Timing is everything in the mad rush of the play-offs and although Crystal Palace had not looked like promotion candidates for most of the season, their impressive revival under Iain Dowie proved enough to take them all the way to the Premiership.
West Ham must have had a sneaking feeling it might, since Palace were in Cardiff in the first place only courtesy of Brian Deane's last-minute equalizer away to Wigan this month in the last match of the regular season. Had Wigan won that game, Palace would not have made the play-off cut and West Ham would have been rewarded with two more games against Paul Jewell's team.
Dowie, who took over as Palace manager in December, when the team were 19th in the table, had said he needed to win this game or risk losing his best players to bigger clubs.
In another irony the winning goal was scored by veteran captain Neil Shipperley, one of the few players who has not recently been attracting the attention of Premiership scouts.
The decisive moment arrived just after the hour. West Ham inexplicably stood off Andy Johnson until he was within shooting distance, then still seemed surprised by his shot. Although there was no real power in the low drive, it was well placed and Stephen Bywater could only push the ball out to Shipperley, who might be a few kilos above his fighting weight these days and need a few more feet in which to turn, but he is not in the habit of refusing gifts from two yards out.
Meanwhile, Brighton bounced straight back into the English first division with a 1-0 victory over Bristol City in the second division playoff final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Sunday.
A Leon Knight penalty seven minutes from time was enough for them to return to England's second flight, from which they were relegated last year.
After 83 minutes of deadlock, City defender Daniel Coles clearly brought down Brighton striker Chris Iwelumo and Knight, who had scored 26 goals in all competitions this season before Sunday, calmly put the ball past Steve Phillips.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
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