Pre-Season Antics Explained At Bantams

Bradford City ended a hectic pre-season schedule with the announcements of a number of transfers.
Leaving the club are Rufus Brevett, Craig Bentham, Steven Schumacher and Luke Richardson. Being released are Clint Davies, Spencer Prior, Morten Wieghorst, Vic Pericard, Jose Capdevila, Ceri Hughes, Darren Hughes, Liam Roche and Andy Jordan.
Arriving at the club will be a number of players, long term target Steve Burton arrives from Aberdeen along with Paddy McGuire, Pa Modou Kah finally makes his return to Bradford from his unhappy spell at Man City and looks to be set for a first team spot, while Michael Proctor makes a surprise return to the club from Fulham. Gary Naysmith, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Don Bombardini and Brian McBride all make the short trip accross the pennines from Everton, John Cook is coming up from Ipswich and Alex looks set for a move from Euro giants Barcalona. The big summer signing though is young defender Matt Killgallon from yorkshire rivals Leeds.
Finally three youth players have been given one year pro contracts and hope to prove their worth to the club: goalkeeper Nathan Thackery, defender Gareth Mitchell and midfielder Simon Ainge.
The summer break also saw the Diego saga rear it's ugly head with a proposed move to Feyenoord falling through after Diego pleaded for one last chance to impress the club. Hatem Ben Arfa was also subject to transfer speculation but it was also decided it was in the best interests of the club to keep the young attacking midfielder.

Ready to Defend Title

Dundee united manager, Andy Grant, today proclaimed that he was ready to compete in the new season and hoped for a 'furious' assualt on the league title. If he were able to lead his charges to the title, it would be a record breaking 3rd title in a row. His challenge has been helped no end by newcastle united going bust. In the league tho, which is probably close to being the top 8 teams in the league, there are some other great competitors. Derby, Boro and west ham will all be looking to challenge as will Petes, Cardiff City. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Pete has the quality in squad and ability to snatch the title from the reigning champs.

This is not going to be an easy season but with some european players already heading towards tannadice and manager, Andy Grant, looking to take in 1 or 2 more signings, it would appear that once again, it looks like it will be down to the very last game in the premier.

The excitement will know, no bounds this season and promises to be a ripsnorter.

No Love Lost Between Leslie and Broad

Southampton kicked their season off in emphatic style, beating Rangers 2-1 away from home. "The lads have shown great professionalism today" said manager Jim Leslie after the game. "They have shown that we aren't going to be taking it easy this year. Although this is only the first game of the season, we feel we can perform in this division. The games are a lot harder this year, as we won't get easy victories against the likes of York. We will also look to go on a couple of good runs in the cup. The FA cup will hopefully see us paired with York, so we may as well get a bye into the next round as the game will be such a walkover." Triumphant fans left the ground singing the praises of their team and manager. One said, "We finished last season off so brightly, we just hope we can carry that form on this season and do as well in a much tighter league. Its a shame we can't have our derbies this year, but hopefully we'll get a couple in a cup run. We may get those losers from York who scraped a win today. Their manager is shit, he could nearly manage Leeds he is that bad". Many more fans poured out the ground to give their opinions on the game, but what they said couldn't be decifered as they were so hammered. Sunday was a good day to be a saints fan.

Bradford City destroyed old foe Glasgow Celtic in a rousing display to herald Division 1 football into Valley Parade. In a very one-sided affair Bradford smashed three goals past hapless keeper Stephen Bywater before Celtic then had two men sent off. Bradford took their foot off the gas in the second half and a late Matty Killgallon own goal gave the scoreline some respectability for Celtic though Bradford would not have been flattered had they scored double figures!

Bradford boss Matt Birch was understandably pleased with the overall result saying "We did fantastically well today. Both ourselves and Celtic have moved up a division and the pressure was on us both as we've both been tipped to challenge for promotion again this season. Celtic have the edge in the fact that they have played in this division in the past whereas Bradford have spent most of their life in the basement division but we looked the brighter and more confident right from the start and we controlled the game for the full 90 minutes. It was also nice to see young Diego sign off his Bradford career in style with a man of the match winning performance and a sublime brace. The lad has never really settled down in England and has had a stop start career with both Cardiff and Bradford but he's attracted a bit of a cult following from Bradford and Cardiff fans and they came out in their droves to pay farewell to him as he heads over to Rotterdam where I think he'll be a bit hit with Feyenoord. We all knew what he was capable of but I just don't think the British game suited him that well, but I think he'll do wonders for Feyenoord and we all wish him the very best of luck.

Of the rest of the lads I thought Fabregas looked sharp. He's done well in pre-season and he carried on where he left off in the New-Zealand tournament. Eadie also excelled in his role in the hole in front of the back 4. Darren is really coming of age and looks like he'll be the best player in the division in this position as well as in the role behind the front two when we need him to play there. He's irreplaceable.

Bradford City (5-3-2):

J_Moreira 6,
M_Kilgallon 6, S_Kehl 7, A_Smertin 7, P_Modou_Kah 6, D_Eadie 8,
S_McCall 6, H_Ben_Arfa 8, J_Cook 5,
Diego 9*, F_Fabregas 9.
Subs: M_VanDriel 6, G_Naysmith 6, St_Burton 6

Pompey Boss Angry

Portsmouth boss Richard Locke has told his players that most of them will
leave. The statement released on the clubs website comes after a shocking
display against Newcastle in the opening game of the season. Most of the
squad has been placed onto the transfer list and a team of scouts has began
scouting missions accross europe. Pompey boss told his team to fight for the
right to stay at the club, starting with the home clash with Wolves.

Pompey fans had some good news that an unknown source has injected some
money into the club in a bid to sign players for a push up the league. Early
steps have been taken to improve the squad after a disaster last season.
Meanwhile Pompey are in talks with three top players who have yet to be
named.

Derby manager Graham Frith moved fast this week in the wake of County's
defeat at Cardiff at the weekend. Whilst recognising that the game at
rivals Cardiff was perhaps their most difficult of the season, and that it
was good to get it out of the way early, Frith was disappointed with the
way his team capitulated in a fixture that they were able to win last
season. "I think Cardiff were up for this one more than we were and they
seemed hungrier", he said. In any case, since that time, Frith has brought
in two quality players, in the form of Bollan from Porto, and Pires from
Arsenal. These two quality players should shore up the derby side, and
bring the desired result this coming sunday home to Leeds. "Our fans expect
more from us," Frith said, " and this Sunday we aim to satisfy that
expectation".

Start Banging em' For Me Pleas Stu Watson

Highly rated Aberdeen striker A_Cerci was today told to start banging in the
goals or face losing his place in the team. The 20 year old has had a
dissapointing run in the friendlies including 2 penalty misses and manger
stu watson will not let it continue into the season. With 3 new strikers
coming in to the club, cerci will have to prove himself to keep his place."
Jardel, Klinnsman and Mckenzie are all going to be eager to get a game and
along with current strikers, blunschi and mcleod there are a lot of players
competing, I'm also looking to bring in another striker so Cerci will have
to start scoring soon."

Scathing Saints Seek FA Enquiry

Southampton are to launch a complaint to the FA after todays game saw Norwich player J_Gronkjaer punch the Saints star midfielder, P_J_Fry, and then followed it up by headbutting him. Southampton are to look for a longer suspension than the one game he is going to serve for the red card. Fry came out to the press conference after the game and had a few words about the incident. "It came from nowhere, I was just playing as normal and he came from nowhere. I did nothing to warrant such an act. We will be looking for him to be punished further. This kind of act can not go unpunished. As for the game, we were delighted to win such a tight contest. We thought after Craig got sent off, that would be it, but we held out till half time. Then came the most unsavoury moment I have ever experienced in my career, before we got a second and sealed the game. We are delighted to be one of only two teams with a 100% record and hope we can continue it in a fortnight against Liverpool. But first we have our first home game of the season in the Interwing cup next week against Norwich. A repeat of today's scoreline would go down well. Hopefully without any scuffles like today."

LOCKE LINKED WITH EUROPE

Under fire boss Richard Locke has been linked with a move to an unnamed
European club after a bad start to the season. Pompey have lost the first
two clubs and fans have allready been calling for his head. It would mean
some good news for fans who are not happy with lack of success. Pompey were
relegated to the 3rd Division but the restructure of the league ment that
they were re-instaed after a play off game with Aberdeen.

However, Pompey chairman Vladimar Bullshit said he will do all he can to
keep Locke at the club. We will try to make funding and provide the
resources to the manager if we can presuade him to stay. Rumours that an
argument between the two have been rubished off after Bullshit told the
local paper there is no rift between the club and we will prove that in near
future.

Meanwhile reports of an investment into the club has hit a snag, but is set
to go ahead very soon

Bradford City 3 - 2 Real Betis
D_Drogba (5), Alex (26), S_McCall (54)

Bradford City kicked off their Inter Wing Cup campaign with a 3-2 victory over Euro hopefuls Real Betis. City controlled the game from start to finish and raced into an early two goal lead through new boys Alex and Drogba. But despite all their huffing and puffing, City made hard work of finishing Betis off and allowed them twice to come within a goal and make for a nailbiting last quarter.
Bradford boss Matt Birch "If we want to get through this tough group then the lads are going to have to pull their socks up. We will face far harder games than today and we need to punish the opposition like we did against Everton last week. It seems only half the team wanted to play today, McCall was outstanding and provided almost a one man show. Diddy scored another while deZeeuw and Alex looked very good at the back. But the rest of the team should hang their heads in shame. They were a shambles."

Bradford City (6-2-2):
J_Moreira 4,
Alex 8, D_Weir 4, Ge_Jones 5, A_deZeeuw 7, D_Recorbet 4, A_Smertin 6,
S_McCall 10*, F_Siriex 6,
F_Fabregas 6, D_Drogba 8.
Subs: L_Saha 3, W_Tais 5, P_Mcguire n/a.

Peacock: Can't wait for Derby visit

This Saturday sees the visit of Derby County to the riverside to take on Matt Peacock's Middlesborough. This mouth-watering tie see's unbeaten Middlesborough take on a strong Derby team. This is not the first time Graham and Matt have faced each other, season 6 saw Derby beat Middlesborough, and Middlesborough beat Derby later on in the season. Boro have a full strength team for the match, whereas Derby have key player Doni out injured. Matt Peacock said "This game is too tough to call. We've had a great start to the season, and I hope that continues with a win against Derby. They are no mugs, far from it, and I feel this gamer will be so close, that one goal will settle it. I have confidence in the lads though, and hope we win this one".

Building at Birmingham

Newly promoted to Division 3, Birmingham City FC have started to build in earnest a team dreaming of going places. The Blues' board's first signing was unknown manager Chris 'ron' Knight, and since his appointment the new gaffer has bought in a number of new faces to St Andrews. When asked what his plans were, Chris stated
"Everyone knows we needed an influx of talent to survive in the league, with limited funds. Initially the pressure to cash-in Gray, our star middie, was immense. However, I firmly see the team of the future built around Blake, Gray, and the Taylors. Something had to give though so we let Vaesen go to Bradford and in return go a couple of solid midfielders and Caniggia to add to the defence. I think in a couple of years time [Robbie] Blake and [Clinton] Morrison will be a formidable partnership up front for us - remember, they're only young and full of running. With another solid midfielder I think the squad will be ready to start the scrap for promotion. I don't expect to get promoted this season though, but next year - well it's down to us to get the results we need."

Analysis of the Birmingham squad shows it lacks real stars except for Gray, and many consider the talk of promotion, even next season, to be verging on wishful thinking. They have promoted one of their youth players into their defence this season, N_Kilkenny, but the lad seems a little over-awed with Div 3 football and has yet to make his first tackle! Birmingham's first foray into international scouting drew a blank also. It is believed that once they sign another midfielder they will have spent their funds, and be dependent on performances on the pitch for further development.

Dean of the Dons

Aberdeen today announced the signing of S_Dean from Charlton. The highly
rated 17 yearold arrived with unsettled striker Jardel and bench player
Angulo going the other way. He is expected to be named in the squad for the
trip to man city. This is another signing that lowers the age of the first
team. The future is looking bright.

Dundee United were dominant in a easy demolition of Charlton, last night. Sky Sports were at the match blighted by injuries and suspensions for the Arabs and watched them run out easy winners. It was seen as ‘f**k you’ to league bosses after they have tried everything in their powers to stop United winning silverware this year.

Grant said ‘I was absolutely delighted with this win and it goes to show that you can’t keep a good team down. This was a wonder win under some very difficult conditions.’ He singled out Robbie fowler for special praise:’Robbie has done fantastically well. He has been on the subs bench for long parts of this season and last. However, when called upon, he has come in to the starting line-up and has banged them in with style. The lad currently has 4 goals to his name this season, not a bad total for having only played 332 minutes of football. If he can continue to keep scoring this way, he is going to make it very difficult for me to leave him out and second striker, D_Pezzarossi may well find himself playing 3rd fiddle.

‘I was also pleased with young John clark. He has come into the starting line-up this season and don’t reasonably well. It is always difficult to blood young players but we feel that the effort put in this season will be worth it in the end. He has a great future in the game ahead of him. However, we really need him to contribute more to the team this season. Although we are down, we are not out! A few good performances will see us back in things. We also have a 5th round IWC game against Benfica to look forward to. They have also been investing in youth and have put faith in a very young goalkeeper. It will be interesting to see how my lads react to seeing a young lad in goal – Hopefully they will go out and attack and give our fans something to cheer about.’

League chiefs have decided not to punish Grant over his allegations of the Kelletts as they have decided that it is indeed, all true.

POMPEY BOSS HAPPY

After getting promoted to Div 1 last season Pompey continue to improve as they go top of IWC group 8. Pompey who are in the top 3 of their domestic league beat PSV 4-0 at Fratton Park to move top of group 8. Pompey boss said he was delighted with his players performance so far this season and hopes to continue the good form. Pompey have scored a total of 22 goals in 7 games and have only conceeded 6.

Richard Locke also added that he would like to strengthen his squad in order to maintain the form his players have shown

Dundee United robbed once again - investigation into euro wing boss!

It was today announced that investigations will be made into the conduct of brit wing and euro wing commishes after Everton once again managed to steal points from the tannadice sides grasp.

In the first matching between the 2 sides this season, Everton grabbed an 87th minute equaliser after united had 3(!) players injured during the match, enjoyed 63% of possession AND had double the shots at goal as had the goodison side.

In the most recent match between the clubs, United shared the possession with the toffees yet had 14 shots to the liverpudlians 4. Yet lost 1-0.

Manager, Grant, who has yet to enjoy a premiership win this season was left disgusted and called for FIFA to investigate.

More news to follow

Birch U-Turns On Diego

Bradford City today sealed the last of the seasons major transfers with news that Diego is finally leaving the club, allbeit initially on loan with Louis Saha coming in on loan from Feyenoord. Diego follows Hatem Ben Arfa out of the revolving door at Valley Parade as manager Birch finally agreed terms with Feyenoord and Auxerre. Bradford also made a splash signing of Nico Vaesen from newly promoted former conference team Birmingham City. The blues were in need of some midfield steel and Bradford provided.
Manager Matt Birch now expects there to be little transfer activity till the close season with perhaps the only moves being a few small cash transfers in later months. Birch "Once all the protracted transfers have gone through I think we'll have a team capable of pushing for promotion. What we will lack in depth we'll make up on in the power of the first eleven and if we can keep these lads available then we have a good chance of getting a top two finish."

Pompey Boss Frustrated

Portsmouth boss Richard Locke told the clubswebsite he is very frustrated
after being unsucsesfull in the market during pre-season, We have made
contact with a number of players, however with our tight budget we are
unable to meet the demands, However we are still in talks over a number of
players and hope to bring in someone as soon as possible

City Ponder On What Might Have Been

Manchester City left Ipswich with their tails between their legs after a
poor showing at Portman Road.

After only 6 minutes City found themsevles 1-0 down as they were slow out of
the blocks, and punished for it by Ipswich duo Skilo. An intelligent pass by
the midfielder found Reyad who struck it first time and found the back of
the net.

City began to play but were kept at bay by a stunning performance by
J_Jlainen. Ry_Keane, M_Jankulovski and young D_Sturridge19 all had chances
but none of themwere able to convert. On 23 minutes however, the equaliser
came. A sublime cross from Janulovski found Sturridge19 who blasted home his
effort to the delight of the away fans. That however proved to be the only
thing the travelling fans had to cheer for.

Ipswich got themselves back in front after Reyad's thunderous drive found
the net and Vittek rounded off the scoring in the 38th minute with a
spectacular bicycle kick. The second half offered nothing in the way of
excitement, as both sides squandered chance after chance and City boss Lowe
was left wondering what could have been.

*****************SHOCK NEWS************************

Tannadice supremos have told manager, Andy Grant, that defeat to Leeds in the first game of the season was a shocking result and no more will be tolerated. Eddie Thompson went on to say that if he could not keep the team playing at a level which befits the standards previously set out, he would have to seek out a new manager and let Grant manage in the lower leagues.

A red faced Grant, left Tannadice via the back door and refused to comment to waiting reporters except for his mutterings of.....'Stacey, bloody Stacey'..........'Leeds, FFS'

It is said that every attempt will be made to get new faces into the tannadice starting XI and shift on a few lads who 'just don't cut it'

More to come from tannadice in the coming weeks

ARSCOTT SPEAKS AT LONG LAST

Arsenal manager Steve Arscott has come out and spoke to the press for the first time since his bust up with a reporter last season. Steve had untill now refused to talk to any member of the press. During his silence Arsenal had great sucess including promotion to the premiership and wining the inter wing cup.
The rift between the press and Steve has now been resolved and this is
what he had to say.

"Hi, its been a while since i spoke to you guys but i think its bout time i came out and spoke to you guys for the sake of the fans if nothing else.

So how did it feel to lift the iwc title and make it to the prem finaly??

Well of course it was fantastic to win the biggest torny in the game. We beat off some tough opistion on the way. Winning the title was the biggest sucess of my pbemff carear to date and with the players in my sqd coming to the end of there days the sqd will be losing more key players very soon. Making the prem was allso a fantastic acheivment for us but we know how tough it will be now were up there but we will put up as big of a fight as we can

Do you think you will cope with the loss of Dennis and Ole Gunner??

Well it wont be easy at all. TheY where 2 very very important players to us and wih out them we will struggle. Ive been looking all pre season for a decent replacent to play AM but its not realy come together. hopefully i can find the right deal just like i have in the past

So how do you think this season will go??
Well if we can stay up it will be fantasic. a good cup run to give my youthie some extra playing time would be fantasic but i think this will be a very tough season.

Well we think youve fucked your sqd and relegation back down the leagues is on the cards and that Arsneal have no futre. What have you got to say about that??

Well your talking bollacks. Ive made this club what they are and ill continue to take them forward. Theres plenty of stars still at this great club and ill make sure there will be many more stars to grace the great highbury turf.

"Arscott then throws a glass of water at the reporter and storms out of the press confrence looking very angry"

Well it looks like Arscotts relationship with the press has just taken a turn for he worse with the reporter being very rude to one of the top managers in the game. im sure Steve will be calling for the reporter to be sacked imediatly or we wont be hearing from him for a long time again.

D_Preece, J_Blanchard, C_Short, Tal_B_Haim, D_Griffin, A_Considne05,
C_Bentham, A_Barness , R_Quaresma, M_Angulo, C_Donnelly12, J_Winter,
S_Blunschi, M_Jardel, A_Cerci, J_Klinsmann

SOUTHWICK DISMISSES QUIT RUMOURS AFTER DELIA CLASH

New Norwich City boss Andrew Southwick has dismissed
claims that he's set to walk out of Carrow Road after
a half-time bust up with City supremo Delia Smith.

Talk in the town was that Southwick was set to call it
quits after just two games following an angry exchange
with the chef during the home defeat to Southampton,
however he has assured fans that he's in it for the
long haul.

Delia was seen by eyewitnesses being pushed out of the
Norwich dressing room at half-time after going down to
confront the players for their first half performance.
Southwick was also heard to tell her "And if you go
anywhere near the pitch with that microphone I'll make
you eat it - but it won't taste half as bad as any of
your recipes."

Speaking before taking training this morning Southwick
said "I've spoken to Delia and made it clear to her I
want no more interferences during half-time team
talks.

"Coming into our dressing room and shouting the odds
after a few glasses of sherry just isn't on. I was
trying to calmly sort out the problems in the first
half and instead the players went out far too
agressive due to her speech - so much so Gronkjaer
ended up being sent off for punching an opponent.

"I won't walk away though. Two defeats are very
disappointing but I knew when I took the job it would
be a first season spent rebuilding and I know soon
enough this team will be winning every week.

"I'm a gifted manager, but even the best of us need
time to make our mark. Rafa Benitez started slowly
this year but is in the Champions league final, while
Alex Ferguson took four years to find his feet at Old
Trafford.

"Pretty soon Norwich will feel the benefits of having
signed such a prestigious manager."

Southwick also scotched rumours that he was heading to
Northern Ireland to scout on a new signing target this
weekend.

"I'm going to a wedding, nothing else. I've brought
in six players since taking over and I've no interest
just now in bringing in anyone else until the six have
had the chance to make an impact," continued
Southwick.

"Besides, I'll be too pissed to look for players, its
the females I'll be after over there."

Bradford City 7 - 0 Everton

D_Drogba (12,21,30 pen,91), D_Weir (17), Alex (19), D_Eadie (22)

Bradford City served up a footballing lesson against Everton, smashing seven goals past them with no reply. New boy Diddy Drogba filled his boots on his debut, scoring four goals while Eadie and Smertin shone and new boys Alex and Weir also impressed. City boss Matt Birch "The game was not all one sided despite the heavy scoreline. It was an even match but our defence was rock solid while our new strike-force was awesome. I was delighted with the way Diddy responded to his transfer, he's going to be a real crowd pleaser. Alex was also buzzing as he is trying to make certain of his position at the club and if he carries on like he did today he's got nothing to worry about.

It's a bit upsetting for Darren to have gotten himself injured so close to full time after the masterful display he put in but I expect him to be back in a week or two and am expecting big things from him this season.

We've now played the two favourites for promotion in the first two weeks of the season and won both games very easily but I'm not going to let the lads get complacent, there will be no easy games this season and we are going to have work harder than today and take more possesion if we are to achieve our ultimate aim of promotion."

Bradford City (4-4-2):
J_Moreira 8,
Alex 9, D_Weir 8, A_Smertin 9, D_Recorbet 8,
S_McCall 8, F_Siriex 7, F_Fabregas 6, D_Eadie 10,
L_Saha 5, D_Drogba 10*.
Subs: W_Tais 7, St_Burton 7.

Xavi finished in Scotland.

Finally, after about 30 offers made for him, the decision has been taken.

Xavi leaves, he is also leaving the Brit Wing, and will be playing for Celta to join Bill McGorman's squad.

It was a tough decision the board of Celtic had to take this week. The results are bad, the squad not big enough to take the injuries and the suspensions. So a move ahd to be made. Xavi wanted to go last year and join a top team, but the manager kept him around for his excellent skills. But as the fans were roaring last match for the managers head, he decided to take a bid from Celta.

In return the next players will be joining the Celtic team to play the first IWC match.

A_Murillo 22 spa 1 17 8 6 24 800 134 844 248
D_Duff 27 ire 1 6 18 10 23 300 743 703 587
K_Agboh 29 fra 1 7 18 7 24 600 55 36 874

As the deal was declared official our newsreporter heard the Celtic say to himself, "I sure hope I did the right thing".

Grant slates negative stu

Controversial and often out spoken championship winning manager, Andy Grant has hit out at Aberdeen's lack of ambition after the clubs slim 1-0 victory over the sheep botherers.

He said 'Aberdeen's players were at best cynical and at worst downright dangerous. This was coupled with Watson's pathetic attempt at scraping a draw with such negative tactics. In my mind, a team which goes out without a striker on the park does not deserve anything from a match and trying to bore your way to a point is quite pathetic. The fans at tannadice have been brought in to watch flowing, attractive football and left extremely angry at having to watch the dirge that was shoved upon them this past weekend.

The Aberdeen players could not even muster a shot in the match even though they put the boot into my keeper, P_Gallacher and rendered him unable to play in my crunch league fixture against the highly talented Manchester United. Also on the injury list was P_Mills who suffered a horrendous leg knock in the 18th minute.

The only consolation for my players is they don't have to play against this level of football every week and are very much looking forward to playing some 'real' football next week'

He went on to say 'There seems a myth that Stu has a good record against my team and this is simply not true. the single victory that he has enjoyed came when both teams were playing in the lower divisions. Since then, united have enjoyed 2 victories and transformed into championship winning material rather that being content with mid-table mediocrity.
Grant finished his interview by grabbing a photo of Stu, rubbing a lit cigarette into the eye of the picture and left, still feeling very emotional over the whole incident.

Rumours circulating the granite city say that Stu will not be leaving his house over the coming 7 days as he is too shame-faced at his antics.

Middlesborough v Benfica – Match Report

Middlesborough: 4-5-1 A

Benfica: 4-3-1-2 C

Middlesborough got their Inter Wing Cup campaign off to a winning start, after a narrow 2-1 victory over Euro Division 3 side Benfica. This match was expected to be an easy win for Middlesborough, but it proved closed than thought. Benfica put up some real resistance, to get a well-respected 2-1 loss. Benfica got off to a terrible start with Owen getting a goal after just 4mins, after a thundering shot from outside the area. Eventual man of match Owen, then went on to get his second of the day when 1min later he got past his marker and tapped the ball past the keeper. From then on Middlesborough did go on the dominate the game, but Benfica battled and managed to keep out good attempts from Owen, Benny and Huysegems being saved. Benfica got one back on 20mins, but it proved just a consolation goal for the division 3 strugglers.

Matt Peacock said, "It was a hard game, and Benfica battled well; but in the end the better team won. The performance wasn't fantastic, but we played better than them and rightfully won. With all due respect to them, we could have knocked 4 or 5 past them. I'm happy to be sitting joint top, and I look forward to our next IWC game against Ipswich Town in 2weeks time".

Final Score : Middlesborough 2 – 1 Benfica

Middlesborough:

M_Schwarzer – 6

J_Rapley – 7 S_Low – 7 A_Hughes – 6 A_Stubbs – 6

P_Ferreira – 7 J_Cole – 8 J_Henderson – 8

S_Huysegems – 7 Benny – 6

M_Owen – 8* – Man of the match

Benfica:

A_Oakes – 6

G_Festa – 7 R_Ayala – 6 M_Helder – 7 P_Fyssas – 6

P_Deblock – 7 M_Gallardo – 6 P_Luccin – 5

A_Karadas – 6

F_Inzaghi – 7* M_Kallon – 6

Cowardly Accusations

Controversy erupted last night after Derby County's latest Inter Wing Cup match against rivals Arsenal. In the post-match press conference, Arsenal manager Steve Arscott accused County manager Graham Frith of adopting cowardly tactics during the match, referring to the neutral tactic that Frith had adopted. Frith replied by suggesting that, in fact, Arsenal had
been more cowardly in using a defensive counter-attacking tactic. Privately after the conference, Frith claimed that it was just a matter of sour
grapes after Derby manager put one over their foes with a 1-0 victory. The truth is that Frith could hardly contain his delight at the win, and claimed that the tactics he adopted made the difference between the two teams. The game itself was hard fought, with Sean Gall being shown the yellow card for one particularly nasty tackle on old team-mate Danny Murphy. There were several other players facing their previous team, and Ballack stood out in particular as he tried to show the Arsenal manager his true quality. The winning goal came from DiCanio, in his swansong season,
and man of the Match award went to Dominic Matteo for an outstanding performance at the back. The win for Derby means that they catapulted over
Arsenal, and also Brugges, into third place in group 4. With three matches remaining, Derby will be looking to overtake the top two, Boro and Cardiff, especially as they play eachother next week.