Indeed...indeed it was...an excellent...excellent piece.

I really don't know about this one. We could do it, or we could bottle it in spectacular style. In my view, we'll have to win as United will easily beat West Ham. If we are shattered in the last minute I have visions of myself collapsing in a heap on the living room floor, balling my eyes out. How has it come to this?

Oh dear, not this fool again. As much class as his grubby little club.

No, no, no, no, no!

Ahh for f**k sake. It would have to be Blake, and it's his first goal for Brum.

One I'm looking forward to definitely. If you don't have Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (out for PS2 and Xbox) then you must get it. In my opinion, it's second only to San Andreas in the best games of the last year. Set in a future North Korean theatre of war, you play as one of three mercs roaming the countryside carrying out tasks for the Chinese, UN, CIA and the Mafia. The playability is utterly brilliant. So too are the graphics and scale of the game. GET IT IN.

Libel anyone? Tabloid scum.

Because we've had a 'kicking in the press' (such poetry) we'll lose? What a prat.

The Observer and The Guardian are one and the same. I sent an e-mail yesterday, the address is on page 21 of the match thread.

I know we as fans theorise on that subject and we're probably right. Jim, as a member of the press, have you ever heard those sentiments aired in any form amongst your colleagues?

Matt ; from the Sunday Times to the News of the World , they all crucified us ! Maybe they all should be abandoned Maybe.

I was reading the match report in an abandoned Mail on the train this morning. As you would expect from such a poisonous rag, the general sentiment was outrage. W@nkers.

I think I heard your call Matt. Well said by the way. That was me, unless there were another Matthew from Belfast phoning up to defend Rovers.

Perhaps, but Van Persie was wheeling away in celebration and was caught totally by surprise with a stray arm going in the opposite direction. He was completely floored.

Hill did though infer that Van Persie had over done the incident. The blood in his mouth would suggest otherwise.

My call on 606 just now didn't seem to get much of a reaction. They are stout these journalists.

One can only imagine the carnage of the final. Will the media go into autospin when Arsenal and the scum start kicking lumps out of each other? I doubt it. As an aside, how crap are Newcastle?

I shall be sending a letter to The Observer. I would encourage all on here to do the same. This hysterical bias against our club is unacceptable. I may have said that I don't care on the previous thread but the snide insults from the national media, directed at our club, are really not on. We deserve some semblance of credit for reaching this stage of competition, but instead we are subjected to the same tired old vendettas which have plagued us for ten years. sport@observer.co.uk I just sent mine off. I hope I voiced most of our frustrations. "As a Blackburn fan I was disappointed to read The Observer's view of our semi-final against Arsenal. Lacking any sort of journalistic integrity, the report would not have looked out of place on the pages of the generic, tiresome tabloid media. For months now, accusations of thuggery and corruption of the game have been levelled at the aggressive side that Hughes has built. As time has passed these have been churned out in various guises, none of which have been particularly accurate. The audacious Rovers ploy to disrupt Arsenal's flow may have upset those expecting an easy afternoon for Wenger's theatrical tell-tales. For any one of the attending Lancashire folk (so vilified for their lack of numbers) this was a proper approach when facing a dangerous opponent. It is a telling indictment that competitive play is no longer welcomed in that most English of cup competitions, while the continental penchant for play acting is so readily ignored. Perhaps the criticism and derison only applies to those uppity teams with the smaller budgets?"

This kind of thing is utter nonsense, spewed by fans and pundits alike, with no inkling of the game beyond the traditional powers. Rarely will you hear a fan of say, Palace or Everton, accusing us of being filthy and a 'disgrace' to the game. That we have the audacity to put ourselves about when mixing it with the big boys, is something that riles the London based media and Sky Sports subscribing, arm-chair supporters. Who cares?

Bloom's a fool. He used to to do Football Italia on Channel 4 with the equally tedious Peter Brackley. He was also the 'commentator' on Dream team for a while.

Aye, class.

We were ultimately outclassed by an Arsenal side operating in third gear. Our stout defending is all very well, but Dickov's paltry attempts and a lack of support from midfield meant we stood little chance. Terrible result.

1.Steve Dunn. 2.We've been asking that for a couple of years now.

You edited that because you actually wrote Busted didn't you?

So much for my dreary prediction. Great result Rovers, a very welcome three points.