The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 14

THE GUARDIAN Monday May 31 1993 Soccer World Cup, Group Two: Poland 1 England 1 Second Division play-off final Port Vale 0, West Bromwich Albion 3 Swan's loss is Albion's gain EinigDaiinidl putt gireatt escape odd DuoDdl 14 SPORTS NEWS David Lacy In K.towlc RuaU Thomas at Wamblay point lead over Ardiles's team in the final table. Those statistics were soon rendered meaningless. Rudge brought on Billing as a central defensive replacement but Albion had started to busy Mussel-white's afternoon. Having saved from Donovan and Raven, his third and most eyecatching interception prefaced Albion's first goal. Beaten by Strodder's header against his right-hand post, Vale's goalkeeper pushed the ball away to his left but saw it eventually returned by Reid for Hunt to curl a six-yard header just inside the other upright.

Such precision has brought Hunt 11 goals in his 13 on-loan games, and his permanent move for 100,000 from Newcastle will be completed this week. Reid, the 32-year-old right-back who was an FA Cup final loser for Manchester City in 1981, when he marked Ardiles, now made two further contributions to seal Albion's success and the Man of the Match award. After driving home Donovan's pass in the 83rd minute, Reid reciprocated in injury time by crossing for the midfielder to exploit a loose ball spilling from a tangle of two Taylors. Vale still came on strong, with Kerr continuing his impressive midfield orchestration, and Cross and Foyle twice apiece caused consternation before Donovan's crushing finale. It mirrored Vale's enterprising start, in which Kerr and Foyle failed to match the precision of the approach work.

To Albion, then, the prize of promotion their first since Johnny Giles led them to the top flight in 1976 and the 2 million that First Division football means. Albion had not been to Wembley for 23 years; Vale were returning after only eight days, but Autoglass Trophy success was a poor substitute. Port Valei Musselwhite; Aspin. Kent (Billing, 63min), Porter, Swan, Glover, Slaven. Van der Lean (Cross.

82). Foyle. Kerr, I Taylor. Waat Bromwich Albioni Lange; Reid. Ulwall, Bradley.

Raven, Strodder, Hunt (Garner, 89). Hamilton. Taylor. McNally. Donovan.

OSSIE's dream was officially realised yesterday as West Bromwich rose a division on a windblown afternoon. But once again the Argentinian's play-off success was touched by controversy. A winning manager in 1990, only to see Swindon's triumph overturned because of financial irregularities, Ardiles saw fortune turn his way this time. He was lent a hand or rather the trailing leg of Peter Swan that saw Port Vale's central defender sent off on the hour for a professional foul. Swan was only the seventh player banished on a major Wembley occasion a "club" that includes only one other Englishman, Kevin Keegan and his exit undeniably turned the contest away from Vale.

Albion's breakthrough was secured by the talismanic Andy Hunt seven minutes later, and two more goals followed to complete a distorted scoreline against John Rudge's composed team. Roger Milford, the Bristol referee criticised for his leniency in the Gascoigne-stoked passion of the 1991 FA Cup final, took a harder line this time when Bob Taylor advanced on to Ian Hamilton's lofted ball and was upended by Swan just outside the penalty area. Another Vale player, Neil Aspin, was also behind the ball but in a wider position and Milford, after consulting a linesman, correctly decided that Albion's 37-goal striker had been denied a clear scoring opportunity. Rudge accepted the sending-off Milford's first dismissal of the season and instead queried Swan's judgment. "It all hinged on the sending-off decision," he said.

"Peter should have let him try to beat the goalkeeper. It was the factor that changed the game." Until that point Vale's manager was nurturing hope of a third victory over Albion, the earlier successes having contributed to a four- ON THE World Cup, England are either out of jail or merely tunnelling into the prison yard. The true perspective of Saturday's snatched 1- 1 draw here will not be known until Graham Taylor's team have played Norway In Oslo on Wednesday. All that can be said for the moment is that if Taylor's luck continues to hold then his team, like Woody Allen's fleeing chain-gang, will be able to slip past the guards disguised as a charm bracelet. On Saturday England, as leaden-footed, stereotyped and predictable as they were in last summer's European Championship, got away with a point in Poland just when they seemed fated to suffer their first away defeat in a qualifying match for 12 years.

The previous such defeat was when Ron Greenwood's faltering side imperilled their 1982 World Cup chances by losing 2- 1 to Norway the previous September. In fact Saturday's scenes, with England heading for disaster against a backdrop of rioting spectators, was more reminiscent of the game Greenwood's team lost to Switzerland in Basle in May 1981. This time, however, the fans fighting the police and one another were not English. Rival Polish factions were responsible for several outbreaks of ugly violence which at one point saw the police being beaten back by their own batons. Order was restored only when the riot shields arrived.

Whether the English supporters were more aghast at what was happening alongside them than at what was not happening on the pitch is a moot point Certainly some of Taylor's players, notably Palmer and Ince, allowed themselves to be affected by the sulphurous atmosphere in which the first half was played. "I thought one or two of our players were more interested in making war than playing football," Taylor observed tartly. "You can't play the game if your head goes, and we were running around like headless chickens." England's midfield, always suspect defensively, lost its shape and its discipline and exposed those behind it to the speed and thrust of Brzeczek, Swierczewski, Adamczuk and Kosecki. The shortage of pace Walker had revealed against Holland at Wembley was alarmingly reconfirmed, Woods made errors in goal and had Lesniak not missed simple chances at the start of each half England, who fell behind after 34 minutes, would have been beyond rescue before the game was an hour old. In the event, Ian Wright came off the bench to save the game for Taylor with six minutes remaining, scoring his first goal in nine international appear- Something to celebrate Arsenal's Wright, the match saver, and Tottenham's Sheringham (No.

9), the debutant, put aside domestic rivalry frank baron Third Division: Crewe 1 York City 1 (aet) (York win 5-3 on penalties) Crewe pay penalty for points failure Woods redeemed himself by diverting Lesniak's shot wide, but it was a serious lapse all the same. With a masked Gascoigne having minimal influence on Poland's tight-marking, Piatt isolated up front, the newly capped Sheringham starved of crosses although he did go close with a header and a shot and Dorigo allowed few chances to venture forward, England's one-paced attack laboured most of the time. Changes will have to be made for Oslo. Ince, booked for fouling Furtok having already been cautioned against Norway last October, will miss the match. Batty could come in or Piatt could simply play in midfield, leaving Wright up front with Sheringham or Ferdinand.

Gascoigne, who had five stitches in a badly gashed shin, thinks he will be fit, but Taylor has some important decisions to make for a game which will go a long way towards determining how long his time as England manager has to run. Wright brightened the manager's immediate horizon in the 84th minute when he ran on to that we need three points from these two matches," he said. "Now we've got to get a win in Oslo or we'll be looking to other results to go our way." Fifteen points, rather than 14, may prove to be the benchmark. Yet if the shortcomings which so nearly betrayed England in Katowice are repeated on Wednesday, Taylor's interest in the World Cup will begin to look academic. For more than half the match his mid-field disappeared much as it had done in Stockholm nearly a year ago, when a 2-1 defeat by Sweden completed English misery in the European Championship.

However, Poland's goal was more reminiscent of the mistakes which had preceded Holland's late penalty at Wembley only a month earlier. Again Walker and Barnes were the culprits. Walker's poor pass put Barnes under pressure and after Lesniak had made an interception Adamczuk took the ball on. As Walker turned to challenge the Eintracht Frankfurt forward, Woods came off his goalline and was stranded by a lob which could have come Polish fan dies after stabbing A POLISH fan on his way to Saturday's international died after being stabbed by another Poland supporter. It was reported that the victim was a 20-year-old from Szczecin, named only as Andrzej K.

More than a dozen other supporters were injured in street violence during the afternoon and evening, when 19 trams were wrecked, but Scottish Cup final: I Rrst Div'n play-off final: Leicester Swindon David Davids CREWE ALEXANDRA'S attempt to improve their station in life was derailed on Saturday when, with the last kick of a penalty shootout, Wayne Hall took York City into the Second Division. York, who had been denied victory when Tutill needlessly handled, conceding a penalty in the last minutes of extra-time, were the better side. Their win prolongs the possibility that the Little name will be writ large in these play-offs; Alan, York's manager these three months, will now watch his brother Brian try to take Leicester into the Premier League by beating Swindon today. The match fulfilled all pre-game prognostications. York, the chocolate city, had not a soft centre in sight.

They were direct in attack and especially in defence, where they took the shortest route to the ball even if there was a man between them and it. The foul count was 18-3 against York, who also had two men booked; they call themselves the Minstermen, but this was a very muscular Christianity. Crewe, in contrast, played prettily. There were some lovely touches from Ward and Edwards, but much of their best passing came around the fringes of the opposition penalty area as player after player sought to evade the responsi off attacker or defender and was probably a combination of both. "The goal was absolutely disgraceful," Taylor said later.

"You don't give those away in a Sunday park game. It typified our performance in the first half." At one point the steadiness of Bardsley, a late replacement for the unfit Dixon at right-back, was the team's sole redeeming feature. At half-time England's diminutive manager sailed into his players like a pocket battleship. "I was very angry," he admitted. "One or two of the players saw me as they have never seen me before." "The thing about Graham," said Piatt, "is that he doesn't rant or rave or throw teacups and swear at everyone.

It's a controlled volley, and all the more effective for being so." Certainly England's football had a better shape after half-time. But Woods, who had already seen Lesniak shoot wide in the opening minute after slipping past Walker, promptly invited the Pole to have another try when he played Walker's back-pass straight to him. Aberdeen 1, Rangers 2 they appeared likely to be heading back to Ibrox with nothing but bad memories, and Aberdeen, who had threatened to blow the holders away in the early skirmishes, then shrank before our eyes into nervous, uncertain, non-combative kittens. It was hard to avoid the thought that, if the misfortune had been reversed, Rangers would have turned into tigers. It was not until after Hateley had scored Rangers' second and Richardson's deflected drive had reduced the gap to one goal that Aberdeen recovered their commitment and conviction.

But they are an emerging team and could do worse than recall the Scottish Cup final of 1978, when they lost to Rangers by the same score; that defeat heralded a period of outstanding success at Pittodrie and the 1993 reverse could have a similar cfTect. Aberdaeiu Snelders; McKlmmie, Wrloht (Smith. 63min), Grant. Irvine, McLelsh, Richardson. Mason, Booth, Shearor (Jess, 74), Paalelainen.

Aengerei Goram; McCall. Robertson, Gough, Mcpherson, Brown, Murray, Ferguson. Durrani, Hateley, Hulstra (Presstey, 88). Referaei McCluskey (Stewanon). 4m Keane on way to Rovers Treble-making win shows why Rangers are consistently best Milford (Bristol).

bility of taking a shot. As the match progressed the thought occurred that Crewe, in the event of a penalty shoot-out, would still be looking to pass. In effect they shunted themselves into their own sidings, rarely creating the panic that York produced in their attacks. York also missed the best chance of the lot. In the 90th minute McCarthy ran mazily from the halfway line, beat half a dozen tacklers and found himself 10 yards out with only the goalkeeper to beat Suddenly he turned from accomplished footballer to panic-stricken potential hero and shot over.

Normal time saw no goals and extra-time was 13 minutes old when a deft flick from Barnes gave Swann the clearest of openings. York were then rarely in trouble until Tutill blundered and McKearney converted. Bravely, York allowed McCarthy to take the first penalty and he was successful, as were Barnes, Canliam, Pepper and Hall after him. McKearney and Smith scored for the Alex but a slight mishit by the unfortunately named Whalley was saved and York celebrated Oawa JUexandrar Smith; McKearney. Srnlfh.

Evans. Carr. Whalley. Ward. Naylor.

Lennon. Walters (Clarkson. 104min). Edwards (Woodward. 70) York CHyt Kiely; McMillan, Hall.

Pepper. Stanclilie (Tutill, 108), Alkin. McCarthy, Canham. Barnes. Swann.

Blackstone. Referee: A Gunn (South Challey). David Davies, the Guardian's golf correspondent, is a lifelong Crewe supporter. allowing the defender Luca Brunetti to race through for the equaliser two minutes later. Internazionale surrendered a 19-match unbeaten run in a game in which their midfielder Nicola Bern' was sent off with the Parma striker Faustino As-prilla.

Parma took the lead in the 15th minute through Ales-sandro Melli, and Stefano Cuoghi made the game safe in the second half. Fourteen people were injured in riots that marred Marseille's 3-1 home victory over Paris St Germain that gave them a fifth consecutive French League title. Paris fans hurled smoke bombs and missiles at Marseille supporters 15 minutes before the end of the game, and trouble flared later in the city. Porto retained the Portuguese title with a 1-0 win at Beira Mar. ances.

The result leaves England second in Group Two, level on points with the leaders, Norway, but three behind on goal difference, and one ahead of Holland and Poland. Taylor still feels that 14 points, given England's healthy balance in goals, will be enough to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. "We don't have to win in Oslo on Wednesday," he said, "but it's important that we don't lose." David Piatt, the England captain, sees things differently. "Realistically the bottom line is the city's police have not released details of the nationalities or condition of those involved. In one street fight, Polish supporters hurled stones through the windows of a hotel in which England supporters were staying.

The violent mood was carried into the ground, where riot police had to be called into action. Keane agreed terms Italian football in two or three years." Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley have agreed a fee of around 200,000 for the Hillsborough midfielder Danny Wilson. Arsenal's women footballers, already league and FA Cup winners, completed a hat-trick when they won the League Cup at Wembley. Headers from Naz Ball (2) and Chris Couling gave them a 3-0 win against Knows-ley United from Liverpool. The Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bosnich kept a clean sheet in Australia's 1-0 victory over New Zealand in a World.

Cup qualifier in Auckland. Gary Lineker again failed to score as his Japanese club, Na-goya Grampus Eight, beat Shi-mizu S-Pulse 6-5 on penalities in front of 50,475 In Tokyo. Dorigo's deep cross from the left to beat Bako with a confident first-time shot. That goal silenced the crowd and, for the moment at least, Taylor's critics. But the snipers still have him in their sights.

POLAND! Bako (Besiktas); Czachoweki (Udinese). Sxewctek (Katowice). Kozminskl (Udinese). Leslak (Wacker Innsbruck). Brieczek (tech Poznan).

Swlarczaurekl (Katowice). Adamczuk (Eintracht Frankfurt), Purtok (Hamburg). Koaeckl (Osasuna). Leanlak (Wattenschekl; Waajrzyn, Hutnik Cracow. 72min).

BMLAHDi Wood (Sheffield Wednesday); ardelay (QPfl). Dorloo (Leeds Utd). Palmar (Shettield Wednesday; Wright, Arsenal. 70). Waaler (Sampdoria).

Adama (Arsenal). Plan (Juvenlus), Oaecohina (Lazio; Cfough, Nottingham Forest. 78). BMrmgnam (rortennam notspur). (Liverpool), inoe imancnesier uio).

flofofaai Mumenthaler (Switzerland). Itomatnlnfi fixtures! Jun 2: Norway England. Jutw 0i Netherlands Norway. Spt 0t England Poland. Sept 22t San Marino Netherlands; Norway Poland.

Oct 13t Netherlands Engfand; Poland Norway. Oct 27: Turkey Poland. Nov 10i Turkey Norway. Nov 16i San Marino England. Now 171 Poland Netherlands.

Hoddle Chelsea target? ceed today. "I really hope they do it," he said. "I want them to win to make up for what happened three years ago after we played Sunderland off the park. I missed all the controversy after the game because I was in Malta preparing with the Irish team for the World Cup. My wife rang and told me and I couldn't believe it.

A whole season's work had been taken away and I felt the club and the fans had been cheated." There are likely to be five survivors in today's Swindon line-up from the 1990 game, and McLoughlin warned them: "Leicester have got a lot of pace up front. The worst thing for us was them losing 7-1 at Newcastle in their last league game; they really tightened up for the play-offs." Swindon's talented manager Glenn Hoddle Is reportedly being lined up for the same job at Chelsea, and McLoughlin said: "I hope Glenn stays, but the players can't afford to think about that. They have Just got to get on with it." A Pta Norway 4 0 18 3 9 England 6 3 3 0 16 4 Holland 6 3 2 1 17 6 6 Poland 5 3 2 0 6 3 0 Turkey 8 1 1 6 7 17 3 8 0 1 7 1 32 1 Draw gives AC Milan the title again as Internazionale falter Bitter pair in quest for top TWO teams who have experienced disappointment in the Wembley play-offs meet today to try to earn a place in the Premier League. Swindon Town, with a goal from Alan McLoughlin, thought they had earned promotion to the First Division three years ago by beating Sunderland 1-0, but less than a fortnight later they were "relegated" by the Football League for financial irregularities. It was a bitter experience and the then manager Ossie Ardiles and McLoughlin have moved on.

But Swindon are back at Wembley today facing a Leicester City side that last year went down 1-0 to a Blackburn Rovers penalty in the play-off final. This time Leicester are determined there will be no mistakes; their manager Brian Little said: "This game is even bigger than last season because the Premier League Is where we all want to be." McLoughlin, now with Portsmouth, who lost in the play-off semi-finals to Leicester, wants Swindon to suc- Patrick Glenn BF, AS Oscar Wilde insisted, consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative, there would be no madcap rush to acclaim a Rangers team whose unswerving devotion to winning secured the coveted treble when they took the Tennents Scottish Cup on Saturday. Unbeaten in three knockout competitions including 10 matches in the European Cup and with only two defeats in the 40 outings before the title was secured, Walter Smith's players eased off only in the remaining four meaningless league games when they lost to Partick Thistle and Aberdeen. That last defeat at Pittodrie had encouraged their Scottish Cup final opponents to believe that they could deny Smith his personal place in Rangers history, becoming only the fourth Ibrox manager behind Bill Struth, Scot Symon and Jock Wallace to win the treble. But Irvine's own-goal gave Rangers the lead at a time when Rangers fined RANGERS have been fined 5,000 by the Scottish Football League management committee for their public "tapping" of the Dundee United striker Duncan Ferguson earlier this season, writes Patrick Glenn.

The Ibrox club's declared In Don Boot KENNY DALGLISH, the Blackburn Rovers manager, is prepared to pay a British transfer-fee record of 4 million to take the Nottingham Forest midfielder Roy Keane to Ewood Park. Last season he spent 3.3 million on Southampton's England striker Alan Shearer. The 21-year-old Republic of Ireland international has agreed personal terms with the Rovers manager but will not 'sign until he has spoken to other interested clubs. Manchester United and Aston Villa are thought to be the onlv English teams who might per-. suaae mm not to go to Blackburn.

"Rovers have offered me a four-year contract and I have agreed personal terms," Keane said. "The manager assures me that he wants the club to be up there challenging for major honours with the likes of United, Liverpool and Villa. He wants to build a team capable of winning the Double. "Blackburn are the first club to talk to me and there was no problem agreeing personal terms. I did not put pen to paper out of courtesy to the other clubs who have shown an interest." Asked whether he had considered moving abroad, Keane said: "I believe it would be a better career move for me to stay in England.

Perhaps I can think about a possible move to A POINT from a 1-1 home draw against the relegation-threatened Brescia made AC Milan the first team for more than a decade to retain the Italian League title. Their city rivals Internazionale lost 2-0 away to the third-placed Parma to leave Milan with a five-point lead with one match to play. The Milan players, shrugging off Wednesday's 1-0 defeat by Marseille in the European Cup final, sprayed one another with champagne on the pitch at the end of the match and tossed the coach Fabio Capello into the air to the delight of more than 70,000 people at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium. Milan again looked off-colour but eventually took the lead through the midfielder Deme-trio Albertini in the 82nd minute. They Immediately relaxed, over Ferguson terest in signing the player infringed rule 53, which they had broken in 1987 when Graeme Souness behaved similarly over St Mirren's Ian Ferguson.

A few days ago United made Duncan Ferguson available for transfer; Rangers are tipped as the likeliest buyers..