GIANTS WIN AT WEMBLEY
The Giants emerged victorious yesterday as the NFL came to London for the first ever regular season game outside the US.
Almost 82,000 fans packed into Wembley as Eli Manning's 10-yard sprint and seven points from the boot of Scottish-born kicker Lawrence Tynes was enough to hand New York a 13-10 victory and condemn the Miami Dolphins to an eight straight defeat in the regular season and their eleventh competitive defeat, stretching back to last season.
On a muddy pitch in wet conditions in North London, the Dolphins were left to rue individual errors which handed the game to the Giants. Stand-in Quarterback Cleo Lemon fumbled with just 26 seconds of the first half remaining to allow Tynes to kick what proved to be a decisive field goal on the stroke of half-time.
After the Dolphins did eventually find the end-zone through Ted Ginn Jr with two minutes remaining, Jay Feely's restart went out of bounds to allow the Giants to run down the clock, much to the displeasure of the crowd who booed Manning's time-wasting tactics.
Talks are already well underway for a repeat event next year with both players and fans enjoying the historic event.
Of course, it had all the American razzmatazz that we all expected, with The Feeling and the Dolphin's cheerleaders providing the pre-game entertainment but both coaches were full of praise for the welcome they receieved from the British fans.
Giants coach Tom Coughlin said after the game "Our team was very proud to be here in London. The people have been wonderful to us. The stadium is beautiful."
"It was a difficult game for us. We thought we were in pretty good shape defensively for a long time.
"But nevertheless, on the last drive [for Miami] to score in those situations was a shocker to me."
Dolphin's coach Cam Cameron was equally impressed with Wembley, but rues the errors which cost his side.
"I can't imagine a game being put together better than this. The hospitality was like none I've ever seen.
"As it relates to the game, I told our guys you can't make that many mistakes, especially in the scoring zone. We weren't able to overcome those mistakes."
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