Paullow

Gerrin, marra!

Luke Onion is worse than Ric Flair. Lying on the floor for ages, ball suddenly comes near him and he's up like a flash chasing it

5 yellow cards now for Hull and not even half time.

They've signed a goalkeeper, but possibly not one to go straight into the first team?

Ha, mind that is for a top 2 finish and not promotion, as otherwise I'd definitely be having a few quid on the red and white Brazil https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/championship/promotion You can get 16/1 for them to be promoted at Bet365, which is a lot higher than their modal price of 9 or 10/1 pretty much everywhere else, so could be worth an 'insurance' bet for those who like to do that.

The Northern Premier League East makes for good reading for the 6 former recent Northern League sides, with teams currently sitting in 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th, and many of them with decent chances of promotion / playoffs. It is kind of bittersweet wanting these local sides to do well - if 2 came up every year, and there's a net gain of 2 NE teams each year, then the league will soon look like a newer Northern League and would be really good for travel, derbies, and increasing attendances, but we've seen so many teams struggle massively readjusting to the new higher level. Back in the day you had the likes of Newcastle Blue Star and Durham City compete in the higher league before suffering financially, leaving the league, and the latter are still on a massive downward spiral, then you see North Shields last year, and obviously Marske this year and it kind of all feels a bit pointless. You want a team to compete at a higher level as possible and a path to a higher level at least there, but for some it's like 1 or 2 steps forward, then 3 or 4 steps back. Interesting that the Northern League has a playoff system this year for the 2nd promotion spot (and there's no inter-region playoff this year), so I guess teams could look to finish as high as they can in the league, and then potentially ease off in the playoffs and let the team best placed for a higher level come through the playoffs.

Top 4 are all like 1/250 to make the top 6, so realistically there are 2 spots available. Bookies have WBA odds on to make the playoffs, and have Sunderland, Middlesbrough, and Coventry in a little pack, all around the same odds. Hull, Watford, and Norwich a little further back, and then the rest massive long shots, so hopefully WBA, Coventry and Boro maintain or pick up (in the latters case) in the coming weeks. Big match for Sunderland at home to Hull on Friday. I guess Hull's odds would be similar to Sunderland at full time if they were to win.

9 WSL teams through to the last 16, the 3 teams in that league who lost are currently 9th, 11th, and 12th and all lost to fellow WSL sides above them in the table. 5 Championship sides through as well as both Nottingham Forest and Wolves in our league. Wolves won away at Reading who are currently 3rd bottom in the 2nd tier in the only real 'shock' of the round. Burnley took 2nd tier leaders Birmingham to extra time, but lost 1-3, so the top of the table Burnley vs Newcastle clash should still take place on Feb 11th (unless the League Cup affects that date). We play Wolves on Feb 4th, so they might have the FA Cup on their mind then, but it will still be a week away.

Burnley are currently trailing 0-1 at home to Championship Birmingham, who are in great form, that match just started at 2pm though.

Durham 0-4 in the closing stages of their match with Man City. Similar stats to our match, although they have seemingly had a few shots on target. Sunderland currently 0-1 at home to Southampton who are in and around them in the 2nd tier - there's 30 mins left in that one. You'd probably think some of those who have been there a few years, who are not super young, like possibly the keeper, maybe Georgia Gibson and a couple others, will be upgraded if they do get promoted, and they possibly become squad players, and those currently on the bench / not in the squad as there's only like 5 subs for league matches, would probably be moved on. Not uncommon, but a bit of a strange situation because (while unlikely) they could in theory win 10 of their final 11 matches, but lose away to Burnley and finish 2nd by a point and not go up, and while disappointing for the club, being the only fully pro team in the league, that scenario would probably be better for some of the local players who have been there a while, don't want to move on just yet, and possibly won't be as competent in the second tier.

It's pretty strange. You'd think we'd be wanting an Everton win, but we're basically as near to Everton points wise (with their deduction), as we are to Villa, which is crazy. I'm not sure if there's any chance Everton could get their points overturned, if there was, possibly better for Villa to win, but aye, minimal jeopardy form our POV. Don't really like either club, so probably hope Everton win as they should stay up anyway.

I switched to the QPR-Watford match after MU women got their third goal early in the second half, and it's been a great watch. 2-1 Watford, but QPR coming strong and Watford's keeper just made an amazing save in stoppage time to keep them ahead. Into the 4th minute of 7 added on.

Not sure mind, the last two league matches were 11-3 and 7-0, and 5-0 before that. Not the likes of Burnley, Forest, Wolves, but there's some dross at the bottom end of the table.

Ah well, that's definitely that then, surely. They could have scored 3 or 4 before they broke the deadlock, to be fair. I guess it's similar to a Newcastle vs typical 3rd tier side match, but just the other way round. Might switch to QPR vs Watford for the second half.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_Laws This women was often on NFTV videos and seems a big fan of the club. Plays for Liverpool in the Super League, but wonder if Newcastle did get promoted, whether there would be a chance she'd end her career up here. Carly Telford was a fan as well, but seems she retired last year.

Aye, think it's that bloke who recently joined Newcastle Fans TV, and is often on Lee's women's videos.

Yeah, tough first 3 or 4 mins, and 3 gilt edged chances for MU, but definitely growing into it. How did that stay out?

The FB link? It is for me, and it seems like 30 seconds ahead of the FA Player stream which I'm watching Couple of decent chances for MU in the opening 2 mins.

I've just downloaded the FA Player and have mirrored it to the TV from my phone, but still a yellow back ground and repetitive music, so they're cutting it fine with kick off in 2 mins. Ah, it's just come on air now. Also available here: https://www.facebook.com/AdobeWomensFACup

Most of Man Utd's more recognisable players seem to be starting, so I assume it's near enough full strength?

A straight up YouTube stream would have been much better, but at least you can watch it I guess.

Just checked the TV guide and the Durham vs Man City match is on the red button 30 mins later. LivefootballonTV has that match on iPlayer and red button but no mention of Newcastle, plus NUFC didn't mention it, so extremely unlikely. As I've already got Facebook, probably the easiest way would be to watch it on my phone there and mirror to the TV, which isn't amazing. It's a big match, but when you consider the underwhelming methods to watch it, plus that the Leigh stadium is effectively the same as Kingston Park, and that NUW have already played a competitive match at a much more prestigious stadium this season in the City Ground, it does maybe take the gloss off a little bit.

Match seems to be on FA Player, Facebook, and Tiktok tomorrow, 12pm kickoff. What will be the easiest way to watch on the TV? Does FA Player have an app?

Aye, lost their best 2 players in the summer, Hamer as well as Gyokeres, but they always seem to look a good side whenever I see them on TV. Leicester going down to 10 men straight after they took the lead obviously helped Cov today. O'Hare and Sakamoto seem decent, and their club record top scorer Wright was out today. They only won 3 of their first 16 matches, but are now unbeaten in 8, winning 5 of them, or 24 points from their last 11, which is very good going. 4 of the top 6 seem reasonably secure, and I don't trust the likes of Hull, Watford or Norwich, so hopefully 2 of Coventry, WBA and Boro (ideally the former 2) can maintain / find some form to keep Sunderland out of the playoffs come the end of the season.