Scribbles 'n Scrawls

Blackburn vs Aston Villa
Sept. 26th



Franco Di Santo returns from a hamstring injury to start for Rovers. He put the Villa defender under pressure leading to an equalizing goal for Samba in the 24th. Shortly after he headed to David Dunne who was denied by some fine goal keeping by Friedel. With rovers down to 10 men for most of the second half he was reduced to chasing long balls. Di Santo chased one such ball in the 89th winning a throw in. The resulting throw was flicked on to Franco who controlled with his chest before driving an effort on goal. The ball hit Richard Dunne's hand which was above his head and referee Clattenberg pointed to the spot. Dunne converted and Rovers held on to win 2-1. All around good performance from Di Santo on his first game back.



Sunderland Wolverhampton
Sept. 27th

Michael Mancienne had an up and down day, getting beat by both Bent and Jones, the former leading to Sunderland's third but also putting in a number of blocks and clearances and leading a couple of Wolves moves forward. He's also credited with an own goal for Sunderland's 5th which sums up the sort of day he and his teammates had. The final score of 5-2 is rather flattering to Sunderland as Wolves had leveled twice and at had looked the stronger team for much of the game.

FC Twente vs VVV-Venlo
Sept. 26th



Miroslav Stoch returned to his customary spot at the top left of a 4-3-3 after getting a rest in midweek cup action. He was involved in the attacking play as usual, providing the cross that lead to Ruiz's opening goal for FC Twente. He later hit the corss bar after neatly dribelling past two defenders on the break. The only negative issue would be his defensive play. On VVV's loan goal he didn't give his team mate Douglas an outlet and he could have come back a little deeper on another occasion to help out. FC Twente went on to win 2-1 staying level on points with table toppers PSV.

Slobodan Rajkovic is still out injured.



Wigan vs Chelsea
Sept. 26th

Scott Sinclair was not in Wigan's squad in accordance with the terms of his loan deal.

Fabio Borini was an unused sub for Chelsea.

Coventry vs Middlesbrough
Sept. 25th

Jack Cork played the full 90 for Coventry in their 2-2 draw.

Patrick van Aanholt made his return from injury as a half time sub.

Reading vs Watford
Sept. 26th

Ryan Bertrand played the full 90 for Reading in their 1-1 draw.

England U20 vs Uruguay U20
Sept. 26th

Nana Ofori came on as a half time sub.

Michael Woods was an unused sub.

Czech Rep U20 vs Australia U20
Sept. 27th

Jan Sebek was an unused sub for the Czech Rep in their 2-1 win.

Upcoming Matches

England and Czech Republic U20s are both in action on Tuesday.
Chelsea travel to Cyprus to face Apoel Nicosia on Wednesday.
FC Twente host Steaua Bucharest on October 1st in Europa League action.
Wolverhampton host winless Pompey on Saturday the 3rd.
Wigan travel to Hull on Saturday.
Blabkburn face a tough trip to the Emirates on Sunday.
Coventry are away to Watford on Tuesday the 29th
Reading visit Preston on Tuesday the 29th