Remember when Darren Bent was the next big thing? When he burst onto the Premier League with Charlton in 05/06 and scored fifty goals over two seasons before that big move to Spurs? Does anyone remember how he was going to be leading England’s line in for ten years and be a key figure of the national team for years to come?
No, me neither. Nevertheless, I was interested to see how he is doing these days. The Spurs, Aston Villa and Sunderland flop is playing his trade at Derby County these days and Bent started his side’s FA Cup game against neighbours Leicester City. This game was scheduled for a Friday night. I don’t know how many people would want to spend the final night of the working week with Gary ‘Chrispman’ Lineker, Robbie ‘Tango-tan’ Savage and Alan ‘Mr Personality Man’ Shearer. Well folks, that is how my night was spent. To top it off, I was made to watch Paul Ince fangirl over his own son Tom, who plays for Derby, which made me uncomfortable so god only knows what Dan Walker was feeling when doing the summarising.
My first impressions of the centre forward were not good, it has to be said. He decided to kick the ball into his own net at a corner to give the visitors the lead and give an excuse to sing “Champions of England you’ll never sing that!” Derby won back to back Championships in the 1960’s under Brian Clough. Ouch. My second impression was much better than the first, a superb header from a Will Hughes cross hit the net to make it 1-1 and spare Bent’s immediate blushes.
Sandra Redknapp would have been proud of that, but then again she could have scored a similar header so it’s not that big of a deal really! Apart from that Bent didn’t do a great deal, being a big of a goal hanger his skill level is very poor for a guy who played in the Premier League for nine years. In fact he looked like a non-league striker for the majority of the game, running around chasing after balls aimlessly.
This game was a clear example of Bent’s career as a whole. The sublime, the ridiculous then the anonymous goes to show where Bent has gone wrong. The Championship is definitely his level. Sandra Redknapp can now sleep at night knowing her spot is safe in the Spurs all time greatest striker list.