Luton must stay calm to stay up
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Powys County Times
30 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Richie Wellens hails Josh Koroma for ‘great finish, great goal' in Plymouth win
Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens praised striker Josh Koroma for his clinical 63rd-minute winner as the O's won 1-0 at Plymouth. Koroma latched on to a brilliant first-time volleyed through ball from Ollie O'Neill before running on to send a superb angled finish past Argyle goalkeeper Luca Ashby-Hammond and into the far corner. Home protests of offside were waved away by officials. Wellens said: 'It's something we want to do better – when we press high and we win the ball high we can play the ball forward quickly. It was a great pass for the goal and a great finish. 'Josh Koroma composed himself well, kept the defender at arm's length and always knew what he was doing: great finish, great goal. 'It was a professional performance from us. It's a difficult place to come, a long way to come. 'It was a long day yesterday travelling down and today's been a long day so you are not always going to see flowing football and total control. 'But I think we controlled certain areas of the game and we are playing against a relegated club from the Championship and they are expected to be right up there. 'Apart from the first 15 to 20 minutes where they were on top I thought we made quite a few chances and could have scored a couple more goals. 'I am proud of my players second half because they (Plymouth) made a lot of unforced errors and I think that was down to the way we pressed them and our work rate.' Argyle boss Tom Cleverley said: 'You can probably tell my body language I am not as burning angry as I was on Saturday. 'I saw a group of guys who were focused, were organised were trying their best. 'We just fell short, that is where we are at, at the minute. 'The Lincoln and the Barnsley performances were similar in that we offered attacking threat but conceded three really soft goals. 'The Bolton and Leyton Orient performances were similar in that we looked a bit more solid and in control but just in that final part were just a bit off it tonight. 'Putting the two performances together is what we are striving for before we can complete. 'Alex Mitchell has come in and made us look more solid. I was pleased with his debut and there were some positives to take out today. I though (Ayman) Benarous was fantastic making his first league start for us. 'Having watched the goal on the small monitor next to me it looked like a good decision. I will have to watch it back, it was a small screen and obviously in the heat of the battle. It just looked like one that maybe we couldn't complain about.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
McIlroy to play events that 'best fit' in 2026
Rory McIlroy says he will continue to take advantage of the "luxury" of picking his own tournament schedule, even if it means missing more signature events. The world number two is behind only American Scottie Scheffler in the FedEx Cup standings before this week's final PGA Tour event of the year at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta which, for the first time since 2019, will not see the season-long leaders benefit from starting strokes. The five-time major winner from Northern Ireland has been criticised this season for missing three signature events - he did not play the Memorial Tournament, The Sentry or the RBC Heritage - as well as the first event of the play-offs, the FedEx St Jude the 2025 PGA Tour season concludes this week, McIlroy still maintains DP World Tour commitments and will play in India and Australia, as well as at the Irish Open, before the end of the year. "I'll always look at the schedule at the start of the year and see what best fits me and my life, and everything else that I do with family or other opportunities that I'm pursuing outside of golf," he said."This year that meant skipping a few signature events. [Next year] I might skip less, I might skip the same amount."The luxury of being a PGA Tour player is we're free to pick and choose our own schedule for the most part. I took advantage of that this year and I'll continue to take advantage of that for as long as I can." The 2026 PGA Tour schedule was confirmed on Tuesday and featured the addition of a ninth signature Miami Championship will be played at Trump National Doral on 31 April-3 means that in the space of seven weeks in April and May there will be two majors - the Masters and US PGA Championship - and three signature events."I think it's all positive," said McIlroy of the schedule tweaks."Golf builds through the January, February, March months, gets a huge popularity spike through [the Masters at] Augusta and to try and keep that momentum going through the next few weeks, through the [US] PGA, through the US Open, I think is a good thing. "It's quite a workload for the players to play that much golf in that stretch but it's not as if we're having to travel halfway around the world to do it.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Rangers collapse early against Club Brugge to leave Martin facing fans' wrath
Russell Martin's eighth match of a Rangers reign already riddled with doubts proved close to a living nightmare. Championship promotion races and playoffs, the ill winds of struggling in the Premier League have nothing on the fever-dream pressures of failing to turn around one of Glasgow's giants. Martin may be a believer in his own processes but in an environment where snap decisions are often sustained, he does not have long to set them in place. The chances of Rangers playing Champions League football rather than the Europa League are an outside chance after a first-half performance of rank ineptitude, the tone and probably the two-legged tie set by a horrible opening 20 minutes in which three soft goals were conceded. So early in his stewardship, Martin is still in the experimental phase and until a revival in the second half the experiment looked likely to be abandoned some time soon. Jayden Meghoma was making his debut at left-back, the Brentford loanee familiar to Martin from Southampton. James Tavernier, club captain, was benched, with another Premier League loanee, Max Aarons at right-back. Christos Tzolis, reportedly high on Crystal Palace's list should Eberechi Eze depart, and a scorer for Greece at Hampden Park in March, was earmarked as Brugge's danger man, veteran Hans Vanaken as the roving playmaker. They did not take long to hit their straps. Ibrox initially backed its team. With Europa League qualification banked, Rangers went at their task positively. Though briefly. In the third minute came one of those moments that scar Martin's reign so far. His managerial career, too. Danilo's shot at the Brugge goal was blocked and within seconds Rangers were a goal down, the ball bouncing to Tzolis, whose onward ball caught a dozing Nasser Djiga unawares, goalkeeper Jack Butland stranded. Romeo Vermant's lobbed finish was exquisite, even if granted the freedom of Govan. To compound disaster, Rangers' mess of a zonal defence allowed Jorne Spileers to stroke home Vermant's corner four minutes later, defenders stock-still. By the 20th minute, the tie felt all but decided, bar barracking for Rangers players and manager. Brandon Mechele celebrated his 500th Brugge appearance by seizing on a loose ball, drilling home, again unchallenged, sending fans barrelling for the exits. A grim, ugly exposure. Whatever Martin is attempting, such moments only cut down his chances of being given time. Never in 61 years of European football had Rangers fallen so far behind so quickly. Nicky Hayen, the Brugge coach, was at nearby Haverfordwest while Martin managed Championship Swansea in the 2021-22 season. In 2025, the gulf between their teams during that first 45 minutes was aching. The half-time reaction was rancorous but Rangers players returned with higher energy, and their lifeline arrived. Meghoma burst down the left, supplying Danilo for a close-range finish. That injected positivity into Ibrox, Brugge's defenders far less composed as Djeidi Gassama was the liveliest. At last, the attacking football Martin evangelises, though the back door remained open, Butland saved when Mechele was again unmarked from a corner. On the hour, Martin threw on Hamza Igamane and Thelo Aasgaard, with Tottenham loanee Mikey Moore soon arriving alongside Tavernier. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Brugge, mindful of their advantage, retreated into their shell, looking to the counter and Rangers' propensity for mistakes for their opportunities to attack. And inviting Rangers on, they seemed to have conceded again, Gassama forcing the ball home from close range only for him to be penalised for knocking the ball from veteran goalkeeper Simon Mignolet's grasp. It looked marginal, at best, and stopped the roof being raised but did at least suggest Rangers had improved from the abject gloom of the first half. Mignolet was certainly the busier goalkeeper as the end of the first leg beckoned. Rangers had only partially redeemed themselves but Martin, one of life's optimists, will take the positives from a marked improvement. The truth was it could hardly have been any worse. Better – far far better – must come in Belgium if Rangers are to have any hope in the second leg.
