UEFA Cup round-up

Liverpool suffer double injury blow

Capacity cut at Field Mill

Blackburn Rovers lost their UEFA Cup first round, first leg tie against Larissa of Greece 2-0. It means Rovers have it all to do when they entertain the Greek Cup winners at Ewood Park in the second leg. Bolton Wanderers also have work to do if they want to progress to the second round after being held to a 1-1 draw by Rabotnicki Kometal in Macedonia. Indeed, the Premier League’s bottom club had to rely on a late equaliser from Abdoulaye Meite to save their blushes against their dominant opponents. A night of frustration for British clubs in Europe continued at Pittodrie where Aberdeen came up against a stubborn Dnipro side who held them to a goalless draw. Even Everton failed to live up to expectations after being held to a 1-1 draw by nine-man Metalist Kharkiv of Ukraine at Goodison Park. To compound the misery, Andrew Johnson contrived to miss two penalties while kick-off was delayed by half an hour due to a ticketing problem. The only bright spot in tonight’s UEFA Cup games came at White Hart Lane where Tottenham Hotspur cruised to a 6-1 victory over Cypriot side Anorthosis Famagusta to surely make the second leg a mere formality.

Liverpool have been dealt a double injury blow with the news that both Daniel Agger and Xabi Alonso have suffered broken metatarsals and could be out of action for six weeks.

The Women’s World Cup resumed after Tuesday’s typhoon with Australia and Norway qualifying from Group C. Cheryl Salisbury’s injury-time strike sent Australia through to the last eight in a dramatic 2-2 draw with Canada in Chengdu while Norway thumped Ghana 7-2. In Group D, Brazil maintained their 100% record with a 1-0 victory over Denmark and host nation China also progressed after beating New Zealand 2-0. The quarter-finals begin on Saturday.

UEFA have handed Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari a four-match ban and a fine of 12,120 euros after an incident in Portugal’s 1-1 draw with Serbia on 12 September. The ban means Scolari will not be able to go into the dressing room or pitch-side during four Euro 2008 qualifiers. Scolari appeared to lash out after Serbia defender Ivica Dragutinovic was sent off - afterwards claiming the defender insulted his family - but denied making any contact. Sevilla star Dragutinovic, meanwhile, has been banned for two matches for his part in the incident, but both men have three days to lodge an appeal.

Manchester City’s Stephen Ireland has signed a new deal, which will keep him at Eastlands until June 2012.

Norwich City’s record goalscorer Johnny Gavin has died, aged 79. Gavin scored a total of 132 goals (122 in the league and 10 in the FA Cup) in 338 appearances for Norwich, which cover two separate spells between 1949 and 1958. As a mark of respect, the Canaries will wear black armbands for the next home game with Sheffield Wednesday on September 29, with a minute’s applause preceding the game.

Mansfield Town have had the capacity of their Field Mill ground reduced by 50 per cent after a mix-up over tickets for last weekend’s derby with local rivals Chesterfield. Visiting fans were given 1,900 seats instead of the 1,300 tickets planned. The safety advisory group for the local authority is still investigating what happened but in the meantime has trimmed the Stags’ capacity to 4,684. Nottinghamshire County Council issued a statement to explain their decision.

“We have decided to reduce the capacity of the whole ground by 50% until the club can restore our confidence in the computerised turnstile monitoring system, which is currently unable to accurately determine the number of supporters coming into the ground. The club is also aware of the problems with the turnstile system and shares our concerns. Once this problem has been rectified we will raise the capacity back to 70% in line with ongoing improvement measures.”

Nathan Davies