Manic Sunday

Living in Australia, there is a lot to be thankful for. The economy, the weather, the lifestyle, the great outdoors - I certainly know that I am fortunate to be a Sydneysider for the time being. That being said, there are however plenty of things that I miss about 'home', and I was reminded of one of the biggest things waking up this Monday morning.

Over here, the football all takes place over night. With the time difference currently at 11 hours, the early kick off's on a Saturday are do-able, and if you find a pub that won't kick out until 4am then you can also watch the 3pm kick offs too. Sunday matches given our lack of Foxtel (Sky Sports) are a write off due to that evil looming spectre of Monday morning at work.

The net result of this is a reduction in hours spent watching football from far too many, to tragically too few. The usual routine first thing on a Sunday morning is to load up bbc.co.uk/football/results, pray to whichever God I pluck out of thin air (all the same) and scroll down to learn my fate. As rituals go, somewhat lacking I'm sure you agree.

On days like today, it becomes even more pitiful. When you realise that games you missed were dour affairs, lacking in incident and painful for all involved, it's easy to deal with. When however you get days of football like yesterday, oh brother do I pine for England!

It happened around this same time last year with the goalfest day that included the infamous 4-4 Tiote game; but yesterday delivered a day so packed with drama and excitement that I can only imagine it was a joy to be a part of. I'm picturing a perfect day spent getting up to play football, then watching games down at the football club or back home in and around a good old fashioned Sunday roast, it can't be beaten.

To begin with, you had the exhilarating North London derby, a fixture that surely has to take it's place very near the top of the most unmissable games in the English calendar. For years now this fixture has delivered high drama, goals a plenty and breakneck high tempo Premier League action at it's bewildering best, and yesterday was no exception. The goal from Robin Van Persie was glorious, wriggling like an eel away from 3 or 4 Spurs defenders, all desperately trying to prevent him getting that half yard on his left, since they knew the inevitable result. Theo Walcott's game of two halves epitomised the frustration that so many feel with him as a player - so capable of genius one minute, clumsiness or stupidity the next. Finally the result threw up a myriad of musings: will Arsenal use this as a catalyst, should Spurs be looking nervously over their shoulder, will Assou-Ekotto ever get a haircut, are Rosicky and Benayoun the skinniest midfield pairing outside of the Sunday Combined Counties Anorexics League Divison 2?

Happening at the same time and with no shortage of it's own incident was the fixture at Carrow Road, which saw Manchester United snatch a late winner to keep on the heels of leaders Man City. The fact that United's two goalscorers vs Norwich City could have been the same against the ancient Efan Ekoku Norwich of Premier League days gone by is incredible - Scholes and Giggs have a combined age of 75 and still they set the standard. The number of players that have been and gone since the early days of this evergreen duo is staggering, and still they go on.

Finally, the showpiece of the day was the Carling Cup Final at Wembley stadium, Liverpool vs Cardiff City. Cardiff went in as underdogs but not by a million miles - certainly I would suggest they fancied their chances against the Reds more than they would have done against City, the beaten semi-finallists. These thoughts may have increased after taking a first half lead, and the Bluebirds did enough to force extra time; find the energy for a late, late equaliser and take the final to penalties.

In club football, I'm hard pressed to think of a team I'd less rather face in penno's than Liverpool - Istanbul, the Chelsea semi, West Ham 06 - they often seem to come up trumps when it comes down to the so-called lottery. Despite missing their first two, by way of a wonder save and a horror show in that order, the Reds did indeed come out on top and can now celebrate a first trophy since the FA Cup in 2006 (incidentally a trophy drought for which they come under far less scrutiny than Arsene Wenger's Arsenal, last trophy, 2005...).

I'm sure there are many people in England sitting in work now with a nagging headache and a feeling of remorse. Well friends, I wish I was there with you too! Days like yesterday, great football feasts, I used to take them for granted. Often I think that Sky Sports hype it up too much, SUPER MEGA OMFG SUNDAY but you know what, on days like yesterday, believe the hype. Ah, football.