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Christmas cheer for Aston Villa

Well this is the last before the Christmas/New Year holiday. Because Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a weekend; Monday and Tuesday are holidays. This year the government has declared Friday, the 31st, a bank holiday. Then because the 1st of January is a weekend, Monday is also a holiday. So working life starts again on Tuesday, the 4th of January, unless the millenium bug strikes.

Of course, it does not mean the whole country closes down - except Chirstmas Day. Some supermarkets are open everyday, except Christmas day. Some shops will open on some of the bank holidays. I understand they do brisk business in the sales, especially as with so many days off work and all the extended family in the house, a lot of people want to go out and do something different.

I am not sure if we are getting a white Christmas this year. The weather people are very cagey and reluctant to commit themselves so early on. What I can say is that it has got considerably colder.

Before I tell you about the drama of the other Cup competition, the Worthington Cup, just to let you know that Bury won 2-0 against Scunthorpe - this is a town in Humberside.

And now the Worthington Cup. This used to be known as the Milk Cup, then the Coca Cola Cup and now the Worthington Cup - it all depends on which company is sponsoring the event.

This week, just like the FA Cup last weekend, some scalps were taken. Again one of them was First Division club Tranmere Rovers, who beat premier club Middlesborough 2-1, the same result as First Division Bolton Wanderers v Premier Wimbledon.

But the real drama was enacted on Wednesday night. There were two games in which both sides were premier league clubs - West Ham against Aston Villa at West Ham's ground Upton Park. At the end of ninety minutes the score was 2-2 and this remained so after extra-time. Then the penalties came into operation. One of the takers for Aston Villa was their captain Gareth Southgate who missed a penalty against Germany in Euro '96. You could almost hear the tension on the radio when he walked to the spot to take his turn - and, believe it or not, he missed. So, West Ham go on to the next round having won 5-4 on penalties.

Or do they? It appears that one of their players, who came on to play the last six minutes, was ineligible to play, and Aston Villa are demanding a replay. West Ham say that he did not play any role in the result, but rules are rules.

The decision will be made next week by the Football league, so watch this space. Talking of Aston Villa and penalties, they were playing bottom club Sheffield Wednesday today and, although they won, they missed two penalties!!

The other all premier league match was between Leicester City vs Leeds United. This ended 0-0 after extra-time, so again penalties decided the result - Leicester won 4-2.

During January some European Leagues take a break - Scotland, Germany, Holland and Scandinavia, amongst other - but not England - here we battle on despite the weather - so, no real holdiay for me - apart from some in the Christmas/New Year period - until the end of the season.

P.S.- The Football League has already made its decision regarding the replay of the West Ham vs Aston Villa - it will have to be replayed. Date is still to be set, but it will be sometime in early January.

(Gameplan)