The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 23

Sport 1 5 The Guardian Monday May 4 1998 Golf Stoke City 2 Manchester City 5 Into the abyss amid anger and despair Norse play pips Olazabal Paul Weaver sees mighty Manchester City relegated, their lowest standing in 1 1 1 years Gordon Richardson in Milan The police said there had been 300 ejections. Another 25 needed treatment and the worst fight, which involved bricks thrown, happened after the match: two suffered THE end the emptiness, the futility, the awful meaninglessness of the match, settled on every one like a dark blanket of depression. Both these great clubs were the old Third Division and suddenly the magnificent Britannia Stadium down Stanley Matthews Way felt as if it had returned to its former life as a grim industrial wasteland. The goals continued to go in but they were only half-celebrated; it felt like a testimonial match played at a wake. It was a game that needed mercy-killing and both managers, Joe Royle and Alan Durban, trudged off to the changing-rooms with their substitutes trailing miserably behind long before the final whistle.

It was all rather surreal. It was the most important match some of these footballers will ever play, yet they could not raise a gallop in the final quarter. Port Vale, Portsmouth and Bury had all won away from home and the desperate consequences of those results meant that both these clubs were relegated. Manchester City, who finished third bottom on 48 points, were one point from safety; Stoke were two points further back. The terrible torpor on the terraces spread on to the pitch.

It stopped the flow of adrenalin; fatigue, mental and physical, took over. These clubs had come to Stoke to bury each other but they ended face down in the dirt together like two last-reel gunslingers, although in this particular epic both proved equally slow on the draw. It might be said that the drinking man goes through four stages: jocose, bellicose, lachrymose and comatose. Yesterday the crowd, most of whom had had a nip or two, followed the same bleak pattern. The kick-off excitement soured into violence with a number of skirmishes before both sets of supporters settled, mostly, for sullen introspection.

The scuffles started in the Sentinel stand, which had been easily infiltrated by Manchester City supporters because Stake's match arrangements were as maladroit as their defence. From there it spread in a clockwise direction to the South stand and then the West stand, like a Mexican wave with menaces. There was even a distasteful outbreak in the corporate-entertainment section but, although fighting continued after the match, by that time most supporters were too fed up to bother. End of an era Georgi Kinkladze of Manchester City takes his leave of torpor and trouble at the Britannia Stadium yesterday photograph: ross kinnaird Middlesbrough 4 Oxford United 1 Armstrong stays on to make it automatic son explained, "the kid came into training on Friday and said he was feeling a lot better. Then he joined in a five-a-side on Saturday.

It was a gamble, a calculated Up to half-time it had not paid off and Armstrong in six games. We've won five and drawn one." With Sunderland tripping up at Ipswich that was good enough form for promotion, though Robson knows his team will need "strengthening in two or three areas" before any thoughts of Premiership consolidation can be taken seriously. He has not shirked from spending as the season has gone on and yesterday one of his purchases came good at just the right time. Four days ago Armstrong, bought for 1 .6 million from Stockport in February, could not walk because of a disc problem in his back. Then, as Rob- nored by the noisy crowd, already celebrating.

However, amid the joyous chanting of "We're not going to Wembley" was one of "Three points, three That was a reference to the deduction that saw Boro go down so tearfully last year and clearly the bitterness over that decision lingers. Bryan Rob-son managed not to mention it but he did say: "Alter all the disappointment of the relegation and the three cup final defeats, they deserved that today. When we were beaten at Sheffield United we were looking at the play-offs; that's why I said to the lads they had to win their last half, Sunderland were winning at Swindon and it was not until Paul Merson set up Alun Armstrong a minute into the second half that anyone could relax. Even then Armstrong took an age over bis shot but once it hit the far corner delirium broke loose. Two minutes later a near-identical move along the right saw Merson feed Armstrong again and promotion was assured.

For good measure, Craig Hig-nett added a quick brace of his own and Sunderland's scoreline became an irrelevance. Nicky Banger scored a meaningless goal with 20 minutes to go but it was ig Michael Walker THE clock said 3.15, the referee's whistle blew for the final time and Middlesbrough's fax machine started receiving. The message was from the Premier League and said: "Welcome No one at a chaotic, exhilarated Riverside cared whether it was just a tale or not. All that mattered was that one year after the most painful of relegations, Middlesbrough had returned to the Premiership. The fans had to sweat as usual, though.

Middlesbrough were poor and anxious throughout the first JOSE MARIA OLAZABAL had to give best to a 21-under-par Scandinavian for the second week running in the Italian Open here at Castelconturbia yesterday. In the Spanish Open in Barcelona a 27-year-old Dane, Thomas Bjorn, had produced two closing 66s to beat the Spaniard by a stroke. Yesterday the 26-year-old Swede Patrik Sjoland was the villain of the piece, stringing together rounds of 64, 65 and 66 for a 195 total in a championship shrunk to 54 holes by torrential rain. If that were not enough to bear, another Swede, Joakim Haeggman, holed a 25ft putt at the last to be home in 29 for a 63 to tie with Olazabal on 198. It cost Olazabal, who closed with a brace of 65s, his chance to move within 133 of Ernie Els at the top of the Volvo rankings.

Instead he trails 12,042 behind. His 42,655 cheque has nudged his winnings total from seven Tour outings in which his worst finish has been 17th to 267,477. But he remains very much on course to end the year as European No. 1 for the first time. For Sjoland, second in the Italian Championship two years ago, his first Tour triumph was worth 81,853.

Olazabal, having described the young man's first round as had the grace to admit: "He hits it straight and has no fear. We were always playing for second." Sjoland, who dropped only one stroke to par in three days, was never less than two strokes clear despite Olazabal launching his final round with a birdie hat-trick to turn in 32. Then he moved to 18 under par with more birdies at the 10th and 12th. It was the Spaniard's razor- sharp short game which kept him in the hunt and it was ironic that a three-putt bogey at the 14th dashed his hopes of squeezing past the Swede. The pink-cheeked Sjoland, with his girlfriend Ulrika, a non-golfer, shouldering his clubs and providing "mental wore down the op position with his precision iron play.

Four of his birdies in the final round were twos. Britain's Peter Baker shot three 67s for 201 and Lee West wood closed with two 67s for 202. Nick Faldo finished seven shots behind the winner, Sa-toshi Oide of Japan, in the Macau Open. His score of 290 included a final round of 71. American pair see off the Swedes THE Swedes tried their best to produce a European victory but it was Danielle Ammaccapane who eventually walked off with the $150,000 (93,000) winner's cheque at the Mercury Title-holders Championship here in Florida yesterday, writes Elspeth Burnsicle in Daytona.

The 32-year-old American took her sixth LPGA Tour title by closing with a one-under-par 71 for a 276 aggregate, one shot ahead of her compatriot Michelle Estill, who birdied the long 18th for a 69 to equal the best score on a windy day. One shot further back on 278 came Annika Sorenstam, the world No. 1, who also birdied the last for a 73 to snatch third place from her fellow Swede Carin Koch. Three of their country women were close up: Eva Dahloff and Catrin Nilsmark were joint sixth on seven under, and Sorenstam's younger sister Charlotta was a shot further back. It all went to show the huge growth in Swedish women's golf, because Liselotte Neumann and Helen Alfredsson, the Swedes currently at No.

1 and No. 2 on the Order of Merit, both missed the cut. The Englishwoman Helen Dobson, runner-up in the season's first major, the Dinah Shore tournament, slipped to a final-round 73 for a 285 total which meant that Stafford shire's Sue Strudwick fin ished as leading Briton. The 32-year-old, who has been struggling this season, had her first top-20 finish after a closing 71 for 284. Ammaccapane, who had shared the overnight lead with Koch and Sorenstam, edged ahead with a birdie at the long 5th and doubled her lead with another birdie at the 7th.

With her rivals mak ing mistakes on the run-in she could even afford to drop a shot at the 16th. Third place for Sorenstam, who has adopted a new left-hand-below-right putting method, maintained her consistent top-10 form. fractured cheekbones. It was difficult to know exactly when the crowd became aware of events elsewhere, al though when Manchester City famous tans started chanting, rather forlornly, "Are you watching, Macclesfield?" it was clear the news had spread. It is the lowest Manchester City have been in their 111-ycar history.

They are paying for the mess of 11 managers in 12 years. One of them, Alan Ball, who is remembered less than fondly at Maine Road, helped City down yesterday as manager of Portsmouth. Stoke cannot even find a manager. They are' down to the old Third Division for the second time in seven years. Their caretaker manager, Durban, said: "My spell as manager is over.

We just didn't get going. It was a bizarre match. We had already hit the iceberg when I arrived and I was delighted to get another chance to get out of trouble." Royle, Manchester City's manager, said: "We have scored five goals away from home for the first time this season and gone down. Now there is going to be some soul-searching and big decisions will be taken within the next seven days. "The chairman has already made contingency plans and there will be an announcement soon.

The players know they have let the fans down. But every time we have made a mistake we have been punished for it. "We are going down, however, not for one month or for one year but for what has happened over a number of years." Manchester City took the lead after 32 minutes when Shaun Goater lobbed the ball over Neville Southall. The other six goals came in the second half. Paul Dickov made it 2-0 from the rebound after 49 minutes.

Southall had only been able to parry Goater's header. Peter Thome pulled one back for Stoke after 63 minutes, Lee Bradbury made it 3-1 within a minute and Goater scored Manchester City's fourth goal after 71 minutes. A Thorne header in the 87th minute made it 4-2 before Kevin Horlock completed the scoring seconds before the end of a Sunday showdown that proved as significant as it was strange. stands broke into choruses of "We're going to Wembley" immediately after Middlesbrough's second goal went in at The Riverside. No other team have failed to go up from this division on 90 points, so you had to feel sympathy for the 40,000 who regularly pack the Stadium of Light and the estimated 8,000 who made the long trek to Wiltshire knowing deep down that their North-east rivals would not squander such a golden opportunity.

Not that points would have been good enough in the last four seasons. This time, with Sheffield United having scored more goals despite their defeat at Stockport, 76 was the target for Trevor Francis's side. Charlton had already qualified and stood a chance of earning automatic promotion. But they realised that was beyond them when Middlesbrough and Sunderland won, and instead they did a consummate job of frustrat- he said. Crucially, City lost by the same score at Preston.

Goals from Gifton Noel-Williams and Jason Lee gave Watford victory over Fulham, who nevertheless clinched a play-off place by finishing sixth on goals scored ahead of Wrexham and Gillingham. "We did not play well but we have achieved our objective, which was to get into the play-offs," said Fulham's manager Ray Wilkins. Mohamed Al Fayed's club will now play the Auto Windscreens Shield winners Grimsby in the two-leg showdown, third-placed Town having finished their league season with a 2-0 home defeat by Oldham. Grimsby's manager Swindon Town 1 Sunderland 2 Bradford City 1 Portsmouth 3 Having a Ball as Pompey pride works the miracle Phillips the star in a mission impossible they showed any sense of letdown when Middlesbrough won. Far from it; they were in carnival mood at the final whistle and, if Peter Reid needed cheering up, it came when the fans took over the pitch, chanting his name.

The manager said later: "These supporters are different class. I'm a passionate person and I felt quite emotional out there. We need to do it for them. "We face two hard games against Sheffield United but I Stuart Barnes KEVIN PHILLIPS er-sured that Sunderland kept their side of the bargain on a triumphant day for the North-east, scoring his 32nd and 33rd goals of a prolific season to set up this comfortable victory. But Phillips realised it would not be enough for an automatic promotion place when the massed ranks of red-and-white stripes in the deed looked lame.

But, as he was to say afterwards: "I asked for just 10 more min utes. My back was really sore at half-time and I've got an operation on Thurs' day, but this was my last chance. I wouldn't have been able to play in the play-offs." Thanks to him Middlesbrough do not need to and he needed only two, not 10, minutes. People must have thought I was daft to take the job, but we've all worked tirelessly, from the chairman down." Ball has been associated with six relegated clubs. But Portsmouth never looked destined to repeat the demotion they suffered under their minuscule mentor, from the old First Division in 1988.

From the moment Nigel Pepper struck the bar and Craig Ramagc's rebound hit the post and plopped into Aaron Flahavan's hands, the Pompey goal seemed blessed by the gods. Visiting nerves were settled in the 35th minute when Gary Walsh sliced a clearance, Sammy Igoe squared the ball and Dur-nin side-footed home. The second came when Igoe converted Matthew Robinson's cute pull-back. Bradford managed a late consolation when Edinho's cross looped off Andy Aw-ford and Ramage nodded in. But they blotted their copybook with Robbie Blake's dismissal for taking a potshot at Pethick.

In the heat of the moment and Pompey's first win here for 72 years it barely registered. Cardiff and Hartlepool shared the points in their final matches, equalling the league record for draws which stands at 23. Some fans were on the pitch at Belle Vue and it was indeed all over for Doncaster after 75 unbroken years in the league. Their final match was twice interrupted by pitch invasions by the home fans. The team went down to their 34th defeat, losing 1-0 to Colchester, whose goal by Neil Gregory was the 113th conceded by Rovers in the league.

It was not an auspicious ending, either, for the side who will replace them, the Conference champions Halifax going down 6-2 at Welling. Birmingham City 0 Charlton Athletic 0 Charlton spoil Birmingham's chance of joining them in play-offs guarantee the fans we shall be up for them." Sunderland, without Niall Quinn who tweaked a hamstring in training on Saturday, started nervously and it took a magnificent strike from Phillips, chesting down a free-kick from Darren Holloway and volleying into the far corner, to settle them. Then on the stroke of half-time Jody Craddock chested down a centre from Lee Clark for Phillips to score easily. Swindon went close to pull that becoming nine against City, however. Indeed, City's goalkeeper Kevin Poole, who was making his debut after a season in reserve to Ian Bennett, now injured, did not have a direct shot to save.

He was fortunate, though, when Mark Bright headed Shaun Newton's right-wing cross wastefully wide in the 36th minute. In contrast Poole's opposite number Sasa IUic thwarted Birmingham with at least three fine saves, keeping out a Waddle said afterwards: "I never ever want to go through that again. We did have a bit of luck on our side but we haven't had a lot of that this season." His Plymouth counterpart Mick Jones said: "I feel lower than a snake's belly. It was a cauldron out there and relegation may just be the kick up the backside this club needs." As for Taylor, the best was saved for last. And there may be more to follow, for he will cross swords in the First Division next season with his England successor Terry Ven-ables If the latter is put in charge of relegated Crystal Palace.

Who would not like that? ing one back with a 25-yard free-kick from Mark Walters which Lionel Perez touched against the post. But it was not until five minutes from the end that Sunderland's authority was really disturbed, Walters curling a beauty beyond Perez from just inside the penalty box. It was not enough to placate a small group of Swindon fans who at the end, almost unnoticed, unveiled a banner callng for the dismissal of the manager Steve McMahon. header from Peter Ndlovu 10 minutes before the interval, then Martin O'Connor's 18-yard volley which was bound for the top right-hand corner, and then a fierce shot from the substitute Bryan Hughes. He should also have been beaten when Ndlovu delivered a deliberate chip from the inside-left channel to Paul Furlong, but the header hit the right-hand post.

Thereafter the resolute visiting defence increased their grip. Third Division IT HAS taken Lincoln City 10 years to achieve what Macclesfield did in one season, but snatching promotion at the last gasp was just as sweet for the side who were Conference champions in 1988 after one season out of the league. The Red Imps' 2-1 victory over Brighton would not have been enough on its own, but Torquay went down by the same margin at Leyton Orient to confirm a reversal of fortunes that had not seemed likely when the Gulls started George Caulkin THE world has been awaiting the moment for 52 years but Alan Ball's voice finally broke yesterday. Either that, or the strain of Portsmouth's plight had caused their unlikely saviour to develop a sudden taste for Woodbines. Whatever the reason, there was a husky tone to Ball's usual high-pitched warble.

Oh the irony, the bittersweet irony as Ball, whose managerial qualities have been roundly pilloried, condemned two of his former clubs to relegation. With Pompey's third goal, a John Durain header from Robbie Pethick's cross, Valley Parade was united in a grave-dancing rendition of "Are you watching, Manchester?" Understandably the double-edged emotion of the occasion was tangible in Ball, who permitted himself a little self-flattery. "I'm absolutely thrilled," he said hoarsely. "I came here with 19 matches left and seven points adrift at the bottom of the league. the new year with eight consecutive wins.

It took Lincoln 55 minutes to wing the Seagulls, but Terry Fleming's first was swiftly followed by a second from Lee Thorpe, and Richard Barker's last-minute reply was merely a token of resistance. Craig Maskell was Torquay's tormentor. He earned an early penalty converted by Orient's captain Dean Smith and doubled the lead with a superb dipping volley from 20 yards. Andy McFarlane's lob cut the deficit in the 77th minute but Torquay's chances of getting the point they needed to go up on goals scored evaporated when their keeper Ken Veysey was sent off for a foul. ing their hosts' ambitions.

As their manager Alan Curbish-ley said: "We've got a semifinal against Ipswich Town next week and we needed to go into that game on a high and not on the back of a thumping." Not that that was ever likely, with Charlton boasting a resolute defence which has now kept seven successive clean sheets and helped the London club establish a run of eight wins. There was never a chance of Alan Buckley dragged his players in for extra training yesterday and said: "I'll pack in before I accept that second-half performance." In the other play-off Northampton, who finished fourth, will play fifth-placed Bristol Rovers, who needed a late winner from the division's leading scorer Barry Hayles his 25th of the season to secure their place and in the process send Brentford down. Two goals from Burnley's Andy Cooke ensured the Clarets remain in the Second Division next season as they beat Plymouth 2-1 at Turf Moor in front of 19,000, condemning Argyle to the Third Division. Burnley's manager Chris Adrian Murray ALL too familiar mar riage of an inspired goal keeper and their own inability to win home games cost Birmingham City their 11th-hour chance of qualifying for the play-offs. Had they not drawn seven games at St Andrews, City would surely already have booked their place in the playoffs.

Even so, a tally of 74 Second Division WATFORD'S manager Graham Taylor claimed yesterday that relaxation was the key to his side's 2-1 victory at Fulham on Saturday which secured the divisional championship. Taylor thought his players had become too concerned about winning the title they had already earned their place in the First Division for next season as their battle with Bristol City went to the wire. "Once I got it through to them that we were going to be promoted, the tension eased,".