Reading manager Steve Coppell said his side landed a crucial psychological blow in the Championship promotion race by beating leaders Wolverhampton 1-0.
The Royals, in second place, are now just two points behind Mick McCarthy’s team after Wolves defender Neill Collins headed into his own net in the second minute at the Madejski Stadium. Collins was then sent off in the last minute after arguing with the linesman to cap a miserable performance.
“I see it as psychologically important to win. There is a third of the season to go and it is all to play for,” Coppell said.
Wolverhampton boss McCarthy is adamant his team have no reason to panic after a result that throws the promotion battle wide open.
“Apart from the goal which is a defining moment I’m delighted with how we played,” McCarthy said. “We scrapped to the bitter end and they’ve had a right go.
Birmingham got their promotion charge back on track as Lee Carsley’s second-half goal clinched a 1-0 win over Derby at St Andrews — the Blues’ first success in five matches.
Alex McLeish snatched the points when former Everton midfielder Carsley flicked in Hameur Bouazza’s right-wing cross in the 59th minute.
Playoff hopefuls Sheffield United were beaten 1-0 at home by Doncaster, who clinched the victory thanks to James O’Connor’s 50th-minute strike.
Swansea boss Roberto Martinez insisted his team are starting to hit top form after they routed Preston 4-1 at the Liberty Stadium.
Martinez’s Swans dumped holders Portsmouth out of the FA Cup on Saturday and chalked up a fifth successive win by brushing aside North End.
“They believe in what I have been doing my methods and my coaching and things are now beginning to work out for us on the pitch,” Martinez said. “The team is building up well and I think we are improving with each game at the moment.”
At the other end of the table, Charlton boss Phil Parkinson set his sights on survival after his side defeated south London rivals Crystal Palace 1-0 at the Valley to earn their first win in 19 league matches.
Elsewhere, Bryan Gunn was frustrated in his first match as permanent Norwich manager as Southampton hit back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Carrow Road.
QPR thrashed Blackpool 3-0, Nottingham Forest’s resurgence continued as they defeated 10-man Sheffield Wednesday 2-1, Ipswich won 2-1 at Barnsley, Bristol City won 2-0 at Plymouth and Watford strolled to a 3-0 victory over Burnley.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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