Santa Cruz at the double
Lampard suffers thigh injury
Dismissed duo to appeal
Steele leaves Altrincham
York appoint Walker
Hearts players in crisis talks
A brace from Roque Santa Cruz earned Blackburn Rovers a point in a 2-2 draw against Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium. The home side took the lead through Darius Vassell on 27 minutes but Santa Cruz equalised just a minute late. Visiting defender Ryan Nelsen scored an own goal on the half-hour mark to complete an explosive three-minute period. Santa Cruz grabbed the equaliser with only six minutes left to end City’s 100% home record in the Premier League and continue his personal run of form. The Paraguayan has now scored seven goals in his last four games.
Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard will b sidelined for the next “few weeks” with a thigh injury. A club statement read:
“Scans have revealed a tear in Frank Lampard’s right thigh. The tear is not the same leg that Frank injured earlier in the season. He will begin rehabilitation immediately and we hope to have him back playing within a few weeks.”
Chelsea and Aston Villa appeal against the red cards shown to Ashley Cole and Zat Knight during yesterday’s 4-4 draw at Stamford Bridge. The pair will learn their fate at a Football Association hearing on December 28. Meanwhile, Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho, who was also dismissed by referee Phil Dowd, has apologised for his two-footed lunge on Gabriel Agbonlahor.
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Dalton Steele has left his position as Altrincham assistant manager.
Blue Square Premier club York City have appointed Colin Walker as their new manager on a permanent basis. Walker had been in caretaker char since November’s sacking of Billy McEwan.
Heart of Midlothian players held emergency crisis talks following their 0-1 home defeat to St Mirren yesterday and then again this morning. The Edinburgh club are third from bottom of the Scottish Premier League. Hearts goalkeeper, Steve Banks, said:
“A few of the senior players in there thought the players needed to have a meeting without any staff there, which we did. There were a few things said that maybe had not been said before. I certainly hope that everyone is well aware of the threat of relegation. It’s becoming a bit more realistic as time has gone on. I think the club is too good to go down, whether the players are at the moment I don’t know. We are not getting the results. The club, as far as I’m concerned, deserves to be top of the league and be winning cups every year because it is a great club with a lot of tradition. It’s just not happening at the moment. Not only was it a bad result for us, it was probably one of the worst performances as well. We need to knuckle down and get results and not be too concerned about performances, although it is important to play well. We just have to get three points at the end of the 90 minutes and get some confidence back and hopefully the performances will start coming with the wins.”
Nathan Davies