I was a bit crooked yesterday so I stayed home. Turned out the league cup semis was on. I had lost track of when that game would be played, after the initial postponement due to the cold snap which hit Britain and Europe/US over the Christmas and New Year period. So I got myself a cuppa and settled down to watch the game.

The first half was a bit of an anti climax. The derby was meant to be a full blooded encounter with a Wembley slot at stake. It’s a game being played against the context of a poor cousin recently finding wealth and wanting to make itself count against the richer, better supported and more successful neighbour. So it was expected to be a no holds barred approach.

When the second hald started one senses more life is going to kick in and soon. Boy did it kick in. What a match it turned out to be. Game of 2 halves? Absolutely! Rooney was phenomenal, sitter missed in the 73rd minute notwithstanding. On Sky Sports, the camera had Rooney doing the cartwheel and it pulled away, with his backward run towards the far corner fading away and Van de Sar coming into focus, raising his fist and celebrating along.  Gold.