Saturday 3 Man Utd stumble, drawing 2-2 at Leicester after being two down. "It was very hot out there. I used to be a campaigner for Summer football but bugger that," says Alex, sweating off a stone on the touchline. Utd's lead over Liverpool is reduced to three points after the latter bumble past Spurs 2-1, the quality of the game gauged by Neil Ruddock winning Man of the Match. Arsenal's chances of landing the second Champions League place vanish after a 1-0 home defeat by Newcastle who could still finish second themselves (not been a vintage season, really, has it?). At the bottom Forest and their assorted managers are relegated following a 1-1 draw with Wimbledon and Coventry look doomed after a 2-1 home defeat by Derby. Middlesbrough blow a two-goal lead against Villa but still nick the points with an injury time penalty while Southampton and Sunderland edge nearer to safety after home wins over Blackburn and Everton who are themselves still in danger of the drop (Jack Walker and Peter Johnson will be after their money back soon). Brighton fans invade a pitch again, only this time in celebration of getting the draw they need to stay in the League, at the expense of Hereford, who move down into the Conference to be replaced by Macclesfield.
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Stories
England's next opponents, South Africa, have problems that go further than the football pitch, says John Perlman
By the time Benedict McCarthy set off for the African under-20 championships in Morocco last month, he had just seven South African Premier league games under his belt. By the end of the tournament in which his five goals had taken South Africa to the final – they lost 1-0 to the hosts – the young striker from Cape Town’s “coloured” townships was having to get his brain round a bewildering array of choices: Ajax? Feyenoord? Milan?
Barnsley were becoming the neutral's favourite team, but Richard Darn explains how this put their fans in an odd position
Spring – according to the Met office – came early this year, and crops and insects are totally confused. They’ve got my sympathy. The other day I queued for my first-ever season ticket (£215) to watch Barnsley play in the Premiership – and it was still only April with one more game to play in the Nationwide League.
How one moment changed an entire season for Burnley, as told by Simon Evans
A group of us had vowed we would never set foot inside Wembley Stadium until Burnley played there. The oath had caused much ridicule but on 12th March 1983, we had the twin towers in our sights. Turf Moor was packed for the FA Cup Quarter-Final with Sheffield Wednesday. The kick-off was delayed as the organizers struggled to segregate the supporters. After going a goal behind, we had fought back with tubby Northern Ireland international midfielder Tommy Cassidy equalizing. With barely seconds remaining we were awarded a penalty. All striker Steve Taylor had to do was put it away and Burnley, battling at the wrong end of the old Division Two, would be in the last four of the FA Cup with Brighton to come in the Semis.
Dear WSC
I recently attended the Blackburn Rovers v Coventry City delayed Fourth Round FA Cup tie. During the game the referee approached Gordon Strachan to warn him against coaching from the sidelines only to receive the reply that he was allowed to run up and down the touchline because he was sub. Aside from whether or not this is a valid defence, it occurred to me that the ban on coaches and managers issuing instructions from the side of the pitch is rather bizarre. Can explain why it shouldn’t be allowed? It seems to me that thousands of people in the ground are allowed to shout (often conflicting) instructions to the team, and to ban the coaching staff from doing so is unfair. In any case the chance of the manager’s voice being heard above the noise is slim, the chance of the instructions being understood by the players is very remote, and there is an ice cube in hell’s chance of them actually acting on the instructions and making a difference to the game. It may even add to the entertainment if, say, some of the more vocal managers were allowed to run up and down the touchline shrieking instructions. Imagine it’s the last five minutes of Manchester United losing to Wimbledon in the FA Cup – you’d have Alex Ferguson, Brian Kidd, Joe Kinnear and Sam Hammam vying for positions on the wing and shouting simultaneously, “Get it in the box!” and “Hoof it in the crowd!” You might even get the odd player losing concentration at a crucial time and missing the ball because, for example, he was trying to understand what Arsène Wenger had just yelled at him. Surely everyone would like to see Arsenal lose like this?
Jeremy Barker, Tonbridge