One David Nugent!

What a night for David Nugent, making his England debut coming on as a substitute with only ten minutes of the match remaining. He then topped all this excitement with a goal. Okay, so it was only a tap in but it counts and he joins the elite club of players who scored whilst making their England debut. I am convinced that if he had joined the game earlier he would have scored more goals, he was a constant threat from the moment he set foot on the playing area and looked more dangerous in those few minutes than Rooney and Johnson had done during the whole game.

He is obviously destined for greater things, if PNE don't make it up and out of the Championship this again this season he will leave and join the Premier League via a transfer, probably to Everton.

Why was he so effective in comparison to the other premiership stars on display? My theory is that the other players in the squad play in the Premiership every week and are not used to facing the quality of opposition that England faced last night. Outside of the premiership there are teams that are low on skill but are dogged in their determination and play in the opposition's faces. Nugent faces these sorts of teams most weeks and can cope with it. He adopts the strategy of running at defenders and making space for himself and unlike Rooney can cope with the rough treament when the going gets tough. His extra yard of pace makes this possible and his undoubted skill on the ball and eye for a goal.

There was another example of this last night, David Healy knocking in two more goals for Northern Ireland against Sweden taking his total to nine so far in the competition. Healy again has not played in the Premiership, after being shown the door by Manchester United he built his reputation in the Championship at Preston North End before trawling the Championship depths with Leeds. Jason Koumas and Gareth Bales, two other Championship stars were also on target for the Welsh last night.

So what is the lesson here for international team managers? A policy for beating lesser European teams could be to field more players from the Championship; players used to a more passionate and dogged style of play and would provide the edge that Messers Rooney, Lampard and co. clearly cannot. Only Stevie Gerard really showed his mettle last night in Barcelona. Perhaps we should save our Premiership stars for the matches when superior skills are required, that seems to be the only way of motivating the prima donnas in the England set up.

Get Over It Arsene!

Last night Arsenal were knocked out of the FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers, a good result for Blackburn and one that livens up the cup by removing one of the 'Big 4'. However the BBC Radio sports bulletins this morning are running with the main story of Arsene's comments regarding Sunday's Carling Cup final defeat to Chelsea.

This is a reflection on the sad state of English football where certain 'personalities' are becoming bigger than the game itself. Well done Rovers (as a PNE fan I find that hard to say but I mean it) you might be ignored by our so called leading sports editors but I salute your acheivement in removing the Show Boys from North Lond(ish) from the best club cup competition in Europe. That was Arsenal's third cup defeat in a week and doesn't it show in the reaction of Arsene?

Perry Groves this morning said that it was unthinkable that Arsenal could be out of all the cup competitions by March, well just live with it, supporters from almost every other club do every year. It's time to enjoy the game as a sport, as entertainment and a life style and not just worry about how many pieces of silverware you can cram in to your already over stuffed cabinet. It's time for you to point your finger at yourself instead of anyone who happens to get in your way.

The main thrust of Mr Wenger's comments was that the linesman had lied at the Carling Cup final. He says "I feel Adebayor didn't punch anybody so when the linesman says he punched somebody, he lies," claimed Wenger. Strong words and a little disturbing coming from a leading figure in World football. What we have go to do here is let the officials run the game and don't keep banging on about it for days afterwards. Would he have made the comments if they had beaten Blackburn last night? I think not. If his comments prove to be false then he should be banned from English football for a long time such is the seriousness of the issue here.

Whilst he thinks that it is OK to rant and make accusations in public what about his responsibility to the game? What about the effect his behaviour has on the game in general, every Sunday, pub and schoolboy league has 'Mini Arsenes' running up and down and on to the pitch confronting the referee and questioning their authority and decision making. And I'm not just having a go at Arsene, Paul Jewell of Wigan made similar comments and has confronted referees publicly about their judgements and performance, notably Phil Dowd. In the climate of falling numbers amongst junior referees this should be of real concern to the authorities. Who wants to officiate at a game where dissent is the norm?

High profile sporting representatives should realise that they have a wider responsibility than simply to their chairman and owners. The sport is in disrepute and it's getting worse. Rugby Union is always held up as a fine example of true sportsmanship but recent events have now dispelled that myth. It is so refreshing when I watch my daughter play in the local ladies netball league. There is foul play and dubious decisions and missed incidents but never any dissent shown. And before you say 'It's only Netball' you must be aware that it is very competitive but most of all it is a sport, played in a sporting atmosphere.

It's time for football to reflect upon it's sporting roots and learn from it's sporting heritage before it goes completely show biz.