Hornets Draw Chelsea in Round 3 of the FA Cup

A tough draw for Watford as they will face Premier League leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in Round 3 of the FA Cup. Watford fell to Chelsea in Round 5 of the Cup last year. At least we might get to see the Hornets on TV once this year.

The tie will take place the weekend of Jan. 2.

Crystal Palace (0-3) 7-6-5 27 pts.

I was in Iowa celebrating a (belated) Thanksgiving with the family Saturday and only caught this after the fact on the Blackberry - hence the BBC Sport link above.

If you were late to your seat you'd have missed it anyhow as the Hornets were down 2-0 after six minutes.

Bad news: the defense is seriously missing the leadership that Jay DeMerit brings.

Good news: Jay's recovery from eye surgery is moving along quicker than anticipated.

The next match is Saturday, December 5 at St. James Park against league-leader Newcastle United. Kickoff is 9:00 am St. Louis time.

Watford in Talks with QPR for Helguson Extension

Hot on the heels of Tom Cleverley's loan extension, the Hornets are in talks with QPR to extend Heidar Helguson's loan to the club, now scheduled to end in January.

Signings

Very good news for the Hornets as Manchester United loanee Tom Cleverley has signed on for the complete season, solving half the problem of what we were going to do in January when he and Heidar Helguson's loan spells were over. This signing should let us focus on other holes during the transfer window.

In other news, defender Lee Hodson penned a three-year deal with the Hornets last week.

SLU Falls to Tulsa on Golden Goal

The Billikens' season came to a close today in Tulsa as they fell to a golden goal seven minutes into the first extra period.

Two goals from freshman Alex Sweetin and a tally from James Dice were enough to tie the match at the end of 90 minutes but Tulsa will be going to next round in the NCAA tourney.

Scunthorpe United (3-0) 7-6-4 27 pts.

A pair from Heidar Helguson in the span of three minutes and an early second half goal by Danny Graham pushed the Hornets past Scunthorpe United and up a very crowded league table.

The first, a cross from Tom Cleverley, was headed in in the nineteenth minute from 6 yards out. The second from Helguson was also headed in from close in, this time the assist came from Graham.

Graham found the goal himself (asst. Henri Lansbury) from the penalty box three minutes into the second half to nail down the three points for Watford.

The next match is next Saturday at Crystal Palace. Kickoff is 9:00 am St. Louis time.

SLU Tops Missouri State in NCAA Round 1

Lil' Heidi & I met Mr. & Mrs. Mojo at Hermann Stadium last night to take in the first round action in the NCAA tournament.

Despite being outshot 22-5, SLU topped the Bears 2-1 on goals by James Dice & Mike Roach and terrific goalkeeping by Ross Kaufman who had 8 saves on the night.

State started both halves with fierce attacking play, but found themselves down a goal in the 10th minute when Tim Ream restarted play from 45 yards out and found Mike Robson's head just outside the penalty spot. Robson's header was deflected by Dice for the first Billiken's goal.

After Stephen Bortolon was tackled in the box Mike Roach's penalty kick put SLU up 2-0 seven minutes later.

The Bears parried with a goal in the 50th minute, but despite aggressive play and speed & deadly accuracy from back Johannes Demarzi, they couldn't overcome the best goalkeeping of the season from Kaufman.

SLU will travel to Tulsa for the second round Sunday where they will take on the 8th seed Hurricanes. Kickoff is 2:05 pm. Good luck Bills!!!

SLU A-10 Champs

A goal each by Michael Robson and Michael Roach propelled the Billikens past Dayton to clinch the A-10 conference title and earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.

SLU will host Missouri State this Friday, Nov. 19 in the first round.

A-10 Semifinals

SLU bested hosts Rhode Island Friday night 3-2. They square off against No. 1 seed Dayton noon Sunday.

A-10 Championship Semifinals

SLU will square off against Rhode Island at 6:30 St. Louis time tonight in the Atlantic 10 Conference men's soccer semifinals.

Rhode Island and Charlotte drew 1-1 after extra periods, but Rhode Island won the shootout 4-3 over the 49ers.

In the other game tonight, #1 seed Dayton will take on St. Bonaventure who upset #3 ranked Fordham 1-0 last night.

The winners will meet Sunday.

A-10 Conference Championship Tournament Starts Today

The Atlantic 10 Conference men's soccer championship tournament starts today in Kingston, Rhode Island with a 4 pm match between Fordham & St. Bonaventure, followed by Rhode Island & UNC-Charlotte.

#2 seed SLU enjoys a bye in the first round of this unusually formatted tourney.

Six teams earn berths to the tournament based on conference play. Teams seeded 3-6 play a preliminary round tonight. The lowest seeded winner of that round faces #1 seed Dayton tomorrow while the other winner of the first round faces SLU.

The finals will be played Sunday at noon St. Louis time.

Best of luck to the Billikens!!

What! No Red Card? - Mean Girls

Here it is: the ponytail take-down.

DeMerit Absent from US Roster

In a sign that he is not ready to return from eye surgery, US coach Bob Bradley has left Jay DeMerit off the 22-man roster for upcoming friendlies with Slovinia & Denmark.

Preston North End (2-0) 6-6-4 24 pts.

On the road again and another match missed.

This one would have been more to my liking with a goal apiece by Heidar Helguson and Tom Cleverley in the first half.

The win puts Watford square in the middle of the table as the squads go into a two week break for international play.

The next match is Saturday, November 21 at Vicarage Road against Scunthorpe United. Kickoff will be 9:00 am St. Louis time.

Injury Report

Ross Jenkins, Jay DeMerit, & Richard Lee still out for Preston match.

West Bromwich Albion (0-5) 5-6-4 21 pts.

If there was any upside at all to having to drive to Iowa this weekend to visit my Mom after her surgery, not having to listen to this sad exhibition may have been it.

The next match is Saturday, November 7 as Preston North End comes to Vicarage Road. Kickoff is 9:00 am St. Louis time.