Scott Murray's Blog, page 31
May 25, 2023
Manchester United 4-1 Chelsea: Premier League – as it happened
Manchester United booked their return to the Champions League with a rout over an initially profligate and later shambolic Chelsea
2 min: Within 20 seconds, Chalobah gifts the ball to Antony, who nearly releases Fernandes into the Chelsea box with a pass down the inside-right channel. That’s intercepted, but United come again, Casemiro winning possession and starting a move that sees Fernandes nearly find Sancho free, 12 yards out. Chelsea concede the first corner of the match and deal with it, but this is a strong start by the home side.
Chelsea get the ball rolling. They’ll be kicking towards the Stretford End in this first half.
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May 24, 2023
Brighton 1-1 Manchester City: Premier League – as it happened
Julio Enciso scored a screamer as Brighton snapped Manchester City’s 12-game winning run to guarantee Europa League football next season
8 min: City stroke it around and their fans start with the olés early doors. Well, why not.
6 min: A huge chance for Haaland, and it really should have been the opener. Foden dribbles delicately down the inside-left channel before standing one up at the far stick for his big pal. Haaland crashes a header over the bar from six yards. Most unusual behaviour.
Continue reading...May 21, 2023
US PGA Championship 2023: Brooks Koepka wins third title – as it happened
Kurt Kitayama has hovered around the upper echelons of the leaderboard all week, without ever quite inserting himself into the picture. Rounds of 70, 71 and 71. But the 30-year-old Californian, who won his first PGA Tour title a couple of months ago at the Arnold Palmer International, is off to a flyer today. Birdies at 1, 4 and now 5 have zipped him up the standings and into red figures. He’s -1.
Block gives himself the chance of salvaging birdie by wedging into the centre of the green and spinning his ball back to ten feet. But he can’t make the par saver. It slides by on the right and that’s an opening bogey for the last man standing of the Team of 20. Rory taps in for his birdie, and well, here we go.
Continue reading...May 20, 2023
US PGA Championship 2023: third round – as it happened
Lowry has a route to the green from his position wide left of the 1st fairway. But he can only find the bunker at the front right. Rory, from the middle of the fairway, pushes his second into the rough to the right of the green. Pin high, but he’s not left with too much green to work with. Lowry is probably in the better position now.
Phil Mickelson, having survived the cut at the PGA for the 27th time, a record he now shares with Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd, smiles broadly when shaking hands on a third round of 75. He’s +10. Meanwhile Kazuki Higa, who led on Thursday for a while, after flying out of the blocks with four birdies in his first five holes, is back in the hutch with a 77. He’s +12, and the heady heights of -4 seem a lot further back in the rear-view mirror than Thursday morning.
Continue reading...May 19, 2023
US PGA Championship 2023: second round – as it happened
Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland share the 36-hole lead while Brooks Koepka’s 66 was the best of day two
Hayden Buckley has only played in one major championship before. The 27-year-old from Chattanooga, Tennessee did pretty well in it: a tie for 14th at last year’s US Open. He’s had a couple of fine recent finishes too: a top-ten finish at the Texas Open and a tie for fifth at the RBC Heritage. He appears to be taking that good form into the PGA. A 69 yesterday, and after a slow start today with bogeys at 11 and 12, he’s responded with three straight birdies between 13 and 15. He’s -2 overall.
The Michael Block party continues. One of the ‘PGA Team of 20’ club professionals in the field this week, the 46-year-old is taming the Oak Hill tiger right now. He calmly bangs his tee shot at the short par-four 14th down the middle, chips to eight feet, and tidies up for his third birdie of the morning. He’s a shot off the lead! Meanwhile opening par for DJ, whose 12-foot birdie putt on 10 lips out on the right. So close to a share.
Continue reading...May 18, 2023
US PGA Championship 2023: first round – as it happened
Kazuki Higa snatches the lead for himself outright. A fuss-free perambulation down the 13th, one of the two par-fives at Oak Hill, and a textbook birdie. The 28-year-old hasn’t won in Europe or the USA yet, but has six victories in Japan to his name, four of those coming in the last 13 months. He looks totally in control of his game, and that’s three birdies in a row.
-3: Higa (4*)
-2: Stallings (2*)
-1: Fox (3), Lee (3), Holmes (1*), Riley (1*)
May 13, 2023
Leeds United 2-2 Newcastle United: Premier League – as it happened
Leeds gave away two daft penalties and missed one of their own, but still came away with a precious point in their survival struggle
1 min: Leeds press Newcastle hard. Rodrigo crunches Burn. A huge roar. The early efforts very much appreciated by the home fans.
Leeds get the ball rolling. What a noise ringing around Elland Road! You’ll be able to hear it halfway down the M1. “You’ve miscaptioned that photo,” tut-tuts Justin Kavanagh. “Big Sam was actually finalising some parts of his contract regarding fans still supporting him in the Championship.”
Continue reading...May 10, 2023
Milan 0-2 Internazionale: Champions League semi-final, first leg – as it happened
Inter flew out of the blocks and Milan never recovered, as the Nerazzurri took a big step towards their first final since 2010
24 sec: Hernandez comes in late on Dumfries. A high-intensity start. A bit later in the game and that could have been a yellow.
Internazionale get the ball rolling. This time next week, we’ll know which one of these teams has become the first Italian finalist since Juventus in 2017. Quite a way to go yet.
Continue reading...May 9, 2023
Real Madrid 1-1 Manchester City: Champions League semi-final, first leg – as it happened
Vinicius Junior and Kevin De Bruyne traded heatseekers as the spoils were shared at the Bernabéu
Manchester City get the ball rolling. “That City line-up looks suspiciously sensible and balanced,” groans Matt Dony. “What’s Pep playing at? Where’s the unnecessary Big-European-Game insanity going to come from? Can we expect Haaland to slot in at right back? Are Stones and Grealish going to be swapping places every ten minutes? Any chance we’ll see Ederson as a false nine?” Doesn’t look like it. But there’s always next week.
The teams are out! Real Madrid in their meringue whites, Manchester City in their Milan-influenced red and black. The Bernabeu atmosphere blistering hot despite the clouds in the sky. Both teams 180 minutes away from Istanbul! We’ll be off in a couple of minutes, after a quick blast of Zadok the Priest (Version), but in the meantime, here’s Justin Winter with an email that doesn’t end up where it looks to be inexorably heading: “Henry Kissinger said of the Iran-Iraq war ‘It’s a pity they both can’t lose.’ This match is a classic Kissinger derby. One side forever tainted by its association with Franco, the other by its association with the Gallagher brothers.”
Continue reading...May 6, 2023
Liverpool 1-0 Brentford: Premier League – as it happened
Mohamed Salah scored for the ninth consecutive match at Anfield, a record-breaking feat that secured three hard-earned points against battling Brentford
6 min: Jensen hoicks the resulting free kick harmlessly into the Kop. Meanwhile, in the interests of balance, some folk in Anfield have pledged allegiance to their king. King Kenny, that is, the Fields of Anfield Road and all that.
5 min: It’s Onyeka versus Van Dijk again, but this time the Liverpool defender slides recklessly through the back of the Brentford midfielder. It’s a needless challenge and he quite correctly goes into the book.
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