Liverpool's First Win, Chelsea Become First To Win Three, Spurs' First Win Since 1989 and a Hand of Ba

Manchester United 2-3 Tottenham: Spurs win at Old Trafford for the first time since 1989. Based on the first half, the visitors deserved the three points, but after the 90-minutes, United probably should have got at least a point. The deadlock was broken after just two minutes when Jan Vertonghen was allowed through the defence before his shot was deflected in off Jonny Evans, his first Premier League goal. United still didn't get going and found themselves 2-0 down when a counter attack saw Gareth Bale out-pace Rio Ferdinand and finish coolly into the bottom corner. The second saw a mad two minutes and 22-seconds; half-time substitute Wayne Rooney crossed the ball that Nani poked home six minutes into the half. Straight from kick-off, Spurs were back on the attack and 3-1 up when Bale's shot was parried by Anders Lindegaard and Clint Dempsey was on hand to rebound it home, his first Spurs goal. It turned into a basketball match as United went straight up the other end and Robin Van Persie fed Shinji Kagawa for the Japanese to slot past Brad Friedel. United came close to levelling on two occasions; first Rooney smashed the post from a free-kick before a looping Nani header also hit the woodwork. Tottenham just managed to hold onto the victory for an iconic three points.

Norwich 2-5 Liverpool: Liverpool finally win their first Premiership game this season with Luis Suarez scoring a hat-trick for the second season in a row at Carrow Road. The Uruguayan broke the deadlock when Nuri Sahin touched it back for him to finish on two minutes. He made it 2-0 when sloppy defending allowed him to intercept before finishing on seven minutes before half-time. Suarez then provided the assist for their third two minutes into the second half when he pulled it back for Sahin to score his first Premiership goal. Suarez's hat-trick came ten minutes later when he curled a shot into the bottom corner via a deflection. Norwich's first goal came when Steve Morison rebounded a parried Lee Martin shot home just after the hour mark. But it was 5-1 on 68-minutes when a Steven Gerrard shot was deflected into the bottom corner. Norwich did then have the last word courtesy of Grant Holt three minutes before the end.

Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea: Chelsea become the first side to beat Arsenal at the Emirates three times, their first ever without Didier Drogba. Fernando Torres opened the scoring on 20-minutes when he diverted a free-kick home with a clever hooked touch. Arsenal were level three minutes before half-time when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played a low ball into Gervinho, the Ivorian then turned before lashing a shot into the top corner for his fourth goal of the season. The winner came from another free-kick, Juan Mata took it and it looked to have evaded everyone before nestling into the bottom corner, although it did look like Laurent Koscielny got a slight touch to bamboozle Wojiech Szczesny. Petr Cech was on hand to provide some wonderful saves to keep Chelsea ahead but Arsenal's best chance of an equaliser came late on when substitute Olivier Giroud was put through and rounded Cech before shooting, from a tight angle, wide. The win preserves Chelsea's unbeaten start to the season.

Fulham 1-2 Manchester City:The champions come from behind to secure a late three points. Fulham took the lead on ten minutes when John Arne Riise was brought down by Pablo Zabaleta. Mark Halsey pointed to the spot but it looked like the challenge was made on the edge. Mladen Petric stepped up and sent Joe Hart the wrong way, leaving City still without a clean sheet this season. Fulham conceded their first goal at home this season two minutes before half-time; a deflected shot from Carlos Tevez was well parried by Mark Schwarzer, but Sergio Aguero was the quickest to react and equalise. Substitute Edin Dzeko scored the winner 66-seconds after coming on, a poorly defended cross fell to the Bosnian for him to rifle home three minutes from time.

Everton 3-1 Southampton: Southampton have now conceded 12-goals in their three away games. The visitors did actually take the lead when Gaston Ramirez headed an Adam Lallana corner home after six minutes, his first Premiership goal. Everton equalised when Kevin Mirallas' cross was stopped dead in the box, Leon Osman was the quickest to pounce onto the loose and smashed it into the net on 25-minutes. The game was turned around with Nikica Jelavic finishing on 32-minutes after being played through by Marouane Fellaini. The damage was completed before half-time when a Jelavic header from a Seamus Coleman cross could only be parried into the net seven minutes before the interval.

Reading 2-2 Newcastle: Reading denied their first win of the season by a very controversial goal. Jimmy Kebe gave Reading the lead 13-minutes into the second half with a low shot. They had the lead for less than a minute when Demba Ba smashed a great first time volley home after it dropped over his shoulder. Reading then retook the lead when Noel Hunt headed home on 62-minutes. But three points were snatched away from them when Ba levelled the game with an attempted header, but he missed the ball with his head and the ball went in via the arm seven minutes before the end. Jobi McAnuff came closest to winning the game after hitting the post.

Stoke 2-0 Swansea: Peter Crouch was the hero of the day in the Britannia. The striker put Stoke in front by heading a corner home on 12-minutes. The win was then secured when Crouch saw his initial shot poorly parried by Michel Vorm back into his path to poke home nine minutes before half-time.

Sunderland 1-0 Wigan: Wigan made it extremely difficult for themselves three minutes into the second half when Jordi Gomez was harshly sent off, but he had left the ground whilst making the tackle so you can see why Howard Webb produced the red card. It was no surprise to see Sunderland take full advantage and even less of a surprise to see Steven Fletcher score it three minutes after Wigan went a man down.

 

Capital One Cup Fourth Round Draw

Sunderland v Middlesbrough
Swindon v Aston Villa
Wigan v Bradford
Leeds v Southampton
Norwich v Tottenham
Liverpool v Swansea
Chelsea v Manchester United
Reading v Arsenal

Capital One Cup: Third Round Results

Arsenal 6-1 Coventry: Arsenal stroll into the fourth round. Olivier Giroud (39) opened the scoring to give the hosts the lead at half-time. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (57), Andrey Arshavin (63) and Theo Walcott (74) made it 4-0 before Callum Ball (78) scored a consolation. Ignasi Miquel (80) scored his first senior goal for Arsenal with Walcott (90) completing the rout.

Carlisle 0-3 Tottenham: A relatively easy win for Spurs despite their lengthy trip. Jan Vertonghen (37) gave Tottenham a half-time lead. The win was completed with goals from Andros Townsend (53) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (89).

Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle: United just about make it through despite a Newcastle threat. Anderson (44) fired the hosts ahead just before half-time. Tom Cleverley (58) made it 2-0 with a well worked goal before Javier Hernandez hit the crossbar. Substitute Papiss Cisse (62) headed Newcastle back in the game just over minute after coming on. The striker then hit the crossbar and was unfortunate not to level the game.

Norwich 1-0 Doncaster: Premier League Norwich just about make it past lower league opposition. The only goal of the game came from Alexander Tettey (26).

QPR 2-3 Reading: Reading came from behind to see off their fellow Premiership side. Junior Hoilett (14) gave the hosts the lead before Kaspars Gorkss (16) levelled. Djibril Cisse (71) made it 2-1 for QPR with Nicky Shorey (76) once again equalising. Pavel Pogrebnyak (81) won the game for the Royals.

West Brom 1-2 Liverpool: Liverpool also come from behind to see off West Brom. Gabriel Tamas (3) did the hosts an early lead. But Nuri Sahin (17 & 82) scored his first Liverpool goals to turn the game around and put the holders through.    

Bradford 3-2 Burton AET: Bradford score two late goals before stealing victory in extra time. Goals from Billy Kee (18) and Aaron Webster (29) gave Burton a 2-0 lead before the half-hour mark. But a brace from Nahki Wells (83 & 90) forced the game into extra time. Stephen Darby (115) won the game with five minutes to play in the League Two battle.

Chelsea 6-0 Wolves: Wolves' return to Stamford Bridge may have just been a reminder as to why there are now a Championship club. Gary Cahill (4) broke the deadlock before Ryan Bertrand (8) made it 2-0 within ten minutes. Juan Mata (17) scored their third before half-time. Oriol Romeu (53) scored his first Chelsea goal from the penalty spot before Fernando Torres (58) made it 5-0. Victor Moses (71) completed the thrashing by also scoring his first Chelsea goal.

Crawley 2-3 Swansea: The Premiership side needed an injury time goal to squeeze past the League One outfit. Michu (27) had given Swansea the lead before goals from Josh Simpson (45) and Hope Akpan (62) put Crawley 2-1 ahead. Danny Graham (74) equalised for the visitors and the game was looking like entering extra time until Garry Monk (90) broke Crawley hearts.

Leeds 2-1 Everton: Possibly the shock of the night came from Elland Road. Leeds got off to the best possible start when Aidy White (4) put them ahead. Everton never really got going all night and Rodolph Austin (70) made it 2-0 after diverting Danny Pugh's shot past Jan Mucha. Sylvain Distin (81) headed Everton back into the game but it was too little too late for the Premiership side.

Manchester City 2-4 Aston Villa (AET): Perhaps another contender for shock of the night with the Premiership Champions exiting the stage and failing to win in four games. It started off better for the hosts when Mario Balotelli (27) put them ahead. Gareth Barry (59) forgot he has moved from Villa by inadvertently scoring an own goal to level the game up. Aleksandar Kolarov (64) put City back in front with a free-kick before Gabby Agbonlahor (70) forced extra time with his first goal in 18-games. Charles N'Zogbia (96) then put Villa ahead for the first time in the game with a rebound and Agbonlahor (113) sealed the game with his second of the night.

MK Dons 0-2 Sunderland: Relatively comfortable victory for the Premiership side. Sunderland made it hard for themselves when Lee Cattermole (32) was sent off. But it didn't really affect them and Craig Gardner (54) put the visitors in front. The win was sealed by James McClean (82).

Preston 1-3 Middlesbrough: Boro see off their League One opponents with somewhat ease. Emmanuel Ledesma (13) and Merouane Zemmama (18) gave the Championship a 2-0 lead. Joshua King (40) did pull one back before Richard Smallwood (61) secured the victory.

Southampton 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday: There were no dramas for the Premiership side at St.Mary's. Jay Rodriguez (30) broke the deadlock before then making it 2-0 with a penalty 12-minutes from time.

Swindon 3-1 Burnley: The League One side manage to see off the Championship team. Paul Benson (19) and Andy Williams (42) gave Swindon a 2-0 lead before half-time. Charlie Austin (74) did pull a goal back for Burnley before Troy Archibald-Henville (83) prevented any chance of a comeback.

West Ham 1-4 Wigan: Wigan come from behind to see off their fellow Premiership side. Modibo Maiga (7) had initially put West Ham in front. Mauro Boselli (14) equalised for Wigan with Ivan Ramis (38) and then Boselli (41) turned the game around to give them a 3-1 half-time lead. A Jordi Gomez (84) penalty completed the victory for the visitors.    

Australia's European Champion

Simon Whitlock makes it three times lucky with his first major victory in the European Darts Championship. Whitlock breezed past Wes Newton in the final in front a rather partisan crowd, which did effect Newton. The pair were level at 2-2 before Whitlock found his feet and surged into a 5-2 lead. Newton did pull it back to 6-4 before a party piece, 167-checkout, made it 8-4. Newton managed to win one more leg before Whitlock completed the 11-5 job to take his first major victory.

Newton made it into the final with a tight fought victory over Brendan Dolan. After trading the first two legs, Dolan took an early 3-1 lead. That soon transpired into a 4-2 lead before Newton managed to come back and level the match. The Warrior then led 5-4 before Dolan turned it around and made it 7-5. Newton missed seven darts to make it 7-7 and ultimately found himself 9-6 behind. But it would be Dolan who rued missed darts; after missing two doubles to go 10-6 ahead, Newton managed to fire five legs on the spin to win the match.

It was the same scoreline for Whitlock who just managed to see off Kim Huybrechts. Just like his quarter-final, Whitlock surged into a 3-0 lead before being pegged back to 3-3 with the Belgian securing a 104 and a 102-checkout on the way. Huybrechts did then take the lead but the pair remained locked together all the way to 8-8. Within that, Huybrechts found a 122-checkout to lead 5-4 and Whitlock did miss seven darts at the double to take an 8-7 lead and secure a break of throw. Whitlock then managed to gain that crucial break of throw to make it 10-8 before Huybrechts threatened to come back with a sensational bull, bull, double-16 132-checkout. But the Australian finished the job with a 95-checkout that finished on the bull.

Liverpool Pay Penalty While City And Arsenal Share A Point

It was a Super Sunday to be remembered with four games on the offering including the big inter-city derby. The Manchester United being the first team to travel to Anfield since the real story of Hillsborough and all eyes were on the behaviour of the fans as well as the pre-match handshakes. Fortunately, Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez were able to put their differences aside and shook hands and there were only a couple of incidents ill-thought chanting, from both sets of fans.

Liverpool seemed to be spurred on by the Hillsborough tribute and were much the better team in the first half. Luis Suarez threatened Anders Lindegaard early on with Rafael heading the ball off the line for Jonny Evans to clear. Despite their real attacking intent, Liverpool failed to break the deadlock and the game arguably changed six minutes before half-time; after initially robbing Ryan Giggs of the ball, Jonjo Shelvey chased after the loose ball and slid in with his foot over the ball after leaving the ground and caught the also sliding Evans. Mark Halsey showed his reluctance in showing the red card but the referee simply had no choice. Shelvey then didn't cover himself in glory and angrily pointed at Sir Alex Ferguson and exchanged heated words as he was escorted down the tunnel, the midfielder suggested the United manager tried to get him sent off.

It didn't really change the outlook on the game and United remained second best and were caught cold early on in the second half. It took just 50-seconds before half-time substitute Suso, making his Premier League debut, saw his cross divert back to Glen Johnson. Johnson then crossed it into Steven Gerrard who took it down on his chest before driving it into the bottom corner, a perfect dedication to his cousin Jon-Paul Gilhooley who, at just ten years old, was the youngest victim in the Hillsborough disaster.

Liverpool were only ahead for five minutes though; Shinji Kagawa laid the ball off to Rafael who curled a beauty into the top corner, levelling in style. It took until the final quarter of an hour before United's numerical advantage really took a hold and their winner came nine minutes before the end. After losing possession on the half-way line, Daniel Agger and Johnson failed to bring Antonio Valencia down, who now had a clear stretch to goal from just inside the Liverpool half. Valencia made it into the box before Johnson managed to scramble back and make a foolish tackle from behind, again leaving Mark Halsey no option but to award United with their fourth penalty in four games. Robin Van Persie stepped up and, despite Pepe Reina getting two hands to the ball, there was no stopping it, giving United their first win at Anfield for five years whilst Brendan Rodgers still seeks his first Premier League win for Liverpool.

After that dramatic match, Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw against Arsenal. City took the lead five before half-time when Joleon Lescott headed a corner home. City had chances to close the game out and Arsenal also spurned chanced to level the game. But the visitors did manage to snatch a point eight minutes before the end; Lescott's header from a corner was weak and the ball fell to Laurent Koscielny who managed to fire the ball low and into the bottom corner.

Newcastle only needed one goal to see of Norwich, although they could have made it much easier for themselves. The goal came against the run of play when Demba Ba timed his run perfectly to latch onto Hatem Ben Arfa's cross and finish under John Ruddy for his third goal in two games on 19-minutes. Newcastle were awarded a penalty in first half injury time when Steve Morison nudged Mike Williamson in the box. Papiss Cisse stepped up but smashed his effort high over the bar. Newcastle managed to hold on to the three points to move on to eight with Norwich still on three.

Two goals in the space of a minute were enough to see Tottenham come from a goal down to beat QPR at White Hart Lane. QPR started the much better and broke the deadlock on 33-minutes; Alejandro Faurlin found a nice reverse pass into the path of Bobby Zamora who lifted the ball over Brad Friedel. Tottenham levelled on the hour mark when Steven Caulker header a corner back across goal and the ball ricocheted off of Faurlin's shoulder, who had his back to goal, before going past Julio Cesar. Spurs then took the lead a minute later when Jan Vertonghen created a three-on-two situation who played Gareth Bale into space. The Welshman fired a shot that Julio Cesar saved onto the crossbar before Jermain Defoe rebounded the ball home. Tottenham also move onto eight points while QPR are still without a win this season.     

Vettel Takes Dramatic, Cut-Short Singapore

Sebastian Vettel benefits from a mechanical failure suffered by Lewis Hamilton to win back-to-back races in Singapore. Two Safety Cars meant the race couldn't meet its 61-lap criteria as the two hour mark meant three laps had to be cut off. It is the first time since 1991 that a dry race was unable to complete its full set of laps. The German now moves into second in the overall standings, Kimi Raikkonen remains third by finishing sixth. Jenson Button finished second with championship leader, Fernando Alonso, claiming another podium place.

Vettel started on the offensive from the start by moving straight into second place. Button had also gained a place, into third, in a relatively clean getaway. The only incidents saw Vitaly Petrov lose a front wing courtesy of contact with his teammate whilst Felipe Massa suffered a puncture. Both drivers were able to continue but  came out at the back.

A rather quiet beginning saw both Red Bull cars pit earlier than most but it didn't harm either driver despite Mark Webber coming out in 20th and Vettel 12th. Hamilton did pit on lap-13 but only came out in fourth and Vettel had managed to overtake Raikkonen to put himself behind the McLaren.

Ten laps later and a comfortable looking race for Hamilton ended abruptly due to a mechanical failure, this gave Vettel the lead and he never looked back. The first Safety Car came on lap-33 when Narain Karthikeyan crashed into a barrier. Pastor Maldonado also had to retire two laps with a hydraulics problem, ended a rather decent weekend in disappointment for the Venezuelan, his ninth DNF.

The Safety Car came in on lap-39 with Button and Alonso taking their places behind Vettel. Button almost crashed into the back of the Red Bull during Vettel's attempt of slowing the pack back down after initially looking like speeding up. Webber had also managed to overtake Nico Hulkenberg after the Safety Car had left the track.

The Safety Car wasn't off the track for more than lap before it was deployed once again. This was because Michael Schumacher failed to brake and slow down enough before crashing into the back of Jean Eric-Vergne, taking both cars out. Many took advantage of the second Safety Car by pitting, but it almost ended in tears for Petrov who had to park the car outside the pits after his mechanics failed to tighten a wheel nut. He was wheeled back into the pits and was fortunately allowed to carry on.

The second Safety Car came in on lap-43 and there was almost another one deployed when Massa and Bruno Senna contacted. Luckily, both drivers just about managed to keep control of their cars with the Brazilian taking ninth.

Just behind the points, there was a real battle between Webber, Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi. It ended in tears when Perez and Hulkenberg initially contacted but were able to continue despite the Sauber losing his wing plate. But a lap later, lap-50, Hulkenberg would suffer a puncture at the hands of Kobayashi who suffered front wing damage, both drivers were able to make it back to the pits and carry on.

During that time, it had been announced that the race wouldn't be able to be completed by the two hour mark and the clock began to count down. With just over seven and a half minutes left, Webber had managed to overtake Senna to gain the final point. The final lap, lap-58, saw Bruno Senna lose all power and also had to retire along with Petrov. Race result:

1.Vettel (Red Bull), 2.Button (McLaren), 3.Alonso (Ferrari), 4.Di Resta (Force India), 5.Rosberg (Mercedes), 6.Raikkonen (Lotus), 7.Grosjean (Lotus), 8.Massa (Ferrari), 9.Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 10.Webber (Red Bull), 11.Perez (Sauber), 12.Glock (Marussia), 13.Kobayashi (Sauber), 14.Hulkenberg (Force India), 15.Kovalainen (Caterham), 16.Pic (Marussia), 17.De La Rosa (HRT) DNF: Hamilton (McLaren), Karthikeyan (HRT), Maldonado (Williams), Schumacher (Mercedes), Vergne (Toro Rosso), Senna (Williams), Petrov (Caterham)

2012 European Darts Championships: Quarter Finals

There were shocks in the first session of Sunday's action with both Phil Taylor and Raymond Van Barneveld failing to make it into tonight's finals night. The loss marks Taylor's first in the history of the European Darts Championships, meaning there will be a new, second, name on the trophy.

The afternoon began with Andy Hamilton taking on Wes Newton. Newton took out a 115-checkout to secure the first break of throw before Hamilton responded to level the match at 2-2. The Hammer then missed four darts to secure a second break of throw, eventually allowing Newton to level the match up at 4-4. It was Newton who would then gain that break of throw and took a 7-5 lead. That transpired into an 8-7 lead before Newton took out a 129-checkout to win the match 10-7 and give himself a great chance of winning his first major.

Taylor faced Brendan Dolan and the Power continued to play at a substandard, by his standards at least, level. The pair were locked at 2-2 before Dolan took advantage of Taylor missing doubles to take a 5-2 lead. Taylor did fight back to reduce the deficit to 5-4 but Dolan wasn't deterred and soon re-extended his lead to 7-4. Taylor's last leg made the score 8-6 before the Northern Irishman crossed the finish line to progress into the last four.

Van Barneveld has arguably had quite a difficult draw this tournament and it was the high flying Kim Huybrechts who stopped the defiant Dutchman. Huybrechts got off to the better start and quickly took a 3-1 lead. Barney roared back though and turned the match on its head by winning four straight legs to lead 5-3. But the pair were soon level again when Huybrechts made it 6-6 before then going onto take an 8-6 lead. Barney still wasn't finished and found a 120-Shanghai finish followed by a 113-checkout to level the game once again. But Huybrechts managed to hold off the attack to take the remaining two legs to win the game 10-8 and also give himself a great chance to win a major.

Simon Whitlock will have a big say about that as he also makes it into the semi-final. He faced Colin Lloyd and quickly surged into a 3-0 lead with a 121-checkout in the third leg. But Jaws fought straight back and fired a majestic 164-checkout to level the game at 3-3. The pair then traded blows at 5-5 before Whitlock took an 8-5 lead courtesy of Lloyd missing doubles. Lloyd still wasn't finished and reduced the arrears to 8-7 before Whitlock finally saw off Jaws to stake his claim for the European Championship.

Pedersen Hunts Holder

Nicky Pedersen has cut the gap between himself and Chris Holder to two points with just one round left in this year's GP series. Pedersen managed to finish second in the 11th GP in Vojens, Denmark. It was the wildcard, Michael Jepsen Jensen who managed to overtake his fellow Dane on the final lap and win the GP.

Emil Sayfutdinov finished third on the night with Jason Crump also making it into the final. Greg Hancock did manage to squeeze into the semi-finals to keep his championship hopes alive, but he finished fourth in the semis with Freddie Lindgren also missing out as Nicky Pedersen and Crump took the two places in the final. Holder also made it into the semi-finals but couldn't finish ahead of Sayfutdinov or Jepsen Jensen, but did get a vital point courtesy of Antonio Lindback slowing down on the last lap.

At the start of play, Holder had an eight point advantage over Hancock, 11 over Pedersen. That advantage was extended to ten over Hancock when Holder finished second in opening heat with the American fourth, Antonio Lindback continued his fine form to win the first heat.

Nicky Pedersen followed that up by taking heat two to put himself level on points with Hancock. Poland's Krzystof Kasprzak replaced Martin Vaculik and instantly took the third heat. Andreas Jonsson's start to the night ended with him packing up, Peter Ljung won the heat with Jepsen Jensen finishing behind Bjarne Pedersen in third.

Nicky Pedersen then gained two points on Holder by winning heat five with the Australian in third behind Jonsson. This put Holder on 137 with Pedersen on 129. Hancock recovered to win heat six to remain level on points with Pedersen. Lindback followed Pedersen by making it two heats out of two. There was drama in heat seven which was started by Ljung putting the bike down. The heat was able to continue until Chris Harris also crashed, forcing a restart. With Harris excluded, Crump ended up false starting to force a second restart which Sayfutdinov eventually won.

Holder then took his first heat of the night to push his tally up to 140. Chris Harris again hit the deck in heat ten. This time there wasn't a restart and Nicky Pedersen took his third heat of the night with Hancock finishing second, this put the Dane onto 132 points with the American a point behind. Crump took heat-11 before Kasprzak looked to suffer a nasty crash, in which he landed on his shoulder, the restart was won by Tomasz Gollob.

Jepsen Jensen won his first heat of the night in heat-13, Holder could only manage third which took his tally to 141. Crump packed up at the start of heat-14 which Lindgren went onto win with Hancock finishing second to move up to 133. Nicky Pedersen remained that one point ahead of Hancock with a second place in heat-15, Lindback took his third heat of the night to prevent the Dane from winning. Kasprzak did return, unharmed, in that heat but looked well off the pace in fourth. Sayfutdinov took his second heat of the night in heat-16.

Kasprzak's night ended by packing up in heat-17, Holder took his second heat of the night to make it into the semi-finals with a tally of 144. Ljung also packed up in heat-18 with Jaroslaw Hampel picking up his first points of the night with the win, Hancock finished second to move onto 135 points. Jonsson did take heat-19 before Nicky Pedersen earned another two points in the final heat, moving him up to 136 whilst Lindgren took his second heat of the night.

With one round remaining, Holder leads on 145 points with Nicky Pedersen just two points behind. Hancock has slightly fell away and is ten points behind the Australian. Sayfutdinov has moved into fourth place on 122 with Gollob and Crump on 121 points. Lindgren sits seventh on 111 with Lindback claiming the final automatic qualification place on 103 points.

Saints Finally Have Points, Chelsea Still Unbeaten, Three and Easy For Everton

Southampton 4-1 Aston Villa: The Saints beat Villa for the first time at St.Mary's and claim their first points of the season. Villa did actually hold the lead at half-time as Darren Bent poked the ball home from a Stephen Ireland shot nine minutes before half-time. Southampton were level 13-minutes into the second half when Rickie Lambert superb fired the ball past Brad Guzan. It was 2-1 when Nathaniel Clyne scored his first Southampton goal after being put through by Gaston Ramirez on 63-minutes. Poor defending allowed Southampton to make it 3-1 when Jason Puncheon entered the box far to easily before having his inaccurate shot deflected home by Ciaran Clark on 72-minutes. The icing was on put on the cake in injury time when the hosts were awarded a penalty when Emmanuel Mayuka was brought down by Guzan. Lambert stepped up and blasted it home to score his second of the game.

Swansea 0-3 Everton: Everton remain unbeaten against Swansea who lose their second game on the trot. Victor Anichebe broke the deadlock after Marouane Fellaini brought the ball down before elbowing the ball to the striker to poke home on 21-minutes. David Mirallas made it 2-0 two minutes before half-time; Fellaini played Steven Pienaar down the wing and the South African fired a ball across the box for Mirallas to strike. The shot was deflected onto the crossbar by Michel Vorm before Mirallas slid it home on the second attempt. It got worse for Swansea when substitute Nathan Dyer was sent off for receiving two yellow cards in the space of 12-minutes. The points were then wrapped up eight minutes from the end when Fellaini headed a Leighton Baines free-kick home, it did take a deflection off Ashley Williams to take it past Vorm.

Chelsea 1-0 Stoke: Chelsea remain unbeaten but it took a winner five minutes from time to secure the three points at home to Stoke. Jonathan Walters did hit the bar for Stoke in first half before Branislav Ivanovic tried to win a penalty by diving under a Geoff Cameron challenge. Oscar was then booked for also diving in the second half whilst trying to win a penalty. The winner came courtesy of Ashley Cole who scored his first goal in two years to win it with five minutes to go.

Wigan 1-2 Fulham: The Cottagers make it 12-games without defeat against Wigan. Hugo Rodallega kept Wigan up last season and he came back to the DW to put Fulham ahead by heading a Dimitar Berbatov cross home just after the half hour mark, out of respect the Colombian didn't celebrate. Damien Duff made it 2-0 with his third goal of the season when Bryan Ruiz played it into him on 68-minutes, against the run of play it has to be said. Wigan got a consolation in injury time when Rodallega's replacement, Arouna Kone, scored his second of the season by squeezing in a poorly defended corner.

West Brom 1-0 Reading: Reading remain without a win so far this season with another defeat away to West Brom. Both teams had chances throughout the match with West Brom just getting the better of it, Jonas Olsson did hit the woodwork at the end of the first half from a corner. Romelu Lukaku made sure Roberto Di Matteo wouldn't forget about him by scoring the winning goal, which went through two pairs of legs, on 71-minutes.

West Ham 1-1 Sunderland: Steven Fletcher remains the only player to score for Sunderland so far this season. The striker scored the opener, his fourth of the season, via Seb Larsson's cross after just nine minutes. It was West Ham's first goal they had conceded at home this season. West Ham's equaliser came in the shape of Kevin Nolan who scored with an instinctive turning shot in injury time. Martin O'Neill now makes it 12-games without a win in the Premier League

2012 European Darts Championships: Second Round

Andree Welge 5-10 Brendan Dolan: Germany's final competitor falls at the hands of Dolan. A 106-checkout from the Northern Irishman made it 2-1 before the pair were locked together at 3-3. Welge did manage to take the first break of the game to end up leading 5-3 but Dolan battled back to level. Dolan then reeled off five straight legs to break the German hearts and go through to the quarter finals.

Andy Hamilton 10-8 Ronnie Baxter: The Premier League man just squeezes into the next round in this tight contest. Baxter did take a 2-0 lead before Hamilton was able to level the game. Baxter then hit a 103-checkout before going on to take a 6-3 lead. It was no surprise the see the Hammer once again roar back and he levelled in emphatic fashion, with a 160-finish. Hamilton then took the lead for the first time in the match but the pair were level once again at 7-7. Hamilton was able to break again to lead 9-7 before managing to converting it into a 10-8 victory.

Wes Newton 10-5 Kevin Painter: Newton continues his quest for major glory and a Premier League place. It didn't start that way when Painter took a 2-0 lead courtesy of a 134-checkout. But Newton reeled three legs on the spin before the pair were level at 3-3. Newton then went into overdrive and took six consecutive legs to lead 9-3. Painter offered two legs of resistance before Newton closed the game off and progresses into the last eight.

Phil Taylor 10-7 Jerry Hendriks: The young Dutchman has arguably come of age in this battle against Taylor. After being level at 2-2, a 142-checkout from Hendriks was the beginning on his way to leading 5-3. Taylor fought back to then take a 6-5 lead before Hendriks levelled the match. Taylor then hit a superb 164-checkout to take the lead and went onto take control at 9-6. Hendriks wasn't finished and his last hoorah with a double-18 double-20 finish before Taylor won the match.

Dave Chisnall 5-10 Simon Whitlock: Whitlock secures his first victory over Chisnall, who let himself get affected by the German crowd. After taking the lead, Whitlock found himself 3-2 behind going into the first break. The crowd began to show their surprising distaste for Chizzy and he lost his game but most importantly his doubles. The Australian was able to take full advantage with five legs on the spin, including an 118-checkout, to take a 7-3 lead. Whitlock then followed that up with a 121-finish to make it 8-4 before Chisnall's last hoorah was a 167-checkout to make the overall result 10-5.

Michael Van Gerwen 9-10 Raymond Van Barneveld: It was a double Dutch classic with both players tearing holes into the treble twenty slot. The players were level at 2-2 before Van Gerwen secured an 89-checkout on the bull to take the lead going into the first break. Barney came back from the break and won three straight legs, including a 156-checkout, to lead 5-3. Van Gerwen soon levelled the match again and the pair continued to trade blows. Van Barneveld hit a 136-checkout before Van Gerwen responded with a 128-finish to level the match at 7-7. Barney stretched himself into a 9-7 but had to stave off another Van Gerwen fightback before taking the game 10-9.

Ian White 5-10 Kim Huybrechts: The match started better than it finished for White after he took out 104 to take the opening leg. That was followed up by Huybrechts securing a 164-checkout to take the first leg against White. The Belgian then moved into a 4-1 lead courtesy of a 121-finish which soon changed to 5-2. Huybrechts was able to extend his lead further at 8-3 before White pulled a couple of legs back. Huybrechts managed to hit a 101-checkout to move to within a leg of victory and that leg was won with the following 501 points.

Colin Lloyd 10-8 Richie Burnett: Lloyd finalises the eighth quarter final place in a close fought victory over Burnett. Jaws fired a 111 and a 140-checkout to take a 2-0 lead. That turned to 3-1 before Burnett came back to level the match. The pair remained locked together until Burnett broke to lead 7-6. But the Welshman couldn't maintain the lead and it soon became 8-8. Lloyd then managed to move to within a leg of victory before a hat-full of missed doubles enable him to win the match. 

Three Poles In Four For Hamilton

With the last four Pole sitters going on to claim victory in the Singapore GP, it may be vital that Lewis Hamilton has claimed his third Pole in four races. If Hamilton does go onto win tomorrow, he'll become the first double Pole winner after winning there three seasons ago.

Sebastian Vettel lit up the time sheets throughout the practice sessions but could only manage third place with Pastor Maldonado putting in another fantastic qualifying performance. Jenson Button suffered a few front lock-ups during the session and will start behind Vettel in fourth.

Championship leader, Fernando Alonso, will begin the race in fifth but it is unlikely to be too traumatic as the Spaniard has been relentless from the start so far this season. Paul Di Resta continues his good season with another good qualifying performance, putting his Force India into sixth ahead of Mark Webber.

Romain Grosjean returned to action with the fastest time in Q1, albeit on the super soft tyres, and managed to get himself into eighth. Mercedes are already playing a strategic game by deciding not to make Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg set a time in Q3 to allow them both to potentially start on the more durable soft tyres. Schumacher will begin the race ahead of his teammate and compatriot.

Q2 saw Grosjean hit the wall but was able to comeback to put himself into Q3. Bruno Senna wasn't so fortunate and he was unable to complete a time following his collision and will start 17th. Nico Hulkenberg was the one to miss out on Q3 by the smallest of margins and will start 11th.

Kimi Raikkonen had a fairly quiet session and could only manage 12th ahead of Felipe Massa who was also fairly quiet, despite winning this race four seasons ago. Sergio Perez was the better of the two disappointing Saubers, the Mexican would have tried to build on his second place in Monza but will begin tomorrow's race in 14th. The Toro Rossos will start side by side with Daniel Ricciardo out-qualifying Jean-Eric Vergne in 15th and 16th.

The big name to fall from Q1 was Kamui Kobayashi so he will have a tough race starting from 18th tomorrow. Vitaly Petrov managed to out-qualify Heikki Kovalainen in the Caterham battle on the tenth row of the grid. Timo Glock once again beat his teammate Charles Pin in the Marussia battle whilst Narain Karthikeyan managed to out-qualify Pedro De La Rosa for the second consecutive race on the back row.

2012 European Darts Championship: Round One Pt.II

After eight intriguing games yesterday, the second half of the draw played their first round matches today and the big names already began to fall. With 180s galore, more champions than you could shake a stick at and plenty of shocks, here's the round-up for Friday:

Michael Van Gerwen 6-5 Andy Smith: The 23-year old Dutchman almost threw away a 5-2 lead against Smith. Van Gerwen began the match with an 84-checkout on the bull and then a 111-finish. Smith played his part in the 180-filled contest and arguably didn't deserve to be 5-2 behind. The Pie Man did fight his way back to 5-5 before Van Gerwen finally did the job to squeeze into the second round.

Richie Burnett 6-3 Co Stompe: The Welshman kicked the match off with a 130-checkout before taking a 3-1 lead. Stompe did find an 88-checkout on the bull to pull it back to 3-3. Burnett managed to stave off the Dutchman's attack to complete his victory.

Dave Chisnall 6-3 Gino Vos: Chisnall faced a tougher than expected and if Vos hadn't missed quite so many doubles, Chizzy could have been in real trouble. Vos did take a 2-0 lead before missed darts allowed Chisnall to find his way back to lead 3-2. Vos did managed to level the game before Chisnall regained his composure to see off the plucky Dutchman.

Simon Whitlock 6-2 Mark Walsh: Australia's finest kicked off his campaign with a convincing win over Walsh. Walsh did take the opening leg before a 110-checkout put Whitlock 3-1 ahead. After dropping another leg, Whitlock saw off Walsh in emphatic style winning the match 6-2.

James Wade 3-6 Colin Lloyd: Jaws takes his fifth straight victory over Wade and his second victory in three years in this event and round. A 101-checkout started a run of three legs to give Lloyd a 4-1 lead. Wade did post a Shanghai 120-checkout to make it 5-3 but then missed a host of doubles, allowing Lloyd to take out the world number three.

Adrian Lewis 0-6 Ian White: The world champion crashes out in the first round in arguably the worst game since becoming one of the world's best. Three missed darts in the first leg started the charge for White who soon led 4-0 when Lewis missed a further three darts to make it 3-1. There were two more missed doubles in the sixth leg before White completed, excuse the pun, the whitewash over the world champion.

Terry Jenkins 1-6 Raymond Van Barneveld: Barney sent out a message in his opening round match against the seventh seed, Jenkins. The Dutchman recorded 100% on the doubles with an average of 113, three points better than anyone so far this tournament. Jenkins did make it 2-1 before Barney continued his assault to take the 6-1 victory.

Kim Huybrechts 6-4 Vincent Van Der Voort: The Belgian continues his fantastic year with passage into the second round. There wasn't a lot to choose from between the pair and the first six legs went with throw after Van Der Voort had a bounce out to take a 4-2 lead. The next three legs were all breaks of throw before Huybrechts held to win 6-4.

2012 European Darts Championship: First Round

The RWE-Sporthalle in Mulheim, Germany, opens its doors for the 2012 European Darts Championship. Thursday marks the first half of the opening round of the tournament, here's the round-up:

Jerry Hendriks 6-2 Mensur Suljovic: The 23-year old Dutchman made light work against Suljovic in his TV debut. A 115-checkout was the highlight of the match, allowing Hendriks to take a 3-0 lead before going on to win the match.
Mark Webster 4-6 Andree Welge: The first major shock of the tournament sees world number nine Webster continue his horrid year by losing out Germany's Welge. Welge led 2-1 before needing to equalise at 3-3 and 4-4. A 130-checkout made it 5-4 to the German before completing the victory.
Justin Pipe 3-6 Brendan Dolan: Dolan takes out the word number-11 after being locked together at 3-3. Pipe did produce a 130-checkout on the way to levelling the match after being 2-0 down. But he never looked in top form and the Northern Irishman took full advantage.
Andy Hamilton 6-0 Paul Nicholson: Hamilton breaks a run in emphatic fashion. The Hammer had never beaten Nicholson until completely thrashing him in front of the German crowd.
Wes Newton 6-0 Tomas Seyler: Newton also sends out a message of intent after this routine victory of Germany's Seyler. Seyler wasn't given a chance by Newton who eases through.
Phil Taylor 6-3 Magnus Caris: Taylor eased himself into the tournament with this victory over Sweden's Caris. Taylor led 4-0 before Caris pulled it back to 5-3 despite missing 13-darts at the double. The Power finished the match in style with an 84-checkout on the bull.
Mervyn King 4-6 Kevin Painter: Painter makes it through in a tough match against King. The first four legs went with throw before Painter took a 4-2 lead. King did manage to level the game with Painter then taking out-95 to win the game.
Ronnie Baxter 6-1 Michael Rosenauer: The Rocket fires into the next round with a win over the German. Baxter began with a 138-checkout before taking a 5-0 lead. It only took two legs before the Blackpool man secured his passage into round two.

Chelsea Held After Leading 2-0, United Scrape Through

Group E: Champions Chelsea started their hopes of retaining the trophy with a draw at home to Juventus. It started well for the home side as European debutante, Oscar, gave them a 2-0 lead with goals on the 31st and 33rd minutes. Arturo Vidal pulled a goal back for Juventus five minutes later. The point was then rescued ten minutes from the end with Fabio Quagliarella preventing Chelsea from winning.
FC Nordsjaelland's first ever Champions League game ended in defeat away to Shakhtar Donetsk. Henrikh Mkhitaryan put Shakhtar ahead just before half-time and then sealed the points with their second on 76-minutes.

Group F: Bayern Munich began their campaign with a win over Valencia at the Allianz Arena. Bastian Schweinsteiger broke the deadlock seven minutes before half-time with Toni Kroos doubling their advantage on 76-minutes. Nelson Valdez did pull a goal back in injury time for Valencia before Adil Rami was sent off two minutes later for the Spaniards, Mario Mandzukic then failed to score from the subsequent penalty.
Perhaps the shock of the night came in France where Lille lost to BATE. Alyaksandar Volodko put BATE ahead after just six minutes with Vitali Radionov making it 2-0 after 20-minutes. Edgar Olekhnovich then made it 3-0 two minutes before half-time. Lille did get a consolation through Aurelien Chedjou on the hour mark but it is not a result many would have expected.

Group G: Barcelona had to come from behind to beat Spartak Moscow in Camp Nou. Cristian Tello did give the hosts the lead on 14-minutes. A Dani Alves own goal on the half hour mark levelled the game before  Romulo made it 2-1 to the Russian side 13-minutes into the second half. Who else, but Lionel Messi would steal the show with Barcelona's equaliser on 71-minutes before winning the game ten minutes before the end.
Celtic's first Champions League game in four years ended in a reputable goalless draw away to Benfica. It's one tough point for Celtic, with many just as difficult opportunities to come.

Group H: Manchester United scrape through their opening game with a 1-0 win over Galatasaray. After an early penalty appeal, the Turkish side found themselves behind when Michael Carrick played a one-two with Shinji Kagawa before rounding Fernando Muslera and scoring after seven minutes. Galatasaray were dangerous throughout and did hit the crossbar in the first half. United could have made it easier for themselves when Rafael was tripped in the box in the second half, Nani stepped up but his poor penalty was easily saved, United's third missed penalty in three games.
Another slight shock came in Portugal where Braga lost to Cluj with a former player coming back to haunt the hosts. Braga were the more dominant throughout the game but were behind after 19-minutes when Rafael Bastos scored against his former club. Bastos then made it 2-0 11-minutes before half-time to give Cluj a big three points.

Arsenal Kick-Off Euro Campaign With Win, City Dramatically Lose In The Bernabeu

The first games of this season's Champions League kicked off today with Arsenal beating débutantes Montpellier while Manchester City took the lead twice against Real Madrid but ended up losing. Here's the round-up:

Group A: Dinamo Zagreb's return to top European action ended in defeat at home to Porto. Lucho Gonzalez gave the Portuguese side the lead four minutes before half-time. The points were sealed when Steven Defour made it 2-0 in injury time.
Big spenders, PSG, started their campaign with a thrashing at home to Dynamo Kyiv. Zlatan Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock after 19-minutes from the spot. Thiago Silva made it 2-0 just before the half hour mark and it was 3-0 on 32-minutes courtesy of Alex. Miguel Veloso did get a consolation for Kyiv four minutes before the end but Javier Pastore had the last word with PSG's fourth in injury time.

Group B: Arsenal had a relatively nervy start to this season's campaign but managed to come from behind to beat Montpellier in France. Younes Belhanda gave the hosts the lead after nine minutes from the spot, with a fantastic chipped effort. Lukas Podolski made it three goals in three games for Arsenal, equalising on 16-minutes with Gervinho scoring his third goal in two games to make it 2-1 two minutes later, courtesy of a Carl Jenkinson cross. Montpellier did hit the bar in the second half but Arsenal managed to hold on to the three points.
2010/2011 semi-finalists, Schalke, returned to the Champions League with a win over Olympiacos. Benedikt Howedes gave the German visitors the lead four minutes before half-time. Djamel Abdoun equalised 13-minutes into the second half but parity only lasted a minute as Klaas Jan Huntelaar gave Schalke the victory.

Group C: Perhaps the shock of the night came from the San Siro where AC Milan hosted Belgian side, Anderlecht. Milan failed the break Anderlecht down and the visitors managed to get themselves a point in a goalless draw.
Malaga's debut in the Champions League began with a convincing victory over Zenit. Isco gave the Spanish hosts the lead after just three minutes before Javier Saviola made it 2-0 ten minutes later. Isco then wrapped the points up with his second goal on 76-minutes.

Group D: The English Champions faced the Spanish Champions in the opening game in the Group of Death/Champions. Despite being second best for large parts of the game, with Joe Hart pulling off some unbelievable saves, City found themselves ahead when substitute Edin Dzeko put them ahead on 69-minutes. They were ahead for eight minutes until Marcelo let off a sublime curling effort that took a slight deflection to force it past Hart. Substitute Aleksandar Kolarov then put City back in front five minutes from time with a dangerous floated free-kick that beat everyone, including Iker Casillas, before the ball nestled into the bottom corner. This time they were ahead for only two minutes before Karim Benzema found a fantastic shot on the turn to beat Hart into the bottom corner. Who else but Cristiano Ronaldo would be able to steal headlines for Madrid. The Portuguese cut inside before unleashing a dipping effort that bounced in front of Hart, who didn't see it till late, and went under the flailing keeper, giving the points to the Spanish giants.
The German Champions needed a late goal to see off the Dutch Champions. Robert Lewandowski stole the three points three minutes from time to give Borussia Dortmund the 1-0 win over Ajax.

Defoe's Jermain Man Whilst Everton Furious With Point

With eight games played on Saturday, there was only one instalment of this week's Super Sunday as Monday Night Football also returned. Tottenham and Reading both sought their first wins of the season on Sunday whilst Everton and Newcastle wanted to build on their decent starts to the season.

With Andre Villas-Boas still seeking his first for Tottenham, he knew his side had to play well at the Madejski and that's exactly what they did. The rejuvenated Jermain Defoe led the charge that gave Tottenham an easy victory.

The deadlock was broken on 18-minutes when Gylfi Sigurdsson hurt his former club with a cutting through pass that set Aaron Lennon off down the wing. The winger then cut the ball back for Defoe to fire home for his second goal of the season.

Reading never really got going and didn't have a shot on target until the final ten minutes of the game. By then the game was already over as Gareth Bale made it 2-0 on 71-minutes. Kyle Walker pulled the ball back with the Welshman scuffing his shot that ended up looping over Adam Federici.

It was 3-0 three minutes later when Defoe finished off a fantastic solo goal. But the Reading would end up having the last word when substitute Hal Robson-Kanu scored a consolation for the home side. Fellow substitute, Adam Le Fondre, chipped the ball over to the far post where Robson-Kanu was on hand to stab the ball home.

It was much closer between Everton and Newcastle and both managers would have probably taken a draw before a ball was kicked. But it would be David Moyes who would be the most disappointed of the two when the teams finished the match at 2-2.

Everton started the better and thought they had taken the lead after just two minutes; Kevin Mirallas pulling a ball back for Marouane Fellaini to sting James Harper's hands. The ball then spilled to Nikica Jelavic to slid the ball home, the he was adjudged to be offside and the goal was ruled out.

Everton did take the lead on the quarter of an hour mark though; Leighton Baines played a fantastic one-two with Steven Pienaar before the left back fired a low shot under Harper to raise the Goodison roof. It took Newcastle until the second half before they really got going. But they managed to equalise four minutes after the restart when half-time substitute Demba Ba finishing off a Yohann Cabaye through ball, Newcastle's 1000th Premiership goal.

Everton had another goal disallowed on the hour mark when Fellaini put the ball into the back of the net. But the linesman perceived the Belgian to be offside when collecting the ball from Pienaar, the replays showed that the decision could have gone either way.

If the last decision didn't go against them then Moyes will definitely feel the next one did as Everton thought they had the ball over the line again on 79-minutes, but nothing was given. First half substitute, Victor Anichebe headed a Tony Hibbert cross home and the ball looked to have crossed the line before Mike Williamson managed to clear.

Anichebe may have thought justice had been done when he did finally put Everton ahead two minutes before the end. He got the end of Pienaar's ball before turning and firing past Harper. But the game wasn't over and Everton had three points snatched away from them by Ba. There was poor defending as Shola Ameobi flicked the ball through to Ba who managed to slot the ball past the oncoming Tim Howard to rescue a point for Newcastle.

Debut Goals, 100% Record Gone and Runs Continue

Arsenal 6-1 Southampton: The Saints suffer their first hammering of the campaign and are still in search of their first point, continuing their run of 25 years without a win away to Arsenal. The rout started when a Kieron Gibbs effort was stopped by Kelvin Davis before Jos Hooiveld scrambled it into his own net on 11-minutes. Lukas Podolski then made it two goals in two games with a brilliant free-kick just after the half hour mark. It was three when Gervinho was played through by Mikel Arteta and the Ivorian had no trouble blasting it home from close range on 35-minutes. Two minutes later and Southampton had another name on the scoresheet; a Gibbs cross deflected in off Nathaniel Clyne. Southampton did have the last word in the first half when Wojiech Szczesny dropped a cross, allowing Danny Fox to score his first goal in Southampton colours. Aaron Ramsey almost had a solo goal on 71-minutes but his eventual shot ended up hitting the post before Gervinho walked it across the line to make it 5-1. Substitute Theo Walcott would get the sixth against his former club when a Thomas Vermaelen shot wasn't cleared and the ball ended up falling to Walcott who stroked it home.

Manchester United 4-0 Wigan: Wigan continue their run of never gaining a point at Old Trafford with United continuing their 3.5 goals average against the Latics. The game started with Danny Welbeck buying a penalty after diving from an Ali Al-Habsi challenge, of which he pulled out. With Wayne Rooney out and Robin Van Persie on the bench, Javier Hernandez stepped up but justice was served when the Wigan keeper saved the poor attempt from the Mexican. Paul Scholes marked his 700th game with the game's opener six minutes into the second half when Nani's parried shot fell into his path. It was two when Alex Buttner's shot was turned in by Hernandez on 63-minutes, atoning for his penalty miss. Buttner would then have his debut goal when his jinking run ended up scoring with his shot going through Al-Habsi on 66-minutes. That was followed up by Nick Powell also marking his debut with a fantastic goal eight minutes from the end, blasting a shot past the Wigan keeper.

Fulham 3-0 West Brom: West Brom have a shocking record at Craven Cottage and that continued today as Dimitar Berbatov made it a debut to remember. The Bulgarian broke the deadlock with a curling effort after Alex Kacaniklic made the goal with a great run on 32-minutes. It got worse for West Brom when Peter Odemwingie, who hadn't booked at all last season, lost his head and took a big swipe at Sascha Riether on 38-minutes and was subsequently sent off. Berbatov then made it 2-0 from the spot after Billy Jones had brought Kacaniklic down. The game was wrapped up in the final minute of normal time when Steve Sidwell finished a move off that saw Hugo Rodallega initially hit the crossbar before rebounding to the midfielder.

Aston Villa 2-0 Swansea: Paul Lambert finally gets his first Villa league win as they end Swansea's unbeaten start to the season. Matthew Lowton broke the deadlock on 16-minutes when a cleared corner came to him, the former Sheffield United man chested the ball down before volleying the ball home in sublime fashion. The points were then sealed when another debutant, Christian Benteke, took full advantage of a lame back pass from Ashley Williams before chipping Michel Vorm and tapping home two minutes from time.

Stoke 1-1 Manchester City: Man City haven't ever won a league game at The Britannia and that continued today in controversial circumstances. Peter Crouch, like last season, put Stoke ahead on the quarter of an hour mark but there was a suggestion of handball during Crouch's marauding run. City levelled ten minutes before half-time when Javi Garcia headed a free-kick home in his debut. Garcia almost scored a second with another corner, but Asmir Begovic managed to save it onto the post before smothering it. Eden Dzeko almost won the game late on after lobbing Begovic, but Ryan Shawcross managed to clear it off the line the earn that point.

Sunderland 1-1 Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers is still without a win at Liverpool with an emotional draw at the Stadium of Light, a result that also leaves Sunderland still searching for their first win this season. Despite dominating most of the possession and the play, Liverpool found themselves behind when a low cross from Craig Gardner was turned in by Steven Fletcher just before the half hour mark, celebrating his home debut with his third goal in two games. Liverpool got their point when a Raheem Sterling cross was finished off by Luis Suarez at the second attempt on 71-minutes.

QPR 0-0 Chelsea: Once again a match was talked more about handshakes rather than the fact it was a London derby. It wasn't a surprise to see Anton Ferdinand refuse to shake John Terry's and Ashley Cole's hand, and that was arguably one of the highlights of the match. Chelsea could have had their fourth penalty of the season when Eden Hazard was clumsily tackled by Shaun Wright-Phillips. QPR's best chance of the game came when Ji-Sung Park headed his effort straight at Petr Cech.

Norwich 0-0 West Ham: The day's early kick-off failed to provide a goal. Tottenham's Harry Kane looked to be one of the brightest sparks on the pitch for Norwich, the teenager could well have scored twice but the keepers weren't going to be beaten today.
 

    

Murray's Major Win At Last

Andy Murray follows on from his gold medal at the Olympics to become the first British man to win a major in 76-years. It was 79-years to the day that Fred Perry won his first US Open and now Murray can finally leave Perry's shadow and can even become World Number One by the end of the year.

Murray didn't do it the easy way against Novak Djokovic and it almost looked like it was never going happen when he relinquished a two set lead. The first set just showed how close these two competitors are with it going to a tie-break, with Murray winning it 12-10.

The wind was a major factor throughout the match and it seemed to unnerve the Serb more than the Scot. Murray moved into a 4-0 lead in the second set and it was his set to lose from there. He almost did as it took a 12th game before Murray could finally close it out 7-5 to take a commanding 2-0 lead.

If anyone could still lose a major final from there, you would have argued Murray definitely could. Djokovic wasn't finished either and he regained his composure to take the third set 6-2. Many pundits claimed that this was okay and that Murray would win in four. But Murray's nerves may have slightly got the better of him and Djokovic would take the fourth set 6-3 to force a nail-biting deciding set.

If Murray was suffering from any nerves, it didn't show as he raced into a 3-0 lead. From there, he looked unstoppable and would take the final set 6-2 to break his major duck, with hopes that it is his first of multiple wins.

The Summer Ends With 120 Medals

The fantastic Summer of sport ended tonight with the fabulous Paralympics Closing Ceremony. But before our Summer was officially over, Team GB celebrated two more unbelievable medals to take their overall total to 120 and finished third in the table.

The day started with David 'Weirwolf' Weir celebrating his fourth gold medal of the games. He has been dubbed the greatest wheelchair racer of all time after finishing 0.01 seconds ahead of the silver and bronze medallists in the Men's Marathon - T54 class. Switzerland's Marcel Hug and Australia's Kurt Fearnley crossed the line together but the Swiss took silver.

Weir's fantastic achievement was followed up by Shelly Woods claiming silver in the Women's Marathon - T54 class. Woods finished just 0.01 seconds behind USA's Shirley Reilly and 0.01 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Sandra Graf to achieve her amazing feat.

So, with perhaps the greatest Paralympics ever over and done with, all we have to say is bring on Rio and a huge congratulations to every single one of Team GB's amazing heroes. You have put the Paralympics on the map and will continue to do so.

Hamilton Takes Monza But Alonso Is Big Winner

Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish to win the Italian GP. The only challenges Hamilton faced was from Felipe Massa at the very start of the race and then from Sergio Perez towards the end who was gaining on the McLaren. Fernando Alonso finished third and, despite Hamilton's victory, was the big winner as Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber failed to finish.

The start of the race saw Massa overtake Button and almost get the better of Hamilton, but the Ferrari had to settle for second. Alonso had moved from tenth to seventh whilst Webber had dropped back to 14th and Nico Rosberg fell to 12th.

Alonso's charge began from the start and moved into sixth after overtaking Kimi Raikkonen on the second lap. Vettel moved into fourth after overtaking Michael Schumacher on lap four, that was followed by Alonso also overtaking the Mercedes three laps later. The first driver to go off the track was Bruno Senna after he was forced off by Paul Di Resta, Senna then re-entered the track rather dangerously and almost crashed into  Webber.

Lap nine saw Jean-Eric Vergne lose control all of a sudden and spin off onto the grass and was subsequently out of the race. Fortunately, despite Vergne taking off into the air, the Frenchman suffered no injury. Two laps later, Webber overtook Di Resta to claim tenth.

Lap-18 was the first real taste of how quick Perez was when he overtook Raikkonen into sixth, it wasn't all good news for Sauber on that lap as Kamui Kobayashi was overtaken by Webber to claim eighth. A lap later and Button had finally managed to get the better of Massa to regain second place, it happened to coincide with Ferrari losing their telemetry on their cars.

There was nearly drama on lap-21 when Alonso and Vettel pitted together, it looked like Alonso had been released unsafely into Vettel's path, but replays showed it was much safer than it looked and no action was needed to be taken. Their battle wasn't over and Alonso tried going around the outside to overtake him, but the German was having none of it and forced the Spaniard onto the grass. Alonso was clearly unhappy but managed to get the overtake on lap-29.

Vettel was hit with a drive through penalty for putting Alonso onto the grass on lap-32. Two laps later, Button suffered a mechanical failure and had to park his car onto the grass. Vettel performed his drive through penalty on lap-35 and came out in ninth.

Lap-36 saw Perez overtake Raikkonen once again before the Finn repaid the compliment, Perez finally made the move stick a lap later to finish fourth. Vettel managed to overtake Webber on lap-38 with Rosberg also managing to overtake Raikkonen to gain fifth.

Ferrari tactics were played on lap-40 when Massa was told to 'look after his tyres' which incidentally allowed Alonso to move into seconds. Once the overtake had been completed, Massa was surprisingly told to speed up once again. Perez managed to overtake Massa four laps later to take third away from the second Ferrari.

It took two laps for the charging Perez to hunt down Alonso to take second, but there wasn't enough laps for Perez to completely catch Hamilton. Lap-48 saw Vettel suffer another mechanical failure where his engine was on the verge of blowing up, forcing the Red Bull to be parked on the grass. Three laps later and Webber span out of control and suffered some damage, meaning he had to nurse the car back to the garage before subsequently retiring. Nico Hulkenberg finished his miserable weekend by retiring on lap-52. Race result:

1.Hamilton (McLaren), 2.Perez (Sauber), 3.Alonso (Ferrari), 4.Massa (Ferrari), 5.Raikkonen (Lotus), 6.Schumacher (Mercedes), 7.Rosberg (Mercedes), 8.Di Resta (Force India), 9.Kobayashi (Sauber), 10.Senna (Williams), 11.Maldonado (Williams), 12.Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 13.D'Ambrosio (Lotus), 14.Kovalainen (Caterham), 15.Petrov (Caterham), 16.Pic (Marussia), 17.Glock (Marussia), 18. De La Rosa (HRT), 19.Karthikeyan (HRT) DNF: Vergne (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren), Vettel (Red Bull), Webber (Red Bull), Hulkenberg (Force India)

Gollob Back To His Best

Thomasz Gollob was back his imperious best with his 22nd GP victory in Malilla, Sweden. But with just two rounds remaining, Chris Holder has taken the overall lead in the standings with an eight point advantage over reigning World Champion Greg Hancock. Holder earned this by finishing second behind Gollob in the final. Antonio Lindback made it three finals in row and finished third just like he did two weeks ago in Cardiff. Nicky Pedersen found himself in hot water at the start of the meeting but regained his composure to finish fourth.

Lindback win the first semi-final ahead of Nicky Pedersen, with the Dane now just three points behind Hancock, Emil Sayfutdinov came third with Hancock trailing at the back. The second semi-final saw Holder take the chequered flag ahead of Gollob with Freddie Lindgren third and Jason Crump fourth.

The night started with Holder only managing third with Sayfutdinov winning the opening heat. The Swedish crowd lifted the roof when Lindgren won the second heat with wildcard Thomas H Jonasson finishing last. That was followed by another Swede, Peter Ljung, winning heat three ahead of Nicky Pedersen. Unfortunately, Andreas Jonsson couldn't make it three Swedish winners in a row and only finished last with Gollob beating Hancock to the chequered flag, Jaroslaw Hampel's return to action from his injury saw him finish third.

Drama then struck in heat five. Sayfutdinov won his second heat but behind him, Nicky Pedersen ended up forcing Jonsson into the fence in his plight to keep hold of third. But Jonsson had a big impact and had to be taken away in an ambulance. Hopefully everything will be fine, but Pedersen didn't believe his exclusion was warranted and performed a foul mouthed tirade that, quite frankly, lost the respect of many.

After the lengthy break due to the precautions taken for Jonsson, Crump would win the sixth heat. That was followed by Hancock winning heat seven before Lindback beat Holder and Gollob to win heat eight. Gollob recovered from that third place to win his second heat of the night in the ninth heat. Lindback then made it two heats in two, with Hancock finishing fourth, before Nicky Pedersen regained his composure to win the eleventh heat. Holder won heat-12 to put himself level on points with Hancock, substitute Kim Nilsson came fourth.

Hampel was on the verge of winning heat-13 but the cruel finger of fate made him pack up just after the last corner, allowing Lindback to win his third consecutive heat. Heat-14 had to be restarted after Ljung found himself on the floor following the concertina effect. The restart saw Jonasson take it, proving why he will be a big hit in the future. Crump came second with substitute Linus Sundstrom fourth. Gollob went onto win his third heat of the night in the 15th with Lindgren winning heat-16, Holder came third with Hancock fourth.

Hancock recovered from his last place to win heat-17 which was enough to squeeze into the semi-finals. Gollob and Lindback then traded their fourth wins of the meeting before Chris Holder took the final heat to keep his lead over Hancock.

This means that with two meetings remaining, Holder has 134 points with Hancock on 126, Nicky Pedersen is still within reach on 123 points. The win for Gollob has moved himself back into fourth on 114 with Crump three points behind. Sayfutdinov sits on 107 with Lindgren now joining the 100 club with his semi-final appearance. Lindback's great form sees him now look fairly cemented into eighth place on 96.

Jonsson's injury was extremely ill-timed and now falls out of the top eight on 77. Hans Andersen has overtaken Chris Harris into tenth, but the pair are only separated by a point. Martin Vaculik had a fairly quiet meeting by his standards and sits on 55 points with Hampel on 52. Bjarne Pedersen and Ljung are level on 49 with Kenneth Bjerre finishing last on 41.

Four Medals As We Drop To Third

The penultimate day for Team GB produced four more medals but they have dropped to third in medals table, two golds behind Russia despite winning 17 more medals than them. Today's Golden Boy was David Stone in the Mixed T1-2 Road Race. Smith adds this gold to his bronze already won in the games finishing just .07 seconds ahead of silver medallist Giorgio Farroni of Italy.

David Smith won silver in the Mixed Individual BC1 Boccia final. Smith had already won bronze in these games and faced Thailand's Pattaya Tadtong in the final. Unfortunately, Tadtong was far too strong for Smith and the Thai player won 7-0 to take the gold medal.

21-year old Harriet Lee added to GB's Swimming medals with bronze in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - Sb9 class. Lee finished behind Australia's Sophie Pascoe, winning her sixth medal of the games, who set an Oceanic record of 1:18.38. Ukraine's Khrystyna Yurchenko took gold by setting a European Record of 1:17.81 at the age of 19.

Eleanor Simmonds added silver to her two golds and a bronze in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S6 class. Simmonds set a European Record of 1:14.82 but it wasn't enough to beat USA's Victoria Arlen who added gold to her three silver medals in World Record time of 1:13.33.

McLaren Lock-Out Monza

The McLaren team break the Mercedes record of the most amount one-two qualifying finishes, five years to the day that Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton did for McLaren in front of the Italian crowd. This time it would be Hamilton who took Pole with Jenson Button lining up next to him.

Ferrari tried to deploy a towing system to help Alonso in Q3, but it failed miserably and it was Felipe Massa who arguably gained from it. The Brazilian will start third, out-qualifying Alonso for the first time this season. Paul Di Resta was fourth fastest in Q3 but a five place grid penalty for a change of gearbox sees him drop to ninth.

The penalty for Di Resta pushes Michael Schumacher up to fourth, Sebastian Vettel into fifth, Nico Rosberg up to sixth, Kimi Raikkonen into seventh and Kamui Kobayashi will now start eighth. The last man in Q3 was the quickest in the first two sessions, Alonso, but he finished well off the pace and will start in tenth.

Q2 saw Mark Webber fall for the second time in three races before Q3 and will start 11th. Pastor Maldonado had qualified in 12th place but a ten place grid penalty for his crash in Spa means he will start in 22nd. This sees Sergio Perez start 12th, Bruno Senna start 13th and Daniel Ricciardo start 14th.

With Romain Grosjean banned for this race after last week's major crash, Jerome D'Ambrosio returned to action for the first time since Brazil last season. Back then he was driving for the Virgin team so it was no surprise to see him make it into Q2 for the first time in his career. It was a squeeze though and without Nico Hulkenberg failing to set a time, the Belgian could well have dropped out in Q1. Instead, he now starts 15th.

Jean-Eric Vergne will now start 16th with Heikki Kovalainen, the last man to fall from Q1, starting 17th. Vitaly Petrov celebrates his birthday behind his team-mate in 18th with Timo Glock 19th and Charles Pic 20th.

A little piece of history happened in Q1, Narain Karthikeyan out-qualified a team-mate for the first time since 2005, in China. The feat means the Indian driver now starts 21st courtesy of Maldonado's penalty with Pedro De La Rosa starting his 100th GP in 23rd. The big faller from Q1 was Hulkenberg when he lost all power in the car and parked it on the grass without setting a time, he will subsequently start last.

Six More Reasons To Be Inspired By The Paralympics

In contrast to recent days, today wasn't one of the more successful for Team GB as they only picked up six medals. But that does take our tally to an impressive 114 with 32 of them shimmering in gold. It would be nice if that could be rounded up to 120 before Sunday's Closing Ceremony but either way these games have been an eye-opening and awe-inspiring event.

The day began with gold in the Women's Discus Final - F51/52/53 class. Josie Pearson scored a World Record for an F51 class athlete of 6.58m. The amassed a total score of 1122 points which was 242 points more than silver medallist Catherine O'Neill of Ireland.

There was compassion in Brands Hatch today when third and fourth finished at exactly the same time in the Women's Individual H1-3 Road Race. USA's Marianna Davis secured her second gold of the games before Monica Bascio, also of USA, took her second silver of the games. Then the British pairing, Rachel Morris and Karen Darke, held each other's hands whilst they crossed the line together. Despite their pleas of sharing bronze, the adjudicators had to award it one of them and they decided to give it to Morris.

The fab four returned to the pool in the Women's 4x100m Medley 34 points final to claim silver. They finished ahead of USA, who set an Americas record 4:54.13, but just 0.03 seconds behind Australia, who set an Oceanic record of 4:53.95. This means Heather Fredriksen walks away with her fourth medal of the games, her third silver, Claire Cashmore takes her third of the games, her second silver, Stephanie Millward now has an impressive collection of five medals, her fourth silver, and Louise Watkin also wins her fourth medal of the games, her second silver. Four fantastic Paralympians who have had a brilliant games in the pool along with Eleanor Simmonds.

Two bronzes were taken in today's Table Tennis events. The Men's Class 6-8 team took bronze after beating Germany. The match only needed three games after Ross Wilson beat Thorsten Schwinn, William Bayley beat Jochen Wollmert before Wilson then beat Wollmert all in three sets.

The Women's Class 1-3 team faced a tougher match against Italy in their bronze medal match. The match started with Michela Brunelli beating Jane Campbell in four sets 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3. That was then followed by Pamela Pezzutto also beating Sara Head in four sets 11-7, 17-15, 9-11, 12-10. But the girls weren't out and the comeback started with Head beating Brunelli in four sets 14-16, 11-9, 11-8, 11-7. The match was then levelled when Campbell beat Pezzutto in straight sets 11-7, 11-8, 11-7. The fifth and final game saw Pezzutto and Clara Podda take on Campbell and Head. After winning the first set 11-6, the Brits were 2-1 down after losing the second and third set 11-7. Once again the British girls gritted their teeth and roared back with an 11-3 fourth set win before taking the final set 11-4 to claim that much deserved bronze medal.

The final medal of the day came in the Women's Doubles in Tennis. Lucy Shuker and 20-year old Jordanne Whiley faced Thailand's Sakhorn Khanthasit and Ratana Techamaneewat in the bronze medal match. The Thai duo took the first set 7-6 before the Brits levelled with the second set by the same scoreline. The third set finished 6-3 to Shuker and Whiley to give the girls the bronze medal.

GB's Centenary Day, But That's Not The Whole Storey

At the start of the 2012 Paralympic Games, Team GB set themselves a target of 103 medals. Today, they surpassed that with Sarah Storey equalling the British record for the most successful paralympian, Hannah Cockroft destroying those around her and Bladerunner and Oscar Pistorius getting beaten again, this time by a Brit. Here's the round-up:

 Athletics: Beverley Jones scored a Seasonal Best mark of 30.99m in the Women's Discus - F37 class. It was only enough to get bronze though as China's Xu Qiuping scored a Personal Best mark of 32.08 and Mi Na, also of China, set a World Record of 35.35 to win gold.
20-year old Hannah Cockroft wins her second gold of the games by beating Netherlands' Amy Siemons by almost three seconds, setting a Paralympics Record of 31.90, in the Women's 200m - T34 class.
Ola Abidogun took bronze in the Men's 100m - T46 class. Abidogun finished behind Cuba's Raciel Gonzalez Isidoria and China's Zhao Xu, who set a Regional Record of 11.05 to claim gold.
Ben Rushgrove set a Personal Best time of 24.83 in the Men's 200m - T36 class. It was enough to win bronze with Hong Kong's So Wa Wai also recording a Personal Best time of 24.77 to claim silver and Ukraine's Roman Pavlyk recording a Regional Record time of 24.70 to win gold.
Bronze was also the colour for Paul Blake in the Men's 800m - T36 class. Russia's Artem Arefeyev took silver with a Personal Best time of 2:06.13 and Evgenii Shvetcov, also of Russia, winning his third gold with a Paralympics Record of 2:05.32.
Dan Greaves won silver in the Men's Discus - F44 class. He scored a Season's Best of 59.01 but it wasn't enough to beat USA's Jeremy Campbell who set a Regional Record of 60.05.
David Weir won his third gold medal of the games in the Men's 800m - T34 class. He finished .21 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Marcel Hug to secure his hat-trick of golds.
Johnnie Peacock was the second man to beat Oscar Pistorius. Peacock won gold in the Men's 100m - T44 class with a Paralympics Record of 10.90. Pistorius only managed fourth with fellow South African, Arnu Fourie, setting a Regional Record of 11.08 to win bronze and USA's Richard Browne taking silver with a Personal Best time of 11.03.

Road Cycling: Sarah Storey once again grabbed the headlines by winning her 11th gold in the glittering Paralympics career. She equals Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson's record to become the most successful paralympian in British history, making it 22 medals overall. Storey finished seven seconds ahead of silver medallist Anna Harkowska of Poland. Storey was so quick that she had managed to catch up with the men's race that started earlier. Storey is also now set to become a Dame after such a mesmerising achievement.

Sailing: Helena Lucas took gold in the Single-Person Keelboat (2.4mR). The strong wind meant that the medals had be awarded earlier than build with Lucas winning overall after ten rounds.
Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell were also awarded a medal after ten rounds. They took bronze in the Two-Person Keelboat (SKUD18). They finished behind USA and gold medallists Australia.

Swimming: Two medals medals were taken in the Women's 200m Individual Medley - SM9 class. South Africa's Natalie Du Toit won her third gold of the games with Stephanie Millward, winning her fourth medal, claiming silver and Louise Watkin, her third medal, winning bronze. Claire Cashmore made it a 2-3-4 for Team GB.
15-year old Josef Craig set a World Record to win gold in the Men's 400m Freestyle - S7 class. He finished 3.41 seconds ahead of the rest in World Record time of 4:42.81. China's Shiyun Pan claimed silver with an Asian Record of 4:46.22.
Susannah Rodgers won her third bronze medal of the games in the Women's 400m Freestyle - S7 class. She set a European Record of 5:18.93 but still finished behind USA's Courtney Jordan and Australia's Jacqueline Freney winning her seventh gold medal of the games in a World Record time of 4:59.02.
Heather Fredriksen took her third medal of the games with her second silver in the Women's 100m Freestyle - S8 class. She finished 2.44 seconds behind USA's Jessica Long who took won her fifth gold medal of the games with a World Record time of 1:05.63.

Eight Away

Team GB are just eight medals away from joining China in the 100 club, but have slipped to third in the table, three golds behind Russia. Here's today's round-up:

Athletics: Bethany Woodward claimed silver in the Women's 200m - T37 class. The 19-year old finished behind Namibia's Johanna Benson who set a Regional Record of 29.26.

Road Cycling: Mark Colbourne takes his third medal of the games in the Men's Individual C1 Time Trial. Colbourne took silver, finishing nearly seven seconds behind Germany's Michael Teuber.
Karen Darke also won silver in the Women's Individual H 1-2 Time Trial. She finished just under two second behind USA's Marianna Davis.
Sarah Storey will take the headlines with he third gold medal of the games. She finished almost two seconds ahead of Poland's Anna Harkowska in the Women's Individual C5 Time Trial.
David Stone wins bronze in the Mixed T 1-2 Time Trial. Stone finished behind Germany's Hans-Peter Durst and Australia's Carol Cooke.

Swimming: Robert Welbourn took bronze in the Men's 400m Freestyle - S10 class. He finished over two seconds behind Canada's Benoit Huot and three seconds behind Ian Jaryd Silverman of USA who set a Paralympics Record of 4:04.91.
17-year old Oliver Hynd has finally won gold to add to his silver and bronze already won at these games. It came in the Men's 200m Individual Medley - SM8 class. He set a new European Record 2:24.63 to secure the victory.
Louise Watkin won her second medal of the games in the Women's 50m Freestyle - S9 class. She took silver, finishing behind China's Lin Ping who set a Paralympics Record 29.12.
Two medals were claimed in the Women's 100m Breaststroke - SB6 class. Elizabeth Johnson took bronze with Charlotte Henshaw taking silver. Henshaw finished .03 seconds behind gold medallist Viktoria Savtsova of Ukraine.
Hannah Russell claimed her third medal of the games with her second bronze in the Women's 100m Backstroke - S12 class. She finished behind Azerbaijan's Natali Pronina and Russia's Oxana Savchenko who claimed her fourth gold of the games in a World Record time of 1:07.99.

Tennis: Andy Lapthorne and Peter Norfolk took silver in the Mixed Quad Doubles. The Quadfather and his son as the pair were named, lost out to reigning champions Nicholas Taylor and David Wagner of USA. The Americans took the first 6-2 before the Brits roared back to take the second set 7-5. The first four games in the third set went with serve until the USA team broke it in the fifth. That seemed to break all momentum and the Taylor and Wagner would take the third set 6-2 to claim their third consecutive gold medal.

Edging Towards A Century

We're almost a week into proceedings and Team GB are now just 21 medals from reaching a century, which will be a fantastic achievement when the time arrives shortly. For now though, we have settle on 79 medals with another 16 won today, here's the day's round-up:

Archery: GB's first medals in the sport this games. They both came in the Women's Individual Compound - open event. It ended up being a whole GB final with 24-year old Danielle Brown taking on 30-year old Mel Clarke. It finished 6-4 to Brown to give the younger athlete the gold medal, Clarke won't complain too much about winning silver though.

Athletics: Paul Blake took silver in the Men's 400m - T36 class. The 22-year old set a Personal Best time of 54.22 but it wasn't quite enough to beat Russia's Evgenii Shvetcov who takes his second gold medal by setting a World Record time of 53.31.
David Devine won bronze in the Men's 1500m - T13 class. Devine, 20, set a Regional Record of 3:49.79 but it wasn't enough to beat Kenya's David Korir, who had set a World Record in an earlier round, before Tunisia's Abderrahim Zhiou broke it to win gold with a time of 3:48.31.
David Weir won his second gold medal of the games. He finished .23 seconds ahead of Thailand's Prawat Wahoram to take victory in the Men's 1500m - T54 class.
Olivia Breen, Bethany Woodward, Katrina Hart and Jenny McLoughlin set a Seasonal Best tine of 56.08 to claim bronze in the Women's 4x100m Relay - T35/38 class. They finished behind China, who set a Regional Record of 55.65, and gold medallists Russia.

Boccia: Our first medal in this sport in these games comes courtesy of Daniel Bentley, Nigel Murray, Zoe Robinson and David Smith. They managed to beat Portugal 7-5 to win bronze in the Mixed Team - BC1-2 class event. Thailand beat China 10-5 to claim gold.

Shooting: Matthew Skelhon claimed his second medal of the games with bronze in the Mixed R6-50m Rifle Prone - SH1 class. Skelhon finished just over a point behind the gold and silver medallists who were split by .2 of a point. Spain's Juan Antonio Saavedra Reinaldo took silver with UAE's Abdullah Sultan Alaryani edging gold.

Swimming: Matthew Walker took bronze in the Men's 50m Freestyle - S7 class. He finished behind China's Shiyun Pan, who set a Asian Record time of 28.09, and USA's Lantz Lamback who set a new Paralympics Record of 27.84.
Oliver Hynd won his second of the games with bronze in the Men's 100m Backstroke - S8 class. He finished behind two Russians, Denis Tarasov and gold medallist Konstantin Lisenkov, who set a new Paralympics Record of 1:05.43.
Eleanor Simmonds has put her name forward for Sports Personality of the Year award after claiming her third medal of these games. Unfortunately it wasn't her third gold, but it was bronze in the Women's 50m Freestyle - S6 class. She finished behind USA's Victoria Arlen, claiming her third silver medal of the games with an Americas record of 35.32, and Netherlands' Mirjam De Koning Peper, who wins her second medal of the games with a Paralympics Record of 34.77.
Heather Fredriksen also claims her second medal of the games with gold in the Women's 100m Backstroke - S8 class. She finished 1.67 seconds ahead of silver medallist Jessica Long of USA, who won her fifth medal of the games.
Stephanie Millward won her third medal of the games in the Women's 400m Freestyle - S9 class. She took silver with a European Record of 4:40.01. It wasn't enough to beat South Africa's Natalie Du Toit who wins her second gold medal of the games.
Stephanie Millward then made it four medals as she, Claire Cashmore (her second medal of the games), Susannah Rodgers (her second medal of the games) and Louise Watkin set a European Record of 4:24.57 to claim bronze in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle - 34 Points class. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to beat USA or Australia who set a World Record of 4:20.39 to claim gold.
 

Day Five, 63 Medals

With five days gone and just six remaining, Team GB continue to sit second in the table with a grand total of 63 medals, 19 of them being gold. One of today's gold medals came in the Men's 100m T53 class where Mickey Bushell set a Paralympics Record of 14.75 to take victory.

Natasha Baker took her second gold medal today in the Individual Freestyle Test - Grade II. Baker finished over five points ahead of Germany's Britta Napel to claim victory. Lee Pearson claimed his third medal of the games with bronze in the Individual Freestyle Test - Grade Ib. Pearson finished .50 points behind silver medallist Katja Karjalainen of Finland with Austria's Pepo Puch claiming gold.

There was a Mr & Mrs moment today when Sascha Kindred took silver in Men's 200m Individual Medley SM6 class. This equates his wife's performance, Nyree, who has also won silver in these games. Kindred set a European Record of 2:41.50 but it wasn't enough to beat China's Xu Qing who set a World Record of 2:38.62

Susannah Rodgers took bronze in the Women's 100m Freestyle S7 class. Rodgers finished a second behind USA's Cortney Jordan with Australia's Jacqueline Freney claiming gold with a Paralympics Record of 1:09.39

17-year old Eleanor Simmonds won her second gold medal in the games today. She set a World Record of 3:05.39 to claim victory in the Women's 200m Individual Medley - SM6. Natalie Jones took bronze, finishing .01 of a second behind Germany's Verena Schott.

Stephanie Millward, Claire Cashmore, Susannah Rodgers and Louise Watkin set a European Record of 4:24.71 in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle - 34 Points event. It was only enough to win bronze though with USA claiming silver and Australia claiming gold with a World Record of 4:20.39.

Paul Davies won bronze in the Men's Singles Table Tennis Class One. Davies beat South Korea's Lee Chang Ho 3-2 in the bronze medal match whilst Germany's Holger Nikelis beat France's Jean-Francois Ducay 3-1 in the gold medal match.

54 Medals, 16 Golds and Second In The Table

It was Team GB's most successful day so far as eighteen medals were won, including seven golds that pushes GB up to second in the table. Here's a round-up of today's medals:

Athletics: Graeme Ballard took silver in the Men's 100m T36 class, Russia's Evgenii Shvetcov won gold with a Paralympics Record of 12.08 seconds.
David Weir took gold in the Men's 5000m T54 class with a time of 11:07.65, .25 seconds ahead of silver medallist Kurt Fearnley of Australia.
Aled Davies added gold in the Men's Discus F42 class to his bronze he won in the Shot Put. Davies set a Regional Record of 46.14m after already having the gold guaranteed.
Stef Reid set a Paralympics Record of 5.28m in the Women's Long Jump F42/44 Class. But she ultimately finished seven points behind gold medallist Kelly Cartwright of Australia who set a World Record points haul of 1030.
Libby Clegg, with guide Mikail Huggins, set a Regional Record of 12.13 in the Women's 100m T12 class. But it wasn't enough to beat gold medallist Gouhua Zhou, with guide Li Jie, of China.

Track Cycling: Anthony Kappes, with guide Craig MacLean, took gold in the Men's Individual B Sprint with Neil Fachie, with guide Barney Storey, taking silver adding to his gold taken earlier.
Aileen McGlynn took her second medal, with guide Helen Scott, after winning bronze in the Women's Individual B Pursuit. She finished behind Ireland's Catherine Walsh, with guide Francine Meehan, and gold medallist Phillipa Gray, with guide Laura Thompson, of New Zealand.
The Mixed C1-5 Team Sprint consisting of Jon-Allan Butterworth, Darren Kenny and Richard Waddon eared silver behind the Chinese team.

Equestrian: Sophie Christiansen won gold in the Individual Championship Test - Grade Ia with a score of 82.750.
Deborah Criddle won silver in the Individual Championship Test - Grade III with a score of 71.267. Germany's Hannelore Brenner took gold with 73.467.
Sophie Wells took silver in the Individual Championship Test - Grade IV with a score of 76.323. Belgium's Michele George won gold with 77.065.
Lee Pearson, Sophie Wells, Deborah Criddle and Sophie Christiansen took their second medals of the games with gold in the Team Test - Grade Ib.

Rowing: Pamela Relph, Naomi Riches, David Smith, James Roe and Lily Van Den Broecke took gold in the Mixed Coxed Four - LTAMix4+ class.

Swimming: James Clegg took bronze in the Men's 100m Butterfly S12 class. He finished behind Russia's Sergey Punko and gold medallist Roman Makarov, also of Russia.
16-year old Jessica-Jane Applegate took gold in the Women's 200m Freestyle S14 class. Applegate set a Paralympics Record of 2:12.63.
Hannah Russell won her second medal of the games with Bronze in the Women's 100m Butterfly S12 class. Russell finished behind Russia's Darya Stukalova and gold medallist Joanna Mendak of Poland.

Table Tennis: William Bayley took silver in the Men's Singles Table Tennis Class 7. Bayley lost 3-1 to Germany's Jochen Wollmert in the final.

Premier League Round-Up: Week Three

West Ham 3-0 Fulham: Andy Carroll had a very mixed debut which ultimately ended with him being stretchered off. His game initially started with him starting the move that lead to Kevin Nolan scoring after just one minute. Winston Reid made it 2-0 on 29-minutes with a bullet header from a corner kick. the damage was then complete when Matthew Taylor sent a shot past Mark Schwarzer after the defenders had been too busy trying to battle with Andy Carroll.

Swansea 2-2 Sunderland: Swansea remain unbeaten despite a dream debut from Steven Fletcher. A weak back pass from Ashley Williams was taken full advantage of by Fletcher to break the deadlock five minutes before half-time. The became 12-minutes when seven minutes of injury time was issued due to Neil Taylor suffering a bad ankle injury. Wayne Routledge equalised in the first of those minutes after a great chip through ball by Nathan Dyer. But Sunderland had the lead again before half-time when Fletcher finally scrambled the ball home from a Seb Larsson free-kick. The equaliser came on 66-minutes when Michu made it four goals in three with a good header from a free-kick. Swansea ended the game with ten men when Chico Flores was sent off for a dangerously high boot that caught Louis Saha on 71-minutes.

Tottenham 1-1 Norwich: Spurs are still without a victory after suffering a late equaliser. There was a debut goal for Moussa Dembele after he came off the bench to break the deadlock in stunning fashion on 68-minutes. But Robert Snodgrass equalised for Norwich five minutes before the end with his first Premiership goal. Tottenham ended the game with ten men when substitute Tom Huddlestone was shown a straight red for a lunge in the final minute of normal time.

West Brom 2-0 Everton: Everton's best start in five years came to a halt as West Brom enjoy their best start to a season in a long time. A Peter Odemwingie cross was finished off by Shane Long to give West Brom the lead on 65-minutes. The points were then wrapped up when Garath McAuley headed a corner home eight minutes from the end.

Wigan 2-2 Stoke: A game with a tale of penalties that ultimately produced a draw. Wigan were awarded a penalty after just five minutes when James McCarthy's shot was blocked by the hand of Robert Huth. Shaun Maloney stepped up and converted into the bottom corner. Stoke were level five minutes before half-time when they were also awarded a penalty for handball, Maynor Figueroa the culprit. Jon Walters stepped up and also converted. A great counter attack led to Wigan retaking the lead four minutes into second half, Arouna Kone was able to bust into the box before turning back on himself and playing the ball square for Franco Di Santo to slot home. Stoke then gained a point on 76-minutes when Peter Crouch headed home from a poorly defended throw-in.

Manchester City 3-1 QPR: The big spenders against the big buyers had a slight touch of deja vu. A scramble in the box eventually saw Yaya Toure finish into the bottom corner on 16-minutes. A Joe Hart parry then fell to Bobby Zamora who equalised just before the hour mark. It Eden Dzeko who put City back in it in May and it was he who gave City the lead again after the Bosnian headed home just two minutes after parity. It was then his wayward shot that parried off of Carlos Tevez to grab his 50th Premiership goal and the three points for City.

Liverpool 0-2 Arsenal: Arsenal find their first goals and win of the season with Brendan Rodgers still waiting for Liverpool's first victory this season. It was two of the new boys who stole the show with Santi Cazorla setting up Lukas Podolski to give Arsenal the lead just after the half hour mark. Cazorla then had his goal on 68-minutes when his shot was parried into the net by Pepe Reina.

Newcastle 1-1 Aston Villa: Villa finally pick up their first point of the season in a game when they could have had more. Villa had the lead when Ciaran Clark headed the ball home from a Barry Bannan cross on 22-minutes. But Newcastle rescued a point just before the hour mark when Artem Ben Arfa smashed a shot into the top corner.

Southampton 2-3 Manchester United: Southampton are still somehow waiting for their first point of the season after a late show from Robin Van Persie sunk the Saints, giving Sir Alex Ferguson a win in his 1000th game in charge. Despite a good start from United, Southampton took the lead when Rickie Lambert got the better of Rafael to head home a cross on 16-minutes. United were level on 23-minutes when a slip from Nathaniel Clyne allowed Van Persie to easily control an aerial ball before rifling his shot home. The Dutchman then missed a sitter before Southampton went up the other end with Morgan Schneiderlin headed home a Lambert cross after Patrice Evra had slipped ten minutes into the second half. Van Persie's day got worse before it got better when he was fouled by Jos Hooiveld in the box. The Dutchman then stepped up but his dinked effort was easily saved by Kelvin Davis, making Van Persie look very stupid. But all would be forgotten three minutes from time when a Rio Ferdinand header came off the post before Van Persie poked the ball home to level the match. A Nani corner in injury time was then headed home by Van Persie to snatch all three points.