Wigan snatches point as Chelsea stumbles

Updated December 18, 2011 07:26:46

A Petr Cech blunder brought Chelsea's recent revival to a halt on Saturday as relegation-threatened Wigan snatched a late 1-1 draw against the Londoners.

Third-placed Chelsea appeared to be coasting to a victory which would have seen the club move to within four points of leader Manchester City after Daniel Sturridge's 59th-minute strike put the Blues 1-0 up at the DW Stadium.

But with just two minutes of normal time remaining, Cech made a dreadful hash as he stooped to gather Hugo Rodallega's low cross and Spanish midfielder Jordi Gomez was on hand to jab home the equaliser.

It was a bitterly disappointing outcome for Chelsea, which had beaten leader City last week and looked to be heading for a fourth consecutive league victory after Sturridge's goal.

"It's a disappointing result," Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas said.

"Just a few minutes from the end we conceded a goal.

"In the last moments if we'd kept the ball a bit better we could have taken the three points, but Wigan pushed hard and they got the goal they deserved. It was a fair result.

"I think it's always a battle in the Premiership. We didn't get the three points we thought we could get."

Wigan boss Roberto Martinez meanwhile praised his struggling side's team spirit.

"Today the performance was perfect," he said.

"This was a real reward for all the hard times over the last few month."

In earlier games Saturday, Bolton's grim slide continued as Owen Coyle's team crashed to a fifth consecutive loss with a 2-0 defeat at Fulham.

Bolton's hopes of bagging a crucial three points were effectively ended midway through the first half at Craven Cottage as Fulham went 2-0 up courtesy of goals from Clint Dempsey and Bryan Ruiz.

Dempsey fired Fulham ahead on 32 minutes, the American international heading home after a fine run and cross from Ruiz.

Moments later Ruiz made it 2-0 after latching on to Dempsey's pass before chipping over Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Coyle later bemoaned his team's failure to make the most of a bright start.

"We have let the opportunity pass us by and it's getting repetitive saying the same things," he said.

"It's not like we are five or six games into the season. We've made some mistakes and we are in real dogfight now.

"Players must show passion and be ready to give better performances."

Bolton's Lancashire rival Blackburn also remains anchored in the relegation mire after crashing to a 2-1 defeat at home to West Bromwich Albion, its sixth loss from eight home games this term.

West Brom's James Morrison fired the visitors ahead on 52 minutes, lashing in a volley from the edge of the area after Steven N'Zonzi failed to clear.

Morrison's strike was the cue for a chorus of boos as Rovers miserable season continued before defender Scott Dann bundled in an equaliser on 72 minutes to get Blackburn back on level terms.

Yet just as it looked as if Rovers had salvaged a point, Peter Odemwingie curled in a long-range winner on 89 minutes to make it 2-1.

The defeat was met with angry boos from Rovers fans, who have been demanding the dismissal of embattled manager Steve Kean.

Kean however insisted he would not bow to the pressure as his team prepare for a six-pointer against Bolton in midweek.

"The owners are fully behind me but I am sure they like the players, the staff and fans are disappointed," he said.

"We want to be winning games especially at home and it makes Tuesday's game (at home to Bolton) massive if it wasn't massive already."

Elsewhere Stoke fought back from 1-0 down to snatch a 2-1 victory over Wolves at Molineux.

Stephen Hunt fired Wolves ahead with a penalty on 16 minutes but Stoke hit back with a Kevin Doyle own goal before Peter Crouch scrambled in the winner on 70 minutes.

Promoted Norwich meanwhile continued its impressive run of form with a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park against Everton.

Grant Holt put the Canaries ahead on 28 minutes before a second half onslaught from the Toffees culminated with Leon Osman equalising for Everton on 81 minutes.

In the other early game, Newcastle was held to a 0-0 draw at home to Swansea.

AFP

Tags: english-premier, soccer, sport, england, united-kingdom

First posted December 18, 2011 07:09:11

View the original article here

Milan snatches draw at Barca

Updated September 14, 2011 08:49:07

Barcelona conceded one of the fastest goals ever scored in the Champions League and then suffered the shock of a stoppage time equaliser as it began the defence of its crown with a 2-2 draw at home to AC Milan.

Chelsea's annual pursuit of the continent's biggest club prize that has so far eluded it began in encouraging fashion for the latest coach tasked with the mission as Andre Villas-Boas's team beat Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 in Group E.

The other Anglo-German tussle amongst the eight matches in Groups E-H ended in a 1-1 draw between Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal in northern Germany.

While Chelsea and Arsenal still seek a first Champions League crown, former European champions Porto and Olympique Marseille began with victories.

Porto beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1, although it was helped by its Ukrainian opponent having two players sent off.

Marseille edged out Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0 in Greece.

Newcomer Viktoria Plzen got its first point on the board with a 1-1 draw at home to BATE Borisov of Belarus, although with Barcelona and Milan waiting in Group H life is about to get much tougher for the Czechs.

The stand-out fixture of the night in the Nou Camp took less than 30 seconds to explode into life when Milan's Alexandre Pato surged through a flat-footed Barca backline to score the fifth-fastest goal in the competition, timed at 24 seconds.

It took the Barcelona players a while to clear their heads but the Catalans were level before half-time when Lionel Messi, top-scorer in the competition for the past three years, turned provider with a perfect cut back for Pedro to tap in.

David Villa's sublime curling free kick after 50 minutes put Barca in front and with Milan's former Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic missing through injury, the visitors rarely threatened to get back on level terms.

However, the Serie A champion struck again at the death when Thiago Silva rose above the home defence to head home from a corner in the second minute of stoppage time.

And to make matters worse for Barcelona, midfield maestro Andres Iniesta has a muscle tear in his leg and is out for a month.

"It wasn't easy trying to penetrate the opponent's penalty area crowded with eight defenders," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola, whose team enjoyed almost 70 per cent of possession.

"We tried but at the end they levelled from a corner.

"What Milan did has a lot of merit. They made it as far as our goal two-and-a-half times and they came away with a point."

Chelsea welcomed back Michael Ballack to Stamford Bridge but it was to be no happy return for the German midfielder as goals by Brazil defender David Luiz and Spain forward Juan Mata gave Villas-Boas the perfect start to the campaign.

"We created so many opportunities to win the game by more. It was a game for us to win," Villas-Boas said.

"If there was a fair result it would have been Chelsea winning.

"It was just a shame it took a long time for the second to arrive."

London rival Arsenal was heading for a notable triumph at Borussia Dortmund thanks to Robin van Persie's clinical finish just before half-time, but a stunning 88th minute volley by Ivan Perisic denied the Gunners, whose manager Arsene Wenger had to watch the match from the stands because of a touchline ban.

Gunners assistant coach Pat Rice said the performance proved his team is over its poor start to the season, which included an 8-2 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United a fortnight ago.

"It seems Saturday's win over Swansea was the start of the season for us," said Rice, who admitted he missed Wenger on the Arsenal bench.

"Before that there was so much uncertainty with regards to who would leave us and who wouldn't.

"The players who have come in are quality and I am convinced they will show that over the games to come."

Cypriots Apoel Nicosia, making their second appearance in the competition, were up against Russian opposition for the first time and marked the occasion with a 2-1 defeat of visitors Zenit St Petersburg.

Valencia, favoured along with Chelsea to progress from Group E, drew 0-0 at Belgium side Genk.

Reuters

Tags: champions-league, english-premier, spain, soccer, sport, spain, england, united-kingdom

First posted September 14, 2011 06:58:40

View the original article here

Sydney snatches great win in China

Updated April 20, 2011 06:06:00

Two beautifully taken goals by Bruno Cazarine and an equally impressive stoppage time winner from strike partner Mark Bridge gave Sydney a vital 3-2 away win over Shanghai Shenhua in their Asian Champions League clash in China on Tuesday night.

Cazarine and Bridge both showed the killer instinct demanded by coach Vitezslav Lavicka, to keep alive their team's prospects of making the knockout stages of the tournament.

Sydney twice came from behind and survived some sloppy defending to secure its first win in four group games.

The precious victory moved them within a point of group pacesetters Suwon Bluewings of South Korea and Japan's Kashima Antlers, who drew 1-1 in Tokyo on Tuesday.

"'We are happy we are still in with a chance and we will now focus on the following games, we need to refresh a bit," Lavicka said from Shanghai.

"We still have plenty of room to improve. They showed great character and unity."

Sydney still faces an uphill task to finish in the top two, as it has to play both Suwon and Kashima away from home in its two remaining matches.

The Sky Blues can at least approach those games with some confidence after an improved attacking effort in Shanghai.

Sydney managed only one goal in its three home games, leaving Lavicka to bemoan the lack of opportunism shown by his side.

Before last week's 3-0 loss to Kashima, Lavicka called for Sydney to be "true killers in the attacking third".

He moved Bridge further forward to partner Cazarine against Shanghai and both men displayed a sharper edge.

Their goals were like assassins bullets to Shanghai, which now has little prospect of advancing to the next stage after falling four points off the pace.

"In the earlier games we created chances, but after the first game against Shanghai Shenhua and last week's game against Kashima we expected more activity from our strikers," Lavicka said.

"Both Bruno and Bridgey showed very good performances and effectiveness."

Cazarine was Sydney's top goalscorer with nine in their recently completed A-League campaign.

For Bridge, his winner helped ease the frustration of an injury-plagued domestic campaign which gleaned just one goal in 18 games.

'I'm finally injury free after a long frustrating season," Bridge said.

Lavicka reported no new injuries, but said it was hard to assess whether striker David Williams (calf) and Stephan Keller (ankle) would recover in time from their existing problems to be fit for Sydney's next game against Suwon on May 3.

Sydney FC 3 (Cazarine 45+1', 59', Bridge 90+3')

Shanghai Shenhua: 2 (Jiang J J 8', Jamieson 52' og)

-AAP

First posted April 20, 2011 05:41:00

View the original article here