TheSportsCampus

< Prev		Next >

The last Super Sunday of the 2008-09 Premiership season saw four clubs within 99 miles of each other in the North of England face the threat of relegation. With two of them guaranteed to go down and their destinies completely intertwined, Newcastle made the trip to Birmingham to face Aston Villa, Hull City welcomed champions Manchester United, Sunderland entertained Chelsea and Middlesbrough made a trip to the capital to play West Ham United.

At the end of 90 minutes we saw the twists and turns one would expect from the final matchday of the season with two sets of fans leaving for home in tears and two left dancing in the streets.

Unfortunately the football wasn't really of the highest quality as all four clubs in the relegation dogfight suffered defeats and the day ended pretty much as it started with Sunderland and Hull surviving the drop.

With all 10 matches of the day kicking off simultaneously across the league, Sunderland and Hull City knew that their destiny was in their own hands as a victory for either (or both) would ensure their premiership survival.

Newcastle knew that they needed to better the result at Hull to ensure that their 16-year stay in the Premier League would not end prematurely. Middlesbrough meanwhile knew very realistically that their survival was unlikely, as they needed to get a thumping win at West Ham, and for the rest of the sides above them to blunder.

The big news as the games got underway was that Manchester United made a colossal 10 changes tothe side which drew with Arsenal last week, choosing to rest all their key players ahead of the Champions League final next week in Rome.

However as Sir Alex Ferguson said in his pre-match interview, every player who wears a United shirt puts on a performance and a half, and there was no shortage of those tonight from the Red Devils.

After 20 odd uneventful minutes across the four games that mattered, the battle for survival suddenly came alive as United youngster Darron Gibson fired his side into the lead with a ferocious strike from distance which raced into the top corner across a desperate Boaz Myhill in the Hull City goal.

The mood instantly changed across the other three games as news of the goal at Hull spread across the supporters and through them onto the pitch as suddenly tackles and challenges were flying in thick and fast.

London was the next destination to erupt as 19th place Middlesbrough fell a goal behind to a Carlton Cole drifting in at the back post to stroke the ball home to put West Ham 1-0 ahead.

Though Boro were to fight on through the afternoon and equalized early in the second half, the ‘Goal from Cole' pretty much killed their already slim chances. They were to eventually lose 2-1 on the night.

Birmingham was the next stadium to erupt as a Gareth Barry's shot from distance took a cruel deflection off the outstretched leg of veteran Damien Duff and nestled into the corner past a desperate Steve Harper in the Newcastle goal.

Hull joined in the celebration as that goal took them a point ahead of Newcastle again and Sunderland too rejoiced in their North-east rivals misery, still holding a strong Chelsea side to a goalless draw, keeping themselves as things stood 3 points ahead of the drop zone.

Status quo remained till half-time, but Chelsea were to spoil the mood at the Stadium of Light with Nicolas Anelka scoring a fantastic solo effort just minutes after the restart to earn the Golden Boot for this campaign and to push Sunderland once again closer to the relegation zone.

Sunderland responded 6 minutes later as Kieran Richardson stabbed home from close range to restore parity to the tie.

Meanwhile over at the KC Stadium, Manchester United was having tons of possession as old legs of Hull City were left to chase shadows for most of the afternoon, barely testing the United goal.

Newcastle meanwhile followed up a decent first half showing with a horrific second half, as wave after wave of Aston Villa attacks ripped their defence to shreds, but somehow failed to find the back of the net.

Chelsea retook the lead at Sunderland in the 74th minute through Salomon Kalou, but they way results were heading elsewhere Sunderland were safe for another season in the Premiership.

Newcastle seemed destined for the drop, and though Gareth Barry and John Carew both missed sitters, Newcastle showed little hope of a revival not even forcing Brad Friedel into a save in the second half.

Chelsea and Sunderland added a goal each at the Stadium of Light in what proved to be an inconsequential outcome as the premiership season for 2009 ended with all four teams in the relegation mire showing just why they were there, losing!

Sunderland escaped and Hull, winless since October somehow managed to ensure that their 100 year wait to get into England's top flight wouldn't be a short one, somehow scraping through when all the good money was against them.

Newcastle and Middlesbrough join West Brom in the Championship next season and one wonders just what these sides will need to cope with as they see an exodus of stars.

Elsewhere in the Premiership, Everton beat Fulham 2-0 at Craven Cottage thanks to a brace from Leon Osman to give them 5th place in the Premiership ahead of Villa, and some confidence heading into next week's other big game, the FA Cup final.

Fulham however were helped by Liverpool's 3-1 mauling of Tottenham, guaranteeing the Cottagers a place in the new Europa League next season. Wonder if no continental action for Tottenham will affect their ability to attract talent when the shopping window reopens in the summer.

Arsenal put in a typical end of season performance, scoring thrice in the opening 18 minutes on their way to beating Stoke City 4-1 at home. Blow hot blow cold striker Robin van Persie netting twice for the Gunners.

Results:

Arsenal 4 - 1 Stoke City
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Newcastle United
Blackburn Rovers 0 - 0 West Bromwich Albion
Fulham 0 - 2 Everton
Hull City 0 - 1 Manchester United
Liverpool 3 - 1 Tottenham
Manchester City 1 - 0 Bolton Wanderers
Sunderland 2 - 3 Chelsea
West Ham United 2 - 1 Middlesbrough
Wigan Athletic 1 - 0 Portsmouth

File Photograph Copyright: Nick Sarebi