The prospect of a trip to Everton awaits the winner of this 4th round FA Cup replay between two sides battling for automatic promotion in the lower leagues writes Laurence McCormack.

League 1 outfit Sheffield Wed almost knocked out Blackpool at Bloomfield Road last week but a late Kevin Phillips penalty cancelled out Clinton Morrison’s opener.

Gary Megson’s Wednesday have only lost once on home soil all season but recently they have been less clinical at Hillsborough with one win in three.

Couple this with the fact that Blackpool have lost just once in their last six away fixtures and the Championship side are good value to qualify for the next round @ Evens.

Confidence will be sky high following a huge 3-1 away win at Cardiff on Saturday. New signing Roman Bednar has been reunited with former West Brom colleague Kevin Phillips upfront and the new partnership has looked lethal at times.

Throughout the media build up to the game, Gary Megson has continuously made the point that promotion and the league is the priority for Wednesday which doesn’t bode well for the visit of a fired up Blackpool side.

The Bottom Line:
Banker: Blackpool to qualify @ Evens
Bluffer: Roman Bednar to score anytime @ 23/10
Chancer: Blackpool on Penalties @ 11/1

Birmingham v Portsmouth – 19.45

Birmingham could leapfrog Cardiff into 3rd spot on goal difference if they secure a home win over Portsmouth tonight.

After losing so many key players last summer Chris Hughton has done a fantastic job to get his side into such a promising position.

Birmingham are the only team in the league undefeated at home and have only conceded 6 goals while keeping 8 clean sheets in the process.

It’s a big ask for goal shy Pompey, who have only registered two wins on the road all season, as they face the meanest defense in the league.

The cash strapped club were served with a winding up order recently and the playing staff may be more concerned about their immediate futures than this tough trip to St Andrews.

Despite last weekends 3-0 win at fellow strugglers Peterborough, I anticipate Pompey’s travel woes to continue.

The seasides have drawn blank seven times on the road this campaign and it looks like more tough times ahead for them on and off the pitch.

The Bottom Line:
Banker: Birmingham @ 8/13
Bluffer: Birmingham to win to nil @ 6/4
Chancer: Birmingham to win both halves @ 7/2

Anomaly number two: Sizing Europe was backed in the morning for yesterday’s race, so the gap was narrowed to 4/5 and 1/1 – still in Big Zeb’s favour – by the time they opened the on-course market, and he was backed again on the track, to the extent that he ended up going off the marginal favourite in front of Big Zeb.

So why was Big Zeb installed as favourite initially? Not sure really. Maybe the feeling was that Colm Murphy’s horse was better at Punchestown and that Sizing Europe was better at Cheltenham. True enough, Big Zeb’s record at Punchestown is 21F2121. However, Sizing Europe’s is 1F241113232. Not too shoddy either.

Moreover, the flipside of that one, the Cheltenham side (it’s a double-A-side) doesn’t really stack up. Sizing Europe’s record at Cheltenham is exemplary, 1011, the 1s notched up in a Greatwood Hurdle, an Arkle and a Champion Chase, and the 0 could have been a 1 as well, in the 2008 Champion Hurdle, no less, had his back not given way as he cantered down the hill and traded at 1/2 in-running.

However, you couldn’t complain about Big Zeb’s Cheltenham record either, F12, the F in a Champion Chase, when he took a flyer at the fourth last fence and could have landed himself and Choc Thornton on the top of Bishop’s Cleeve, or in Cheltenham General Hospital, the 1 in the following year’s Champion Chase, the 2 in the following year’s Champion Chase, behind the afore-mentioned Sizing Europe.

So it shouldn’t really have been down to course preference, despite the fact that Big Zeb had beaten Europe on the two occasions on which they had met over fences at Punchestown, a fact that was counteracted by the contradictory fact that Europe had prevailed on the only occasion on which they had met over hurdles at the Kildare track. (It was 2-2 in their overall private duel going into yesterday’s race, by the way.)

Ground? Was there a feeling around that Big Zeb would handle the testing underfoot conditions better than Europe? There shouldn’t really have been. Both are better on good ground than they are on soft, their record proves as much, but both have had the class to put up top class performances on soft and heavy ground.

Fitness? Maybe that was it. Maybe there was a feeling that Big Zeb would be straighter for yesterday’s test than Europe was. After all, we hadn’t seen Henry de Bromhead’s horse since he won the Tingle Creek in early December. Big Zeb had been strutting his stuff in the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas just a month ago. And remember, as you can be sure the market influencers did, that Big Zeb had beaten Europe in this race last year. The fact that both of them had to give best to Golden Silver was by-the-by, as my grandmother used to say.

So why the about-turn on the day of the race? Why the flip-flopping favourites? Maybe is was simply a market correction. Maybe people realised that the original market was wrong, that Big Zeb probably shouldn’t have been as far in front of Europe in the market as he had been. It happens.

Maybe Europe just looked a million dollars in the paddock. He did when I went down to see him and his trainer during the week anyway, that’s for sure, when the trainer found it difficult to contain his enthusiasm, despite his natural inclination to think of all the things that could go wrong, he being a realist, and a person who works with racehorses, and all.

Did I back him? Of course not. That would have been way too clever.

It was some spectacle though, the race itself, wasn’t it? Probably the two best two-mile chasers in training going at each other in a match that really was in the balance until Europe surged for home off the final bend.

The Cheltenham exacta is still on again.

· For more of Donn’s thoughts, visit www.donnmcclean.com

Look out for two well handicapped horses today, one unpenalised for a recent course win at Wolverhampton and a veteran capable of winning again and retaining his unbeaten record at Southwell.

PATRIOTIC 3.00 – Wolverhampton (13/8)

An excellent bit of placing by trainer Chris Dwyer can be rewarded as Patriotic bids to follow up his first career victory here on Saturday.

A quirk of the handicap system means Patriotic is able to race off a 2lb lower mark than that from which he scored at the weekend. Furthermore that win was achieved in an apprentice event which means he escapes a winners penalty here. Also in his favour in this small field is the fact that Patriotic looks to be the only natural pacemaker so should get an easy time of it in front.

This race is a drop in trip of 1f from Saturday, so Raul da Silva ought to be able to set a reasonable tempo in front safe in the knowledge his horse has plenty of stamina to see out this extended mile. He had been in solid form earlier in the winter, placing third at both Lingfield and Southwell, so has the consistency to retain his form here.

JAWAAB 4.45 – Southwell (6/1)

The Richard Guest yard has been busy this winter and in good form throughout and he has two representatives here, of which Jawaab looks the stronger.

Guest was able to improve the gelding even at the relatively late stage in his career last winter, winning a Wolverhampton handicap from a mark of 80 as well as landing a hurdle in the autumn. However of more significance was his game victory over 11f here, his only appearance to date on this Fibresand surface. He acted well on the track, so it is a surprise this is his first outing here since. It is also worth noting that win came on slower than usual ground during the cold snap at that time, with the ground expected to ride similarly slow today.

Some moderate runs on Polytrack have seen his mark tumble in recent weeks to 68, but he did run much better when 4th at Wolverhampton last month, suggesting he is coming back to something like his best. If he handles Southwell as well as he did last time, he is now on a rating that puts him best in at the weights here.

Southwell 2.15 – HEIDI’S DELIGHT (3/1)

A quite competitive sprint handicap here with the vast majority of the ten strong field having some sort of a claim. The selection Heidi’s Delight is a horse who impressed me when winning on her penultimate start and despite her rise in the weights, she looks capable of going close again today.

The application of blinkers seems to have been the catalyst for the filly’s improvement on her last two starts and we will hope that they will continue to inspire her today. The daughter of Red Clubs has produced a fine burst of speed, both in the race she won , and also on her most recent effort ,when she struck for home possibly a little too soon before getting reeled in by Mj Woodward in the last furlong.

It does worry me somewhat that this is a slightly stronger race today, but this filly could well appreciate dropping to the minimum trip and she looks to have the gears to be right in the thick of the action at the business end.

Wolverhampton 3.00 – MASTER OF DANCE (7/2)

A tight little contest here featuring a few in-form rivals, but I will give the nod to Master of Dance, who shaped very well on each of his last two starts, filling the runner up spot behind two progressive rivals.

He caught the eye at Lingfield a fortnight ago, finishing well from off the pace behind the useful Prince of Burma and was again doing his best work at the finish behind Daniel Thomas here a few days ago.

Both those efforts suggest his turn is not far off and although facing a couple of very capable opponents, the selection is dropping slightly in grade today. The stable form of Keith Dalgleish is another plus and he could well upset the two market leaders.

That of course was proven again last weekend after Mick “BIGMICKG” Graydon went extremely close to giving Ireland its first European Poker Tour (EPT) title.

EPT Deauville which took place over the past week is one of the major EPT stops of the year. With a strong field featuring top pros such as Liv Boeree, EPT veteran Luca Pagano, Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Jake Cody to name a few, Mick Graydon found himself battling through the tough field and reaching the final table.

Graydon who recently had a nice score in one of the major TCOOP events, found himself fighting for the €875,000 first prize on an extremely tough final table that featured EPT’s main man, Luca Pagano.

After an amazing grind, entering the final table short stacked, unfortunately Graydon was the 8th place finisher bagging himself €67,200 for his efforts. Mick pushed A-9 offsuit from middle position with ten big blinds but unfortunately for him ran into the chip leader, Paul Guichard’s A-K.

Graydon however was not the only Irish player over the weekend to run deep in a major tournament. A group of Irish lads made their way over to the EMOP (European Masters Of Poker) to try and win the first place prize of €52,000.

Two Irish players reached the final table of the event as Connie O’Sullivan and Kevin Spillane battled through a tough field and found themselves battling it out for the trophy along with the other final tablists.

Unfortunately once again it was not to be with O’Sullivan busting out in 8th for a very nice €6,690 place and Spillane busting in 4th for a fantastic payday of €14,320

- Eoghan O’Mahony

In terms of eye catchers, it was hard to look past Kerry in the big game on Saturday night. To beat the All Ireland champions by six points in Croke Park is no mean achievement. To do so when so many of your forwards leave their shooting boots at home, including an incredibly reliable freetaker like Bryan Sheehan, is extremely impressive. Kerry were clearly the much more motivated side in this game and the way they starved the Dublin forward line of possession was hugely worrying from Pat Gilroy’s perspective. If the Dublin full forward line misfired, he could console himself in the knowledge that the Brogans would soon be back – he can take no such consolation in terms of the diamond sector, where he had most of his key players available. Of course the gap in fitness will be bridged over time, but for now Kerry look like they will be hard to stop, during the next few weeks at least.

Meath, Tyrone and Galway were the most impressive winners in division two, though time may tell that Louth’s win over Westmeath in a disappointing game at Haggardstown was the most significant result of the lot. For Peter Fitzpatrick, the trip to Clones in Round 4 becomes the big game on the horizon now. A win there and he’ll have head to head advantage over the two counties most likely to be battling the drop alongside the Wee County. At the top end of the table, Galway can look forward to their next two games at home to Louth and away to Westmeath with great excitement after securing a fantastic result at Celtic Park. Realistically, Tyrone, Kildare and Meath are now their main rivals in this divison – all three have to travel west before the league is over. 7/2 with Boylesports and Bet365 about outright success for Galway looks very attractive for now.

Finally to division three, where Longford cut through Offaly in fine style and earned their place on top of the table. In truth however this result said as much about Offaly as it did about Longford. All four home teams came through in varying degrees of comfort, with Sligo very unlucky not to take something from their trip to Casement Park. The Yeats County have four home games and two trips to Cavan and Offaly still to come – manager Kevin Walsh will know that promotion is still very much on the table for his team if they can build on the potential they displayed up north. 15/2 with Ladbrokes may yet turn out to be an over-reaction from the Magic Sign.

If not and your patriotism got the better of you on Sunday afternoon it’s time to get back on the horse and our DAILY DOUBLE!

Liverpool welcome Spurs in what promises to be an entertaining fixture of Monday night football.

Before lumping on Harry’s free scoring Hotspurs take a moment to consider the fact that Liverpool haven’t lost at home all season.

Sitting seventh, the Reds are much further down the table than they would like but recent performances have been encouraging.

Tottenham will be just as eager to improve their position and put some pressure on United in second.

The 3-2 loss to Man City a forth night ago has been the only blip on an otherwise emphatic January from the North Londoners.

With the recent form of both sides considered both teams to score @ 8/11 and over 2.5 match goals also @ 8/11 warrant a peak.

Given how evenly matched these two sides are, the draw @ 9/4 can’t be ruled out as a real possibility.

However Spurs (+1) @ 4/6 stands out to me as a cracking bet well worth a large stake.

Elsewhere in La Liga, 8th place Malaga look to reiterate their European credentials away to 18th place strugglers Granada.

Both clubs ended poor runs last time out with victories and this is a relatively big game with valuable points at stake.

Malaga have received a lot of financial investment in recent seasons and expectations are high as ever in the south of Spain.

Relegation threatened Granada will desperately scrap for points at home and won’t be easily beaten so the draw @ 11/5 could come off.

I don’t fully trust Malaga to do the job so Malaga Draw No Bet @ 4/6 is that bit safer.

Daily Double:
Spurs (+1) @ 4/6
Malaga Draw No Bet @ 4/6
Double @ Just Under 2/1

On the soccer front, Laurence McCormack correctly suggested new Toon hero Demba Cisse to score anytime against Villa (17/10) and the Senegalese obliged in style. We’ll leave the last word to Michael Hughes however who left a trail of destruction behind him in the bookies.

13-2 – Celtic 2-0 win
5-1 – Demba Ba 1st scorer
7-2 – Blackpool win
3-1 – Sergio Aguero 1st scorer
5-2 – Robin van Persie 1st scorer
12-5 – Atletico Madrid-Valencia Draw
2-1 – Brighton win
11-10 – Newcastle win
Evs – Norwich win
17-20 – Over 2.5 goals QPR-Wolves
4-9 – Celtic win

WHAT A DREAM 3.10 Ayr (7/4)
The application of a tongue-strap for the first time brought about a big return to form for What a Dream at Wetherby last time, and with the same equipment applied today, he can land his first race at the 12th attempt.

A half-brother to the stable star Lie Forrit, (who runs earlier on the card) What a Dream showed decent form over hurdles last season without winning, notably when a staying on 2nd at Kelso over 2m6f on soft ground.  He will therefore have no trouble with either trip or ground.  After a couple of modest efforts over fences, things fell into place nicely last time and he looked the likely winner turning for home.  However a bad mistake three out, followed by a couple of jumps out to his right let in Petroglyph to catch him late on.

Hopefully some schooling sessions will have put his jumping right for today and the opposition looks moderate – both Proud Times and Mighty Magnus are weak finishers, Quacity does not seem to be putting it all in at the moment, whilst connections are still trying to find the right distance and ground for Saddle Pack.  Therefore this looks an ideal opportunity for the selection.

LOCKSTOWN 3.40 Ayr (13/2)
Apart from a moderate run last time out, Lockstown has shown great improvement this winter and can resume his upward curve at Ayr this afternoon.

Placed in more than half his career races (winning five) Lockstown won two chases in November through stamina and a real will to win under pressure.  Perhaps his best run though was in defeat next time at Kelso, when just failing by a head to peg back Eyre Square in the Scottish Borders National over 4m.  He was disappointing at Haydock when a distant fourth last time, but the ground was borderline raceable on the day and he could have been feeling the effect of three hard recent races.

A six week break should have freshened him up somewhat, and we know he handles Ayr well as he was an impressive 15l winner over hurdles on his only previous appearance here.  Graham Lee resumes his partnership with the gelding today, and rides him especially well having ridden him to four wins in the past.