Advertisement
Anthony Pilkington curls home a free-kick for Norwich. : David Davies/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Greening

Irish Eye: Given has a Canary as Pilkington scores a screamer

Aston Villa shot-stopper was beaten by young Norwich man ahead of Estonia play-offs.

Premier League

Anthony Pilkington (Aston Villa 3-2 Norwich City) Pilkington curled a beautiful free-kick beyond the outstretched glove of Shay Given to open the scoring at Villa Park on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough to stop Norwich from falling to their fourth defeat of the season.

Stephen Ward (Wolves 3-1 Wigan Athletic) In a must-win game for manager Mick McCarthy, Ward put the icing on the cake for Wolves in the 66th minute when he pounced on a loose ball inside the Wigan area.

Npower Championship

Stephen Henderson (Portsmouth 3-0 Nottingham Forest) The Dubliner helped Pompey to a sixth clean sheet of the season, capping his afternoon’s work with a fine reaction save to deny Robbie Findley at 1-0.

Noel Hunt (Reading 1-0 Birmingham City) Hunt was Reading’s supersub yesterday, coming off the bench to turn Jobi McAnuff’s cross over the line with his first touch of the game.

League One

Brian Barry-Murphy (MK Dons 3-1 Rochdale) The former Cork City midfielder opened the scoring at Stadium mk on Saturday, his long-range free-kick looping over Dons keeper David Martin’s head in the eighth minute.

Ben Burgess (Notts County 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers) It took Burgess just 47 seconds to get Notts County off the mark against Wigan, the Ireland U21 rising highest to power home Alan Sheehan’s corner off the underside of the crossbar.

Scottish Premier League

Jonny Hayes (Kilmarnock 3-6 Inverness CT) Hayes got in on the action as Inverness enjoyed an absolute glut of goals at Rugby Park on Saturday. The Dubliner took advantage of the space allowed him by Killie’s retreating defence to curl a 25-yarder into the top corner. Paul Heffernan did restore some respectability for Kilmarnock with a low strike from the edge of the box at the death, but it was much too little far too late.

Jon Daly (Rangers 3-1 Dundee United) Daly grabbed his seventh league goal of the season with a header 15 minutes from time, but by that stage, Rangers had already sewn up all three points at Ibrox.

Anthony Stokes (Motherwell 1-2 Celtic) Stokes put in a man-of-the-match performance for his embattled manager on Saturday, volleying Celtic level on 14 minutes after Michael Higdon had put Motherwell ahead.

Ferdinand death threat delivered to Loftus Road

Vamos: Barca slip in the rain while it’s seven up for Real