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Moyes keeps it simple to revive winning formula

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Asked whether this first victory since September brought to mind the Everton of the last two seasons, in both of which they went on to finish fifth, David Moyes shook his head dismissively.

Sam Wallace: Samba for sale... Supporters priced out as Brazil go globetrotting with friendlies

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The congestion on the North Circular can make you wonder whether attending friendlies at Wembley is worth the hassle. But if you happen to be Brazilian, getting to see your national team play a friendly is a lot more frustrating than sitting in traffic by the Neasden branch of Ikea.

City fans pine for Dunne as Lescott falters again

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

We will remember them. Manchester City did not have Richard Dunne in mind when they asked an officer from the Royal British Legion to read Laurence Binyon's verse before kick-off but that's how it transpired.

O'Neill backs Milner for World Cup squad

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

In four successive away games following their stirring victory over Chelsea, Aston Villa performed mundanely in drawing twice, losing once and making Carling Cup progress on penalties. Three weeks on, the international managers in whom Martin O'Neill is about to entrust many of his players will be hoping there is a more pronounced kick-on following another rousing Villa Park occasion.

Wenger plays down flying start to his 'cruellest month'

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Many football managers would agree with T S Eliot that "April is the cruellest month", the time of year when their hopes are finally killed off. For Arsène Wenger, oddly, it is November that has in recent seasons been a wasteland of lost points and dreams. Three years ago, there were defeats at Fulham and Bolton to kill off any serious championship challenge; last year, successive losses to Aston Villa and Manchester City left them with too much to do, despite beating Chelsea on the final day of the month.

Eurozone: Aguero cameo comes too late for Atletico

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

In simpler times, whether a player was fit or injured, a manager would never consider saving his best XI for another day, so Sergio Kun Aguero would have been on the pitch from the first kick of Saturday's helter-skelter Madrid derby.

Pitch perfect Smith conquers Kiwis

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Tony Smith may or may not want to carry on as England coach after the current Four Nations, but he is on the sort of roll where any decision he makes will probably be the right one.

Jones rues fluffing his big moment

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

While Warren Gatland was up in the press room accusing the game's referees of showing bias towards the All Blacks, Alun Wyn Jones was emerging from the Welsh dressing room seemingly intent on proving there is another method for handling defeat. It involves looking within rather than without and in this regard the Lions lock was even more brutally frank than his coach.

Motorcycling: Pedrosa victory takes advantage of Stoner's warm-up crash

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Dani Pedrosa won the final race of the MotoGP World Championship season yesterday to claim third in the final standings ahead of Casey Stoner.

Cycling: Britain's para-cyclists dominate at track world championships

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Great Britain demonstrated their continued presence as the world's No 1 team yesterday with a phenomenal haul at the UCI para-cycling track world championships in Manchester.

Mickelson holds nerve to edge Els

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Phil Mickelson is excited about the prospects 2010 will bring after ending a difficult season with a thrilling victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions here yesterday.

Murray bounces back to demolish Youzhny

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Andy Murray may have been off the court for six weeks but he has not forgotten how to win. In his first tournament back since taking time out to nurse an injury to his left wrist, the 22-year-old Scot yesterday won the Valencia Open with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 victory over Mikhail Youzhny. It was the 14th title of Murray's career and his sixth of the year, more than any other player on the men's tour.

Girl Power: Filly Zenyatta beats field of colts to join the greats

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

If racehorses teach us anything, it is not to perceive the hand of destiny in random events. So many unaccountable things happen on a racecourse that its habitués tend to end up treating the rest of their lives in much the same way – as some kind of across-the-board wager, one that may or may not come off. The best you can hope to do is enjoy the ride.

Dom Joly: Where exactly is the fun in a fun-run?

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

I was getting on to a plane from Heathrow bound for Milan and it seemed to be packed with very gaunt, tired-looking Italian women in tracksuits. For a while I couldn't work it out. Was this the return leg of a particularly strenuous weekend Anglo-Italian yoga break in the Lake District? Maybe it was just an away-day flight taking members of the "very thin and ill-looking Italian club" for a trip around London. I was very curious so I did my usual and eavesdropped.

James Corrigan: Haye goes 'gaga' after hitting pay-per-gawp heights

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Queen Victoria would have been amused. As would her gloating subjects. For the vast majority who paid out the obligatory £14.63, Saturday night's world heavyweight championship bout had about as much to do with the current popularity of boxing as those Bearded Lady stands had to do with the widespread thirst in Victorian England to study hormonal imbalance. Essentially this was pay-per-gawp.

Benitez set to ask Torres to play through the pain

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Rafael Benitez has indicated that the discomfort Fernando Torres experienced after his performance against Lyons last week has receded, allowing him to "carry on with the pain" against Birmingham City at Anfield tonight.

Riley enjoys the good life as late strike upsets Charlton

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Charlton, a Premier League club as recently as 2007, saw their 19-match unbeaten record against non-League opposition in the FA Cup plundered by a 20-year-old barman yesterday, Wayne Riley striking late for Northwich Victoria to give the side lying 16th in the Blue Square North the victory they deserved.

Schwarzer's heroics defy Wigan blitz

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

On a day when giants collided at Stamford Bridge and Phil Brown fought for his survival on Humberside, this match was so obviously a footnote that the first words of this report should be "and finally".

New boxing champion third favourite for BBC award

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

In the wake of David Haye's victory over Nikolai Valuev on Saturday, the new WBA heavyweight champion has been made third favourite to be be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year next month.

Boxing: Haye hits land of plenty

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

David Haye staged a glorious heist here on Saturday night to beat Nikolai Valuev for the World Boxing Association title, shock his doubters and become heavyweight boxing's most desired fighter.

'The best thing that could happen to the division': Reaction to a heavyweight achievement

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

*He had the talent, speed and ability to beat the guy. It took guts to come from cruiserweight and fight a man mountain like he did. He stuck to his guns. - Frank Bruno (former world champion)

Johnson damned by England's lack of bite

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Even in the ages of greatest uncertainty, visiting teams could confidently expect two things from the Twickenham experience: a programme of pre-match entertainment guaranteed to reduce right-thinking folk to a state of knee-clenching embarrassment and, during the game itself, a ferocious scrap with a pug-ugly England pack. The Rugby Football Union lived down to its standards on the first count at the weekend – dancers dressed as zebras (how very London), a woman attached to a hot air balloon, "Land of Hope and Glory" – but no one delivered on the second part of the deal as Martin Johnson's team slid miserably to a sixth successive defeat at the hands of a SANZAR nation.

James Lawton: Wilkinson the forlorn symbol of a culture that has lost its way

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

However profound a defeat, it rarely provokes the sense of a sports version of Doomsday. England's did in a way that had to include the wholly admirable Jonny Wilkinson among its casualties.

Strauss hits sparkling ton

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Some cricketers have turned up in South Africa claiming to be the England one-day side. This would fool only the credulous considering the clinically efficient and crisp way this bunch are playing, as opposed to the fitful methods usually betrayed by the team bearing their name. But perhaps this new leaf will stay turned.

FA Cup: Second-round draw

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Leeds United, who went out of the competition at this stage last year to non-league Histon, have been handed a tricky tie at Conference side Kettering. The Poppies reached the fourth round last season and are managed by Mark Cooper, whose father Terry was left-back in the great Leeds sides of the late Sixties and early Seventies.