The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 19

The Guardian Monday May 25 1998 2 1 Sport World Cup warm-up: Scotland 2 Colombia 2 Lambert calm before the storm Second Division play-off final Grimsby Town 1 Northampton Town 0 Donovan is on song to strike the First note Trevor Haylett at Wembley sees the Mariners marathon come to a successful conclusion Jack Lester, the Northampton centre-back Colin Hill, a veteran of four previous play-off showdowns, missed Wayne Burnett's through pass and allowed Donovan a clear run on goal. The Northern Ireland winger seemed to have pushed the ball too far in his attempt to avoid the on-rushing Andy Woodman yet retained the presence of mind to slide the ball into the empty net. It was the only highlight of a dreadfully dull first half. When Donovan erred with his back pass just after the hour, the lively Chris Freestone managed to wriggle away from the Grimsby goalkeeper Aidan Davidson but, tight to the byline, he was unable to take advantage. Only when Davidson took a heavy blow to the head late on did he begin to exhibit serious evidence of unease while his central defenders were always around to offer cover and aerial strength.

Northampton felt Hill had been fouled in the lead-up to the goal and also disputed the 78th-minute penalty when Lester caught Ray Warburton's heel and went down. Donovan, who has appeared in all bar one of Grimsby's games and was a scorer in both league fixtures between these sides, stepped up wearily and Woodman read the direction of his shot to palm the ball away. With seven minutes remaining, Paul Groves shook the crossbar with a rising drive. Qrimsby (44-2) Davidson, McDcrmoll Handysido. Lever.

Gallimore. Donovan Burnett. Groves, Smith (Black, 67mm) Nogan (Livingstone. 611. Loslfr Northampton (5-3-21 Woodman.

Clarkson. Sampson Hill (Gibb 70) Warburlon. Frain. Peer. Hunt Freestono.

Gaylo (Seal 5H) Referee: Heilbron (Co Diiiham) THEY will be known as Greedy Griimby after inscribing their name on the honours board for the second time this season. It was more difficult to pin a label on Kevin Donovan, the Mariners' match winner who put this promotion triumph in jeopardy with a second-half penalty failure. Donovan also underhit a back pass that almost brought Northampton an equaliser. Perhaps, having given Grimsby an 18th minute lead, he was investing too much faith in recent play-off history. The last five Wembley play-off finals have all finished 1-0.

Remembering how Northampton had won last year's Third Division finale with a winner deep into injury time, Grimsby knew there would be no respite until the final kick of an inestimably tiring campaign. There were several heart-stopping moments to endure before they were assured of reclaiming the First Division place they lost last year. Their 68-game season also included victory in the Auto Windscreens Shield five weeks earlier and Coca-Cola Cup wins over Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday. It was a season that paid eloquent testimony to the motivational powers and organisational skills of Alan Buckley. "I feel totally drained but this is a massive result for the town and the club," he said.

Yesterday's success over Ian Atkins's dogged Northampton was deserved. Grimsby produced methodical football worthy of a higher stage and, in the one decisive moment, had the means to punish defensive error. Under pressure from Scotland midfielder beats Carlos Valderrama to the tackle in the draw with Colombia in New Jersey ray stubblebine Patrick Glenn in New Jersey finds Craig Brown's team coming nicely to the boil for France THE HUGE odds against Scotland winning the World Cup are unlikely to be cut to the merely large on the back of this sound performance, but anyone looking for reasons to bet that Craig Brown's side will qualify for the knock-out stages in France would have found it here at the Giants Stadium on Saturday evening. Having arrived carrying the weighty baggage of an unconvinced home public, Brown once again provided evidence of his extraordinary habit of getting international players to peak at precisely the right time. In the week before this warm-up match Brown made no secret of his intention to "work them very hard" or his expectation that they would tire in the later stages.

That prediction proved to be quite spookily right. In front of a 56,000 crowd, the vast majority of them South Americans, it took an hour for the Scots to be affected by the rigours of their training schedule, by which time they had not only appeared superior to Colombia, but had proved it by carving out a 2-1 lead which could have been even greater. The only mishap during those 60 minutes of composed defending, controlled midfield play and menacing attacking was the awkward challenge by Christian Dailly on Wil-mer Cabrera, who was heading out of the box on the right when the Derby man gave him a nudge. It brought about the penalty from which Carlos Valderrama gave Colombia a 21st-minute lead. That lapse was not be repeated as Dailly went on to be one of the most impressive players on the field.

Kenny Sansom, looking on for Glenn Hoddle in readiness for England's game against Colombia, said afterwards that Dailly "has excellent pace and gives Scotland good Playing at left wing-back, Dailly again exhibited the versatility of a man who was in the Dundee United first-team at 16 and who, playing as a striker, a midfielder or a defender, won a total of 34 Scotland Under-21 caps and remains their most capped player at that level. He is likely to revert to central defence Brown's preference in the World Cup, joining Colin Hendry and Colin Calderwood, with Tom Boyd moving back to the wide position on the left. Dailly is one of the Scots who have come through since Euro 96 to make up what Brown believes is "a better group than we had two years The other is Paul Lambert, who continues to impress with his command of the game, for club and country. Every time Lambert plays, Republic of Ireland 0 Second Charlie Stuart in Dublin THE Mexican coach Manuel Lapuente refused to entertain negative thoughts despite a drab, scoreless draw with a makeshift young Republic of Ireland side at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Memories were erased of their 5-2 defeat by Norway in Oslo last Wednesday, but on the evidence of Saturday's performance the Central Americans will be very much among the World Cup also-rans.

"The bulk of the side who were on duty in Dublin will play in our opening games against Holland, Belgium and South Korea," said Lapuente. New Jersey line-ups Scotland substitutes Booth, Donnelly (Durie, 61mln) McKinlay (McNamara, 70) Scotland Sullivan Calderwood Hendry S3) McNamara Burley Lambert Patient Curbishley scents long-awaited promotion Sansom also said that he was encouraged by the long periods in which Colombia were subdued, but believed that they will be more formidable in France. "I got the impression they still had another gear to shift up," he added. "I think you'll see a different Colombia in their opening match against Romania. Anybody playing them will have to concentrate for 90 minutes and the Scots did concentrate for most of the time.

"Rincon looks a very dangerous player, but Valderrama is almost 37 now and doesn't seem to give them the drive he once did." Scotland move on to Washington for their last warm-up match, against the US on Saturday, with morale high and Brown as optimistic as ever. Gordon Durie will probably be missing, though, as he tweaked a hamstring in the 62nd minute and was immediately substituted. It is expected to take him at least four clays to recover and he is unlikely to be risked. Durie Jackson Lambert the bustler the the uninformed observer would have little difficulty in identifying him as the one man in the side who possesses a European Cup winner's medal, won while with Borussia Dortmund. Brown, cooing over many good Scottish performances on the night, could not resist highlighting the Celtic midfielder.

"As for Paul Lambert," he said, "there wasn't a better player on view. Dailly conceded penalty Mexico 0 Valencia Asprilla Rincon Valderrama Lozano Cabrera Bermudez Cordoba Santa Calero Colombia "This game proved we can compete against a good South American side and that will give us confidence." Lambert's calming influence in the holding role will surely be invaluable in the World Cup opener against Brazil. He plays as though no occasion nor opponent can faze him. Given the absence of the injured and unwell Kevin Gal-lacher, Scotland's goals predictably came from midfielders. John Collins hit a right-foot, 18-yard drive, from Darren Jackson's layoff, to the left of Miguel Ca-lero and Craig Burley struck a left-foot shot, from Jackson's pass, which went in off the goalkeeper.

They came in the 33rd and 43rd minutes, with Freddie Rincon equalising 10 minutes from the end with a low drive after Faustino Asprilla had darted through the Scottish defence and watched his shot hit the right-hand post, run along the line and strike the other upright, whence it bounced to his team-mate. Sunderland's Niall Quinn and Charlton's Mark Kinsella, both on Wembley duty today, all hopefully returning. That would leave room only for Newcastle's goalkeeper Shay Given, the Leeds captain Gary Kelly, Liverpool's Phil Babb and Wolves's Robbie Keane to make up McCarthy's numbers. On Saturday Robbie Keane. who will not celebrate his 18th birthday until August 8.

was the darling of his hometown crowd. The Wolves' player peppered Mexico's extrovert yet always alert goalkeeper Jorge Campos with a variety of shots, then on 83 minutes went within inches of breaking the deadlock from 20 yards. Simple Minds' front man joins group bidding to take over Celtic Boyd Collins Dailly Referee Hall (US) Attendance 50,404 Sema friend to be "terrified" of someone becoming the major shareholder who "has not got a Celtic or a Scottish or Irish background. "Jim has been concerned for a long time about the state of the club with its squabblings and unhappi-ness, and has had ongoing discussions with Brian as to who will eventually control Celtic." It is thought the Dempsey deal would allow fans to buy 20 million worth of McCann's shares with the consortium purchasing any that went unsold. But the offer is pitched at 180 per share for shares which are trading at 255, and the potential loss that could entail may not be acceptable to McCann.

Keane just as sharp out around 1.7 million, and the club is reaping the dividends. Clive Mendonca cost 700.000 from Grimsby last summer and has responded with 25 goals. Matty Holmes arrived for 250.000 from Blackburn while transfer-deadline week saw Curbishley hand Norwich 350.000 for Danny Mills and Bradford City 550,000 for Eddie Youds. Neither has appeared in a losing Charlton side yet. Sasa llic came from St Leonards in the Dr Martens League after Curbishley, although well served for goalkeepers, signed him on a free.

He has since displaced last season's Player of the Year Andy Petterson. Today, if the sides are level after extra-time, the game goes to penalties. Charlton did not practise them before the semifinal but have been working at spot-kicks over the weekend and also been training on a pitch marked out to Wembley dimensions, longer and wider than The Valley. Curbishley says: "I've played in promotion sides and been involved with many others, but I don't think I've met a bunch of players as focused as mine." If his team make it to the Premiership the plan is to adopt the Leicester model for survival rather than import a job-lot of foreigners. Before that, whoever wins, Curbish ley is looking forward to shar ing a bottle of wine with Peter Reid, his opposite number at Sunderland and a former England Under-21 colleague.

MarkTallentireon Charlton's low-key campaign for a Premiership berth AFTER Charlton's 1-1 draw with Sunderland back in March the announcer at The Valley wished fans a safe trip home and said he hoped the clubs would meet in the Premiership next season. Then, as at the end of the season, Sunderland were in third place and Charlton fourth, so perhaps they were destined to meet in today's play-off final rather than twice next season. For Charlton, who have been in the second stream for eight seasons, today is as near to promotion they have been since 1985-86. when the team included their manager Alan Curbishley. "In terms of what winning means, this match is bigger than the FA Cup final," he said this week.

Promotion is worth 5.1 million in TV revenue and solvent Charlton are looking to make today pay. The board has pledged the lot for team strengthening. It represents a sea-change. Two seasons back Charlton, after losing to Crystal Palace in the play-off semi-finals, sold Lee Bowyer to Leeds for 2.9 million and enhanced their image as a selling club. Little more than 500,000 was spent in 1996-97, but this time Curbishley has splashed JIM KERR, front man of the band Simple Minds, is supporting a move to take over the Scottish champions Celtic.

He has also asked U2's lead singer Bono to back the consortium making the bid. The aim of the consortium, led by the club's former director Brian Demp-scy, is to buy out the majority shareholding of the chairman Fergus McCann, who has pledged to sell his 36 million stake next year. Last week Celtic began moves to float the club on the stock market with the intention of selling McCann's 51 per cent holding to a mixture of fans and financial interests. Kerr, who is a lifelong Celtic fan, was said by a On an historic weekend when the Republic wore orange shirts and the Mexicans green, the Lansdowne aficionados voiced a resounding "Yes" vote that McCarthy's team are heading in the right direction. Edged out of a place in France when beaten 3-2 by Belgium over two legs last November, the manager's clays of experimentation are over.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND 1 Divert Blackburn). Flomlng (Middlesbrough). Babb (Liverpool). Drsen (Coventry, Harte Kelly Ibolh Leeds). Careloy (Derby).

Farrelly (Everlon). Duff (Blackburn. Kennedy. Wimbledon. 72mm).

Keane (Wolves). Connolly (Feyenoord. Delap. Derby. 72) MEXICO (4-4-2) Campoti Pardo, Sanchez, Davino, Lunai Ordlalee (Palencla, h-t), Suarez, Oarcla-Aspo, Ramirez (Pelaez, S5) Hernandez (Chavez, 82), Blanco.

Referee: Ashman (Wales) "We defended well in the first half when the Irish were on top, but we controlled the final 45 minutes and might have scored a late goal." The Republic of Ireland's manager Mick McCarthy will have only a spectator's role in France monitoring Croatia and Yugoslavia, teams that will present formidable opposition for the Irish when the European Championship qualifiers start in September. McCarthy's starting line-up against Mexico bore no resemblance to the side he hopes to have on duty against Croatia in Dublin on September 5, with the injured Roy Keane, Denis Irwin, Jason McAteer, Steve Staunton and Kenny Cunningham, and IT'S QUICKLY DEVELOPED A BIG FOLLOWING. (THAT'S ENOUGH TALK ABOUT THE COMPETITION.) The Volvo S40 BTCC Racing Team. VOLVO. A CAR YOU CAN BELIEVE IN..