Wigan win eight-goal thriller
Premier League round-up
Football League review
SPL round-up
Capello ready for final challenge
The game of the day in the Premier League saw Wigan Athletic beat Blackburn Rovers 5-3 at the JJB Stadium. The home side raced into a 3-0 half-time lead, courtesy of goals from Denny Landzaat (10), Marcus Bent (12) and Paul Scharner (37). Rovers striker Benni McCarthy had seen his penalty saved by Latics goalkeeper Chris Kirkland on 22 minutes but the visitors gave themselves a glimmer of a chance with a Roque Santa Cruz goal in first-half injury-time. Santa Cruz made it 3-2 five minutes after the restart but a comeback looked unlikely when Brett Emerton was sent off for his second yellow card on 57 minutes. Just four minutes later though it was 3-3 after Santa Cruz completed his first hat-trick in English football. The excitement was far from over though as Marcus Bent found time to add another two goals, claim his own hat-trick and give Steve Bruce his first victory as Wigan boss. The result also arrested a run of 13 games without a victory for the Latics.
Elsewhere, Manchester City beat Bolton Wanderers 4-2 at Eastlands to preserve their 100% record. The ninth successive home win moves City up to fourth. Everton beat West Ham United at Upton Park for the second time in three days. After Wednesday’s Carling Cup quarter-final triumph, David Moyes’ men repeated the trick in the Premier League as Yakubu and Andy Johnson gave the visitors a 0-2 win.
There were 0-1 away wins for Middlesborough at Derby County, Tottenham Hotspur at Portsmouth and Newcastle United at Fulham while both Sunderland and Birmingham City were held to 1-1 draw at home by Aston Villa and Reading respectively.
West Bromwich Albion are the new leaders of the Championship after a Zoltan Gera brace helped them to a 4-2 victory over Charlton Athletic at the Hawthorns in the day’s early kick-off. Watford missed an opportunity to reclaim top spot after slumping to a 0-1 defeat against Plymouth Argyle at Vicarage Road. David Norris scored the only goal of the game late on but the afternoon will be best remembered for a half-time protest in support of Al Bangura - the 19-year-old Watford star who is facing deportation back to Sierra Leone after he lost his case to stay in the UK on Tuesday. Both sets of fans held up posters showing Bangura’s face under the words “He’s family”.
Swansea City remain top of League One with a 3-0 victory over Southend United at the Liberty Stadium but Carlisle United are only a point behind in second place after a home win against Leyton Orient. Joe Garner scored the only goal of the game after 50 minutes.
In League Two, Milton Keynes Dons extended their lead at the top of the league with a 1-2 victory at Peterborough United. Kevin Gallen and Keith Andrews put Paul Ince’s men in control before Aaron Mclean pulled one back for Posh on 75 minutes. Visiting defender Drissa Diallo was sent off three minutes later but the Dons held on. Meanwhile the games between Bradford City and Rotherham United, Darlington and Chester City as well as Rochdale and Notts County were all postponed due to frozen pitches.
In the Scottish Premier League, Rangers moved to within two points of Celtic with a game in hand after beating Heart of Midlothian 2-1 at Ibrox. Motherwell remain third after a resounding 3-0 home victory over Aberdeen - their fourth successive win. Bottom-placed Gretna shared six goals with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park for their sixth point of the season.
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New England boss Fabio Capello says the job will be his last in football. Speaking on Rai television, where he has been working as a commentator since being sacked by Real Madrid in June, Capello said:
“This is the final crowning of my career. It would be very nice to finish in the best way. This is another challenge which is part of (a manager’s) job but this challenge will be slower and more complicated because I must study more than if I was a league manager. We want to do very well and there is a big expectation around and I think that with my team we will achieve great objectives.”
Nathan Davies