Wolves’ battle against relegation suffered a setback yesterday as Everton scored their biggest Premier League win of the season in a 3-0 victory at Molineux.
First-half goals from Jermaine Beckford, Phil Neville and Diniya Bilyaletdinov secured all three points for Everton, who remain in seventh spot after extending their unbeaten run to six matches.
However, the defeat left Mick McCarthy’s Wolves rooted in the relegation mire, with the Midlands club second from bottom with only six games remaining.
Wolves hopes of securing a vital three points were snuffed out in the opening 45 minutes, Everton storming into a 3-0 lead at the break.
After soaking up early Wolves pressure, Everton went ahead against the run of play on 21 minutes, when Beckford ghosted into the near post to meet a Leon Osman cross with a glancing header.
Wolves midfielder Aldlene Guedioura almost equalized for the home side moments later but his curling shot flew just wide.
Instead it was Everton who rammed home their advantage with a goal that was desperately cruel on Wolves goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy.
Hennessy thought he had prevented what would have been a certain George Elokobi own-goal with a brilliant save, but as Wolves struggled to clear the ball fell to Neville, who rifled in a shot from just outside the area.
It got worse for Wolves on the stroke of half-time when Bilyaletdinov pounced on a loose ball in the center circle.
The Russian midfielder surged towards goal and with the Wolves defense backing off, let fly with a swerving shot from 25m that flew into the top corner to make it 3-0.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but