Losing out to the Blues?

Excuse us if we're rather less enthusiastic than the rest of the country seems to be about Chelsea's admittedly remarkable progress into the Champions League final. If the Blues can somehow pull off another win over either Bayern Munich or Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, then they'll be guaranteed a place in next year's competition at the expense of whichever side finishes fourth in the Premier League - and currently that's us. While it seems faintly ridiculous to be potentially frustrated at missing out on Champions League qualification, the fact remains that now it's within our grasp, settling for the Europa League would be a disappointment.

And on the subject of highly improbable scenarios, how's about Alan Smith scoring a goal? Well, that's exactly what he did on Saturday - the only goal of the game, too, as MK Dons beat promotion rivals Sheffield Utd. Smith's first-half header ensured a result which could be crucial as far as automatic promotion to the Championship is concerned. The Blades' slip-up allowed cross-city enemies Wednesday close the gap to just a single point, as they beat Carlisle with the Lone Ranger playing the full 90 minutes and picking up a booking along the way.