Red for Torres, 100 for Persie, England win and lose, Seb first again!

FOOTBALL –Peter Crouch scored for his sixth different Premiership club as Stoke held leaders Manchester United to a 1-1 draw (‘Long legs’ is the sixth player to achieve this feat – I will list the other five next week) at the weekeend…

Fernando Torres was sent-off for the first time ever after netting for Chelsea who beat Swansea 4-1… Manchester City saw off Swansea 3-0… Robin Van Persie grabbed his 100th ‘PL’ goal for Arsenal who defeated Bolton 3-0…

Demba Ba hit a hat-trick as unbeaten Newcastle clipped Blackburn 3-1… Steven Gerrard returned to League action after six months as Liverpool checked Wolves 2-1…

Spurs won 2-1 at Wigan (just) … it was Norwich 2 Sunderland 0…. And the QPR-Aston Villa and WBA-Fulham games ended level.

There were important wins for West Ham, Derby, Portsmouth and Nottingham Forest in the Championship, for in-form Hartlepool, Notts County, PNE, Sheffield Wednesday and leaders Charlton in League One and for AF Wimbledon, Gillingham and bottom club Plymouth in League Two which is still headed by Morecambe.

Meanwhile Rangers, sensationally knocked out of the League Cup by Falkirk, hit back with a 4-0 win at Dunfermline to stay top of the SPL. And here in Spain, Lionel Messi’s hat-trick helped Barcelona whip Atletico Madrid 5-0. Here we go again!

In the League Cup 4th round, it’s Aldershot-Manchester United, Arsenal-Bolton, Blackburn-Newcastle, Cardiff-Burnley, Crystal Palace-Southampton, Everton-Chelsea, Stoke-Liverpool and Wolves-Manchester City.

RUGBY WORLD CUP – Ireland, by thumping Russia 62-12, qualified for the quarter-finals. They’ll be joined by England who walloped Romania 67-3 with hat-tricks from Mark Cueto and Chris Ashton, and Wales, for whom Stephen Jones won a record 101st cap in their emphatic 12-try, 81-7 victory over Namibia.

But Scotland, after losing 13-12 to Argentina, will be out if they don’t beat England on Saturday. All the big boys are through!

Photo credit: Brendon O’Hagan

MOTOR RACING – Sebastian Vettel won last Sunday’s Singapore’s day-night Grand Prix from Jensen Button by just 2.637 seconds after under two hours racing. A point for the German in Japan on Sunday week will see him become the first man to claim back-to-back driver’s championships since Fernando Alonso (2005/06). Singapore staged its first Grand Prix 50 years ago, in 1961.

CRICKET – England beat the West Indies by 10 wickets in the first 20-20 overs game (Rabbi Bopara taking a record 4-10) but lost the second by 25 runs. Dismissed for 88, it was their lowest total at 20-20 level. This was the last action in the longest cricket season ever, 25 weeks!

SPORTS EXTRA – Cyclist Mark Cavendish was crowned World road race champion on Sunday, the first Brit to win the title since Tommy Simpson in 1965…. Also on Sunday, Europe’s female golfers beat the USA 15-13 to win the Solheim Cup for the first time since 2003…

American golfer Bill Haas banked a World record $10m (£7.4m) by winning the FedEx Cup in Atlanta…. Former horse-racing trainer Michael Jarvis has died aged 73… And Sid Waddell, TV’s voice of darts, has been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

DID YOU KNOW?  On Saturday, the great Duncan Edwards would have been 75. Dudley-born, he made 177 appearances for Manchester United, gained 18 England caps and was only 21 when he died from injuries suffered in the Munich air crash in 1958.

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