We understand that some Reds were turned away from Sunday's game against Man Ure at the LSPH, this was due to a miscommunication on their end. We've received an apology from them for that and we also hope this doesn't dissuade you Reds who showed up from coming back for the Pompey game, or other games in the future. This was very unfortunate and we are assured it won't happen again.

At least it was a good game to miss...

But on that note, if any of you are into comedy you can show up at the LSPH for the Man Ure/Wolves FA Cup tie before our game on the Sunday, 2 games for a tenner. Well, at least we can hope the Man Ure game becomes a comedy at their expense.

This past week I passed through several states. The states in question were not south of the border, but were the states of anticipation, excitement, disappointment, anxiety, and depression. That’s quite a lot of travelling, in a manner of speaking, and I didn’t even have to pack.

The state of anticipation began immediately after last week’s match. We beat fourth place Tottenham which put us four points up on them, establishing us solidly in third place. Man Ure lost to their cross-town rivals, meaning that we were now only one point behind them. We were not only solidly in third place and pulling away from fourth by some distance, but creeping up steadily on second place, with two games in hand on all three of our closest rivals.

That anticipation gradually turned to excitement as the week progressed. First of all, the realisation came to me that this is definitely not the Man Ure side of recent years. So many of those players that had done us damage in the past were gone. Beckham went to Madrid, Forlan gave up waiting for a regular spot and went to Villareal, and more recently Keane huffed off to Celtic. Other than that, Scholes is out recovering from a concussion that still causes blurry vision, Smith is out injured, and Ronaldo is suspended. This is clearly a weakened side that we can beat, even if it is in their park.

Saturday’s results added to the excitement with Everton beating Arse-nil and Spurs being held to a single point by Villa. The three points available to us by beating Man Ure are going to be even better than I thought in terms of opening the gap below us even further. If that wasn’t enough, early on Sunday morning we heard that Chel$ki drew against Charlton, meaning we have the opportunity to start closing the gap on the current leaders. If they continue to drop points then those two games in hand, plus a game against them in a couple of weeks, could be extremely important. Considering that we still have almost half a season to go, the title race isn’t over by any means. It’s just beginning!

Excitement wasn’t the first emotion that I felt early on Sunday morning. I drove down to the Scott Road Park ‘n’ Ride, found a spot close to the station and walked over to the ticket machine. That’s where the day started to go badly. The first machine swallowed my loonie without printing a ticket. The second one worked. The skytrain was really packed by the time we got to New Westminster for some unknown reason, and I had to listen to some grumpy old fart complaining about some teenager blocking his way onto the train. He was wasting his time as the kid was blissfully listening to his MP3 player and was oblivious to everything going on around him. The train was so packed that I had some trouble getting off at Stadium, but I managed okay and walked out onto Beatty Street. Now, it’s starting to rain and I’ve forgotten to bring my umbrella. Never mind, it’s not too far to walk, I’m sure I’ll survive.

I made it to LSPH at about 7:45 and it looked like the place was shut tight. Not a good sign. I hope they know that we’re coming; it was supposed to have been arranged days ago. Then I realised that it was so dark because all of the window blinds were closed with a fair sized crowd of Celtic bhoys inside watching the end of their match via satellite. So I walk in and a guy asks me if I’m there to watch their game. I’m here for Liverpool, coming up next, I say. I didn’t know that was on, he says and goes off and asks the guy at the end of the bar if that’s so. The guy at the end of the bar (Craig) looks over my way and then comes over and tells me that it’s not being shown as it’s on channel 54, and anybody can watch that at home so there’s no point. Besides, nobody told him anything about it so he’s closing as soon as the Celtic match is over. Oh, for Foulkes sake! (Bill Foulkes was a onetime Man Ure player who made his debut against Liverpool in 1952, under then manager and ex-Red Matt Busby. Just in case you were wondering).

This day is not going too well, and then Mr. Celtic says there were some other lads there earlier and they left when they were told that it wasn’t on. Now I’m faced with the problem of getting home as fast as possible, with the match starting in less than ten minutes. As I’m crashing through the door on the way out, I see Mark on his way in. They’re not showing it! I yell. I don’t firkin believe it! (of course referring to the Frog and Firkin on Broadway, a place to watch a match sometimes while having a pleasant pint). By this time, I’m well and truly in the state of frustration. Mark suggests we go somewhere else that’s close by and is about to make some calls when we see Kev coming up the road. We decide to go back in and demand some explanation. Craig is duly intimidated by our presence and kindly agrees to stay open for us, even though he should be closing up and on his way home. Actually, the intimidation part wasn’t true. He’s a great guy and did it for us anyway. Fortunately there were now about ten of us, with a couple of newcomers (welcome to you guys, make sure we have your e-mail and phone no. so we can get in touch with you) as well as a few of the Celtic bhoys staying over to watch, and so we were feeling a bit better, ready for the start of the big match.

I didn’t expect an easy one-sided match and so I was pleased to see that we were getting the better of the play and mostly controlling the game. Gerrard played a great pass through to Cisse, clear on the left side of the box, but he didn’t seem ready for it and the opportunity was missed. The first half ended scoreless, which was not a surprise. I start thinking that we should be able to pick it up a notch or two in the second half and this one should be ours. My prediction before the match was that we would take it 1-0. So far it was going as I’d thought it would. As any of you who watched the match will know, the turning point came at the hour mark, first with a goal line clearance from Ferdinand to save a Morientes lob, which fell nicely for Kewell. Then Kewell’s shot from the left side of the area, heading for the lower right of goal was palmed out by Van der Saar, straight to Cisse just outside the 6 yard box on the right hand side. Somehow he missed it, sending it high over the bar. This was starting to look like it just wasn’t going to be our day; the state of anxiety has now been reached.

One of the clichés of the game is that the team that takes its chances will win. As the time ticked away I was reminded of one of the most disappointing contests between the two sides. The 1996 F.A. Cup Final between the two clubs was sure to be a great match, but that wasn’t how it turned out. A really slow, tightly played contest with neither side looking like they were going to do much. Every time the ball was played forward, there was a wall of defensive players blocking any further progress. The match was reduced to a repetition of slow build-up and then loss of possession in the final third of the pitch. It looked like extra time was going to be needed to settle it when a cross came over in the Liverpool area and David James nervously palmed the ball away instead of catching it. It was a pretty good clearance considering that it was made under pressure, with the ball arcing all the way out beyond the edge of the box. As luck would have it, that was where Eric “the dread” Cantona was positioned. Bang, 1-0, game over. Runners-up medals for us, a second domestic “Double” for them. They had a chance and took it, we didn’t take any.

Back to this most recent contest: the time continues to wind down with neither side looking like making a breakthrough. Rafa makes one more substitution, bringing on Kromkamp for Sissoko. We’ll shore up the defence and take the point, it’s better than nothing. Last minute of the match and Patrice “waste of money” Evra takes the ball down the left wing trying to get past Finnan to get in a cross. Finnan’s having none of it, staying with him and muscling him toward the touch line. Evra collapses like he’s been pounced on from behind by a Rotweiller, and gets the free kick. Then, in an attempt to add to the damage, tries to convince the ref that it was a bookable offence. We all know what happened next so I won’t remind you. They had a chance and took it.

Sometimes the clichés turn out to be so true. In this case it really was a story of missed chances making the difference. We had the better of the play, with more possession and control of the match. We didn’t make the most of our set-pieces, and didn’t have that decisive touch in the final third of the pitch. If only one of those chances that came at the hour had gone in, I’m sure we’d all be walking around with big grins on our faces. Instead we’re left to wonder where can we get a bona fide goal-scorer from? Someone like Robbie Fowler or Michael Owen, who can be virtually guaranteed to give us 20 or more goals in a season. I know that Rafa is not going to panic and sign the first striker available. I’m also sure that it will be a priority over the summer. We have a good solid defence (ignoring that last minute lapse) and arguably the best midfield in the Premier League. We just don’t have the muscle up front yet. If there is something positive to be taken from this match it is that the press reports unanimously rated us as the better team and that we should have come away as winners. That’s a huge difference from the last several seasons where we were considered to be the lucky ones if we pulled off a win against the mancs. This season is already turning out better than I had expected, so I’m not going to complain too much. If Rafa has a successful summer in the transfer market then I can see us mounting a serious title challenge next season. The final result means we’ve lost one match; we still have another 17 to play. The season will depend on what we do from now on, and I for one am sure we’ll be above Man Ure in May. Still, for the time being, it still hurts to lose a match like this one, especially this way.

I’ve now reached the state of depression, and it’s time to leave and get home. I have to get a few hours sleep and then I’m off to work for the night. As I’m waiting on the platform for the skytrain, one of the Celtic bhoys who had stayed to watch the match spots me standing there under a cloud and comes over. He sums up my feelings exactly when he says: “Och, couldn’t you just cry?”

What do you think? Fire us a reply and we'll get it to Keith, and try to put it in next week's newsletter

this is where we'll put little notices and things. Jokes, buy/sell, anything LFC related.

- looks very likely next week's newsletter'll have something on Fowler coming back! Not to jinx anything (Figo, Owen) but we'll see.

- for anyone looking for a Euro LFC jersey, go to bigsoccer.com as they still have stock and they're on this side of the water so the shipping won't kill you. I got mine in 4 days! Just make sure it's a 'gift' to avoid those nasty border charges...

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