Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

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• Saturday Sundae: big day for owners of squirrel outfits in Scunthorpe
• Bristol City open door to safe standing at British football grounds | Owen Gibson
• Tottenham Hotspur's seven signings struggle to light up the Lane
• David Moyes confident in David de Gea's role with Manchester United
• Fans' help finally gives Hearts reason to believe in a brighter future
• Dejan Lovren puts traumas behind him to enjoy Southampton high life
• Besart Berisha fires Brisbane Roar to win over Perth Glory
• Championship roundup: Middlesbrough lucky to beat Bolton
• Sydney FC set club record winning streak with victory over Newcastle Jets
• A difficult World Cup draw may be better for Roy Hodgson and England
• Are Arsenal fnot only top but the Barcelona of the Premier League? | Tim Lewis
• It is easy to scoff but Helen Grant is not the minister of pub quizzes | Daniel Taylor
• Said & Done – the week in football: Real Madrid, Maradona and Loulou
• Real Madrid's Gareth Bale nets hat-trick against Real Valladolid
• The Agenda: Leo Messi's book, World Cup balls and Darren Barker boxing
• Since retiring I have discovered the true magic of the FA Cup | David James
• Doncaster Rovers 2-1 QPR | Championship match report
• Jol admits he could be sacked
• Football coaches determined to improve young Africans' sex education
• Newcastle 2-1 West Brom
• Newcastle United v West Bromwich Albion – as it happened | Scott Murray
• Gary Phillips' late strike for Albion knocks Motherwell out of Cup
• Football League: your thoughts | John Ashdown
• Leicester City 3-0 Millwall | Championship match report
• Watford 0-3 Yeovil Town | Championship match report

Saturday Sundae: big day for owners of squirrel outfits in Scunthorpe Posted: 30 Nov 2013 03:06 PM PST There was a run on squirrel outfits, unlikely as that may sound, in Scunthorpe, while Kenwyne Jones has a bad hair day MAN OF THE DAY 19 years old, a first Premier League start, a peach-sweet goal and an assist– Gerard Deulofeu's big day out trumps Aaron Ramsey. STAT OF THE DAY Mesut Özil's passing game should be crisp for £42.5m and £150,000-a-week. But a 100% pass completion rate in the first half at Cardiff remains pretty special. Miss of the day A long, diagonal ball fired to Villa's back stick was prodded in to Emanuele Giaccherini's path. Too busy planning his celebration – a flying jump, a knee slide, a shirt-removal or maybe a double fist pump? - he fired over from three yards. GESTURES OF THE DAY Fans at Newcastle v West Brom marked the two-year anniversary of Gary Speed's death with applause, while Cardiff's fans applauded Arsenal's "One Pat Rice" tribute. SHARPEST EXIT Before facing Birmingham, Barnsley's beleagured David Flitcroft tipped the match as the moment their form would turn. "I live for wins." They lost 3-0, and he was sacked. THEME OF THE DAY Scunthorpe fans responded to the club's request not to dress up as squirrels by dressing up as squirrels. The dress code – mocking returning manager Alan Knill's infamous bicycle crash with a squirrel – resulted in local fancy dress shops reporting a "run on squirrel outfits". BEARD OF THE DAY A tough day for Stoke – but at least their players put some effort in to being nicely turned out: Kenwyne Jones debuting this devilish dyed-red beard. Scunthorpe theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Bristol City open door to safe standing at British football grounds | Owen Gibson Posted: 30 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST A redeveloped Ashton Gate could be the first stadium to bring fans to their feet again as the mood among Premier League and Championship clubs shifts away from all-seater stadiums On Wednesday night, in two very different settings 800km apart, the prospect of supporters again standing, legally, to watch top-flight football in England edged closer. In Leverkusen, before a 5-0 away victory in a country known for its fan-friendly atmosphere, Manchester United supporters' groups examined the hybrid "rail" seating they would like to see introduced at home. Meanwhile, in the south-west of England, Bristol City were given council planning permission for a £40m redevelopment of Ashton Gate as a joint rugby and football stadium. With a capacity of up to 29,000, the plans include standing areas with 3,152 rail seats that could be flipped up or down as required to allow safe standing behind chest-high rails. The revamped stadium could open in August 2015 if, as seems likely, the club chooses the plan over an alternative scheme to build a new ground that has become mired in planning issues. The bold move at the proposed new Ashton Gate, which a Bristol City spokesman said was a direct result of fan consultation that demanded a hybrid of modern facilities and old-fashioned atmosphere, is seen by campaigners as a key staging post in their battle to convince authorities of the merits of safe standing. Almost 20 years since the Taylor Report made all-seater stadiums mandatory in the top two divisions, the mood is undoubtedly shifting. Premier League and Championship clubs consider safe standing a serious possibility. Ed Woodward, the Manchester United chief executive, is keen to thaw relations with fan groups that have hardened into permafrost during the Glazer era and has said he is open to considering the introduction of German-style safe-standing rail seats at Old Trafford. At Arsenal, Arsène Wenger has said he agrees "100%" with safe standing while the chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, has said: "Why would you be against it, if you can do it safely?" A series of fan surveys, most recently at Arsenal and Aston Villa, suggest that, on average, nine in 10 fans would support its introduction. Manchester City, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Swansea, Cardiff, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Hull are among clubs actively in favour of exploring the idea. The major exception is Liverpool, who say they wish to respect the families of the 96 who died at Hillsborough. But, even on Merseyside, there is a growing feeling that the disaster – caused by poor policing and an unsafe ground – and the grave injustices that followed should be disentangled from the subject of standing. Around the country, it is being discussed in fan meetings and boardrooms, helped by the fact that, as reported in the Observer earlier this month, many clubs are actively looking for ways to improve atmosphere. "If you put rail seats in as an all-seater solution, by demonstrating how safe that was, a lot of opposition would melt away," said Duncan Drasdo, the chief executive of the Manchester United Supporters' Trust. He argues that the £100 per seat invested in installing the German-style seats, which flip up for league matches and can be put down for European ties, is good for fans and good for clubs. "It's a sensible option to go for," he said. "There are a number of clubs that recognise how important the atmosphere is because it feeds into the TV product and the revenue. It's very hard to conclude that this is anything other than a better solution for supporters." Those in favour of safe standing have had some success in banishing images of crumbling terraces filled with swaying or brawling masses in favour of a modern, safe solution that generates more atmosphere and is more fan friendly. "Club officials look out across the crowd at big games and see thousands of fans standing in seated areas. It's not ideal from a crowd management point of view so you can see why more and more are coming to the conclusion that safe standing areas are the solution," said a spokesman for the Football Supporters' Federation. "Standing generates a better atmosphere – if you're in church you stand up to sing. Many who prefer to sit still back safe standing too, as separate areas mean they are less likely to have their view blocked." Proponents of rails argue that it is safer than the current scenario, when fans are more likely to bruise their shins on the seat in front and upset those sitting behind. Also, the argument runs, it removes conflict between fans and stewards because everyone is clear about whether they are in a standing or sitting area. Even in all-seater stadiums, some clubs are going down this path, whether tacitly or officially. As for the Championship, the Football League board has been mandated by clubs to look into the practicalities of changing the rules and trialling rail seats and is expected to report back in February. In Scotland, Celtic are committed to exploring the introduction of safe standing and are not subject to the same laws as England and Wales regarding all-seater stadiums. Whether or not the German system could be introduced without changing the law is open to argument, and quickly dissolves into a discussion about when a seat is not a seat. Most of those backing the move believe that the rail system qualifies as a seat and as long as the local council agreed and the conditions of admission were altered accordingly there would be no impediment to installing them. The Sports Ground Safety Authority, responsible for licensing all 92 grounds each year, believes the law prevents such a move and it would require a change in secondary legislation. The SGSA's chief executive, Ruth Shaw, said: "While we recognise that there are some fans who may prefer to stand, our view is that seating is generally safer, more comfortable and enables better crowd management. It can also help to create a more inclusive and diverse environment." The Football Association also continues to support the policy of all-seater stadiums, while the Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, appears unwilling to reopen the debate. "Every issue in football is noisier than it used to be," he said. "If clubs are improving their dialogue with supporters you're inevitably going to get situations where an individual from a club is facing a series of questions from supporters who all want to see a return to standing. "The easiest thing to say is that it's something we're prepared to look at. And most clubs are prepared to look at it, but safe in the knowledge that the likelihood of the legislation changing and the likelihood of the Premier League or FA changing their position is slim." Yet some believe they are nearing a point where the necessary two-thirds majority in the Premier League would be in favour of trials. In reality, any move would need government approval, whether or not it required a change in the law. It is understood that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport would be prepared to consider the matter but only if the various football bodies, the police and licensing authorities give their blessing. Political expediency and memories of the 70s and 80s suggest it would take a lot of persuasion to change the status quo but if the pressure builds, Bristol City may be the unlikely standard bearers for a standing revolution. Jon Darch, who runs the Safe Standing Roadshow and has demonstrated rail seats around the country, believes that the campaign is gathering pace. "What better TV product to sell around the world than a mixture of the football on the pitch in the Premier League and the atmosphere in the stands in the Bundesliga? And you could do it now, Mr Scudamore." Premier League Football League Bundesliga Bristol City Owen Gibson theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Tottenham Hotspur's seven signings struggle to light up the Lane Posted: 30 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST The blueprint for success that prompted Spurs to invest £110m in a new-look squad has looked far from secure It was not supposed to be like this for André Villas-Boas and Tottenham. Three months after assembling a new-look squad for £110m, the manager's blueprint for success during his second season at the club is threatening to go up in smoke. Sunday's Premier League match against Manchester United could not have arrived at a more decisive time. In reality a victory could propel Spurs back into the top four and ease the pressure on Villas-Boas, whose November was an unmitigated disaster. However, Spurs have not beaten United at White Hart Lane in 12 years and the wounds of last weekend's 6-0 defeat at Manchester City are still raw. Villas-Boas, whose side won four of their first five league games this season, secured one point from a possible nine in November. Early form has dissipated and Tottenham, while full of zest and energy at the start of the campaign, have recently resembled a collection of individuals still acclimatising to their new surroundings. Perhaps it is no surprise, given the myriad signings that arrived during Gareth Bale's protracted move to Real Madrid. Villas-Boas brought in seven players to challenge the first team while Bale, Clint Dempsey, Steven Caulker, Scott Parker and Tom Huddlestone departed. Tottenham's influx of talent was lauded. In September Michael Dawson said the squad "certainly has to be the best" he had experienced during his time at the club. Harry Redknapp argued that it was the strongest group in the Premier League following the introduction of Paulinho, Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches and Nacer Chadli. After an encouraging opening Villas-Boas's side have appeared increasingly disjointed, as selection has rotated, with injuries a factor and performances faltering. Lamela, in particular, has appeared at a low ebb. The 21-year-old, signed for a club-record fee of £30m from Roma, has shown glimpses of quality in his 12 appearances but played on the left wing rather than his preferred right at Eastlands last weekend and has suffered due to the impressive form of Andros Townsend, registering only one goal in the Europa League. Soldado, signed for £26m from Valencia, scored a fine effort at Aston Villa but his remaining three league goals have all come from the penalty spot, with the Spaniard often appearing isolated and cut off from his midfield team-mates. Paulinho has arguably been the most impressive acquisition. The Brazilian has performed consistently in midfield without being electric, while the performances of Christian Eriksen, who was magnificent on his debut against Norwich, dipped slightly before he injured his ankle ligaments. Then there is Etienne Capoue, who looked formidable early in the season but injured an ankle and has yet to resurface. Vlad Chiriches has done reasonably well at centre-half alongside Dawson, with Jan Verthongen moving to left-back, while Nacer Chadli has not featured in the league since September. Villas-Boas now faces the difficult task of revitalising a squad out of form, albeit following some solid displays in Europe, and preparing them for the daunting visit of United, who thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday. Tottenham's dip has coincided with a number of controversies at the club. Villas-Boas's reaction to the Hugo Lloris head injury sustained against Everton was puzzling, the manager claiming a number of specialists were wrong in suggesting the goalkeeper should have been withdrawn from the action, while his criticism of the home support the previous week was arguably more damaging, saying the White Hart Lane crowd created a "very tense, difficult atmosphere". After the capitulation at City Villas-Boas lambasted his players and claimed they should be ashamed of their performance, with senior members of the club's hierarchy becoming increasingly disgruntled. Before game the Manchester United manager, David Moyes, said he expected Spurs to challenge for a place in the top four this season and claimed that the plethora of new arrivals would take some time to settle. "I think Tottenham have started the season well," said Moyes. "They have a lot of new people in the squad and only a couple of weeks ago they were flying and everybody was doing well. I don't think they are any worse than last year but they are trying to bed down a lot of new players. I think they are contenders to be in the top four and are a knocking bet to be in the top six." Asked if he thought Villas-Boas was under pressure and potentially facing the sack, Moyes added: "I don't see how people can say that. It is hardly worth answering because I don't personally see that. That is just somebody starting a story." Villas-Boas's misery was compounded in Tromso on Thursday when a home fan was removed from the stadium for directing a chant of "you're getting sacked in the morning" at the Portuguese. A few thousand more people may repeat that chorus on Sunday, as Villas-Boas attempts to get Tottenham's campaign back on track. Tottenham Hotspur André Villas-Boas David Hytner theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

David Moyes confident in David de Gea's role with Manchester United Posted: 30 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST The goalkeeper has grown in stature, says United's manager, and will become better still with age Manuel Pellegrini is so fed up with fielding questions about Joe Hart he now provides his own update before anyone asks in an attempt to kill the issue. There were times in the past couple of seasons when Sir Alex Ferguson must have felt like doing the same with David de Gea, whereas for David Moyes the subject of goalkeeping gaffes has simply never arisen. It is almost a year since De Gea's last brush with unwanted attention, when Gary Neville not only criticised the weak punch that allowed Tottenham Hotspur to claim a late equaliser at White Hart Lane but suggested the United dressing room would also be letting the goalkeeper know how little they were impressed. De Gea returns to Spurs on Sunday a little older and perhaps a little wiser, safe in the knowledge that a blemish-free start to the season has made life easier for his new manager. "Sir Alex put in a young goalkeeper at Manchester United and there were times when he made mistakes," Moyes said. "Mistakes by goalkeepers tend to be more noticeable. That is probably why very few teams have young goalkeepers who play for them regularly and I thought it was incredibly brave of the manager to stick with David through his learning process. He brought him in and out when he felt it was the right time and, even though he is still young, he has come through a lot of things. Time is still on his side and the good thing is he is going to get better and better." One of the challenges De Gea has come through is the habit opponents developed of attempting to crowd him out at set pieces, or exploiting his perceived lack of authority in his own penalty area by testing him with as many crosses as possible. Moyes denies Everton used to do this when he was in charge at Goodison, surprisingly since high balls into the area used to be Everton's default against most teams, but believes De Gea has learned how to look after himself anyway. "I wouldn't say we ever targeted him when I was at Everton because there is a limit to what you can do towards the keeper but a lot of teams did and I think David has coped with it well," he said. "He deals with situations much better than he once did but that comes from age as well. He has grown in stature, gained confidence and has been playing really well. He made a great save for us the other night even when we were three or four goals up." André Villas-Boas suggested Spurs should be ashamed of themselves after letting their heads drop to the extent of a 6-0 rout at Manchester City last week, though Moyes does not expect another meek capitulation in front of their own fans. "They are still contenders to be in the top four. I don't think they are any worse than last season," he said. After Tottenham Moyes faces familiar opponents on Wednesday with Everton's visit to Old Trafford. "It could be an emotional evening but I am not that much of an emotional person," Moyes said. "I'll put it in the right place. The people I worked with at Everton were fantastic, the supporters were fantastic and the players were great. But I've got a new job now. I move on quite quickly." Manchester United David Moyes Tottenham Hotspur Paul Wilson theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Fans' help finally gives Hearts reason to believe in a brighter future Posted: 30 Nov 2013 03:00 PM PST Financial wrangling over the control of Heart of Midlothian may soon be over and herald a new era for the club It is now 54 weeks since Heart of Midlothian hosted St Mirren in a Scottish Premier League match which the Edinburgh club's board claimed could be the last of a 138-year history. On Sunday Hearts take on Celtic with renewed off-field hope. Last November's statement was one firmly in keeping with a spell of alarming pleas for cash from Hearts' Lithuanian board. It took another six months for the onset of administration at Tynecastle, a wreckage Hearts are finally close to being pulled from. It is appropriate, and a reminder of the excesses of the past, that only corporate affairs in Lithuania will delay the supporter-backed Foundation of Hearts, chaired by the Labour MP Ian Murray, taking control of the club. On Friday conditional approval was given to a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which would see £2.5m put towards total debts of £30m and only £1 handed over for shares. The most significant delay, and it is an unquantifiable one, surrounds the claiming of a 50% stake in Hearts by the Ukio Bankas Investment Group (Ubig). That firm has itself toppled into insolvency, thereby leaving its own creditors to decide upon Hearts' fate to a large extent. "You need to put yourself in their shoes," explains Bryan Jackson, Hearts' administrator. "They have an unsecured debt so, if the club goes into liquidation, they get nothing for their shares or their debt. We are saying, 'Give us your 50% shareholding which isn't worth anything' and they are saying, 'Why do you want it?' "We need them to effect the CVA, to which they will say, 'Well, that's very nice but we need something for our creditors if you want something from us.' We don't have anything to give but we need them [the shares]." Ubig will soon realise there is a lack of alternatives. The delivery of a successful CVA early in 2014 would finally place closure on their and Vladimir Romanov's Tynecastle era. While Romanov is routinely vilified it should be noted that the Hearts he bought shares in, nine years ago, already had debts in excess of £20m. "If you look at the debt which is being given up here, that debt would never have been paid," Jackson says. "Go back to what we inherited on day one. There was £7,000 in the bank, arrears of wages for one month, 7,000 season tickets already sold and money totally gone to pay prior debt." The Hearts wage bill, which peaked at £12m per year, has been slashed to a tenth of that figure before bonuses. Murray, to his credit, fully accepts administration has damaged Hearts' reputation. The foundation already has more than 7,500 fans making monthly pledges, three years after it was formed amid alarm at the 2012 Scottish Cup winners' financial predicament. "The staff have done a remarkable job keeping this club going and they have lost out," says Murray. "There have been redundancies, lots of business have lost out, the tax man has lost out. Hearts hasn't kept to its social responsibilities in terms of the tax man. All those issues are important. A lot of people have lost a lot of money and we have to recognise that. "The responsibility for that is in the way the club was run by the old regime," he claimed. "But there is still a responsibility there to rebuild Hearts as an institution and in the community." Jackson is merely the latest figure in Scottish football to tip-toe round complex, sensitive matters which were always prevalent when Romanov yielded power. Six years ago, during that very era, the last known and formal Lithuanian book value placed on Hearts was around £20m. Romanov himself would quote more than double that when approached by those looking to wrestle Hearts back into Scottish ownership. "They are disappointed," Jackson explains of those in Lithuania, from which Romanov has fled to Russia. "Their aspirations were for a different figure and I have sympathy for them because of figures that were being bandied about before I was even appointed or approached." One bizarre but recurring theme has been the appearance of discredited characters in Edinburgh who have taken it on themselves to contact Ubig directly to offer money for shares. Such plans lack substance and logic. "That certainly has not helped our position," Jackson admits. "I have heard the same reports. The recipients of those reports might say: 'If they are offering us that, why are you offering us nothing?' "It is really not helping the cause. In fact it is potentially derailing for us, so that is all bad news. My concern would be that something not seen as credible by us might be seen differently in Lithuania because we have knowledge and prior experience which they don't have yet. It is just disruptive." The odds remain in favour of Hearts being relegated from Scotland's top flight this season. And, indeed, Celtic bundling them out of the Scottish Cup. Yet the bigger picture around Tynecastle, at long last, is a brighter one. Hearts Scottish Premiership Scottish Premier League 2012-13 Ewan Murray theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Dejan Lovren puts traumas behind him to enjoy Southampton high life Posted: 30 Nov 2013 02:59 PM PST The Croatian centre-back is loving life in England – and is hoping to show Chelsea that he was right to reject them This time Dejan Lovren wants first impressions to last. It has not always been the case. The 24-year-old has had to overcome early ridicule in his professional and personal life to become what he is now: the linchpin of the Premier League's meanest defence and one of the signings of the season. Lovren is loving life in England. Previous adaptations have been more traumatic, the worst coming in his childhood. His was one of millions of families affected by the war in the former Yugoslavia. When he was three, Lovren and his Croatian parents had to flee his Bosnian birthplace. They found refuge in Munich and for the next seven years the young Lovren was "a happy boy, I spoke German perfectly, I went to school, I played for a little club." But the family were never granted permanent residency and when the German government deemed Croatia safe, the Lovrens were ordered to return home. It was a home that the 10-year-old Lovren hardly knew. "It was two or three years before I was happy again," he says. "It was horrible at the beginning because the guys at school were laughing at me because I didn't speak Croatian well. I was speaking but they didn't understand anything I said. But after a couple of years it got better. I took the character from Germany and from my family because they were showing me that life is tough." Once he made his reintegration successful, his football talent flourished. He eventually made it to the first team of Dinamo Zagreb, where he played in central defence alongside his hero, the former Liverpool player Igor Biscan. "He was my idol, I have great memories of playing with him," recalls Lovren in smooth English. But he was not so star-struck that he took his idol's advice when, in 2009, Chelsea tried to buy him. "He told me: 'You have to go to the Premier League, you will love it!" says Lovren, who instead joined Lyon. "I was thinking maybe it will be much easier for me to play at Lyon than at Chelsea because they had [John] Terry, [Ricardo] Carvalho and so on," he explains. "I wanted to play and improve myself. I think it was the right decision. Maybe if I had signed for Chelsea I'd just have been sitting on the bench and what is the point in that?" He will seek further vindication of his choice when Southampton take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, though he admits the wisdom of his decision did not always seem apparent when he was in France, where for a while he was more bitterly mocked than the oft-lampooned Biscan ever was at Anfield. "The criticism started directly at the beginning and that was a difficult time for me," says Lovren. "I hadn't even arrived and they were talking bad about me just because of the amount they paid for me – €10m for a 20-year-old. I didn't speak French for one and a half years; I didn't understand anything and they didn't have the time to wait for me." The French media's condemnation became so acerbic that after one performance – a 4-3 Champions League defeat to Benfica in 2010 during which Lovren played at left-back and scored a goal but was at fault for some of the opposition's – Lyon issued a press release to denounce journalists' "idée fixe" about Lovren and published statistics suggesting his display had not been as dire as reported. But the perception of him did not really change even as he became a regular at the heart of Lyon's defence. And referees evidently took a dim view of his tackling: seven red cards in three years even led him to doubt himself. "I was thinking: 'Oh my God, what am I doing?'" he says. The answer, he reckons, is that he was not doing anything differently to what he has done at Southampton since the south coast club paid £8.5m in the summer to liberate him from Ligue 1. It is just that in England the referees are different. "I was the same player in France and I think now I'm showing the quality to everybody and proving, even to myself, that I was not so bad in France. I really wasn't." Until illness led to him missing last week's defeat at Arsenal, Lovren had featured in every minute of Southampton's season, his central defensive partnership with José Fonte being one of the reasons why a once-leaky side is now the tightest in the top flight. Yet Southampton are not a defensive side; rather than sit back, they hunt the ball aggressively all over the pitch. Lovren says the club's statistics show that each player runs an average of 12km per game – that is over 2km more than Lyon said he ran in that Benfica match, where, according to Lyon's figures, he was the third most dynamic player on the pitch. Such vigorous pressing is also practised by Barcelona, whose guideline is that players must retrieve the ball within a maximum of six seconds of losing it. "Here it's two seconds," quips Lovren, who relishes his side's all-action style. "I was playing football in Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb but never like this. We play with risk but it's such a pleasure." Few outsiders foresaw Southampton challenging for the Champions League places this season but the club's manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has repeatedly insisted there is no limit to the peaks his side can scale. Lovren agrees. "We just have to believe in ourselves and go get the points," he says. No matter how the domestic campaign concludes, Lovren is confident his season will finish on a high. In the summer he is likely to be part of Croatia's World Cup squad. "For Croatians it means everything to play for the national team," he says. "Because of the past. A lot of people died in the war. It's like a duty for us to give everything." Lovren certainly does that. Southampton Chelsea Dinamo Zagreb Lyon Paul Doyle theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Besart Berisha fires Brisbane Roar to win over Perth Glory Posted: 30 Nov 2013 02:58 PM PST Brisbane defeated Perth 1-0 to claim a club record-equalling sixth home win in a row and stay top of the A-League

Championship roundup: Middlesbrough lucky to beat Bolton Posted: 30 Nov 2013 02:56 PM PST • Aitor Karanka enjoys dream home debut • Jermaine Beckford misses last-minute penalty Middlesbrough 1-0 Bolton Aitor Karanka admitted he was lucky to secure a dream home debut after Bolton won a last-minute penalty, which Jermaine Beckford missed. "It was a very emotional day for me. From the moment I signed the contract I had dreamed of the first home game and the greeting I got from our people made it very special. It nearly turned into a nightmare, but Bolton missed so I can go home happy." Grant Leadbitter scored the only goal from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute. The Bolton manager, Dougie Freedman, backed his side to bounce back after their first defeat in nine games. "It was hard for the boys because they worked very hard in that game and in the second half especially we created some good chances." And the rest ■ Burnley were knocked off the top of the table after losing 2-1 at Huddersfield – their first defeat in 12 games. ■ Blackburn secured their first win in three games: a Tommy Spurr goal enough to beat Leeds 1-0. ■ Blackpool beat struggling Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 at Bloomfield Road – goals from Ricardo Fuller and Dan Gosling leaving Wednesday six points from safety. ■ And Charlton were beaten 1-0 at home by Ipswich, with Tommy Smith's header giving the visitors back-to-back away wins. Championship Middlesbrough Bolton Wanderers Football League theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Sydney FC set club record winning streak with victory over Newcastle Jets Posted: 30 Nov 2013 02:31 PM PST Surging Sydney FC chalked up a club record fourth straight win, with new striker Ranko Despotovic again finding the net in a 2-0 win over Newcastle

A difficult World Cup draw may be better for Roy Hodgson and England Posted: 30 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST With the 2014 World Cup draw on Friday England just might benefit from finding themselves in a group of death Roy Hodgson refused to declare guiding England to the 2014 World Cup finals as his greatest achievement lest it should spoil a few happy memories in Switzerland, who also prospered under his guidance to reach America in 1994. Diplomacy might just go out of the window should England be paired with the Swiss when the World Cup groups are drawn on Friday in Brazil, for Hodgson would be delighted to face his former country instead of Germany, Spain or one of the four seeded sides from South America. Though seventh in Fifa's frequently unreliable world rankings when the seeds were determined, and therefore keeping Italy, Holland and Portugal as well as England out of the first pot, Switzerland appear to represent a weak link in the seeding arrangements As soon as they are assigned a group on Friday, everyone else will want to be in it, regardless of the fact that Ottmar Hitzfeld's players were unbeaten in qualifying or beat Spain in their opening match at the last World Cup. The only two other remotely comforting companions for England would be Colombia or Belgium, though the former have climbed to fourth in the rankings, while the latter lack recent tournament experience but appear to have some of the best players in Europe. At least England, in the pot with the lesser European nations, have a good chance of avoiding most of their immediate neighbours, though the situation is complicated by the need for one side from Europe, possibly France (the format of the draw will be decided three days in advance) to go into pot three. In Hodgson's worst nightmare England might end up in a group with Germany, Chile and Australia, even one containing Brazil and Argentina could also feature France and Mexico. While the permutations are almost endless, based on England's recent World Cups there is little point worrying in advance. For one thing England seem to be going backwards in tournaments, after the relative highs of France and Japan the form in Germany and South Africa went from bad to worse. And for another England often seem to play tougher groups better than apparently straightforward ones. All were agreed in advance that the United States, Algeria and Slovenia three years ago represented as easy a group as could be wished for. Yet England managed two goals and a single win in the group games and played so poorly it almost came as a relief when Germany drew an emphatic line under the campaign in Bloemfontein. England also struggled to hit any heights in Germany in 2006, never really impressing against Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago or Sweden in the group and Ecuador in the round of 16. However, the last time they found themselves in a group of death, in Japan, they progressed quite confidently and let Argentina and Nigeria catch the early flights home. The surprisingly easy 3-0 rout of Denmark in the first knockout round in Japan notwithstanding, England's performance against Argentina in Sapporo was about as good as World Cup football has got for this country since Graham Taylor's team failed to make it to USA 94, even if Sven-Goran Eriksson's players spent most of the second half defending for their lives. The only performance to match it was the one against Argentina in Saint-Etienne in 1998, when Glenn Hoddle's side gave the world a tantalising view of what might have been possible had David Beckham been able to keep his petulance under control or had England ever been any good in penalty shoot-outs. Heroically though England played, it is important to remember that they were only playing Argentina because of an unexpected defeat in Toulouse that allowed Romania to top the group.Hoddle said he would have preferred Argentina anyway, and in fairness Croatia did go on to reach the semi-final after dismissing Romania in the round of 16 then putting three goals past Germany. It still serves to show that just about any innocent looking World Cup group game is capable of tripping England up. With that in mind, and taking into account that if England cannot regard themselves superior to Chile (lost 2-0 at Wembley last month) or Algeria (0-0 in Cape Town in 2010) then only teams from the very last pot such as Iran or Costa Rica can be regarded as beatable, it seems pointless hoping for an easy route or a kind draw. Especially as Algeria appear to have improved since the last World Cup. Might as well hope for Brazil, France and Japan. At least we will know we have been in a tournament. Last time felt a bit like turning up at a party just to peer in through the window. England Roy Hodgson World Cup 2014 World Cup Paul Wilson theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Are Arsenal fnot only top but the Barcelona of the Premier League? | Tim Lewis Posted: 30 Nov 2013 02:00 PM PST Arsenal offer an attractive choice for the neutral fan but the numbers say another club is truly playing the beautiful game A friend of mine, an Arsenal fan, was explaining to me this week how her club's lofty standing in the Premier League was not only a triumph for Arsène Wenger's men but more holistically for football in general. Arsenal, she reasoned, were "England's Barcelona" – an elegant team committed to playing the game in a morally and intellectually superior way; right-brained players who were creative and spontaneous, using speed and stealth to tickle opponents into submission; a fusion of home-reared youngsters with previously unheralded foreigners, all curated without spiralling the club into debt. They were, in short, a team that any neutral could get behind. I don't support Arsenal but I couldn't disagree with her. Wenger has argued, "Football is an art, like dancing is an art" – and he truly lives (and dies) by that belief. After eight trophy-less years he was allowed to open the wallet this summer. He could have bought a reliable central defender or a proven goal-scorer, as everyone implored him to do, but he opted instead for an attacking midfielder – Mesut Özil for £42m – of which he already had an indulgent surfeit. It seemed insane until it became clear that Wenger was operating on a deeper conviction: if he was going down, he was doing it with the most stylistically pure Arsenal team ever. You have to admire Wenger and, with his team sitting top of the table and practically assured of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League, respect him too. After seven major titles between 1998 and 2005 he has now gone half his career in north London without winning one. The website sincearsenallastwonatrophy.co.uk details the time to the second since that 2005 FA Cup victory and links to a list of events that have taken place in the intervening period: these include the invention of Twitter and the iPad, as well as: "Six people have been arrested for kidnapping a llama and taking it on a tour of the New York subway". So Arsenal are underdogs these days and there is nothing the unaffiliated observer loves more than a team defying the odds. Still there was a problem with my friend's analysis. Hadn't she seen how smug Wenger has become in post-match interviews recently? Arsenal may play the most attractive football in northern Europe but, oh boy, do they know it. To borrow Tony Cascarino's favourite phrase, if Arsenal were an ice cream they'd lick themselves to death. But the question remains: if not Arsenal's beautiful footballers, who should the neutral fan root for? Surely not Manchester United (too popular) or Manchester City (too spoiled). Liverpool are out (Luis Suárez) and so clearly are Chelsea (John Terry, Ashley Cole, take your pick). Cursory research suggests Fulham might be an appropriate choice. Craven Cottage is the only stadium in Britain to have a specific "mixed" area called "Little Switzerland" set aside for spectators. It's a sweet concept but the team is a mess this season and, if you are going to have a secret soft spot for a club, then it's perhaps advisable not to pick one that's embroiled in a season-long relegation battle. Where does this leave the neutral fan or the person who supports a lower-league team and is looking for some Super Sunday action? Assuming some basic criteria: 1) a team that plays attractive, attacking football; and 2) a team whose figurehead player has not been found guilty of racially abusing an opponent – there are some obvious candidates: Swansea, Southampton and any team that Roberto Martínez manages, because he's clearly a good guy. I decided to find if there might be objective reasons for favouring one Premier League team over another from Omar Chaudhuri, an analyst for the stats experts Prozone Sports. Data cannot tell us how attractively a team plays, Chaudhuri reminds me, but it can offer us indicators of its philosophy (total numbers of completed passes per game, say) and its aggressive instincts (shots on goal). Before Saturday's fixtures Arsenal placed third in the rankings of total and successful passes in the Premier League this season, behind both the top club Swansea City (538.9 passes per game) and Manchester City. The overall landscape, however, is heartening for all football fans: so far in 2013 nine teams average more than 400 passes each game – which compares with just one club in 2005-06 (Arsenal) and one in 2007-08 (Arsenal again). This statistic indicates that even the most unsophisticated teams are comfortable knocking the ball around these days. By this reckoning Premier League football has never been so cultured. Of course, Chaudhuri notes, a team can pass the ball sideways all afternoon, "but, if this doesn't translate into goal-scoring opportunities, you might argue that they aren't exactly 'exciting' for a neutral". In terms of attack Spurs have taken easily the most open-play shots this season (17.5 per game) but sadly the quality of their shooting is close to the bottom of the league, with Andros Townsend being surprisingly profligate. Manchester City overwhelmingly create better chances than Spurs and are more clinical about finishing them, which might explain last Sunday's 6-0 scoreline. But if you are looking for entertainment – goals at both ends, shots taken, open football – one team stands out and it's not a name you'd expect: Norwich City. Sure, this season has not exactly gone to plan – they were 16th before Saturday's match against Crystal Palace and the manager, Chris Hughton, appears to be staring down the barrel – but Prozone's model suggests they have faced the toughest opposition in the league so far and are due for an upturn. If you're on the fence about football teams, forget the Gunners and sing like a Canary. Tim Lewis's book on Rwanda's cycling team, Land of Second Chances, is out now Arsenal Arsène Wenger Tim Lewis theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

It is easy to scoff but Helen Grant is not the minister of pub quizzes | Daniel Taylor Posted: 30 Nov 2013 01:59 PM PST Political football is a difficult game so Grant might struggle to be taken completely seriously when she sets about trying to have an input on how the Football Association is run Question: who won the FA Cup in May? Pretty simple, you might think. Except it was one of the questions put to the newly appointed sports minister, Helen Grant, when she took on the kind of glazed expression that George W Bush used to wear if asked about, well, just about everything. Which, let's face it, is not a good look for any politician. Grant's first reaction offered an indication of what was to come. "Oh, come on … help … FA Cup holders?" Though at least she had a gallant stab at it. "Manchester United," was her answer. "Because it is my favourite club." Moving on. What year did Maidstone United leave the Football League? A bit trickier, that one. Though Grant is the Conservative MP for Maidstone, so you would expect she might have a rough idea. "Last year?" Close. It was actually 1992. Not just football either. Who won the women's Wimbledon title? "Oh, ah, it's not one of ours, but I know that Andy Murray did it for us." By the time she was asked to name England's rugby union captain Grant was sounding a little desperate. "What about hockey?" she replied. And finally, which Paralympics athlete won the most golds at London 2012? At which point someone off-camera took sympathy and whispered that it was Dave Weir. Grant, leaning in, whispered back: "Who?" The correct answer was Jacqueline Freney anyway. "Good guess," said the man from Meridian TV, silently pulling the pin from the grenade. As tragicomedy goes, it was up there with that strange little intervention at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, when Leigh Griffiths marked the opening goal in a 2-0 win over Tranmere Rovers by lifting his shirt to reveal the message "RIP Brian" and the club's Twitter account, for the sake of clarification, informed its 75,000 followers it was for a relative rather than the character from Family Guy. For the uninitiated, Family Guy is an adult-humour cartoon. Brian, the dog, was run over last Sunday. There is also an overwhelming sense of deja vu. In June 2001, it was Richard Caborn who was new in the job and Clare Balding, in the BBC studios, asking five questions about sporting events of the time. Caborn did not have a clue that Martin Johnson was captain of the British Lions rugby team, leaving that weekend for Australia. He could not name a single jockey at the Royal Ascot Festival – "I know nothing about horse racing at all," said the minister with responsibility for racing and gambling – or a European golfer competing in the US Open bar Colin Montgomerie. He knew only one of the semi-finalists from tennis's Queen's (Tim Henman), though at least he had a go at naming England's cricket coach. "The Aussie?" Well, he was getting warm. Duncan Fletcher comes from Zimbabwe. "I did not intend to inflict complete and utter humiliation on the newly appointed minister for sport," Balding said afterwards, "but it seems that he did that rather successfully for himself." It is easy to scoff. The role is not the minister of pub quizzes and the last thing we should expect is that someone in that position should be some kind of professional anorak, capable of reeling off the lineups from every FA Cup final going back to Old Etonians and Clapham Rovers. All the same, the blazerati in football are a pretty tough bunch to infiltrate, and it is difficult not to think that Grant, complaining of "these difficult questions", might struggle to be taken completely seriously when she sets about trying to have an input on how the Football Association is run. In Caborn's time, the Daily Mirror's headline was: Is this The Most Stupid Sports Minister Ever? The Daily Mail went with: Are You Dumb Enough to be Sports Minister? and ran a sports quiz entitled: Now See If You're Ignorant Enough To Get The Job. Caborn, in return, used to carry in his wallet a Mail article castigating the appointment of a foreigner as England football manager, and another from the same newspaper acclaiming the rise of Sven-Goran Eriksson's team. He was, however, honest enough to recognise what was glaringly obvious: "I made an absolute bollocks of it." Grant has got off pretty lightly in comparison, which is strange because her haziness about sport's who's-who was even more excruciating when, by now, these little journalistic traps are getting on for old hat. A colleague tried a similar ambush with Roberto Mancini in his first press conference at Manchester City and, streetwise as ever, the Italian knew perfectly well that Stoke City's throw-in specialist was Rory Delap. Eriksson was not quite so impressive at his inaugural meeting with the English press, admitting he had no idea who was Leicester City's goalkeeper (Tim Flowers) or Sunderland's left-back (Michael Gray) but, on the whole, it is the politicians who really make you want to watch through your fingers. Peter Mandelson, in 2001, back in constituency action after the second of his Cabinet resignations and trying to win some public goodwill by latching on to a manager-of-the-month presentation for Hartlepool United's Chris Turner. Mandelson, an honorary president of the club, had not been seen at Victoria Park for three years and froze to the spot when he was asked to name the team's left-back. After a deathly silence, Turner intervened with a moment Alastair Campbell would have been proud of. "We don't pick the team until tomorrow." The story about Tony Blair watching Newcastle United "just after Jackie Milburn" – who retired when Blair was four – originates from a misquote, incidentally. Sadly for the relevant people, it is absolutely correct that when Roy Hodgson spoke to the All-Party Parliamentary Football Group this year one of the MPs put it to him that if he wanted to bring through younger players he should impose an age limit on the England team. The proposal was 25 or under. In other words, keep nine players from the previous squad, ditch the other 13 and fingers crossed Jack Wilshere, approaching his last World Cup, stays fit in Brazil. For Grant, the issue is of credibility, and how others might now see her. All tip and no iceberg, presumably. How would you imagine Greg Dyke, chairman of the FA, or Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League, will consider being told what is best by a sports minister with practically zero knowledge of their sport? Probably, I would guess, the same as most football people when Grant has to project herself as an authority on improvements at grassroots level, or the safe-standing debate, or what to do about match-fixing or whatever is the next scandal. Even – I'll say it – how England can realistically think about winning a World Cup. One of her immediate challenges, we are told, is to accelerate the process of governance reforms throughout the sport. In the meantime, perhaps her press officers should stick by her side. No more interviews for a while and, when it is safe to come back out, maybe Google the words "Ben Watson" and "Wigan Athletic". It was quite some story. Ryan Giggs's spot of integrity Ryan Giggs is averaging a trophy every 27 games over his Manchester United career. His achievements are monumental but there is another part of his professional life that has not been mentioned enough among all the acclaim, in the week he moved into his fifth decade, for his enduring brilliance. Sir Alex Ferguson touches upon it in his autobiography, remembering Giggs being brought down for a penalty at West Ham in 2010. "I seized my chance to set a quiz question," Ferguson writes. "How many penalties had Ryan Giggs won in his Manchester United career?" The answer was five. "Because he always stays on his feet. He stumbles but never goes down. I would ask him, after a heavy foul in the box, why he had declined to go down, which he would have been entitled to do, and he would look at me as if I had horns. He would wear that vacant look. 'I don't go down,' he would say." The great players don't have to. André Villas-Boas can do without Harry Redknapp's advice The crisis baton has been passed to André Villas-Boas and the pressure is clearly getting under his skin judging by the story of him asking for the guy who sang: "You're getting sacked in the morning," to be moved from his seat during Tottenham's win at Tromso. That Spurs were playing in Norway, locked into that Thursday-night-Sunday-afternoon chain of the Europa League, is one of the reasons why the people at the top of the club are apparently getting so twitchy. The volume will go up again if there is another bad result against Manchester United on Sunday and, though it all feels very harsh, football at this level is precisely that these days. Harry Redknapp finished fourth, fifth and fourth in his three full seasons. Villas-Boas was supposed to be an upgrade but Spurs finished fifth last season and are currently ninth, albeit hardly a mile off, with nine goals from 12 games. A couple of things, though. Villas-Boas apparently upset his players by saying they should be "ashamed" after their ordeal at Manchester City last Sunday. Yet I was on the front row of that press conference. Villas-Boas talked about "we" and "us" and made it clear he thought of it as a collective failure. And, besides, did his players not feel ashamed about losing 6-0? A personal opinion is that there was always going to be a time when Spurs started to suspect they might actually have been better off with the last man. Yet it also sticks in the craw that, as soon as everything threatens to unravel, Villas-Boas has to put up with his predecessor chirruping away about what he is doing wrong. Redknapp, we can be sure, would have been delighted if Villas-Boas, or any other manager, was straight on the telephone to TalkSport to describe Queens Park Rangers as looking like a "bunch of strangers" after one of their bad results last season, or perhaps Saturday's performance at Doncaster. Redknapp says Spurs, without Gareth Bale, are now "overloaded with the same type of player", which is a roundabout way of suggesting that Villas-Boas, the clot, has messed up their transfer business. And it is funny, but I cannot recall too many interviews when Spurs have been winning and their former manager has been so keen to talk. The FA Football politics Daniel Taylor theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Said & Done – the week in football: Real Madrid, Maradona and Loulou Posted: 30 Nov 2013 01:48 PM PST The week in football: Tax breaks; Real's war on want; Diego Forlan's special day; plus Loulou Nicollin flirting Gesture of the week George Osborne – tweeting his plan for new grassroots tax breaks: community clubs sharing benefits worth up to £80,000 as part of the Big Society Olympic Legacy vision. Also sharing: West Ham's £486m stadium, and its £160m refit. Sepp's week New last week from Zurich: Sepp Blatter clarifying last month's pledge to act on reports about Qatar's "slave state" worker abuse. The new line: "It is not fair when the European media focus on an Arab country … attacking, attacking, criticising this country. We are defending it." • Also last week: an official reaction to the deaths of two stadium workers in Brazil: "The safety of workers is the top priority for Fifa." Meanwhile Malaysia: The Asian Football Confederation unveiling Change Through Football – an annual social responsibilty conference driving "positive social change", headed by AFC president Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, of Bahrain's ruling family. Awards season Polling now: The 2014 Public Eye Awards for corporate social responsibility – Fifa named on a final shortlist of eight multinationals, alongside official partner Gazprom, in the running for "world's worst firm". Other news Two headlines last week from realmadrid.com: 1) Real fans donating 11,151kg of food to the club's food bank campaign to help families hit by poverty. 2) Official partner Audi donating 24 free cars to the first team; Cristiano Ronaldo adding an Audi RS6 to his fleet of 20. Also giving back Sunderland's £64m-a-year squad raising £40,000 with a charity fashion show – an event also featuring a jewellery sale, a Porsche display and an auction of lots including a five-star trip to Dubai. Phil Bardsley: "It's good fun, and the cause is really important." Best chastening Hungary: Gyori ETO president Csaba Tarsoly punishing players for a defeat by confiscating their free Audis. In July Tarsoly said his squad's "outrageous, outrageous" approach had left him feeling "somewhere beyond anger". Busy week for Diego Maradona: Dancing in traditional Arabic dress to mark UAE national day in his role as Dubai's sports ambassador-in-residence, and refusing a cut-price €6m deal to settle historic tax evasion charges in Italy. "I've suffered greatly. I'm no evader." Exchange of the week Romania: Ex-Vaslui owner Adrian Porumboiu, trading corruption claims with Astra chairman Dinu Gheorghe, which they both deny. Porumboiu: "He is nobody, a shit talker, a snorter." Gheorghe: "He is a peasant from Vaslui, a good for nothing jerk." Astra owner Ioan Niculae: "Porumboiu's a shameless bastard." League head Gino Iorgulescu: "All this runs contrary to my respect agenda." Best rebuttal Ecuador's FA – reacting to Universidad Catolica president Francisco Egas's complaint that they routinely impose "excessive punishments" and lack transparency, by banning him for three years. Strategy of the week Bristol City's Jon Lansdown: sacking manager Sean O'Driscoll six weeks after revealing why fan "noise" would be ignored: "You cannot be swayed. You don't make short-term decisions when you have a long-term strategy. That strategy is not going to change." • Plus one to watch: Sheffield Wednesday chairman Milan Mandaric on criticism of manager Dave Jones: "I just want more patience – give the manager support. There's room for patience, being brave and working together. We have to get behind him." Mandaric's previous – 25 Jan 2011: Tells Wednesday's fans to back Alan Irvine. "Booing doesn't help anyone. This is a difficult time but it's not a time to panic or point fingers. Now is the time for all of us to be together and get behind our manager. I believe in Alan." 3 Feb: Sacks him. Atrocity of the week Brazil: Santos club shop owner Fernando Forte sacking a worker for putting a Corinthians top in the window. "He felt it was a joke. I was in shock. I've been here 18 years, and it never crossed my mind that something so terrible could happen. I feel so ashamed." Coolest appraisal Chile: Officials dubbing a match between Magallanes and Basilio Muñoz "regrettable" after it ended with a coach firing a gun three times as players fought fans carrying knives, a machette and a fire extinguisher. Police made three arrests. Best philosophy Belgium: Provincial club Jauche losing 38-0 at RCC Melin after injuries put them down to seven men. Keeper Christopher Gonzalez said conceding every two minutes was "not pleasant to take. But we move on. I'm too old to cry." Smoothest operator France: Montpellier president Louis "Loulou" Nicollin, 70, on sitting next to politician Rachida Dati at France's World Cup play-off. "She is quite something, huh? But I assure you there is no compromising photo. Nothing happened between us. This is unfortunate indeed." Plus: Most romantic day Uruguay: Striker Diego Forlán, revealing plans for his wedding to Paz Cardoso: 450 guests issued with barcoded invitations, a ban on bringing bags, plus a warning: "Do not carry cell phones. You will not be allowed to take photos." Real Madrid Sepp Blatter Fifa George Osborne Diego Maradona Football politics Finances David Hills theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Real Madrid's Gareth Bale nets hat-trick against Real Valladolid Posted: 30 Nov 2013 01:19 PM PST Gareth Bale departed the Santiago Bernabéu with the match ball after becoming only the second British player ever to score a hat-trick in La Liga. The world's most expensive footballer scored three and provided a wonderful assist for Karim Benzema, keeping up an extraordinary start to his career in Spain. He has now scored eight goals and given six assists in his last seven games. Only Gary Lineker had scored three in a Spanish league match before and Bale equalled that with what the Spanish describe as the "perfect hat-trick": header, right foot, left foot. As he departed the stadium just before 11pm, Bale was beaming. Asked where the ball was, he smiled: "In the bag – everybody has signed it." The third goal came in the last minute and after the full-time whistle he left the pitch to a standing ovation, applauding the fans from the centre circle, the ball in his hands. The Welshman also said that he felt he was now nearing 100% fitness, having fully overcome a minor thigh injury which had seen his home debut get delayed. He has scored nine and provided six assists overall. In the absence of the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, who watched the game from a glass fronted private box wedged between the south and west stands in the corner of the stadium, he took responsibility here. "It was a massive blow not having Cristiano playing. For me, he is the world's best player and we had to do a job without him," Bale said. "[But] I didn't feel any pressure to be honest. I just want to go out there and enjoy my football and thankfully I scored a hat-trick." Bale nodded in the first goal from six yards after the Valladolid goalkeeper Diego Mariño failed to hold a shot from Ángel Di María after half an hour. He then floated a wonderfully weighted twenty-five yard diagonal pass for Benzema to head in five minutes later. He scored his second in the sixty-fourth minute when Marcelo's cross came off Peña and fell to Bale near the penalty spot to finish right-footed. There were still twenty minutes to go and a hat-trick had become a real possibility. The chances, though, were few and on a couple of occasions he did not receive the final pass despite shaking off his marker. Until, that was, the eighty-ninth minute. Bale started and finished the move, driving with determination through the middle of the pitch, covering sixty yards. He spread the ball wide to Marcelo on the left and sprinted into the area, calling for the ball in front of him. The Brazilian's low cross was perfectly played and Bale completed his hat-trick. "I think as soon as I scored the second I was trying to get he third," Bale admitted. "I was trying my hardest to get into positions and thankfully the move did work out. It was a great ball by Marcelo to put it on a plate for me." "I feel my fitness is there now. Obviously, I am going to keep improving, learning off the best like Cristiano and hopefully I can keep doing a lot better," Bale said. "I have been working very hard to get my fitness up quickly and now it is showing on the pitch." He added: "My team mates have helped me to settle in straight away. All the players, the coaching staff, everybody, has been excellent to me. They have made me feel very welcome and given me a lot of confidence. I feel part of the team, every game that we play I'm getting more used to it, and I'm enjoying my football. I think that showed tonight." Bale even admitted "I can speak some Spanish" before adding with a smile: "but I'm not going to yet." And with that he strode out of the Santiago Bernabéu, carrying a white bag. Inside was the match ball La Liga Real Madrid Valladolid Gareth Bale European club football theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

The Agenda: Leo Messi's book, World Cup balls and Darren Barker boxing Posted: 30 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST The Messi biography, women's football, cross country, Fifa's showcase and a title defence, here's this week's ... MUST READ Is Guillem Balagué's biography of Lionel Messi (Orion, out Thursday) in which the accomplished sports writer tells the story behind the Argentinian superstar, having been given access to his family, fellow players and coaches. Pep Guardiola (of whom Ballagué has already written a biography) also helps provides analysis, Argentina coach, Alejandro Sabella, writes the foreword and Barcelona president, Sandro Rosell, an afterword. In contrast to in-character titling of I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which missed out in the William Hill book of the year prize last week, it is called, simply, Messi. IN YOUR FACE FOOTBALL Event is the World Cup draw, a process of pulling balls out of bowls that only Fifa could turn into a needlessly tortuous, drawn-out affair with a portentousness that suggests they are picking the new pope. Indeed one inveigled with such ridiculous levels of complexity that the format under which it will be carried out is still not decided until three days before the men in suits hold tiny pieces of paper up to the world's media. Adrian Chiles and Anna Foster have the ball-by-ball action throughout the full three hours (5 Live, Friday, 4pm). SECRET FOOTBALL Tournament is the Uefa Women's Under-17 Championship, the finals of which are being played in England at this very moment, as the residents of host towns Chesterfield, Burton upon Trent, Telford and Hinckley will probably have noticed but few others. It is, if you will, almost guerilla football, happening without permission and, rather like the revolution, not televised. Well until the semis (Thursday, British Eurosport, 5pm) where England, should they beat Portugal on Monday (1.30pm, Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium), are very likely to face Germany or Spain for a place in the final. PAINFUL MEMORIES Can be relived from the comfort of the sofa. There were always a few misguided souls who enjoyed running across desolate countryside or urban wasteland in freezing temperatures wearing nought but a singlet and shorts but for everybody else cross country meant finding shortcuts and bumming fags off the bigger boys halfway round. Enjoy it instead on the telly, as Team GB head to the European Championships in Serbia (next Sunday, BBC2, 12pm). Britain have topped the medals table at the event for the past six years ,while Ireland's Fionnuala Britton is attempting to win her third gold in a row. BEST BOUT Sees Darren Barker make the first defence of his IBF middleweight title against Germany's Felix Sturm in Stuttgart (Saturday, Sky Sports 1, from 8pm, 5 Live, 9.55pm). Barker won the title after beating the Australian Daniel Geale by a split decision in Atlantic City in August. It was a terrifically close contest with the British fighter coming back having been put down by a shot to the body in the sixth round, after which he admitted he was determined to go on in honour of his brother, who had been killed in a car accident, and his daughter. "I was in absolute bits. I was gone. But as the seconds went on my brother and daughter, they got into my head." he said. "I showed I've got heart and a lot of people didn't think I did." Defiance that should stand him in good stead against Sturm. Lionel Messi Giles Richards theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Since retiring I have discovered the true magic of the FA Cup | David James Posted: 30 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST I won the Cup with Portsmouth, but it's at places such as Shortwood where I have found football romance at its purest It took me about 22 years of first-team football to realise that the FA Cup actually starts long before January for many clubs in the football league. Top-flight bubbles, eh? Last season, at then League One side Bournemouth, I remember sitting in the changing room and asking what the next match was. "It's the FA Cup," someone said, and I replied: "Hang on, it's November. What do you mean FA Cup?" "Oh yeah," they said, "it's the first round." I never did get to play, with the manager Eddie Howe favouring goalkeeper Shwan Jalal in the end, but this season I've made up for it as a spectator at least, taking the kids to see my old team Portsmouth play Stevenage, and covering AFC Wimbledon v Coventry for BT Sport. It was my trip to Shortwood United, though, that really educated me about the magic of the FA Cup. For a start I struggled to find the place, before stumbling upon a country lane that led me down to the ground. Once inside, the atmosphere was pretty special. Eighth-tier Shortwood were taking on Port Vale, a side 125 places above them, and almost 1,300 fans turned out at a stadium where the average attendance is more like 130. With their star player on TV for the night – no longer just a local hero – there was breathless talk around the ground of drawing Manchester United if they could beat Vale and get past the second round as well. They didn't, sadly, but the moment was memorable for capturing football romance in its purest form. I had a taste of that romance myself when Portsmouth beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the quarter-finals of 2008. We went on to lift the trophy that year, but it's the United game that will live long in my memory. I think I'll still be talking about that match on my deathbed. Bizarrely, there was almost more enjoyment that day than in beating Cardiff in the final. It's about overcoming the odds, you see. We were the absolute underdogs. I'll never forget seeing their teamsheet packed full of stars when we were sitting in the dressing room, and thinking: "Good, that means they're taking us seriously." We were up for a big match and we got one. We defended like lions, and when it came to smash and grab – scoring a penalty in the 78th minute of the game – we did what we needed to. I was in the zone; we all were. I'd find it hard to pick out another team performance from my career that could better it. The feeling then was incredible. United had expected to batter us, but instead we had beaten them. It was special. It was United who also inflicted the most horrible FA Cup memories on me. There was the famous Liverpool defeat in the 1996 final, Eric Cantona scoring in the dying minutes of the game. I couldn't leave my hotel room that night, I was absolutely destroyed. Devastated. Liverpool died off after that. It was years before they recovered. And getting beaten 6-0 in the fourth round when I was with West Ham in 2003. I remember time slowing down, and being painfully aware of every second, wishing it was over. Then Phil Neville scored and I felt sick. It was disgusting. An insult that dented my pride. Alongside the romance, of course, there is a modern-day caveat. For as well as the dreams of a famous win to live long in the memory, there is also the reality of cold hard cash. While the players and fans may be caught up in the fantasy of watching Wayne Rooney dazzle on a sloping pitch like Shortwood's, the working side of the club cannot help but think of the money. It's understandable but it is sad, too. I was there to see Conference North side Brackley Town beat League One team Gillingham, and just the takings on the gate were about six times their average revenue, plus the TV money. That's a windfall for a smaller club. I never did get to play a non-league side in my FA Cup career. But I have finally fallen in love with the FA Cup in its entirety, top to bottom, from start to finish. David James has donated his fee for this column to charity FA Cup David James theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Doncaster Rovers 2-1 QPR | Championship match report Posted: 30 Nov 2013 12:12 PM PST The Queens Park Rangers assistant manager Kevin Bond handed the credit to Doncaster after the promotion favourites stumbled to an unexpected 2-1 defeat. Rangers were the better side in the first half and snatched the lead just before the interval when the home keeper Ross Turnbull allowed a shot from Charlie Austin to slip from his grasp. But Doncaster battled back in fine style in the second half with a 48th-minute equaliser from Theo Robinson before the full-back Paul Quinn snatched the winner in the closing stages. Bond said "We weren't happy with the way we played in the second half but you can't take anything away from Doncaster. We were satisfied with our position at the end of the first period. Although we hadn't played particularly well, we were in front and in control of the game. We expected a reaction from Rovers after the interval but we thought that if we weathered the storm the game would open up to our advantage. I don't think we did well enough to prevent the equaliser and, in fairness, Doncaster were the better side after that. "They had a spring in their step and we were never able to wrestle control of the game away from them. We can be critical of our second-half performance but that would detract from how well the home side played." Rangers have won all but one of their home games but have now gone five without an away win. However, Bond denied their away form was a cause for concern. "We've only lost twice away. A lot is expected of us, and rightly so, but we didn't defend as well as we needed totoday." The Rovers manager Paul Dickov was delighted with his side's display after they had produced a poor performance when losing at Charlton during the week. He said "I asked for a reaction and I got it. We let the fans down at Charlton and this performance was for them. "I'm proud of the way we played considering the injury problems we have at present and that was a terrific display against probably the best team in the division. Tactically I thought we got it right and pressed them when we didn't have the ball. We were a bit aggrieved to go in behind at the interval. It was an uncharacteristic mistake by Ross Turnbull but I told him he didn't have to apologise because he's dug us out of the mire a number of times this season. "It was a chance for the players to dig in for him and they did that. It was a massive effort from everyone. We seem to raise our game against the better sides and that can sometimes be frustrating. It's important that we don't get carried away with this victory because consistency is the key. When we are not quite on our game we can let ourselves down but when we hit this level we can be a match for anyone in the Championship." Championship Doncaster Rovers QPR theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Jol admits he could be sacked Posted: 30 Nov 2013 11:50 AM PST • After six straight defeats, Jol says: 'It's not in my hands' • Fulham manager is 1-8 to be next Premier League dismissal Asked if he thinks he will still be Fulham's manager when they play Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night Martin Jol simply shrugged. "It's not in my hands," Jol said, after Fulham had failed to register a single shot on target in the course of a horribly meek 3-0 defeat by West Ham United at Upton Park. Jol, whose position was shaky even before the current run of six straight defeats, has not spoken to the club's owner, the American businessman Shahid Khan, in at least a month. Fulham are three points adrift in the third relegation spot, and Jol himself is now 1-8 to be the next Premier League manager sacked. The two sides beneath Fulham, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, are the only ones to have made a change this season. It seems likely a conversation may now be imminent. Jol looked pale and drawn at the end a match that started slowly, but which ended with West Ham utterly dominant. There was still some weary defiance from Fulham's manager, who pointed rather helplessly to the fact his third and final substitute was forced off with an injury, after which West Ham scored twice. "I felt even before the game the influence of my bigger players and my captain was strong," Jol said. "But the last 10 minutes summed everything up. I brought Moussa Dembélé on and he pulled his hamstring for the first time in his life. It's pretty symbolic." Jol, of course, has been sacked in England before, at Spurs, but that is his only sacking – two years ago Ajax fought to keep from leaving to go to Fulham – and as such he has the air of a man who has managed both his team and his own status for some time. "I have to worry, I was worried a couple of months ago," he said. "It's not from one day to the other, it's the last few months that we've been inconsistent. I've got [more than 650] games under my belt as a manager and I know three points can give you a totally different view. That is why we're in the bottom three. If we'd beaten West Ham they would be in the same situation." Wednesday night could yet present another possible turning point should Jol manage to make it that far. Equally the question of exactly whom Fulham might approach to replace him is unclear, with likely candidates for an instant rescue job thin on the ground. René Meulensteen, Jol's No2, has rarely been a No1. Appointing him would ask a great deal. There was at least sympathy from Jol's West Ham counterpart, Sam Allardyce, who might have found himself answering similar questions had this result gone the other way. "It's a lonely old job when you're trying to find the right solution to poor results," Allardyce said. "People don't understand what you go though because they've never experienced it. You're in a position where you take all the heat. If it's going bad it's your responsibility." Martin Jol Fulham West Ham United Barney Ronay theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Football coaches determined to improve young Africans' sex education Posted: 30 Nov 2013 11:41 AM PST TackleAfrica is a charity determined to incorporate sex education into soccer lessons for children who have no awareness of HIV Football may be criticised for a lot of things but there are times when it can be an extraordinary tool in fighting everything from war to disease. In a week where the sport has been once again hit by match-fixing allegations it is worth looking to Africa to see how it can be used as an educational tool to save lives. It is World Aids Day and the Fifa-backed project TackleAfrica is reaching out to young children on the continent to teach them about HIV and sexual health education. The project is fulfilling a crucial and life-saving role, considering that many of these youngsters do not attend school and therefore have no sexual health education whatsoever. Laura Brooks has been in Kenya for the last three months, working as a TackleAfrica coaching development officer. "The TackleAfrica model is to train local football coaches with high quality coaching skills so they can deliver our drills, and then they go out into their communities and coach. I've been delivering lots of coaching courses to local coaches, all over Kenya, from the coast through Nairobi and all the way to Western near the Ugandan border. Wherever there is a need for our work, and we can secure funding, I'll go and train coaches. I then go with them into their communities and watch them deliver our drills and give them as much support as possible. "The most rewarding moments come when you hear of actual behaviour change, a young player telling you they now have the confidence to get an HIV test, or a female coach saying they finally asked their boyfriend to use a condom for the first time. Like so many people I love football, so coaching and playing is obviously a great way to spend my days, but those moments are when you realise you may just have made a difference." TackleAfrica have developed a series of coaching exercises to demonstrate the dangers of HIV. For example, one drill gives each player a piece of paper which is placed in their sock, and they are then told to dribble against each other. At the end of the drill the pieces of paper are removed, and it is revealed that one – but only one – of them has "HIV" written on it, and that everyone else has 'risked infection' by playing against them, thus demonstrating how the virus can be transmitted. The drill is arranged so that every player faces the HIV positive player directly or another player who has, showing that risky sexual behaviour can impact a whole community from one person with the virus. Another has players shooting at 10 goalkeepers, who are removed one-by-one as the drill progresses. The goal represents a body, while the keepers are white blood cells. The removal of the keepers represents how HIV breaks down the human body's natural defence systems. TackleAfrica work on the old "Teach a man to fish …" principle, as their model is based on passing on the drills and techniques to local coaches, so that they can educate their own communities themselves. This also aims to ensure the message being put across is more deeply embedded – the ideas are much more likely to take hold if they are part of the community, rather than simply taught by an itinerant coach. The work they do not only helps with HIV education, but it inspires people worldwide. Hugh Thompson, for example, is cycling from London to Rio in time for the World Cup next summer, in order to raise money for TackleAfrica. "In 2009 I went to Uganda as a volunteer for three weeks to deliver HIV education through football for TackleAfrica," he says. "I was blown away by the impact the charity was making in the rural areas of Uganda but also how much it was required." Currently somewhere in Malaysia, Thompson has already passed through 16 countries, and has coached in Kampala, Dar Es Salaam and Hungary, visited projects in India, Uganda and Kenya, been knocked off his bike in Bangalore and Bangkok and had his nether regions grabbed in Thailand. It's been quite a journey so far, and he still has eight months and a couple of continents to go. And for anyone that might doubt how effective using football to spread this message is, it's worth noting that Brooks was in Kenya at the time of the shootings in Nairobi, when over 60 people were killed and others held hostage, and work continued. "The way everyone united, donating blood, giving support and so on, was overwhelming and beautiful to witness," she says. "As for my work, I carried on delivering training throughout that whole period. It will take a lot more than that to stop Kenyans playing football." • Visit Hugh Thompson's Ride2Rio website here Aids and HIV Africa theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Newcastle 2-1 West Brom Posted: 30 Nov 2013 11:35 AM PST The St James' theme-park rollercoaster is undeniably back on the up. This time last year, Newcastle were in the midst of a season-debilitating run of form that played a large part in their unwanted flirtation with relegation during a headlong plunge from fifth-top to fifth from bottom. Fast-forward 12 months, and the annual white-knuckle ride is proving, for the time being, at least, to be rather more enjoyable this time round. One win in 11 games during this crucial stage in proceedings last season is a sequence in stark contrast to a fourth consecutive victory here, the best run for 19 months, when Alan Pardew's side strung together six straight wins en route to qualifying for Europe in 2012. Pardew remains keen to play down their chances of repeating such a lofty finish in May but many more results like this and his protests will sound increasingly hollow. And don't even get him started on the problems his side experienced in terms of injury and fatigue in the Europa League last season. "This win was as tough a one as we've had," Pardew conceded after seeing his side climb to fifth, one point shy of second, albeit with some significant games to be played involving teams at the top of the Premier League. The manager added: "We had to show a real resilience and strength of character, and the players should be proud of themselves. We had to show all sides to our game today, a bit of quality and flair but we also did the less glamorous things well. "We've got strength in depth we didn't even have when we finished fifth, but the fact we're not in the Europa League makes a difference in the amount of work we can do on the training ground. We really had to earn this victory, and it was won with an exquisite goal." Exquisite it was, too. The goal arrived shortly before the hour, four minutes after Chris Brunt had levelled for West Bromwich Albion, from Moussa Sissoko, the Frenchman accepting a deft headed pass from Loïc Rémy to advance with purpose and a nifty swivel of the hips to thrash a 20-yard effort into the top corner past Bo Myhill. If the West Brom goalkeeper could do little to prevent the winner, he was in part culpable in the visitors' concession of the game's first goal, nine minutes before the interval. Myhill's punch under pressure from a Yohan Cabaye corner carried height rather than distance, the ball dropping inside the six-yard area for Yoan Gouffran to beat a weak aerial challenge from Youssouf Mulumbu to comfortably head home, the Frenchman on the scoresheet for a second consecutive home game. "We defend set plays very well as a rule, so it was disappointing to lose a goal like that," Steve Clarke admitted in the wake of only a second away league defeat for his side this season. Clarke, caretaker manager at St James' Park in a previous life, felt aggrieved not to have earned at least a share of the spoils. His side levelled though Brunt's pugnacious finish off the under-side of the bar from a narrow angle after a cross from Morgan Amalfitano was allowed to travel the width of Newcastle's area. "Anyone who is fair-minded about the game would say that we should have got something from it," Clarke said. They would have done, had substitute Victor Anichebe's injury-time header not bounced narrowly wide. The Albion manager added: "The fact is that we didn't get anything, and we have to dust ourselves down and start getting some points on the board." Mathieu Debuchy could have added to the cross-Channel goal contribution when firing a shot straight at Myhill after the keeper inexplicably threw the ball straight to the returning defender. In addition, there were two late penalty claims that went unrewarded. Ultimately, the visitors were undone by Sissoko's stand-out contribution, his first for nine months and good enough to settle any contest. It was the 18th Newcastle goal scored by a Frenchman this season. Pardew said: "There were question marks about both the mental strength and physical strength of the French lads last season, but I think they've answered those questions. There's a chance I could win French manager of the year." Premier League Newcastle United West Bromwich Albion theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Newcastle United v West Bromwich Albion – as it happened | Scott Murray Posted: 30 Nov 2013 11:28 AM PST Minute-by-minute report: Chris Brunt scored a fine goal for West Brom, but Moussa Sissoko's was even better, as the pair rescued a previously dismal match, and Newcastle rose to fifth in the table. Scott Murray was watching Scott Murray

Gary Phillips' late strike for Albion knocks Motherwell out of Cup Posted: 30 Nov 2013 11:18 AM PST • SPFL sides Hibs, St Johnstone and Inverness all progress • Remaining Highland league team Fraserburgh knocked out Gary Phillips scored in the final minute to secure Albion Rovers' first major victory over Motherwell and send their Lanarkshire neighbours out of the Scottish Cup in the biggest shock of the fourth round. Rovers restricted Motherwell to few chances, with the goalkeeper Neil Parry only seriously tested when he saved a John Sutton header late in the match. The team sitting second-bottom of the Scottish Professional Football League stunned the side who are third from top when Phillips struck a first-time effort from 18 yards, to seal a famous win. Goals from Stevie May and Sanel Jahic eased St Johnstone past Livingston with a 2-0 win in their fourth-round clash at McDiarmid Park, while top‑flight St Mirren twice let a lead slip against Championship opponents Queen of the South and were forced to settle for a replay after their tie at Palmerston ended 2-2. The Buddies looked like they had settled into the fourth round clash the quicker when Conor Newton put them ahead after nine minutes, only for Iain Russell to equalise 10 minutes before half-time. Steven Thompson then had the Premiership side ahead for a second time with his seventh of the season but they were denied when Michael Paton restored parity with 18 minutes left. Inverness eased themselves into Monday's fifth round draw despite a power cut interrupting their 4-0 victory at home to Morton. A penalty by Nick Ross in the 45th minute had put Inverness 1-0 up, before the lights went out during the interval due to a major substation that serves part of the city going down. However, after a 35-minute delay to the start of the second half, the game was played to a conclusion. Billy McKay scored in the 71st and 88th minutes, before Aaron Doran completed the scoring from the spot in injury time after Scott Taggart was sent off.Hibernian beat Ross County thanks to a Daniel Handling goal in the all‑Premiership tie at Victoria Park. Handling struck in the 31st minute when he tucked away a through ball from captain Liam Craig. Hibs, who won for the first time under their new manager, Terry Butcher, had to play the final 20 minutes with 10 men after Paul Cairney was sent off. Stenhousemuir beat the competition's last remaining Highland League side, Fraserburgh, 3-0 at home with two goals from Ross McNeil. League Two leaders Clyde's Kieran MacDonald opened the scoring against Stranraer at Broadwood before in-form Jamie Longworth earned the League One side a replay. Ayr United came back from a goal down to earn a 1-1 draw at Dunfermline, Andy Geggan opened the scoring before Michael Donald equalised. Brechin and Forfar will also replay after sharing a 1-1 draw and three red cards. Alloa defeated local rivals Stirling Albion 3-2 at Recreation Park, while Dumbarton reached the last 16 of the Scottish Cup for the first time in 29 years with a 3-1 win at Berwick. A bizarre own goal by Gary Irvine gave Raith Rovers a 1-0 victory against Dundee at Dens Park. Scottish Cup Inverness Caledonian Thistle Motherwell Hibernian Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren Nial Briggs theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Football League: your thoughts | John Ashdown Posted: 30 Nov 2013 10:49 AM PST Leicester go top, Barnsley give David Flitcroft the boot, Posh surprise Wolves and squirrel-watch at Scunthorpe Championship • The day's big winners at the top were Nigel Pearson's Leicester City, who were the only one of the trio of sides pulling away at the top to avoid defeat. While Burnley were beaten at Huddersfield and QPR lost at Doncaster, the Foxes thumped Millwall 3-0 at the King Power Stadium, opening up a three-point gap at the summit. QPR's loss means their indifferent run now extends to two wins in seven, while the Clarets are without a win in four, with the 2-1 reverse in Yorkshire coming on the back of three successive draws. • So just when the season looked to be developing into a three-horse promotion race, Blackpool moved back to within four points of the leading trio with a 2-0 home win over struggling Sheffield Wednesday, with Dan Gosling and Riccardo Fuller scoring the goals. The defeat means Wednesday have lost three on the bounce since getting their first league win of the season against Reading at the beginning of the month. • The Owls are kept off the bottom by Barnsley, who were well beaten at home by fellow strugglers Birmingham. It was the final straw for the Oakwell board – Barnsley manager David Flitcroft was given the boot barely an hour after full time. • One of the surprises of the day came at Vicarage Road where Yeovil, who began the day rock bottom, thumped play-off chasing Watford 3-0. Though it's fair to say that the Hornet's play-off chase has become more of an amble into mid-table of late. Since the end of September (when Watford sat fourth), Gianfranco Zola's side have picked up five points from eight games. Both Zola and Wednesday's Dave Jones have a nervous week ahead. • Elsewhere, Blackburn put the brakes on Leeds's charge towards the play-offs with a 1-0 win at Ewood Park, and Bolton's resurgence stuttered with a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough. League One • The clash between two of the division's big beasts ended in something of a surprise. Having threatened to take the division by storm with six successive wins in September and October, Peterborough had lost five on the bounce ahead of the visit of Wolves to London Road on Saturday. But it was Posh who beat Kenny Jackett's league leaders thanks to Michael Bostwick's 79th-minute goal. • Sheffield United almost pulled off one of the shocks of the day at Leyton Orient (14 words which themselves tell you something about both the progress of the Os and the Blades in the past 12 months or so) but a late Dean Cox equaliser was enough to give the home side a draw at Brisbane Road. The point earned was enough to take Russell Slade's side pack to the top of the table on goal difference. • Preston closed the gap on the top two, with their 10th win in 15 games. Managerless Bristol City had no answer to Jack King's first-half goal and the Robins are now second-bottom, having been leapfrogged by Crewe. Chuks Aneke gave Alexandra their first win since mid October with the only goal against Crawley. • After munching up their 10-point deduction and then marching their way towards the play-offs Coventry City seemed to have come off the boil in dramatic fashion of late. The Sky Blues had conceded 11 goals in their past three games – a 3-3 draw with Bradford, which was followed by a 5-1 and 3-0 home defeats to Tranmere and Rotherham – but they were back on song today with a 3-1 victory at Milton Keynes Dons. Chris Maguire, on his debut following a loan move from Sheffield Wednesday, scored free-kicks in the 86th and 90th minutes to seal the points. • In hoodoo-busting news Port Vale did something they have not done in 26 attempts since 1947 – win at Walsall. League Two • It was 1st v 5th at Highbury Stadium as the league leaders Oxford visited Fleetwood. The home side seemed set to leapfrog their opponents but a 89th-minute Dave Kitson equaliser gave United a share of the spoils. There's a chance the game could have been Chris Wilder's last as United manager – Portsmouth have apparently made an approach (although swapping the top of the table for its lower reaches would be an odd move …) • It was a day of draws at the top of the bottom tier, with neither Southend nor Rochdale able to take advantage of the result on the Lancashire coast. Southend, who began the day third, were held to a draw by Cheltenham thanks to a last-minute Matt Richards penalty, while Rochdale could only draw 0-0 at York. The big winners of the weekend, then, could by Chesterfield, who visit Newport County on Sunday. • During the week, Scunthorpe had asked their fans not to come dressed as squirrels for their home game Alan Knill's return with Torquay (for a full explanation click here). As yet there is no news on squirrel numbers at Glanford Park, but the Iron faithful – whether in rodent attire or otherwise – had a 3-1 win to celebrate. The win takes them fourth. Remarkably the top seven in League Two are now separated by only two points. • Knill's Torquay are now rock bottom thanks to Northampton's 1-0 win over Accrington. That scoreline coupled with Bristol Rovers' 3-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon means the Gulls are in danger of getting cut adrift at the foot of the table. Football League Championship League One League Two John Ashdown theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Leicester City 3-0 Millwall | Championship match report Posted: 30 Nov 2013 10:41 AM PST Jamie Vardy and Lloyd Dyer were on target as Leicester stormed to their 12th Championship win of the season. Dyer fired them in front with a 12th-minute volley, while two goals in two minutes by Vardy, early in the second half, clinched the win and took Leicester three points clear at the top. It was the Foxes' seventh home win of the season and ended Millwall's run of success against them. The Lions have done the double over Leicester for the past two seasons. After a nervous start, Leicester settled and grabbed the initiative with a well-worked and splendidly taken goal. Marcin Wasilewski sent Danny Drinkwater clear down the right and his excellent cross was volleyed home by Dyer. It was just the lift Leicester needed and they took control of the game. The Millwall keeper, David Forde, pulled off a stunning stop to keep out a shot from the lively Anthony Knockaert in the 14th minute and denied Dyer two minutes later, this time from a header. Another superb move cut through the defence in the 22nd minute. Knockaert put Dyer away down the left and the winger raced clear before unleashing a shot that Forde tipped round the near post at full stretch. David Nugent had a shot deflected for a corner as Leicester's pace on the break continued to create trouble for the visitors. Millwall briefly came into the game with four successive corners, but were fortunate to be only one down at half-time. Striker Steve Morison replaced Martyn Woolford at the start of the second half as Millwall looked to fight back, but those hopes were crushed with two goals in quick succession from Vardy. His blistering pace brought him his first goal in the 53rd minute. He collected a throw out from Kasper Schmeichel inside his own half and raced away before beating the advancing Forde with a cool finish. Two minutes later, he seized on a poor header back by Mark Beevers to go around Forde and slot in his sixth goal of the season. The Foxes were now rampant and Leicester could have had a fourth goal when Vardy set up Nugent whose shot was well saved by Forde. In the 64th minute, in a rare breakaway, Morison hit the bar with a header from Lee Martin's cross for Millwall's first effort on target. Leicester could have added to their score, with Paul Konchesky and Chris Wood going close in the closing stages. Championship Leicester City Millwall theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Watford 0-3 Yeovil Town | Championship match report Posted: 30 Nov 2013 10:01 AM PST Gianfranco Zola is a hard man to dislike, but the results he is currently squeezing out of his Watford team are far from endearing. A fourth successive home defeat, at the hands of a Yeovil side that had not won away – and only once at home, for that matter – since the first day of the season and arrived at Vicarage Road at the bottom of the table represents a new low point in a season of which nothing but highs were expected. The fact that by any measure except the single most important metric of chances created and converted Watford were the better team makes the eventual result perhaps more ghastly still. After all, what might Yeovil have done to them had the home side performed genuinely badly? Watford's endeavours this season have hardly been helped by a string of injuries to key players, but Zola refused to shelter behind that convenient excuse. "We had more than enough, with all due respect, to beat Yeovil," he said. "I cannot blame anyone on the pitch, but we have had good possession, we got players in good positions, but we didn't manage to score. Obviously the confidence of the players is not at the top and to play this type of football you have to be full of confidence." As the final whistle blew some were hailing this the greatest result in Yeovil's history. That is perhaps excessive but it was certainly a wonderfully committed and efficient away win from a side that has had so few successes this season. Their defence excelled, with the Everton loanee Shane Duffy, a tall, composed 21-year-old with a future as bright as his boots, the game's outstanding player. "They're a great football team," explained Gary Johnson, an apprentice here as a teenager. "When you come here you know that unless you're throwing yourself in front of shots and making sure you win the headers, they're going to score. But if you do that you stay in the game, and if you stay in the game against them you're going to get chances. The statistics show that." And so it proved. In the 19th minute Fernando Forestieri brilliantly controlled Daniel Pudil's header, allowing himself to scamper clear of the defence and into the penalty area, but then delayed his shot so long that the entire back four caught him up and the opportunity was lost. It was one of many goal-saving defensive blocks from Yeovil, of which the best of all frustrated the same player in the 69th minute, when his volley had beaten Chris Dunn and a goal seemed certain. In the end Watford had 25 shots, only two of which bothered Dunn. "The reason why the ball is not going in the net is that when we get in good positions the players are rushing shots, or they are shooting wide, or they take too long to shoot," said Zola. "The confidence is not perfect and there's only one thing to do, you have to work hard, harder than before, and slowly you're going to get it back." Yeovil attacked occasionally but clinically, and took the lead in first-half stoppage time when Webster headed in their only corner of the game. Having scored with their last attack of the first half Yeovil scored with their first of the second, Joe Edwards stealing the ball from Joel Ekstrand and crossing to the unmarked Ishmael Miller, one of three debutant loanees. In response Watford attacked in ever greater numbers and ever greater desperation, only to be undone yet again on the break. In the third minute of stoppage time John Lundstram – who joined from Everton on Thursday – passed to Joe Edwards, whose finish was as calm as the majority of Watford's had been panicked. Championship Watford Yeovil Town Simon Burnton theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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