in the decider and won 21-13 to a background of jubilant scenes from the home audience.

England also picked up a medal in the ladies draw, Liz Cann of Jersey beating Scotland's Susan Egelstaff in the bronze medal play off 21-18 21-16. Also competing for a bronze medal were Jenny Wallwork and Gabby White, this time in the womens doubles. They went into the match with high hopes, playing as they were against the unseeeded pairing of Kate Wilson-Smith and Tang He Tien of Australia but it was to be dissapointment at the end as they went down 21-23 21-12 21-16.

That ends eleven straight days of badminton at the Commonwealth Games. The next big event being the Denmark Super Series, starting on the 26th of October in Odense.

Frustration Street

The everyday lives of people in England are full of day to day stresses. Jobs, money and the growing number of closing pubs just to name a few and football should be a release, something to take our minds away to distance places, or at least it should be when you play Montenegro.

But lo and behold, it's happened again, a dour calender year of onfield England performances has once again meant an underacheiving performance against a side made up of journeyman from clubs in Poland, Hungary and the Spanish second division. No disrespect is intended to players and clubs from those leagues but when you come up against the cream of the Enlgish Premier League results should be a little bit different. Not to say it was all bad though, just most of it.

Though I make points along the lines of Montenegro are rubbish and should be brushed aside I do actually know thet they are a fairly decent team. Indeed, they have started the qualification campaign well, beating Wales, Bulgaria and, most impressively, Switzerland. They do also possess players that can change games at the drop of a hat, namely Simon Vukcevic of Sporting Lisbon and Mirko Vucinic of Roma. Tonight though Vucinic wasn't playing, meaning Montenegro went on the defensive, playing five men across midfield and keeping things tight.

Their technical ability should be commented on, however, as they looked comfortable in possession in the middle third of the field, that is, when they had the ball of course. And that was the tale of the night, the visitors keeping things closed up at the back and resisting, with ease, an England attack that failed to have a sting in it's tail. But Montenegro are no mugs and as the game went on you felt they would get at least one chance, and my, how it nearly resulted in a goal. Milan Jovanovic drove a volley towards the England goal, dipping at the last minute before rattling Joe Hart's crossbar. It was a lucky escape for England but unfortuneatley they were unable to capitalise on the let off in the dieing minutes.

Few oppurtunities came the way of England in the first half but there were two openings and another incident that could have given them the lead. First of all Wayne Rooney drove a shot into the outstretched right arm of Montengrin keeper Mladen Bozovic after the ball had broken to him in the penalty area. Late on a Rooney knock down fell at the feet of Gareth Barry who forced the ball towards the bottom corner, only to find the hands of Bozovic once again. But the moment of controversy came when a ball into the area looked as if it had come off of the arm of Jovanovic, only for referee Manuel Grafe and his assistant to ignore the shouts and let the game go on. Replays showed the defender had controlled the ball with his arm and so England can consider themselves slightly unlucky.

The overall performance, however, didn't deserve any luck, defenders being drawn into the easy option of long balls into Peter Crouch far too often and while Steven Gerrard was playing some exquisite passes, he was sat in a very deep central role when his presence in a higher position on the pitch would have given England a bit of extra bite.

The highlights of the night, though, were the dipslays of the two England wide men, Ashley Young on the left and Adam Johnson on the right. Both were playing with their stronger feet on the inside of the pitch but Johnson especially took the chance to cut inside on numerous occasions, though he was unable to find anyone except defenders with his cutbacks. In the 74th minute Shaun Wright-Phillips came on in place of Young but he added little the cause and failed to impress in his 16 minute cameo.

There was also a moment to remember for fans of Bolton Wanderers as star striker Kevin Davies made his international debut, coming on in place of Peter Crouch. The Trotters hitman worked hard but found it difficult to get into the game, though his presence in the area did lead to Rooney's best chance of the match.

It was fairly physical out there, four home and five away players getting their names taken into the book by a German official who didn't have the best of games, pulling up players for the slightest of fouls.

Unimpressed England fans began leaving the match early, hoping to get away early before everyone else filed out to their cars, buses and trains. At both half time and the final whistle boos rang out around Wembley, reminiscent of the fans attitude after the Algeria game in the World Cup but whether or not the England players deserved such a cold reception is a personal matter on a night when they were left frustrated by a sturdy away defence.

A Saturday Off

When you look at the Football League fixture list for the weekend of the 9th and 10th of August you may notice something a bit odd, the fact that Bristol Rovers aren't playing. I can hear you saying 'Bristol Rovers, not playing on an international weekend, what on earth?', and you'd be right to be bemused.

It's not that Rovers have three players away on international duty, though don't judge so quickly as keeper Mikkel Andersen is away with the Danish U21 side, but the fact that this weekends scheduled game was to be the west country derby away at Swindon Town, one of the biggest fixtures on the Gas calender. It may be a big game to us and, apparently, it's also big enough to have the Sky Sports cameras pay a visit to the County Ground for a Monday night encounter.

Over the previous two seasons Rovers have had one game featured in each, going down in a showcase 5-4 loss to Peterbrough United two years ago and beating play-off contenders Charlton 2-1 eight months ago. So with the local derby coming up it should be a good nights football, feisty enough to keep the neutrals interested, and with the Pirates winning their last two and Swindon losing their previous two league fixtures gasheads can go into the match with a modicum of hope.

That hope was in short supply prior to the match at the County Ground last season due to the fact that Rovers had failed to win in their previous eleven away fixtures, the last away win coming thanks to a last minute Andy Williams wonder goal. Add to that the fact that Swindon were competing for the automatic promotion spots it didn't look good. The home form was different though, Rovers having beaten both lowly Stockport County and a physical Colchester side at home in the past week. But despite and some early Swindon pressure the Gas took control midway through the first half.

A long ball forward was flicked on by loan striker Paul Heffernan and saw Jo Kuffour run through before the striker chipped the ball over the head of Swindon stopper David Lucas to make it 1-0 to the away side. Fourteen minutes later it was 2-0 when Heffernan linked up with Kuffour and was given too much time in the box, hitting a shot on the turn in at the near post. And before half time it was 3-0, Chris Lines bending in a superb free kick to really rub the home fans noses in it. Things got even better for Rovers in the second half when some neat play down the right allowed star man Kuffour to drive the ball across goal where it found the outstretched foot of left winger Jeff Hughes to make it four.

That result ended three years in a row of Rovers teams losing on Swindon turf and boosted Rovers confidence on the road as the next time out away from home they won 3-0 at Yeovil. At the end of that season Rovers finished up in 11th, the same position as the season before while Swindon made the play-offs, beating Charlton on penalties in the semis before eventually falling 1-0 to Millwall in the grand final at Wembley.

Normally for the Rovers-Swindon tussle at the County Ground the police have a major say in the organisation. The first year I went to the fixture the kick-off was still at a normal 3 o'clock time, but there was trouble. Many Rovers fans had spent the day drinking in pubs around Swindon and down to some poor policing things went rather to pot. This, along with the ripping up and thrwoing of seats the season before lead to the 2008/09 and 2009/10 matches being moved to 12 o'clock starts, supposedly giving fans three hours less to drink in the build up, hopefully leading to less hooliganism, this kind of worked.

There were fewer objects thrown and the banter, while at times very harsh, was much less than the previous year but the big difference was in the policing of the event. Officers from forces as far away as Wales and Dorset were brought in to help and other sensible decisions were also made as to which pub Rovers fans should drink in, meaning that gasheads would no longer have to be frogmarched past the County Hotel, the pub where much of the Swindon firm hang out.

But this year is different, the game is a 7:45PM kick-off which, while meaning that the majority of fans will come straight from work, means that a few hardy fans and the Bristol yobs will either have taken the day off from work or not had a job to attend in the first place, giving them extra time to spen drinking and generally behaving badly in Swindon, not exactly what the police would have wanted. But money talks, Sky want to televise the game and Swindon have bitten their right hand off, as I'm sure Rovers would have done. I just hope that this doesn't endanger the safety of fans, officials and players of each club but also the reputation of either clubs followings.

Personally for me, I'm in two minds as to the game being on TV, I dislike the fact that it has been moved from a Saturday to a Monday because Monday is one of the days I have to work until 7 o'clock, (not that I'm complaining, boss) but with the match being moved for TV, at least I'm still able to watch, and from the comfort of my own home too.

England Slump As India Make Home Final

The England badminton squad can be left to rue three error-strewn games as they failed to make the mixed team final for the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games. Throughout each of the three contests the England players looked lethargic and tired, allowing the Indians to take full control.

Though England were playing their second round of matches in the day the same could be said for the Indian squad who had played Canada in their quarter final earlier in the day.

The first match up of the day was in the mixed doubles and saw Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork come up against Jwala Gutta and Diju Valiya Veetil and got off to a nervy start, India taking the first point and retaining the lead throughout the first game despite Robertson and Wallwork getting within a point multiple times. It was the simple mistakes that cost the English pair as a string of unforced errors and misguided shots left them 11-7 down at the interval. Despite Roberston looking dangerous with the rare smashes he was able to pull off the Indians took the first game 21-17.

Game 2 started close before Diju and Gutta opened up a two point gap when they reached seven and by the time the interval arrived their lead had been extended to three. It was after the break, however, that Gutta and her partner took control, taking the first two points after the return to make it 13-8 and from there they never looked back, and neither did the raucous crowd in the Siri Forst Sports Complex.

There were surprises for a number of reasons in the second match, initially in that world number 18 Chetan Anand didn't come out to face Rajiv Ouseph, that honour fell to Kashyap Parupalli. The pair had once before faced off, with Ouseph coming out 21-11 21-12 victor but this match was to be oh so different. The little man from Mumbai moved into a 4-1 lead before five straight points put Ouseph on the front foot, though it was the home player that was in front at the break as India were in every game of the team contest. A slip from Hounslow based Ouseph gave Kashyap a five point advantage at 15-10 and the Indian never looked back, gaining confidence and taking the first game 21-13.

The second game was tighter, the Englishman twice taking five straight points to level the scores but in the end Ouseph's reluctance to smash and lazy gameplay left him staring down the barrel of three match points, a chance that Kashyap took at his first bite.

The result of what turned out to be the final match came as no surprise, world number three Saina Nehwal coming up against Elizabeth Cann, ranked 32 places lower than her Indian counterpart and in poor form, losing rubbers against both Canada and in the same days quarter final tie against Scotland. Despite this, though, Cann kept close against an opponent who showed occasional touches of class, even daring to take the lead at both 14-13 and 17-16 before an air shot on the next point threw her off of her game, Nehwal taking five of the next six points.

The second game saw Cann tire and Nehwal, the 2009 & 2010 Indonesian open winner, ran out 21-11 winner to send India through to the final where they will face a Malaysian team who overcame Singapore 3-1 while England drop into the bronze medal play off where they will face the loser of the other semi final.

It was a highly dissapointing tie for the English, whose players can now look forward to the singles and doubles events of next week once they have completed their bronze medal match up with Singapore. None more so will be upset than Anthony Clark and Gabby White, who weren't required to play in the final two doubles matches.

They'll Be Queueing Round The Mountain When It Comes

Football fans are a hardy bunch, up at early hours to get to away games while returning at the dead of night, but Thursday the 30th of September gave them a different reason to stay up late, FIFA.

Not the Fédération Internationale de Football Association though, but their officially licensed game, expected to be the best iteration yet and by some distance too. Fans wanted to get their hands on it, and who could blame them the annual hype that the game develops increases year on year and this term was no different with a raft of updates being fed into the public domain from more technical things such as the 'Pro Passing' system and the 'Personality+' to the inclusion of 'Be A Goalkeeper', the first time fans have been given the ability to control the goalkeeper in his entirity.

There were inevitably very lucky people who got the game nearly a week before release through various means while others got the game just a day or two early thanks to pre-ordering the title through sites such as www.shopto.net. But for those who wanted to save a fiver or so but still play the game as early as possible there was only one option, the midnight release.

Asda and Tesco's have lead the charge in midnight releases over recent years, dropping prices to figures around the £25 mark in the process in order to maximise the influx of customers, but this time if you wanted the game without purchasing another title or trading in a game you already own the cheapest place to go was Asda, selling FIFA 11 for £29.97, and as such, that's where we went.

Originally the plan was to leave for 11:30 and arrive just in time for the sales opening but once I had gotten into contact with a friend about this I suddenly realised this wasn't an option. My understanding was that about fifty hardcore fans would turn up and the queues wouldn't be too bad, it's only a game after all but, I was realibly informed, doing so would result in an even longer wait for a copy, assuming they still had any of course as I was told that hundreds of people would turn up and he wasn't wrong there.

Departing my little village at 10:45 and picking a couple of people up on the way a 25 minute drive to the Longwell Green Asda 'Supercentre' flew by as our anticipation grew. Upon arrival the car park was surprisingly full, though it is a massive store that stays open for 24 hours, so they couldn't all be there for FIFA, could they? After withdrawing a £40 sum from the cashpoint we headed inside to find ourselves at the end of the line halfway into the store from the electronics counter at the back and there had to be at least 150 people in front of us.

The wait for midnight seemed to drag, though the banter was flowing as large groups of friends began jumping about like excited children at Christmas and laughs were certainly to be had. As zero hour approached the queue began to leave the doors, out into a drizzly Bristol night, a quite ludicrous number of people preparing for a game that could be bought for the same price at 9 o'clock the very same day, and after a good nights sleep to boot. Surprisingly, however, it wasn't just the FIFA fanboys who were out shopping at this hour as people pushed trolleys of groceries while others went in search of shoes.

As midnight arrived the queue began to move, slowly but surely, along the aisle passing through various sections of Asda's clothing area, the trudge through the lingerie department being the most interesting, the giant bras getting a good fondling, but twenty minutes later I was at the desk, passing over my hard earned £30 in exhange for a copy of the nights holy grail, FIFA 11, it was mine!

The drive back through the now pouring rain seemed to run and run as I sat in the car, game in hand, chomping at the bit to open up my Xbox and place my disc carefully into the drive. Two droppings off of copies of the most priceless £30 game ever meant I had to wait a little longer, but it only the the ecstacy of finally playing it all the more sweeter and at 1:10am the moment arrived.

I was not alone with my passion for FIFA, EA releasing details that they sold 2.6million copies of the game within the first five days of retail between Europe and North America, making it the biggest selling sports title in the history of video games and equating into a $150million gross intake. Peter Moores, president of EA Sports saying:

"This is a landmark achievement for EA Sports - we've shattered sales records at retail, critics are praising FIFA 11 as being one of the most authentic and innovative titles ever, and fans are connecting and competing with other gamers around the world and have logged a record number of online connected game sessions"

That record of online games can come as somewhat of a surprise down to probably the biggest gripe fans have had about the game, the EA servers.


Some of the biggest parts of FIFA gameplay are the online modes which include 1v1 face offs, online team play and the organised 'Pro Club Championship' but the sheer number of gamers trying to get into any of these modes has meant the servers jamming up and facing technical difficulties, generally resulting in players being unable to connect to opponents while those lucky enough to get a game will have found their experience laggy and jumpy. But EA claim that these are just teething problems and expect them to be ironed out over a the next few days.

The game itself has proved to be another step forward for the series, the most noticable difference being the step up in difficulty. While AI defenders in previous games can be moved out of position relatively easily 11's defence stands tall and can prove frustrating opponents, meaning less chances being created, giving the gamer a tense face off with the goalkeeper when a chance comes their way. This does however have both positives and negatives, trying to get through is so much more difficult that it does become tedious and will get to some people. Yes, you do get a real sense of satisfaction when you do get the breakthrough, but this doesn't come as often as it should.

I mentioned ealier the 'Pro Passing system', this was introduced in order to cull the 'ping pong passing' that has blighted recent titles and aggravated the fanbase. Though it takes a little while to get used to the system is implemented well and passing now takes a decent amount of skill with the weight of the pass and its accuracy now taking even more precedence than before.

Also aforementioned was the 'Be A Goalkeeper' mode. It's plain to see that this is still in its infancy and I'm sure will improve over subsequent releases but for now it offers a solid challenge, positioning proving to be the most difficult aspect. The big issue with this mode, however, is that it becomes quite boring. The defences are so good in FIFA 11 that few chances are created and when playing on five or six minute halves a keeper is likely to have perhaps only four ot five things to do during a match, leaving the player twiddling his thumbs while watching his virtual teammates knock the ball about.

The customisation on offer has once again been increased thanks to in game options that allow players to import their own chants and music into the game as well as the online creation centre, giving fans on next generation consoles the first to create their own team of superstars to download to their consoles. Graphically the game cannot be faulted, the players looking ever more realistic and the lighting effects in game are solid, a real treat for the eye.

As a football simulation the game is superb in every way, but the issue that remains for me and niggles in my mind is that the fun factor has somehow gone out of it, maybe it's because I'm just not very good at it, not yet anyway.