Alan Curbishley’s Goaldash picks for this Saturday

By Mirror Football in Fantasy Football Blog

Published 11:49 23/02/12

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As this week's guest manager of Goaldash, Alan Curbishley shares his 6 selections:

I’m looking forward to giving you a helping hand over the next month for each week's Goaldash. I think Goaldash looks a lot of fun and I hope that my tips can win you and my chosen charity some cash!

After last week’s FA Cup 5th Round, the Barclays Premier League and a full npower Football League programme returns this week. With many teams not playing last week, who will be amongst the early goals on Saturday?

I’ve gone for a mixture of teams but whether you decide to follow my tips or pick your own, you can win £1Million by playing Goaldash for just £1 per play!

So, let’s get started. My Selections for Saturday 25th February £1Million Goaldash are:

3 – Birmingham

9 – Cowdenbeath

18 – Hartlepool

20 – Huddersfield

28 – Newcastle

33 – QPR

Birmingham – They’re on a good run of form at the moment in both the league and the cup having drawn at Chelsea. Confidence is high so I can see them getting an early goal on Saturday.

Cowdenbeath – I’ve seen a little Scottish football this season and know that Cowdenbeath are flying high. They’re very strong at home.

Hartlepool – They’re set up to score goals and I fancy them to grab an early one this week.

Huddersfield – Having seen Lee Clark leave, Huddersfield have replaced him quickly in Simon Grayson. I think they’ll be keen to impress the new manager.

Newcastle – If you look at Newcastle’s home form, they’re very strong. They’ll be looking to bounce back from the Tottenham result a few weeks back and I think the home crowd can help them achieve that.

QPR – Like Newcastle, QPR have had a few weeks off since they last played and I’m sure Mark Hughes will have told them the importance of this Saturday’s game. I expect them to come out all guns blazing.

I hoped you enjoyed last week's FA Cup 5th Round last weekend and yet again we saw some great cup ties being contested. Although Tottenham were taken to a replay by Stevenage, I’m tipping Tottenham to win the FA Cup this season.

Tottenham still have to get through a difficult replay but if they do get through they are then drawn to face Bolton at home which will be hard game for Owen Coyle’s men. From there, you’re in the Semi Finals at Wembley and I just feel Spurs have what it takes to win the FA Cup this season.

With the FA Cup still fresh in everyone's minds, Goaldash asked me for my 'TOP SIX' memories from the FA Cup over the years as a player, a manager and a football fan, starting with the FA Cup Final in 1964

1. West Ham 3-2 Preston – FA Cup Final 1964 – As a West Ham fan, this is one that I loved. Ronnie Boyce scored the winner and later became my youth team coach when I joined the club.

2. Chelsea 2-1 Leeds – FA Cup Final Replay 1970 – The thing I remember from this game is Ian Hutchinson’s throw. It was the first time I’d really seen the long throw used in the game. Leeds were so dominant back then but they didn’t know how to deal with it and Dave Webb managed to bundle a long throw in to win the cup for Chelsea.

3. Sunderland 1-0 Leeds – FA Cup Final 1973 – I know many people mention this game because Sunderland were a second division side but I just remember the amount of saves that Jimmy Montgomery in the Sunderland goal made.

4. Arsenal 3-2 Manchester United – FA Cup Final 1979 – This game will always be remembered for Alan Sunderland’s goal in the last minute after United had come from 2-0 down and had only equalised a minute earlier.

5. Tottenham 3-2 Manchester City – FA Cup Final Replay 1981 – This is another obvious one because of Rickie Villa’s second goal which was just amazing.

6. Liverpool 3-3 West Ham – FA Cup Final 2005 – This game had everything. It really was a great game which included Steven Gerrard’s stunning equalising goal right at the death.

After an interesting few days in football I couldn’t let my first week as Goaldash's Manager of the Month pass without sharing a more light hearted story from my time in football, this one occurred whilst I played under Jim Smith at Birmingham City.

I played with Mark Dennis at Birmingham and things seemed to just happen when Mick was about. Mark once had a falling out with our manager Jim Smith on the training ground. After training, we were all walking back to our cars which were all parked quite close to the training pitches.

The groundsman was out painting the white lines on the pitches, so Mick thought it would be a good idea to paint Jim’s brand new Jaguar. He only painted the tyres and the windows before we all hid in the bushes waiting for the boss to come out. His face was a picture. I still don’t think he knows who did it.

Good luck with Goaldash this coming Saturday and I look forward to catching up next week.

For your chance to win £1Million with Goaldash, simply pick the 6 teams you think will score the 6 quickest goals. Goaldash is only £1 per play and there is no limit to the amount of times you can play each week. All matches kick off at 3pm but you must play before 2.45pm. There are some great cash pay-outs for correctly selecting the quickest 3, 4 or 5 teams to score.

Goaldash has given Alan Curbishley a free play and he has kindly offered to donate any winnings to Nordoff Robbins – A music therapy charity for autistic children.

Good luck this week!

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