Colchester United 1 Torquay United 0 COLCHESTER UNITED last night moved out of the bottom division for the first time
Posted in General on 09. Aug, 2010
Colchester United 1 Torquay United 0
COLCHESTER UNITED last night moved out of the bottom division for the first time in 22 years, a penalty by David Gregory condemning Torquay to another season in the Third Division.
This play-off fixture last season had produced a record crowd of 46,804, but this year’s attendance was just 19,486 – the lowest ever – due in part to it being brought forward to accommodate England’s game against Saudi Arabia today.Colchester made a furious start although Matt Gregg, a 19-year-old starting his first game since 31 January, was not tested.But Torquay soon rallied, a sublime dance down the right from Rodney Jack, their outstanding St Vincent international, richoceting out for the first in a series of corners that Torquay were unable to make the most of.Colchester soon realised the threat of the pace of Jack allied to Andy McFarlane’s height, and after 19 minutes that combination had the ball in the net, only for McFarlane to be ruled offside.But after 22 minutes, Colchester won a penalty following a handball by Jon Gittens. I am confident we will give whoever we play in the final a fight but we will be the underdogs. Frost, who does not hide his bitterness over his break-up with the Danish team, beamed with delight after the lowly-ranked Roslin Hashim beat Kenneth Jonassen 15-18, 15-5, 15-8 in the final match.
A four-times All-England champion, Frost said he did not have any regrets about Malaysia’s victory “I want to win, it does not matter who I am coaching Denmark did not want me in the first place,” he said “I was very impressed by the team’s performance. Steven Price and the Maroons captain, Allan Langer, both scored after opposition fumbles to make it 18-13. The Blues regained the lead shortly afterwards when Brad Fittler crossed and Johns made his only conversion from five attempts.
They looked to have sealed a win when Steve Menzies crossed in the 74th minute.But Queensland, who also scored a last-minute try to win at Sydney in 1994, cleared the ball from their own line in their final set of six tackles before Carroll ran in for the winner.. THE former Danish coach Morten Frost led his adopted team, Malaysia, into the Thomas Cup final with a thrilling 3-2 victory over his former employers in Hong Kong yesterday. But the Blues moved to a 13-6 interval lead after Rod Wishart, Tim Brasher and Laurie Daley scored tries and Andrew Johns kicked a long-range field goal.Queensland stormed back into the lead with two tries early in the second half. The wild card is Lawrie Smith in Britain’s Silk Cut.Nail-biting was also going on among the organisers, as the English Channel looked like being calm overnight and never better than 10 knots of wind all the way to the finish, which could delay the finale.Ian Bailey-Willmot, the race director, is hoping for a finish up Southampton Water between midday and 2pm tomorrow to tie in with guest invitations and TV coverage.. Kvaerner immediately broke out their red flag, hailing Toshiba vigorously, and the navigator Marcel van Triest hurried below to radio their complaint.If upheld, Conner – whose yacht has been involved in all three previous protests in the race, losing the lot – faces a further points penalty.While Paul Cayard could already be presented to the man who fired the start cannon, the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, as the overall winner of the Volvo Trophy, there was plenty of room for upset in the next few places.Even the second-placed Gunnar Krantz’s Swedish Match could be under pressure, while the points for just one place on this leg separate Grant Dalton, third in Merit Cup, from George Collins in Chessie Racing. They gambled on two debutants, Chris Adams and Darren Maddy, to do the job that Jacques Kallis and Hansie Cronje, 182 caps between them, did so well for South Africa.Yet while it would be harsh to judge the pair on one outing, it is difficult to see England picking both of them today, and either Alistair Brown or Matthew Fleming could be brought in.Finding out about certain players is never an easy business over a couple of games. He starts his first game for Leeds today, in place of Marc Glanville, who was concussed against Wigan.”I think I’ll get a good reception, as I always had a rapport with the fans down there,” Powell said.
“But when you play against old team-mates it’s always a bit spicy.”Another in the same situation is Salford’s Josh White, who lines up against the London Broncos for the first time tomorrow.White, who moved north this winter, has consulted a sports psychologist in an attempt to rediscover his early-season form.In tomorrow’s other Super League fixture, Halifax hope to build on last week’s excellent win at Bradford when they host St Helens, for whom the Great Britain hooker, Keiron Cunningham, makes his first start of the season.Salford Reds have signed Malcolm Alker on a full-time contract until December 2000. The 19-year-old hooker, last season’s Alliance Player of the Year at The Willows, is the top try scorer in the reserves this season with seven.One of Australia’s leading administrators, Shane Richardson, has resigned from his job as the chief executive at Cronulla and is being linked with the bid for Super League status at Gateshead.. DENNIS CONNER looked as if he was heading for more trouble at the start of the final leg of the last Whitbread Round the World yacht race here yesterday. His Toshiba had been first into the French Atlantic port of La Rochelle and was keen to be first out, though that privilege was being disputed by Knut Frostad’s Innovation Kvaerner as the fleet set off in a 15-knot north-easterly.
After a clean getaway, Conner turned Toshiba round a buoy and straight into the turmoil of an indisciplined, and sometimes dangerously incompetent, spectator fleet numbered in thousands.He then appeared to miss keeping a smaller buoy, marking an exclusion zone, to his right. When the two of us meet, it’s an arm-wrestle,” Kear added.”Any game against Leeds is special for the city of Sheffield – more so when they are top of the table.”It will be special, too, for Daryl Powell, Sheffield’s first-ever signing who spent 11 years with the club and is now one of five former Eagles at Headingley. The rudder, which a whale took a lump out of, is fixed, the sails are in good shape, we know we are the boys with the problem, but that’s what racing is all about We can handle it.. DAVE WATSON is having to work his way back into favour after being left out of Sheffield Eagles’ first team as a disciplinary measure.
It is understood that Watson, who has a history of testing his various coaches’ patience, missed a training session last week and was left out of the side that won at Salford.
“It’s an internal matter,” said the Eagles coach, John Kear. “He’s had his wrists slapped and I’m confident he will now toe the line. If not, he’ll be out.”The New Zealand international, outstanding for Sheffield in their Challenge Cup final victory three weeks ago, has played twice in the reserves and has put himself in contention for one of the substitute berths against Leeds today.But, in the continuing absence of DIY accident victim Mark Aston, Kear is sticking with Gareth Stephens and Marcus Vassilakopoulos – both ex- Leeds players – as his starting half-backs. Two other Headingley old boys, Steve Molloy and Darren Turner, will be on the bench, possibly alongside Watson.Kear, who says that Sheffield are confident of keeping their prop Dale Laughton despite interest from Wigan, correctly predicted that Leeds would beat Wigan last Friday and come to the Don Valley as the Super League leaders.”Like us, they are the right sort of team to beat Wigan.