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ricardo

Ricardo's report v Fulham

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At 11am this morning Ricardo was in the City nonchalantly nibbling a blueberry muffin and sipping his Costa coffee when Mrs Ricardo peered over the top of her newspaper and said, "are you aware that its a 12.15 kick off today". Cue total panic with crumbs and coffee everywhere as Ricardo bolted for the car park. Fortunately the road was clear and I was able to set of for CR with barely a minute to spare. Mrs Ricardo''s parting words were something like, "I wish you''d move that fast when I ask you to do something".It was all rather breathless but we made it for the kick off and barely in time to note that O''Neil and Elliot Bennet had been included in the starting line up. City began full of energy and industry and soon had Fulham on the back foot although there was little that looked like leading to goalmouth action. In fact there was not much from either side in the early exchanges and we were well past the quarter hour mark before Bradley Johnson''s cross shot brought the first oh''s and ah''s from the crowd as it skimmed just wide.After half an hour I remarked to my son how tedious it all was but within five minutes the game finally sprang to life. Bennet and Redmond did good work down the right before Wes slipped Hooper in with a deft touch. The City front man held off the defender beautifully before squaring to Johnson on the penalty spot who rammed a first timer past Betinelli. It was just the spark City needed and within a couple of minutes it was two. Redmond''s pass seemed to have put Olsson too far wide as City swept forward again but he redeemed himself by picking up the return pass and swiveling nicely and curling a low shot into the far corner.It looked plain sailing from here but City were nearly caught out just before the break when Rodellega was clean through but with just Ruddy to beat he lobbed it well over the bar. At the breal most of the interest was in the other scores around the country and there was a big cheer when 1p5wich fell behind at Blackburn.To their credit Fulham came out all guns blazing and Ruddy had to be at his best to block Rodellega''s close range effort. The game inevitably became more open and Redmond almost danced through only to shoot straight at the keeper. Wes and Howson were withdrawn on the hour and Vadis and Dorrans came on. City continued to dominate and Hooper who was having a good game was only a touch away from scoring on more than one occasion. Johnson was looking dangerous and was potting from long range. One shot looked goal bound but clipped a defender while another just skimmed the bar.With ten minutes left it seemed that Hooper must score from Redmond''s cut back but the smallest of deflections took the ball the wrong side of the post. A goal had to come and it did from a fine close passing move with several involved before Redmond cut back, this time from the left and Dorrans netted from close range. All done and dusted and the Bogey team hoodoo finally laid to rest we all thought until a bouncing ball caught the City defence flat footed and Smith''s low shot beat Ruddy from the edge of the box.It didn''t end there however as City came forward again and earned a free kick central and 20 yards out. It was touched sideways to Johnson who smacked it hard and low into the corner before anyone could move. Could he complete his hatrick in the few minutes remaining we all thought and the answer was yes as he inadvertently guide a free kick into his own net. Even from 80 yards away I''m sure I detected a wry smile cross his face as the Barclay End erupted with, "Bradley Johnson, he scores were he wants".So ended a season where we didn''t quite make the targets I set. I was spot on with the points won when I said anyone getting 85/86 points will be very unlucky if they don''t get an auto spot. Unfortunately we are the unlucky ones, but its pointless to look back on the games we''ve thrown away, the past is gone and we must look to the future. So it;''s on to the play off lottery and 1p5wich in the semi''s. I make no predictions but we will only have ourselves to blame if we don''t get a trip to Wembley.Onward and upward, OTBC.

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It looked plain sailing from here but City were nearly caught out just before the break when Rodellega was clean through but with just Ruddy to beat he lobbed it well over the bar.

Spoke to the linesman after the game (he is a relation of my son''s wife) the goal would not have counted he flagged for offside a bit late though

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Another great report Ricardo.Also, just out of interest, I looked at the table just now, and unless I have made a glaring mistake, we are 3rd in the league, 3rd in terms of goals scored and 3rd in terms of least number of goals conceded.

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[quote user="chicken"]Another great report Ricardo.Also, just out of interest, I looked at the table just now, and unless I have made a glaring mistake, we are 3rd in the league, 3rd in terms of goals scored and 3rd in terms of least number of goals conceded.[/quote]Yes, looking at the stats you can''t say that we deserve anything better.

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Thanks Ricardo.The 12.15 nearly caught me out too. I understand that they wanted all games to be played at the same time - but why 12.15?

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[quote user=" Badger"]Thanks Ricardo.The 12.15 nearly caught me out too. I understand that they wanted all games to be played at the same time - but why 12.15?[/quote]

I''d imagine its because Sky wanted to cover a couple of the games and contractually they''re not allowed to air live games that kick off at 3pm on a Saturday in the UK.

Our games against the binners I''d have thought were determined by the Police.

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