It’s been a tough few years for Yorkshire-born performance poet and singer Matt Abbott. After earning a modicum of success during the MySpace boom a few years ago, he was brought back to earth when he parted ways with Mercury Records in 2010: the label shelved his band’s debut offering Love And Other Catastrophes. Undeterred, he’s dusted himself down and made This Sporting Life and, for the most part, it’s a pleasing effort that’s full of witty lines peppered with equal amounts of romance and realism (‘Maria, Full Of Grace’). Unfortunately though, the music lacks a little imagination, making what could have been a great album, a decent one instead. But the good news is that he’s still in the game.