Well ... that was a bit of a surprise wasn't it??

I didn't watch the England match last night, instead I decided to ride my motorcycle from my office out by Heathrow Airport through London (via Clapham to meet up with another mate) out to the Essex Arena.

Yes, Essex does have an arena ... well, sort of. We got lost and ended up riding through Grays (which I must admit was a pretty rough area) until we found the most randomly located Internet Cafe I've ever seen on a dimly lit road off an industrial estate which was full of people chatting and "gaming" online ... funny as ...

"Why on earth would you ride 40 miles in the evening through rush hour to go to Grays?", I hear you ask. Well the answer is simple. We went to watch the Lakeside Hammers take on the Bell Vue Aces in one of the final rounds of the 2008 British Elite Speedway League. The whole night resembled a night at the dogs although much louder and more dangerous (well except for the hare at the dogs, but it's only up north they still use live hares).

It turned out to be a smashing night - I know this isn't football related, but since I passed my test in April, I've done 7,000 miles on the bike and too be honest, I'm enjoying it more than footie ... which is mental, but true! The Hammers battered their opponents and it now looks like the league is theirs for the taking, with Ipswich slipping up at opponents Poole last night.

I watched extended highlights of the match last night when I got in though and it looked interesting. I do wonder though, what would have happened had England not scored the first goal. In all though it was a good performance from the younger side and I thought that Heskey did a great job up front. Although he didn't look like scoring, he did his job and held the ball up well. I'd thought the score would be 2-1 last night in favour of the home side, so the actual result was a suprise and it should take the pressure off England when the two sides meet at Wembley. That does however presume that England do not slip up in Kiev or Khazakstan, which given the performance in Andorra is a distinct possibility.

I've got to echo what Richard said in his post though, it just really doesn't bother me the whole England melarky. I dont see how anyone who supports Chelsea week in and week out can suddenly cheer Theo Walcott or Wayne Rooney just because he has a white shirt on. For me, if you are not wearing the red of my team then you're not my team. I've nothing against people who love Ingerland and who go home and away to support them, but I just couldn't do it.