Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
FOOTBALL can be a deliciously wicked game at times.
Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium was awash with celebration before they faced bottom club Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.
United are neck-to-neck with Manchester City for the Premier League title and it was also the 70th birthday of United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Taking on a struggling Rovers side was expected to be the icing on the cake but it didn't turn out like that as Blackburn raced into a two goal lead.
As they have done on so many occasions in the past, United showed exceptional resilience and fought their way back to make it 2-2 but the visitors stunned the Reds and their manager with a goal 10 minutes from time to seal a sensational victory.
Ferguson was distraught. “It is a disaster,” he said afterwards. “I never expected it. We lost two terrible goals and you can't do that."
Mind you, the pain Sir Alex felt was nothing compared to the agony suffered by the Gillingham winger Chris Whelpdale during his side's 2-1 League Two win at Crawley on Boxing Day when a tackle split open his scrotum.
His manager Andy Hessenthaler told BBC Kent: “It's absolutely disgusting. He's going to be very sore, and I'm sure his wife won't be too happy either." Ouch!
A tiny village football team in Wales is looking forward to 2012 with renewed optimism thanks to the rock band Stereophonics.
Cwmaman Institute FC, of Welsh Football League Division 1, are to receive an undisclosed percentage of the proceeds from the band's pre-Christmas gigs.
The club's president Howard Davies said they approached singer and former junior player Kelly Jones for a contribution towards running costs.
Mr Davies said the donation would do "an invaluable amount for the club".
He added: “It's a private figure, but it's of major importance."
At least two of the three founder members - singer and guitarist Jones and former drummer Stuart Cable, who died last year - turned out for the club, said Mr Davies.
Glad to see that justice has prevailed in the case of the Wigan striker Conor Sammon who was sent off during their Boxing Day defeat against Manchester United.
The striker was given a straight red card after an innocuous collision with Michael Carrick – one of the worse decisions I have seen for a very long time.
Wigan have won their appeal against the red card which means that Sammon will not now have to serve a suspension but of course the damage has already been done. They were losing 1-0 at the time and their 10 men went on to get hammered 5-0.
Manager Roberto Martinez said: "Conor did nothing wrong. You need to accept punishment when you do something wrong but this is a normal phase of play."
Meanwhile the referee who made such an appalling error, Phil Dowd, was in charge of the New Year's Eve Premier League game between Swansea and Tottenham.
Isn't it about time that the FA clamped down on such incompetence?