Hull City: First Season in the championship review

We wanted to compete in this division and stay clear of relegation. Our attempts to do this were not helped by injuries to our summer signings and some key players, but the bottom three have rarely looked like creeping up on us.

I feel that some fans will always have unrealistic expectations, but Peter Taylor's done a very good job in difficult circumstances. He was tested this season by injuries, but next season could be an even bigger test when he's, hopefully, got a full squad and will be expected to push on.

Goalkeeper Boaz Myhill has been outstanding. Defender Leon Cort has been consistent, and centre forward Jon ‘The Beast' Parkin made an impact. Stuart Elliott has failed to rekindle his form of last season, and his future at the club is under question by some.

Doctor Who: School Reunion

A local high school may not be entirely what it seems. Sarah-Jane Smith is sent to investigate the place, with her trusted robot dog K-9, who made a welcome special appearance in this episode of Doctor Who! But there she unravels a deeper mystery, as she's reunited with a face from her past.

The Doctor, who left her behind many years ago. He has returned, and everything about him is different from the Doctor Sarah remembers…played by Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker leading to much confusion and Rose gets a tad annoyed!

Scouting 2007!

Had a busy day working on the websites, but at present everything seems to be working. A lot of the updates have now being completed and we even got a google earth plugin working on the location page which is a real bonus! I also got my arm out of a sling today which is good as it is certainly faster typing with two hands rather than one!

Scouts!

This evening I am going to help at my local Scout Group which is normally an enjoyable experience! Having helped at Scouts for seven years!

I always find it very interesting to find out what the Scouts I have worked with do in life after they have left Scouts and tonight should be good!

The Aviator

April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). There are 249 days remaining in the year.

Today, I also watched the Aviator on DVD which I personally think is a excellent film. It is a little bit slow at times and won't be liked by all but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

It concentrates on the psychological evolution of Howard Hughes, a stud, a filmaker and ground-breaking Aviator - who is a little obsessed and more than a little strange. It's Scorsese's darkest movie since 'Taxi Driver', with a great cast and DiCaprio is excellent in the lead.

Scouting 2007!

Had a busy day working on the websites, but at present everything seems to be working. A lot of the updates have now being completed and we even got a google earth plugin working on the location page which is a real bonus! I also got my arm out of a sling today which is good as it is certainly faster typing with two hands rather than one!

Schumacher wins once again at San Marino

Michael Schumacher held off Fernando Alonso in a tight duel Sunday to win the San Marino Grand Prix. Schumacher covered 62 laps around the Enzo and Dino Ferrari circuit in 1 hour, 31 minutes, 6.486 seconds, with Alonso 2.0 seconds behind.

It marked the Ferrari driver's record seventh win at Imola and the 85th of his career. Apart from last year's U.S. Grand Prix, when only six cars competed because of a tire dispute, it was Schumacher's only other win since the end of 2004.

Schumacher started from pole position and championship leader Alonso began fifth. By the 35th lap, Alonso was on Schumacher's tail but could not pass the seven-time world champion.

The scene was the opposite of last year's race here, in which Alonso held off a surging Schumacher over the final 12 laps.

This time, Alonso went into the pits on the 40th lap, while Schumacher came in one lap later and managed to come out just in front of the Renault driver. Schumacher's expert blocking skills and Imola's narrow track prevented any serious attacks from Alonso the rest of the way.

McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya finished third, 15.8 back.

Hull City 1 - Preston North End 1

Hull City's last home game of the season saw the points shared as Preston looked towards the play-offs. Both goals came in the first half with a superb effort from Simon Whaley on 33 minutes putting Preston ahead and an own goal from Youl Mawene 10 minutes later bringing Hull back on level terms.

City's Damien Delaney had a chance midway through the first half but his header from an Alan Rogers corner went wide of Carlo Nash's right hand post from eight yards out.

The Tigers rued that miss just past the half-hour men when Whaley capitalised on Delaney stalling on the edge of the box and smashed in a half-volley to send North End into the lead.

Some smart football from Hull just before the break resulted in a great chance for Jon Parkin but he couldn't convert a cross from Craig Fagan, as he hit the ball into the ground and saw it bounce over the bar.

Hull did level the scores on 43 minutes when a Stuart Green free-kick from the right side of the box was unintentionally bundled into the bottom right corner of the net by Preston skipper Mawene.

Hull started to come into the game midway through the second period and nearly took the lead through Parkin, but he couldn't find enough power on his shot and Nash comfortably saved his right footed effort.

Substitute Darryl Duffy came within inches of putting Hull ahead towards the end of the game but he lashed a right-footed shot just wide of the post.

Whaley then nearly grabbed his second late on as he raced into the box and unleashed a right-footed shot, but Myhill was equal to it and managed to turn the ball around the post. This is looking good for next season, I personally hope!

Floral Hall!

Tonight I am going for a night out once again at Hornsea Floral Hall, which hopefully should be good!

Finished Hornsea Scouts Website!

It took me a few weeks to make on and off, but I think my new Scout Group website is now ready for external testing, it appears to be slightly slow at certain times of the day but what do you expect for a free site. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all the people on the Escouts team for allowing me to use their systems for the site!

If you would like to take a look at the site I have included a link above, however a great deal is now password protected, but take a look at the public pages via the link above!

Sorry for sporadic posting!

Once again the holiday period has meant sporadic posting on my blog, I hope to keep it up to date more frequently now, but we will just have to wait and see!

Derby County 1 - Hull City 1

Tommy Smith scored his third goal in as many games to rescue a point for Derby after Stuart Green had given Hull the advantage with a stunning 30-yard volley.
Green's superb effort looked to have won the game until Scott Wiseman pushed Paul Peschisolido in the 89th minute and Smith tucked away the penalty.

A draw was probably about right for a typical end of season game which only flickered briefly into life, although Hull will claim to have had the better chances. They certainly came close to scoring a second in the final 10 minutes with Green denied by an agile save from Lee Camp.

Ellison was denied by Camp a minute later when he turned and shot from the edge of the box and those saves proved decisive when Derby were awarded a penalty two minutes from time. Giles Barnes crossed from the right to the back post where Wiseman bundled over Peschisolido and Smith sent Boaz Myhill the wrong way with his spot-kick which nestled into the bottom corner.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter

Doctor Who: New Earth

With a bigger budget and a much younger actor, can Doctor Who still tell great stories? To answer that question based on "New Earth", the first episode of Series 2, the answer would be no. Can David Tennant make the Doctor his own? The answer is a simple yes, which makes it a nice watcher for the curious.

Rose and the Doctor land on New Earth, which is a more futuristic version of the old one. In New New York, a hospital large in scope heals thousands and thousands of patients of all different races. The Doctor, of course, wants to know the secret that no one is willing to tell him. Meanwhile, Rose encounters Cassandra O'Brian, whom we last saw in Series 1's "End Of The World". Tired of her existence as a mere sheet of skin, she transports herself into the mind of Rose. Meanwhile, the Doctor encounters a dying Face Of Boe, also from Series 1's "End Of The World". He apparently has a secret, but can only tell someone who is a wanderer with no home such as the Doctor.

Despite this rather flat entry in Series 2, Doctor Who allows the writers to take the show to beyond the likes of Russell Davies. With this, I hope that the critics will treat this season better than they they did the first one, as I personally thoroughly enjoyed it!

Worried about Bird Flu?

Here's the answer: Hensip. This excellent "cartoon" arrived in my inbox today. I have no idea who the artist is, but he or she has given me the best laugh of the week so far.

Hornsea Scouts Website!

Today, I took photographs of the Scout HQ in Hornsea to put the finishing touches to my new Scout Group webpage. Just some more writing to do and then the whole project will be finished. Go on take a look!

Hull City 0 - Sheffield United 1

Despite losing to a 90th minute Sheffield United winner in a five-goal thriller at Bramall Lane, City move one game closer to safety from relegation. City went 2-0 down to Blades goals either side of half time from Neil Shipperley and Paul Ifill, but turned it around with a 56th minute double substitution. Both Stuart Elliott and Darryl Duffy came on to score in the 65th and 70th minutes respectively to draw level.

Home keeper Paddy Kenny was lucky not to concede a penalty and be sent off, while he was also struggling to stay on after suffering a knock, but had to battle on as Neil Warnock didn't have a goalkeeper on the bench.

David Unsworth's goal in injury time stole it for the South Yorkshire club to make it 3-2 and keep their automatic promotion hopes on course.

Out in Hornsea!

Tonight I attended the local public house with a few of my friends who where celebrating their last night in Hornsea for the time being, I saw a few people I haven't seen in a long time which is good, unfortunately my arm is still in a sling which is not good!

Scouts!

Well tonight we had wonderful weather considering it is March, so we took the Scouts outside and had a wonderful game of rounders, on the suprisingly dry grass! Everyone involved seemed to enjoy the night which was good.

Completed series of updates on the WSJ site!

I spent the day being rather busy completing various updates to the WSJ website! In fact I uploaded a whole new template which I think looks rather good!

Dr Who is back on the 15th April!

I personally cannot wait!

Who is Doctor Who?

Also now online is an update and revamp to Who Is Doctor Who, the official tie-in website ostensibly 'written' by Mickey Smith, Noel Clarke's character in the series. The site last year featured amusing anecdotes and 'conspiracy theories' related to the Doctor's trips to Earth. I just thought I would share this site with all Doctor Who Fans!

New series of Doctor Who!

The trailer for Series Two of Doctor Who made its debut this weekend in the UK. It originally debuted at 6.58pm on Saturday on BBC One in a one-minute version, which was simultaneously put online at the official Doctor Who website and was then shown once each by BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four through the evening. A shorter version of 40 seconds debuted on BBC One! I am personally looking forward to the new series of Doctor Who, after how good the last one was and am just hoping for more of the same, but we shall have to wait and see!

Great result @ the KC for Hull City

It was good to see Hull City back to winning ways against Leeds it was Jon Parkin who rose to head home 14 minutes from the end of a passionate Yorkshire derby. Hull frustrated the visitors for long spells and Parkin, who had earlier seen a goal controversially ruled out, was on the mark to give the hosts a deserved win.

Leeds, who have now failed to win any of their last five games, appear to have lost form at the worst time. United started the game strongly though and a curling left-footed free-kick from Eddie Lewis forced Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill into a full-length save. At the other end, Parkin latched on to a flick-on to volley superbly into the top corner, but he was denied by the offside flag.

However, Hull always looked dangerous and, with time ticking away, Green lobbed in a good cross from the right and Parkin squeezed a far post header beyond Sullivan. Leeds poured forward, but the closest they came to grabbing an equaliser was when substitute David Healy's drilled free-kick flew just wide in the final minute.