Thriller at Bogey ground

This was a thriller at the Bogey ground. What drama… extra time, two missed penalties, one sending off. Truly dramatic, entertaining, nerve wrecking and nail-biting to the end.

The Denilson-Diaby midfield pairing was a success. Denilson was the silky one while Diaby emulating Vieira, gave the Gunners a robust edge in central midfield. Hleb and Rosicky simply wreck havoc along the flanks during the first half. This match saw the return of Ljunberg appearing after a long lay-off. It was his goal that became the decisive moment of the match.

The Gunners failed to capitalize on Emmanuel Adebayor's early goal. His goal was pure picture perfect ball passing and sweeping ball movement. Denilson and Hleb were much involved with the build up leading to Adebayor’s ninth goal of the season.

It looked pretty lost cause when Gilberto Silva hit a rugby shot with his penalty. Extra time beckons as Bolton’s Abdoulaye Méïté scored an equaliser in the second minute of stoppage-time.
Ljungberg’s great left-foot shot in extra time put the Gunners in pole position. Arsenal could even afford another penalty miss through The Beast. The night ended with a Adebayor's tap-in after good work by The Beast seconds from the end of extra time.

Frankly, it was a football match where the Gunners could have wrapped it up easily in normal time. Alas, they “opted” the harder way, plus the ordeal of two wasted penalties. I wonder did anyone see Henry do the dance steps with Adebayor?

The potential of this youth set in Arsenal sure looks promising. It seems that in football, age doesn’t matter, when you are good enough, you are old enough.