DG.Roma

This is standard in the English lower leagues. The game's littered with powerful athletic fellas who can beat three men but then run off the pitch

Sorry I know this was posted a while ago but that's similar to what I'm doing. Staying near Dusseldorf Airport. Trains should be easy between the two cities, and it looks like some go straight through to the airport from Cologne, so I banked on that and a short journey to the airport with a hangover, rather than anything complicated the morning after the big night!

I was one of them. Great turnout and great noise. Totally agree with your assessment of the game. The penalty was a stupid challenge by Josh Emmanuel, unnecessary, and... ...well, another stupid foul by Emmanuel gave them a freekick, that led to a corner, that they scored from. First time I've seen Emmanuel since he came in. Let's put it this way, we're badly missing Fin Back. I actually thought Simpson's tactics were quite clever at first, playing a full back further forward to deal with Wigan's inverting full back, but it backfired with Emmanuel's mistakes, and Humphrys had Barclay on toast in that first half. Speaking of Humphrys - I hope someone took note of the amount of ex Scottish Premier League players running the show for Wigan (plus Liam Shaw on loan from Celtic who was excellent in midfield.) If there's money to be offered, it's potentially a fruitful market to tap into. I'm sure guys would prefer to travel to Carlisle than Rotherham or Barnsley or wherever. Shame Luke Armstrong can't play in the New Year's Day game. Bit of a shambles that, the deal's done, but the admin for registration can't go through on the day of the game apparently. As the Distant man suggested, it was a very grim first half, but a very positive 2nd to keep our hopes up. Just wish they'd start a first half as well as they started that 2nd.

No. I was considering it depending how the fixtures fell. As it turns out though I can only make one of our games, so am flying via Dublin. Plan was to take a tent if hotels were a problem and have the option for car kips if necessary. I know a few other folk planning on taking vans, equipped or otherwise. I even know a couple of boys planning on cycling and camping - nutters!

That's exactly what I thought. He's passed the buck. Would've been a straight red in a non-VAR game

Big reserves win today too, 5-2 against Airdrie. Kier Foster Pen after Harry McLinden was brought down; Lewis Downie hat-trick, all three set up by McLinden; and a superb strike from Finlay Kennedy after a beautiful chipped through ball from Charlie Watson. A couple of big saves from Mark Thomson too. Well done Danny & the lads!

It's the same with big rock bands. Tell someone you've been to an AC/DC gig and they'll tell you how many they've been to and how what they've done is somehow so much better than what you've done like it's some kind of Top Trumps game. We're all supporting the same team here, embrace each other and enhance everyone's experience, don't belittle their's because you've been fortunate enough to do it more often.

Surely that's a typo by whoever made the SFA's graphic

I still think Sweden are a good shout. Kulusevski will take one of the winger roles, and maybe Isak on the other side if they play Gykores in the middle. Not sure how they use them but they'd be tricky either way. Maybe Belgium with Doku and Bakayoku, or whoever else feels like turning up for them at the time. For the others, how about Romania? Lazy geographical comparison of course, plus they beat and drew with Switzerland in qualifying.

Is that England's qualifying group for the next World Cup?

Completely agree with this. In the EFL this season they've brought in a rule where if a player goes down for treatment he has to stay off the pitch for 30 seconds once play resumes, rather than just going off and getting waved straight back on. It works because it stops players staying down and pretending to be injured to run down the clock near the end of a game. However, if a player genuinely does need treatment and is then off for 30 seconds, his team inevitably does what they can to waste time if they get the chance - taking ages over a throw-in or a goal kick or whatever. The sharper refs book players and extend the 30 seconds, but of course not all will. This will obviously only get worse over 10 minutes when the ball is out of play more often.

Got my tickets already, that's a ridiculous price and size of venue for them, and I'm delighted on both parts. I wouldn't hold off on getting tickets if you're keen, looks like they've already sold out in Manchester and Birmingham.

I wasn't there. Was that a rare good call from Marvin putting them on to take pens?

That'll do...

Definitely do-able. There's a Germany family that live near me who do something very similar to this to get themselves home (with their own car all the way though) I haven't seen the current prices, but I doubt you'd be saving money taking the Bergkamp route rather than flying, especially when you factor in feeding and watering yourself along the way.

So you did, serves me right trying to make sense of anything at 4am after a night like that!

I was on the floor for this, dead centre. When I started reading your comment I thought you were saying Queens of the Stone Age were from the very top tier, and if you were I would whole heartedly agree! To paraphrase Dave Grohl... there may be bands who have a better stage show with crazy lights and pyrotechnics, there may be bands who have bigger hits, but there's not many bands who can rock out better than Queens of the Stone Age. This was a top tier band at the top of their game, no need for anything fancy, just 5 guys playing awesome rock n roll, and playing it very well. Josh Homme said Jon Theodore was one of the best drummers of all time, that's a bold statement, but he's certainly one of the best of the modern era, absolutely flawless. Great gig! Support - missed Deep Tan, usually a criminal offence for me to miss a support, but from what I'd discovered from research before the gig, I knew I wasn't going to enjoy it. The Chats were fun. At first they didn't seem to be ready for this big a venue, and I'm not sure fast punk fits well in a big boomy arena, but the sound improved as the set went on, and they definitely had the charisma to deserve to be at this level. ETA: wrong of me to comment on The Chats' sound and not QOTSA's - perfect from the first note, which is a big achievement in The Hydro. Credit to the sound crew on a job very well done.

Never scored a senior goal in his career according to the Match of the Day commentator. Does scoring against the back to back World Cup finalists not count then?

Another game where Carlisle have been the better team but just not managed to create chances. The goal conceded was a fluke deflection against the run of play. The squad was down to the bare bones already, and now Callum Guy's out for the season. January and the American money can't come quick enough, but there's a lot of fixtures between now and then.

Not a fan in terms of the overpriced food prepared and served with minimal effort and the long queues for the bar, but I was actually impressed with the site for Muse in the summer. The natural slope down towards the stage meant that even my 4'11" wife had a good clear view for the majority of the show. You could tell that a lot of thought had gone into speaker placement to ensure a full and even coverage. Plus, despite the horrendous downpours before and during the gig, the site held up really well underfoot. I would've gone for it too, for the same reasons as Craig, but June is already rammed full for me thanks to Rammstein, Euros and work at a couple of festivals.

Queens fans could be saying the exact same thing

Would these guys be your biggest signings, cost wise, in the entire save so far? I guess by the nature of working your way up the ladder, and taking charge of historically lesser teams, there isn't always big money available to spend.

Various nonsense raffle prizes, the best one being a dressing gown/housecoat (delete as your preferencesl) at an ice hockey tournament that is still excellent about 15 years on. A Prodigy t-shirt from Mary Anne Hobbs on Radio 1. Can't remember what I did to win it, but I was made up. Shame the thing wouldn't have fit a small Asian child, never mind a fast growing Scottish teenager. The best prize I can remember wasn't even my win! My Uncle won tickets to a Carling Academy gig of his choice thanks to drinking a lot of poor quality lager. He liked Moby coz his music was all over everything on TV at the time, so he got Moby tickets and gave them to me and my sister. It was an excellent gig! That wee bastid was thoroughly entertaining and his band were outstanding!

No, not really, I hope. He was challenging for the ball near the halfway line and took a swing and a miss, connecting with the Falkirk player instead of the ball and being rewarded with a booking. He looked hurt, but continued for about 4 or 5 minutes before going down for treatment.

Agree with all of that except for the Connelly sub. All the chances/breaks were coming on the left hand side, it was crying out for Walker and I thought he made a really positive contribution when he came on. It was harsh on Connelly that he had to come off, but somebody had to. After hearing terrible reports about McIntyre and Ferguson I was really impressed with them today - Ferguson first half and McIntyre all game. A really good battling performance that will hopefully do wonders for their confidence. I just hope Bartley sets up as positively against other teams as he finished today's game.