Games of the Week - 19th-20th October

The games of the week this week are:

1. Liverpool vs Newcastle (Barclays Premier League)
2. St Mirren vs St Johnstone (SPFL Premiership)
3. Bayern Munich vs Mainz (Bundesliga)
4. Hibernian vs Celtic (SPFL Premiership)
5. Twente vs Ajax (Eredivise)

Newcastle 2-2 Liverpool 

St James' Park, Attendance 51703

Yohan Cabaye opened the scoring midway through the first half with a wonder strike from forty yards which bounced past Pepe Reina. Three minutes before half time Liverpool were awarded a penalty as Yanga-Mbiwa brought down Sturridge and was susequenrtly sent-off. The penalty was converted by Steven Gerrard  who slotted the ball past Tim Krul to score his 100th Premier League goal. At the start of the second half, Cabaye crossed in a free-kick which went all the way to the back post to young Paul Dummett who came on as a first half sub to head the ball in the net and to give the magpies the lead, again. With 18 minutes to go Moses found Suarez on the left wing who ran into the six yard box and cut the ball back to give Sturridge a tap in with his head, or in FIFA 14 terms "a sweaty goal". Late on, Liverpool were pushing Newcastle defence to the limit, as they were trying to score a third and go top of the table but Newcastle held on to a point.
MoTM: Daniel Sturridge

St Mirren 4-3 St Johnstone

New Love Street, Attendance 3739

The home side were coming into this game after beating relegation rivals Hearts 2-0 at Tynecastle, whilst the visitors had hammered high-flying Inverness at McDairmid Park 4-0. In the 8th minute after some poor defending McGowan put the ball through to Kenny McLean who beat the goalie in a 1 on 1 to give the home side the lead. Nine minutes later, Hasslebank did a 1-2 with May to go through the Buddies' defence who crossed it in to Steven McLean who tapped it in for the equaliser. The Perth side were looking to take the lead as Hasslebank was denied by Dilo from outside the box. In the 60th minute Lee Mair played a straight ball which went to Paul McGowan who slotted the ball past Manus to make it 2-1 to the men from Paisley. A minute later, Chris Miller ran along the right wing into the box and cut the ball back to Nigel Hasslebank who put his shot into the bottom corner to retake the lead for St Johnstone. Three minutes later, Gary McDonald fouled Kenny McLean in the box to give St Mirren a penalty. Jim Goodwin stepped up and powered the ball into the bottom corner for it to be saved by Alan Manus. With 14 minutes to go St Mirren were awarded a second penalty; this time Kenny McLean and Frazer Wright were wrestling in the box as a through ball was played over the to of them, McLean went down and the referee awarded a penalty and sent-off Wright for a last man challenge. The penalty was taken this time by Kenny McLean who did not make the same mistake as Goodwin and put it in the roof of the net. The match seemed a certainty now as the Buddies' had a goal and a man advantage. However, six minutes from time Steve May crossed the ball into the box for Fallon to slide in for an equaliser. The match took another twist as in the 89th minute as McLean's cross found McGregor who headed it on to Steven Thompson who slid in to give St Mirren the edge in this 7 goal thriller in Paisley. With Hearts losing away to Motherwell, Danny Lennon's side now have a 15 point gap to bottom side Hearts and are now out of the play-off spots as well.
MoTM: Kenny McLean

Bayern Munich 4-1 Mainz

Allainz Arena, Attendance 71,000

The first half was dominated by the European champions but just before half time a through ball by a Mainz defender took a deflection of KP Boetang and fell to Shawn Parker who ran into the box and went round the keeper and slotted it in to the back of the net to shock the Bayern faithful. Bayern Munich came all guns blazing in the second half as Mainz were only able to defend their lead for 5 minutes before Mario Gotze's pass found Arjen Robben who had ran right past the Mainz defence to get the ball and placed the ball past Wetklo in the Mainz goal. Two minutes later some excellent passing of the ball in the Mainz box lead to Thomas Muller taking the lead for the Bundesliga champions. With 20 minutes to go Bayern Munich scored again this time almost a repeat of the second goal except Mario Manzukic guided it in with Gotze creating his second assist. The Mainz defence had collapsed in the second half. In the closing stages Bayern were taking Mainz apart and 10 minutes from time a push in the box on Schwiensteiger caused the referee to give the home side a penalty. Robben stepped up to take it but Muller was insistent and took it himself and he put it into the bottom left corner to seal the three points for Bayern Munich.
MoTM: Mario Gotze

Hibernian 1-1 Celtic

Easter Road, Attendance 14,220

The early pressure came from the SPL champions but 17 minutes in a pass intercepted by Kevin Thompson who gave Paul Heffernan, who was in an offside position, a one-on-one with Forrester and he slotted it past the England number 2 and the goal stood. Hibs held out till half time in the lead there was a lot of physicality from Hibs which was probably the cause of their own downfall. With 15 minutes to go, Ryan McGivern's late challenge on Amiro Balde led to both players going off the pitch and both teams being down to ten men. This left a gap in the Hibee's defence as James Forrest went on a fantastic run going past three players before shooting a sort of banana shot of the outside of his foot past Ben Williams and of the post into the net to make it 1-1. Late on a finger-tip save by Williams kept it at 1-1, and a lucky point for Hibs. This draw gave Inverness the chance to close the gap to Celtic to 1 point at the top of the table.

MoTM: Ben Williams

Twente 1-1 Ajax

De Grolsch Vetse, Attendance 30000

The top of the table clash in the Eredivisie as the champions visited league leaders FC Twente. In the 21st minute a bit of trickery in the box from Quincy Promes led to him setting up a 1 on 1 for Castaigons who scored and gave the leaders the lead. Twente came close to sealing the victory before half time but were unable to capitalize on their opportunities. For Ajax it looked like they were going to suffer their third defeat of the season but nine minutes from time a missed header from Andreas Bjellend gave Sigthorsson the perfect chance for an equaliser which he took. Twente stay top but they are only one point clear of Ajax, FC Zwolle and PSV Eindhoven. Ajax will be playing Celtic in the crunch match in the Champions League on Tuesday.

MoTM: Quincy Promes