Czech striker Libor Kozak came off the bench and scored his first goal in the Premier League to give Aston Villa a 1-0 win at Norwich City yesterday.
A ￡7 million (US$11.2 million) signing from Lazio, Kozak settled the game with a 30th-minute tap-in at Carrow Road only two minutes after coming on for Christian Benteke.
Villa manager Paul Lambert, returning to his former club, was also indebted to goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who saved an early Robert Snodgrass penalty and produced a stunning late stop to deny Norwich debutant Gary Hooper.
Victory ended a run of three straight defeats for Villa, while Norwich have won just once in five games.
Ciaran Clark replaced the injured Jores Okore at centerback for Villa in one of three changes made by Lambert, while Russell Martin and Jonny Howson were brought into the Norwich line-up by manager Chris Hughton.
The game exploded into life with Villa forward Andreas Weimann going close twice in the first three minutes.
He forced John Ruddy to save after a matter of seconds with an effort from outside the box and then curled a shot against the post.
Norwich should have taken the lead in the sixth minute, however, but after Clark was penalized for handball, Guzan plunged to his left to parry Snodgrass’ spot-kick.
Record Norwich signing Ricky van Wolfswinkel then chested a cross over the bar from point-blank range before Benteke and Ron Vlaar each went close within the space of a minute at the other end.
It was to be Benteke’s last contribution as he was forced off by an apparent groin injury, but not before Van Wolfswinkel had clipped a half-volley inches wide from Martin’s cross.
Kozak came on for Benteke and made an immediate impact, guiding home a cutback from Gabriel Agbonlahor to put Villa ahead.
The hosts came close to an equalizer in the 59th minute when Guzan had to react sharply to prevent Leandro Bacuna scoring an own-goal.
Hughton introduced Hooper for his first appearance since a ￡5 million move from Celtic, but the hosts could not find a way through.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
RSS