We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
I woke up this morning to a foot of snow on the car outside and made the wise decision not to trudge into work today. If you're around this afternoon watching the 5th Round FA Cup fixture between West Ham and Burnley, join me for a bit of three-day weekend footie.
posted by The Blue Devil @ 2:42 PM
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
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What's on offer to the winners of this clash of the Claret and Blues? Well, a fairly decent 6th Round tie against Stoke.
The team news is in:
West Ham: Green, Reid, Tomkins, Jacobsen, Bridge, Sears, Parker, Noble, Hitzlsperger, Cole, Ba.
Subs: Boffin, Barrera, Boa Morte, Spector, Da Costa, Hines, Piquionne
Burnley: Grant, Mears, Duff, Carlisle, Fox, Elliott, Cork, Eagles, Marney, Wallace, Rodriguez.
Subs: Jensen, Alexander, Iwelumo, Edgar, Bikey, Easton, Thompson
FSC is doing a repeat of the Brum v. Sheffield Wed. match from Saturday, but I've got an excellent link for the match here:
http://www.veetle.com/index.php/channel/view#4d604bc6e77d8
Teams are in the tunnel and coming out on what looks to be a nippy evening in East London. Martin Atkinson is doing the officiating tonight.
Here we go, then. Burnley to kick us off tonight at Upton Park.
Lovely - it's Chrissy Waddle doing the color commentary tonight.
Great open feel to this match from the off, with both sides attacking with freedom. Cole for the Hammers and Eagles for Burnley looking especially threatening.
Rodriguez was nearly in there on Mears' cross. Good stuff from Burnley.
Hitzlsperger on his debut for West Ham is linking up nicely with the front men.
GOAL! And it's Hitzlsperger with a trademark crack of a shot with the left peg. Didn't give the Burnley keeper a chance.
1-0 Hammers!
Half way through the first half now and the Hammers now look well and truly on top.
Oh dear - when I look at that again Lee Grant in the Burnley goal will want another crack that that Hitzlsperger shot. He was deceived by the sheer pace of it but it was near enough to him that he should have been able to get a hand to it.
Very tight offside decision there against Cole. Burnley are dicing with death with that high line against Cole and Ba.
Decent hit by Eagles but Green did well to beat it down. No one following in for Burnley.
Burnley have slipped back into the groove they were in before Hitzlsperger's goal knocked them off track. They've been good so far and probably don't deserve to be 1-0 down.
Coming up on half-time with the Hammers still a goal to the good. If Burnley had a bit more quality up front and a bit more belief, we might be even.
Oh dear - another horrendous moment there for Green who drops the cross right at the feet of Rodriguez. Nearly an equalizer.
Half-time then.
Great set of ads for the FA Cup there, including past scorers in the Cup for smaller clubs like Blyth Rovers shown in their current situation, such as teaching. It reminds us of the true romance of the Cup, which is at risk right now.
The FA is cheapening the Cup by allowing Premiership fixtures to clutter up the schedule. I'm told that there will be Premiership fixtures on the day of the Final this season! I suppose those days of waking up at 8 am and rushing downstairs in pjs to watch the full day's coverage of the Cup Final are long gone.
West Ham get us underway in the second half.
GOAL! Cole is through on goal and completely bollixes it up but it comes back off the keeper and he's lucky to have a bite at the cherry while he's lying on the deck.
2-0!
The Hammers should be home and hosed now.
GOAL! It's Cole with his second in two minutes. No bumbling this one. Burnley were playing high again and Cole ran in behind and slotted a neat right footed finish past the keeper.
3-0!
Eagles gets free again but drags his shot wide. He's been a bright spark but hasn't got close enough to goal.
Blimey - the Undertaker is caught on the sideline actually chuckling over something. I've seen everything now!
4-0! It's Kiwi Winston Reid with his first goal for West Ham. A header near post from a corner. Easy.
Hitzlsperger comes off to a wonderful ovation on his debut. Barrera on in his stead.
GOAL! Burnley get a consolation goal but it was a bit of a mess. Bridge should have cleared it out but instead played a hospital ball to Green who merely chipped it up for Rodriguez to nod home.
4-1!
Oh - Ba nearly adds to the West Ham score there. Great volley that the keeper does well to tip over.
Things are winding down now at Upton Park with West Ham cruising into the 6th Round. Stoke to come then.
Great save by Winston Reid off the line to deny Chris Iwelumo a goal right at the death.
And now it's 5-1! Freddie Sears bursting into the area after Piquionne bobbled it. Great finish!
Full-time: A resounding 5-1 win for West Ham tonight. In truth they could use a Premiership win more than a Cup win but a run in the Cup might just give them the tonic needed to survive. Who knows?
That's it for me, the lone blogger today. Cheerio!
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