Sports Briefs

■ Soccer
Nine-man WBA defeated
English Championship team West Bromwich Albion had two players sent off and their hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League virtually ended by a 1-0 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Friday. Deon Burton scored the winner in the 59th minute as West Brom goalkeeper Dean Kiely dived in vain to prevent the ball from crossing the line. Tempers boiled over in injury time when Neil Clement was dismissed for head-butting substitute Leon Clarke. Darren Carter followed seconds later, picking up his second yellow card for a late tackle on Clarke. West Brom remained fourth, in line for the playoffs which involve the teams third to sixth in the table.

■ Baseball
Agent smuggled players
A California-based sports agent has been convicted of smuggling five Cuban baseball players into the US. Gus Dominguez, 48, was found guilty on Thursday of nearly two dozen federal charges, including conspiracy, smuggling, transporting and harboring, court documents showed. His attorney, Stephen Salter, said they would appeal the convictions. Most of the charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years each in prison. Dominguez helped organize two smuggling trips across the Florida Straits in 2004, prosecutors said. The first one failed; the second succeeded with the players reaching Big Pine Key.

■ Soccer
Ribery to leave Marseille
Marseille Pape Diouf sparked an expected transfer scramble on Friday when he admitted that star winger Franck Ribery has a green light to leave the French club at the end of the season. Diouf fought tooth and nail to keep Ribery at the 1993 European Cup winners last year, despite strong interest from the likes of Lyon, Real Madrid and Arsenal. But now he seems resigned to the France player's imminent exit. "This season he is welcome to leave, although that is not to say that he will automatically leave," Diouf told television channel Infosport. "I will be less intransigent this season than last in the case of an eventual exit by Franck."

■ Rugby Union
Robinson signs off in style
England World Cup winner Jason Robinson signed off his club career with a Hollywood ending on Friday as he scored the winning try to give his club Sale a 25-23 English Premiership victory over Bath. The 32-year-old left it late to leave his mark as he touched down just 10 seconds from time. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe's converted try and two Lee Thomas penalties helped the Sharks into a 13-3 lead. But Bath then rattled up 20 unanswered points. Selorm Kuadey put Sale back in touch with a converted try before Robinson signed off in style as he burst onto the ball 30m out and broke through the Bath defense. Robinson missed the conversion but few cared as the injury-ravaged Sharks collected a first victory since January.