England Football Blog

Vital wins for North East trio and fellow strugglers Reading

Kevin Keegan enjoyed his first win since returning to Newcastle United, Sunderland picked up three points away from home for the first time and Bolton Wanderers stay in the bottom three.

Reading won their six-pointer with Birmingham City, Middlesbrough edged past Derby County, Blackburn Rovers easily beat Wigan Athletic and Tottenham Hotspur left it late to overcome Portsmouth.

Everton’s UEFA Champions League hopes suffered a blow as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by West Ham.

Mark Viduka and Michael Owen provided a relieved Keegan with a much-needed lift as Newcastle beat struggling Fulham 2-0.

Newcastle enjoyed a dream start in front of a bumper St James’ Park crowd when Viduka turned smartly on the edge of the area and fired a low shot inside the far post for his first goal of 2008.

Obafemi Martins had a goal disallowed for offside before Owen made the points safe seven minutes from time when he met Geremi’s free-kick unmarked to head beyond Kasey Keller.

Everton were looking to move level on points with Liverpool in the race for fourth place but were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with West Ham.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni gave the Toffees the perfect start when he turned away from young defender James Tomkins to lash the ball beyond Rob Green in the eighth minute.

But Dean Ashton climbed to head the Hammers level from Lucas Neill’s hanging cross after the break, with young substitute Freddie Sears hitting the post in the dying seconds.

Sunderland boosted their survival hopes with a first away win of the season as substitute Michael Chopra scored the only goal at Aston Villa.

Chopra, who netted Sunderland’s first goal this season, came up with another important strike when he latched on to Kieran Richardson’s pass to finish coolly beyond Scott Carson on 83 minutes.

Bolton Wanderers are stuck in the relegation zone after being held to a 0-0 draw by Manchester City at the Reebok Stadium.

The hosts came closest to scoring when Icelandic defender Gretar Steinsson headed a corner against the post in the first half.

Blackburn and Wigan both had a man sent off as Rovers battled to a 3-1 win at Ewood Park.

Blackburn were ahead on 12 minutes when Roque Santa Cruz stooped to head home his 13th Premier League goal of the season from close range after Chris Kirkland could only parry David Bentley’s swerving shot.

But Wigan were level within five minutes after Blackburn defender Christopher Samba was sent off for a slight tug on Emile Heskey’s shirt in the box, and Marlon King stepped up to equalise from the spot for his first goal for the club.

Rovers, though, were back in front in first-half injury-time when former Wigan striker Jason Roberts showed great skill on the edge of the area before slipping his shot through Kirkland’s legs.

The home side continued to make light of their numerical disadvantage and scored a third goal on 63 minutes when Bentley curled in a cross from the left for the arriving Santa Cruz to head home at the far post.

Wigan’s chances of a comeback took a further knock on 69 minutes when Wilson Palacios was sent off for a second bookable offence after bringing down David Dunn.

Reading climbed further away from trouble after Andre Bikey grabbed both goals in a 2-1 win over relegation rivals Birmingham City at the Madejski Stadium.

The Royals edged in front just past the half-hour mark when Bikey nipped in at the near post to glance John Oster’s free-kick into the net.

Mauro Zarate pulled Birmingham level on 65 minutes when the Argentinian scored his first goal for the club after firing home from Mikael Forssell’s pass.

But Blues were undone by Bikey again on 79 minutes after the Cameroon international darted in to meet Nicky Shorey’s free-kick.

Darren Bent made a decisive impact from the substitutes’ bench as Tottenham won 2-0 at home against Portsmouth.

Centre-half Michael Dawson rattled the crossbar in the first half for Spurs before Bent came on to fire Dimitar Berbatov’s scuffed shot beyond David James with 10 minutes to go.

Just two minutes later, Bent turned provider as he played in a cross to supply Jamie O’Hara with a simple tap-in.

Middlesbrough inched ever closer to securing their Premier League status for next season after a 1-0 win at home to bottom club Derby.

Woeful Derby defending contributed to Boro’s winning goal on 32 minutes when Tuncay Sanli collected George Boateng’s inside pass and sauntered into the box before steering a low shot beyond the wrong-footed Roy Carroll.

Robinson returns to England squad

England coach Fabio Capello has recalled Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson to the squad for Wednesday’s friendly in France.Capello has reduced his squad from 30 to 23 and brought in Robinson to replace the injured Scott Carson.

Matthew Upson is also injured, while Gabriel Agbonlahor, Ashley Young, Shaun Wright-Phillips, David Wheater and Jermain Defoe are cut from the squad.

David Beckham retains his place and could win his 100th cap in Paris.

Robinson lost his England spot in the final Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia last year.

Jenas scored the opening goal of Capello’s reign in the friendly win over Switzerland last month, but he missed Tottenham’s Premier League win over Portsmouth on Saturday.

Capello risks his squad for Wednesday being hit by injuries to key players when Liverpool play Manchester United and Arsenal play Chelsea on Sunday.

The Italian has voiced his concern over the timing of the Premier League fixtures.

“This is a friendly - having said that I’m not ecstatic, not happy about it,” said Capello.

“Some of the players I will not be able to train as I would like to.”

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Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), Chris Kirkland (Wigan Athletic)

Defenders: Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Portsmouth), Joleon Lescott (Everton), John Terry (Chelsea), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur)

Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Gareth Barry (AstonVilla), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), David Beckham (LA Galaxy), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)

Forwards: Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

Bolton 0-0 Man City

Bolton ended their five-game Premier League losing streak but stayed in the relegation zone after being held at home by Manchester City.Gretar Steinsson headed against the post as Bolton started brightly.

City responded with a Stephen Ireland shot that Ricardo Gardner headed off the line but Bolton were dominant.

Only a superb clearance by Joey O’Brien denied City substitute Felipe Caicedo but the home side almost won it when Kevin Davies’ header was hacked clear.

Either side could have ended up with all three points but, given their current plight, Bolton will look back on the game with most regret.

But, for all their long spells of pressure, Gary Megson’s side ultimately lacked the spark they needed to break City down.

Wanderers did have their moments, however, notably with a flurry of chances in the opening minutes.

El Hadji Diouf tested Joe Hart with a rasping shot and, soon after, he sent in a wicked low cross that just eluded Matthew Taylor and Danny Guthrie and was cleared by Vedran Corluka.

From the ensuing corner, which was taken by Senegal star Diouf, Steinsson was first to the ball and sent his header crashing against the post.

But City survived the early storm and threatened themselves when Petrov’s corner was cleared as far as Ireland, who fired in a rasping shot that was headed off the line by Gardner.

Bolton continued to push forward after the break but they were struggling to turn their possession into chances.

And it was City who had the next golden opportunity when Benjani ran clear but he dithered on the ball and, although Elano eventually got a shot away, the opening was wasted.

Only in the final half-hour did the game truly open up and several chances went begging at both ends.

Steinsson’s header was blocked by the impressive Richard Dunne before a last-ditch tackle by Elano denied Davies.

Another Steinsson effort was deflected clear and Hart produced a fine save to keep out Diouf’s shot from a tight angle.

City were threatening too and Elano’s drilled 30-yard shot was pushed away by Ali Ab Habsi before O’Brien’s heroic block kept out Caicedo’s goalbound effort.

Bolton could still have had the final word when Davies rose to head towards the bottom corner but Petrov was in the right place to clear and ensure his side earned a point.

Bolton’s Ricardo Gardner will have an X-ray on a rib injury after being carried off on a stretcher late in the first half. The Jamaica midfielder landed awkwardly under a challenge from Darius Vassell.

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Bolton boss Gary Megson:
“We have drawn a game we maybe should have won but not through a lack of effort.”We gave their goalkeeper a lot to do and we certainly could not have tried any harder.

“We had a lot of efforts on goal so there is a lot to be positive about but at this stage of the season it is all about getting the three points.”

Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson:
“Bolton are fighting for their lives. You have to cope with the way they play and defensively we did okay.”Richard Dunne was extremely important to us in dealing with the amount of long balls and crosses they put in.

“We dealt with them well but we hit too many long balls ourselves and in the future we have to play more football.”

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Bolton: Al Habsi, Steinsson, Cahill, Andrew O’Brien, Gardner (Joey O’Brien 46), Diouf, Nolan, Campo (McCann 63), Guthrie, Taylor (Giannakopoulos 83), Davies.
Subs Not Used: Walker, Rasiak.

Booked: Nolan.

Man City: Hart, Corluka, Onuoha, Dunne, Garrido, Ireland (Elano 58), Gelson, Johnson, Petrov, Vassell (Caicedo 58), Mwaruwari.
Subs Not Used: Isaksson, Jihai, Castillo.

Att: 22,633

Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).