ENGLAND WORLD CUP CAMPAIGN 2018 -- MATCH ONE VS TUNISIA

GROUP G
MONDAY 18th JUNE 2018
TUNISIA 1 vs 2 ENGLAND   
[KICK OFF 7PM (BST)]
 -- Volgograd Arena, Volgograd. 

We plan to cover the England fixtures during this summers FIFA World Cup in Russia, at least we will have three games to "enjoy" and then see where we end up. Hopefully to get out of the group would be a start, then it's knock out football so as long as we don't go to penalties anything is possible. 

Our opening game takes place on Monday against Tunisia, who topped the African Group A to qualify for their 5th tournament and they are ranked No.14 in the current FIFA World Rankings as we head into the opening matches. If England can take a win here it will be a boost ahead of the other two games and the chances of escaping out of the group. Anything less than a win and we'll already be needing something from the final group game against Belgium. 

TUNISIA Ended their warm up to this World Cup with a couple of draws and a 1-0 loss to Spain.     
Last 4 games -- LDDW

ENGLAND England signed off with a comfortable 2-0 win against Costa Rica having cruised through their qualifying campaign. However we know too well that tournaments have been a different matter. 
Last 4 games -- WWDW

Teams are confirmed;

TUNISIA
Hassen (Gk),  Bronn,  Ben Youssef,  Meriah,  Maâloul,  Ben Youssef,  Khazri,  Skhiri,  Sassi,  Badri,  Sliti

Subs -- Mathlouthi (gk),  Ben Mustapha (gk),  Benalouane,  Haddadi,  Bedoui,  Khaoui,  Ben Amor,  Khalil,  Srarfi,  Khalifa,  Chaalali,  Nagguez


ENGLAND
Pickford (Gk),  Walker,  Stones,  Maguire,  Henderson,  Trippier,  Lingard,  Alli,  Young,  Kane (c),  Sterling

Subs -- Butland (gk),  Pope (gk),  Alexander-Armstrong,  Rose,  Dier,  Delph,  Livermore,  Loftus-Cheek,  Cahill,  Vardy,  Rashford,  Welbeck


Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombian)

HT Score --  1 (Sassi 35' p) - 1 (Kane 11').

FT Result --  1 - 2 (Kane 90').

Comment -- From a promising start with Kane tapping home after a John Stones header was saved we once again failed to build on our superiority during the first half. Tunisia see their goalkeeper go off injured soon after but a moment of stupidity by Kyle Walker concedes a penalty and it's 1-1 for half time. 

The second half and the Tunisian's seem to have a lot more confidence, as usual we lack any creativity, it's one thing having pace or possession but no one ever does anything with it oh for a Beardsley, a Hoddle or a Gascoigne. 

All the promise, all these overpaid useless lazy players, if only we could capture some of the passion shown by our neighbours, the Welsh, Scots, Irish ... very very poor effort lads and we'll be out very soon based on this ... oh but they are saved for now by Harry Kane's second in injury time. Lucky sods, but my opinion still stands, not good enough.

2018 KEMPTON PARK RACES -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #11 13th JUNE

Welcome to June and with the 2018 World Cup about to get underway tomorrow we will be updating details of all the England games and lets hope there are more of these than usual. Next week will also be Royal Ascot and again will be updating each day of that too. In the meantime this blog will continue to follow the progress of handicap races on the Wednesday night races here at Kempton Park racecourse in Surrey. We've started the year a bit behind now although it's a bit up and down this is only meeting eleven. There are usually 4-5 handicap races covered and some Lay bets too with separate totals recorded to SP throughout the year. 

We are ready for week number eleven, and as we head towards the the half way stage of the year we sadly find ourselves down -39 points to SP, would be nice to start turning this around and there is still a long way to go but if we had recorded results to the prices taken we'd be in a slightly better situation but we need some winners soon and alas we record to starting prices. 

As we continue to focus on the handicap contests for each Wednesday evening meeting we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too if one is available. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1 point level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds than this but for the purpose of these results here we simply record SP returns only.

We will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of short priced favourites too which wasn't too bad last year with 18 from 28 (64%) short price lays throughout the season. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures, off to a disappointing start this season though but a successful lay last week means we are currently 6/11 going forwards with these for 2018. 

This Wednesday is meeting number eleven for the 2018 season and we are expecting a seven race card tonight with six handicaps to enjoy the action will commence at 18:10 with an Apprentice Handicap over a mile trip.

Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; RACECARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard to slow' and the current weather forecast for this Wednesday is for a warmer day so have a good night without the threat of rain for a change a top temperature will be about 22C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight, with a lot on this week it's only the selections for now;

18:10 -- 1m Apprentice Handicap.
KINGSTON KURRAJONG  [WON 6/5F]  /  MACH ONE  [4th 9/2].

18:40 -- 6f Handicap (3yo).
Jamie Osborne runs VEGAS BOY  [3rd 14/1] here tonight who was a dual winner last autumn and has now had a wind operation. It's possible that there is still some improvement in him and worth a chance off this mark. Along with AIRSHOW  [WON 13/8F] who is another dual winner including around this course and only 2lb higher tonight.

19:40 -- 1m 2f 219yds Handicap (3yo).
BREAKFAST  [Non Runner]  /  STIRLING VALUE  [7th 50/1].

20:10 -- 6f Fillies Handicap.
A course and distance winner last year HACKNEY ROAD [WON 2/1F] is high on the short list tonight with only seven declared for this. Will aim to get on VERY HONEST [4th 7/1] too a regular runner but infrequent winner she is still worth a bet off this mark. 

20:40 -- 7f Handicap.
GLORY OF PARIS  [11th 20/1]  /  UBLA  [5th 6/1]. 

21:10 -- 1m 7f 218yds Handicap.
BANFF  [11th 8/1]  /  MOUNT CLESHAR  [6th 5/1].

Staked -- 12 points.
Returns -- 8.825 points.

Results will appear here later on Wednesday night. We seek to recover from our current deficit of -39 points. Some winners, but a loss again of 3.175. Now we have a loss of -42.175 points to take forwards.

LAYS -- 6/11 if we have one or two Lays tonight they will be updated here also. Successful with the lay bet tonight so now we are 7/12.

Tonight's Lays;
8.10 -- KRYSTALLITE [5th].

Our twelfth meeting here at Kempton Park will be after Royal Ascot on 27th June so see you then.

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2018 TURF SEASON -- PART FIVE

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2018.

Monday 11th June.
Welcome to this our 5th meeting of the year and their 2nd evening meeting. 

We welcome our 5th meeting here this season and following the success of the events in 2016 and 2017, Rugby League Evening is back even bigger and better in 2018! We’re lucky enough to have some fantastic sporting action on our doorstep in West Yorkshire. Not only do we have racing here in Pontefract, we have some world class Rugby League teams too. Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity, Huddersfield Giants and Featherstone Rovers were all integral in the success of the evening last year and will be back again in 2018!

On Monday evening 11th June, you’ll get the best of both worlds as players and coaches from all these teams will be coming racing and mingling with the crowds!

There’ll be 6 unforgettable races as well, featuring the Mr Wolf Sprint which commemorates one of the all time Pontefract greats. Runners in this race have a real mountain to climb to emulate ‘Wolfie’ who ran at Pontefract an incredible 36 times, winning here 8 times in total. He was a true Ponte legend and his brave front running style used to have his rivals in trouble from early on in the race. His final race at Pontefract was on 29th July 2012 and he’s currently enjoying retirement on his owner’s farm.

A mixed start to the season means we are currently down by -7.59 to Starting Prices so we can hopefully kick on from there tonight. We will continue throughout this season to record ALL results for these fixtures which are returned to a level stake at Starting Price (SP), and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures.

The forecast going is now currently reported as 'Good to firm' the weather for Monday evening is for a partly cloudy day with some showers due and a forecast maximum temperature around the 22C mark. 

Here are our selections for the 6 races on Monday evening, remember it's a very simple selection process using stalls 1 and 2 in every race;

6:40 6f Novice Stakes (2yo Fillies).
(1) -- PINK ICEBURG  [WON 9/4].
(2) -- COMEDY  [4th 11/8F].

7:10 2m 1f 27yds Handicap.
(1) -- BECKY THE THATCHER  [WON 5/4F].
(2) -- TYRELL  [3rd 9/2].

7:40 6f Mr Wolf Spring Handicap (3yo).
(1) -- BLACK FRIDAY  [3rd 5/1].
(2) -- CHOOKIE DUNEDIN  [6th 7/1].

8:10 1m 4f 5yds Handicap.
(1) -- FINAL  [2nd 7/2].
(2) -- BAYDAR  [Non Runner].

8:40 6f Handicap.
(1) -- ALFIE'S ANGEL  [12th 8/1].
(2) -- SWISSAL  [Non Runner].

9:10 5f 3yds Handicap.
(1) -- MUSHARRIF  [6th 16/1].
(2) -- DAPPER MAN  [2nd 3/1].

Staked -- 12 points.

Returns -- 7.5 Points.

Last season might have been a bit of a blowout compared to recent years, and the last meeting resulted in our running total standing at -7.59 point loss (to SP). Results from tonight will be updated later on at the end of the meeting. Just the pair of winners early on and a couple of non runners mean another small loss overall tonight of -4.5 points putting us out to -12.09 overall.

Our next meeting will be on Sunday 24th June. Keep following us throughout the season.