Yes, I had been thinking the very same myself, Gem.
Venus, Lady of both hour and asc in her detriment and cadent does not help the favourite. We had a game last week under a similar condition. I also recall a chart where I gave precedence to the Lord of the Day because the Lord of the hour was weak and in the background. In the Chelsea-Wigan game Venus was in her own terms. I noted that the game was played on the Day of the Moon with a resonance between Moon and Venus; similar powers. This rather offers protection than mischief. Therefore I think we should take particular note of this draw! It is an interesting example!

In horary questions; When the lord of the Hr and Asc is the same planet, the charts offer comfort and is resolved in a positive manner, but the question often gets asked back to front; ie. the querent asks whether the ship is cast away instead of asking whether it is safe.

In which way can an event chart show something that is set up back to front? We know that Wigan scored on extra time. Who won the toss, or rather, who had the first kick at the ball? Chelsea?

There seems to be an assumption here that Moon opp POF means that the fave will lose. At worst I think it means that the fave will not win, i.e. possibly a draw, but isn't it really just another testimony to be taken into consideration with other testimonies for and against? I'm not sure where it stands in the hierarchy of testimonies but I'm wondering if we're giving it too much importance.

The Sheff Wed/Plymouth game which kicked off at the same time as Chelsea/Wigan also ended in a 1-1 draw. I think we'd agree that this is unusual! As I've said before, when a game isn't a one-off I think we should be wary of drawing any astrological conclusions from it.

There wasn't a fat lot of football being played in England yesterday but I looked around Europe and there seemed to be a lot of queer results occuring on the same evening. This sometimes appears to happen. There could be an overall factor that should be taken into consideration.

Like in horary; The Sun sets the main scene and the Moon tells what is happening.

In my opinion the meridian, MC-IC, could quite easily be considered Solar, while the horizon, Asc-Des, could be lunar. The Sun might reveal some information regarding how the favourites are due to perform on a certain day, or whether there is going to be a lot of draws. Then the Moon modifies.

Remember the plague of draws when the Sun was in Capricorn in trine to its dispositor Saturn in Virgo. Then there were som spectacular suprizes when the Sun conjunct Uranus...

There could be an overall factor that should be taken into consideration.

I agree. Another example which comes to mind is Moon square Sun last Saturday when only two out of seven Prem games were won by faves. Six of these games were played at the same time and I've noticed before in these 3pm games that the Sun/Moon relationship can sometimes be a general indicator of how the faves will fare.

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How do we read the Solar testimony, though? Anyone got any ideas?

I read article of our russian astro-specialist where he said about malefic effect on favorite:
1) Square configurations between MOON and SUN, VENUS and in lesser degree MERCURY
2) High number of planets in Feminine signs
3) MOON in aspect with BLACK MOON
4) CARDINAL CROSS
5) MOON IN WATER TRIPLICITY espesially in SCOPRION

That's good input, UBER. I was wondering whether there could be any sensible interaction between the Sun and the hour of the Day (since the hour would obviously be lunar), but it is foreign terrain and I have not been able to come up with any good thesis yet. The closest major aspect to the Sun could be significant (applying?), but then it might be necessary to know why this received precedence in comparison with other chart factors. I quite frankly haven't got a clue at the moment and would have to watch a few matches to see whether anything met the eye.

Everton-Cheslea, April 17., 19.00 GMT
Odds: 3,20 3,25 2,20
Asc 26LI16 MC 5LE55 Moon 28VI22 VOC, POF 26PI29
The day is played on the Dy of Jupiter, Hr of Mercury. Venus is Lady of asc and in the same triplicity and sign as Mercury, LHr. But Venus, L1, is cadent; Moon is VOC, Mercury, LHr., is VOC and the Sun, L10, is VOC...

I would either declare this chart not fit to be judged, or give some advantage to the home team, Everton, who are not favourites by odds - seeing that the Lord of Hr and Lady of asc are in the same sign. I move the result away from the favourites, Chelsea, and go for a draw.

Everton v Chelsea

I'm going for a draw on this also.

Chart noted to be radical by triplicity, which has been suggested tends to a draw. Moon VoC.

MC ruler sat on the descendant. I take the sun to be controlled by the descendant, rather than it having influence over the 7th. Descendant ruler weak and not enough to take victory. I have Chelsea as the ascendant.

I have Chelsea as the ascendant.

I didn't know what to do on this question, John. Everton are only 3 places behind Chelsea in the table. I found myself asking whether it was necessary to decide who is the ascendant. In some cases it might not be required, or rather, there could be at least two ways of getting at a game; home team/away team, favourite/underdog.

With all those VOC planets I guess the game could go anywhere, but the best guess is probably that it goes nowhere - as we already have suggested. If anyone else can make heads or tails of the chart, please comment.

Ficina has probably got the scoreline drawn up already. Will the angular planets provide some excitement?

Andrew, I agree with your sentiments about the game and quantity of VoC planets. The ascendant does seem academic if a draw is being suggested.

I tried the colour method, I think it was last month which seemed to start my spectacular run of "near misses" on predictions On the basis that the prediction does not go according to plan, I felt it right just to record how I viewed the ascendant in any subsequent discussion.