The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 18

18 1 SPORTS NEWS The Ouardlan Monday May 27 1996 Second Division play-off final Bradford City 2, Notts Count 0 Hamilton's high point Soccer International: US 2, Scotiand i Scots fail to stay the course Bradford-born Hamilton can Wynalda, with only Leighton in his way, chipped over. That miss confirmed the unease in the Scots' three-man central defence. It was Hendry who lost concentration to allow Wynalda on to Harkes's pass but Whyte who looked in need of rehearsal with the Blackburn man and Calderwood. None of them, however, had a chance with Jones's winning goal 18 minutes from the end. Receiving the ball from Harkes, the former Coventry player simply turned past McCall and sent a 25-yard drive high to the right of Leighton.

"Maybe they thought they were on vacation," said Harkes afterwards. "I know it wasn't the full Scotland side at the start but I expected more from them." Perhaps the least satisfactory aspect of the match was that the Scots were much less menacing or creative after the probable midfield for Euro 96 had taken to the field. The Americans were also far stronger in the closing stages as the Scots seemed to toil to no avail in the "wrong" areas of the pitch. "We are not on vacation," said the Scotland manager. "We have perhaps trained even harder than we normally would for a game.

Anyone who has been watching our sessions will know that. "We want to peak in England and now a victory against Colombia on Wednesday would help morale. But we are concerned we are conceding chances." UNITED STATES: Sommer; Lain, Dootey (Kh-ovski. 54mm), Harkes, Asaoi, Balboa, Reytu (McPrlde. 831.

Jones, Wynalda, Ramos. SCOTLAND: leighton (Hibernian: Walker, Partlck Thislle, 80); Ceticrwood (Spurs). Hondry (Blackburn), Whyte (Middlesbrough). Burley (Chelsea; McCall, Rangers, 59), Jaekaon (Hibernian: McAllfslor, Leeds, h-l). Jess (Coventry), Oemmlll (Forest; Collins.

Monaco, h-O, Boyd (Celtic), Durie (Rangors: Spencer, h-t), Booth (Aberdeen). Relereei Carter (Moxico). Patrick Glenn In Connecticut SCOTLAND'S slip showed a little in New England yesterday, but not enough to cause offence to the respectable citizens here or to the surprisingly large number of expatriates who made the trip to Veterans' Stadium on the outskirts of Hartford. As an exercise in vetting potential players for Euro 96 the match could be deemed a success, if only for the performances of Craig Burley, Scot Gemmill and Gordon Durie. The problems were in defence, where Whyte looked unsteady and Hendry and Calderwood in need of the outing.

The result was less satisfying than some of the play, especially as the Scots had led after only nine minutes and looked capable of remaining in front. For Craig Brown, still searching for a productive front-line partnership, Scotland's goal must have been particularly gratifying, not least because both of the strikers Booth and Durie played a part in it. It was Burley, as impressive as anyone on the field, who started it, releasing Jackson on the right with a perfectly weighted pass. The Hibernian man crossed low to Booth and his shot hit the inside of a post and broke to Durie, who drilled it over the line from, six yards. It was only his fifth goal in 28 internationals but, if he overcomes the neck injury that caused his early withdrawal, he could be the likeliest of starters when the serious business begins.

The goal should have allowed Brown's players to rid themselves of any inhibitions but a dreadful miscalculation by Whyte three minutes later allowed the US to equalise. The Middlesbrough defender lunged amateurishly at hit.the and Wynalda placed the penalty high to the right of Leighton. During the first half Burley and 'Gemmill "impressed1 enough to suggest that they will not be out of place at Euro 96. The interval changes in midfield, while planned, were a little hard on Gemmill, whose form had suggested that he deserved the full 90 minutes. Burley went the same way on the hour, when he was replaced by McCall.

That was shortly after Collins had received McAllister's feed from the right and sent a low drive marginally, wide from 25 yards and just after Hamilton, right, celebrates with Duxbury after scoring at Wembley yesterday tony Harris Bradford breakthrough Third Division play Pilgrims make their progress by the talismanic 65th minute that the Pilgrims', supporters realty start to party. Patterson's pin-point cross from the right was headed firmly past Newell by Mauge booked nine minute's earlier and two thirds of the stadium erupted. It was Plymouth's first goal of the season against Darlington. Before that crucial strike Appleby could have put Darlington ahead but his finish was not up to the Don Beet at Wembley THE progress of the Pilgrims' supporters alone the North Circu-lar road on their first trip to Wembley reflected Ar-gyle's season. They got there in the end, after much fretting and fuming, just as they were rewarded with promotion after a campaign in which they often looked likely to go up without the play-off lottery.

Trevor Kaylett at Wembley ON a cool, damp Wembley afternoon Bradford City's joy at arriving at the old stadium after 93 years of trying counted for more, much more, than Notts County's familiarity with the place. Goals in each half made this an easier victory than the play-off finals have become accustomed to. No one demonstrated that freshness and exuberance more effectively than Des Hamilton, Bradford's 19-year-old winger, who is still finding his way in the game but made a massive imprint on this promotion finale. His early strike was a triumph of perseverance and outstanding balance. From there his team never looked back.

After Hamilton had just been withdrawn, hobbling, and with the Yorkshiremen for the first time in an uneven contest experiencing discomfort, they made the game safe. Hamilton's replacement, the gangling Ian Ormondroyd, Helped set up the clinching second. So County's fifth Wembley visit in seven seasons proved a huge disappointment They were behind before finding their feet and for the rest of the first half resembled a team of strangers. When they got things together they found Gould and his central defenders in outstanding form. County had finished the season five points clear of Bradlord but it was the way Chris Kamara's side ended their programme, with five wins in seven games, that promised to make this a marvellous end to his first season in management.

Even hi his dreams the standard of a move he had orchestrated. After that Ax gyle, with the speed of Littlejohn a constant always looked the likely winners, rarely allowing Darlington to create their pretty patterns df earlier in the game. So another set of Northeast supporters wearing black-and-white colours finished their season with heads in their hands and tears in their eyes. Darlington's manager Jim Piatt head after 13 weeks in Bassett emerged from his disaffection at Sheffield United by returning to south London in February to launch an improbable promotion challenge. Palace have won 14 and lost only four of their 22 games under his upbeat management.

O'Neill has not forgiven his critics "it was unfair to be judged after 13 weeks and it was very personal" but much will be forgotten if positions and playing a more prominent role. A lovely pass by Gerke brought Germany's second goal by Waldhauser after the ball brushed his feet with Britain expecting the whistle. Britain replied with a corner goal two minutes later. Shaw failed to control the hit-out properly but Calum Giles and he reacted quickly for Shaw to score with a perfectly placed low drive. Britain's Olympic squad is named tomorrow.

GREAT BRITAIN! Luckes; Wyatt, Soma Singh, McGuire, Takhor, Hazlitt, 0 Hall. Garcia. P. Thompson (capl), Thompson. Meyer.

Subs Giles, Shaw, Hails, Loe. OERMANVi Rollz; Blunck (capl), Siongler. Fried, Green, Mayerhol, Gerke, Emmerling, Michel, 0 Oomke, Bechmahn. Subei Waldhausor, Hollonaloiner. Streich.

Gommrlg. Umpires! Perez, Gruscn (France). Teddington failed to ensure England's place in next year's A division of the European Club Championship when they lost their third match in Prague 3-1 to Granimarians of Gibraltar. But Slough reached the women's A division final ahead of the hosts Russels-heim. They play Kampong in today's final.

Two dozen Pakistan players have demanded the removal of the team manager Mudassar Asghar, coach Mansoorul Hassan and selection committee and refused to appear in Olympic trials. not have imagined he would give such a helping hand to the side he followed as a youngster. Only seven minutes had gone when he latched on to Shutt's header, going outside one defender and inside two more. He appeared to be stumbling but from an unpromising position dug out a rising shot that crashed in off the bar. Kiwomya took his cue from that audacious moment and it was the ability of their wingers to evade opponents and create havoc that maintained Bradford's momentum'.

Stal-lard made ground skilfully to set up Shutt but the chance was wasted. It did not seem as if it would matter, so ineffective were County's efforts in reply. Apart from Richardson's hopeful attempt at a header Bradford never looked in trouble until midway through the second half when Gould was helped by a couple of defensive blocks before pulling off a dazzling save from Battersby. Three minutes later came Bradford's second and there was no longer any doubt. Ormondroyd knocked on a ball hit from deep arid, running in, Stallard accepted the chance with aplomb.

At the finish a delirious Ka-mara hugged all his players in turn. "I believe in my players, they showed character and ability and played the way I like my teams to play," he said. After only six months he must feel the job is a doddle. Bradford cttyt Gould; Huxlord. Mohan.

Youds, Jacobs, Hamilton (Ormondroyd, '71min), Duxbury, Mitchell. Kiwomya (Wright, 77), Shutt. Stallard. Notts Countyi Ward; Durry. Murphy, Stroddor, Baraclough, Finan.

Rogers, Richardson, Agana, Martindalo, Battorsby (Jones, 82). Referee! SinQh (Wolverhampton). ring road vowed his side would be winners next season but Argyle were not to be denied on the day. For their enthusiastic hordes the North Circular would not have seemed half as had on the way home." SCORIRi Plymouth Argylei Mauge (oSmin). Darlington! Newell; Brumwell, Crosby, Gregan.

Barnard, Bannlslor. Gaughan, (CarmKhaol, as), Appleby, Carre, Painter, Blake. Plymouth Argylor Cherry; Patterson, Heathcote, Mauge, Williams, Leadbtttor, Barlow, Logan, Curran. Little)ohn, Evans. Referee! Burns (Scarborough).

for the inal piece Leicester regain Premiership status at Palace's expense. The Ulster-man concedes his team "were playing poor football" when he came under attack. But now the mood has been transformed by seven unbeaten games that have whisked them to Wembley. Bassett is likely to give the 19-year-old defender Quinn his third full game while the Leicester striker Roberts hopes to play a part after recovering from broken ribs. Equestrianism Funnell takes title for second time John Kerr at Windsor PIPPA FUNNELL, having led throughout on Marshland Rubio, landed the Windsor International Horse Trials three-day event title for the second successive year yesterday.

Although a fence down in the showjumping arena reduced her winning margin, the 27-year-old from Surrey finished ahead of Ireland's Sam Moore and Culnagrew, whose fast and faultless crosscountry on Saturday had promoted them from 15th to second. Jeanctte Brakewell on Rain Dancer was third, ahead of Australia's Olympic champion Matt Ryan on Ki-bah Sandstone. Jonquil Hemming, a former national young riders' champion, also led from the outset to win the national class on her grey positive Rain. EXGlUSiVe: Lion in England strip drinks pint of lager. http:www.earl8befg.co.uk Managerial miracle workers vie Hoey calls for clean-up of 'seedy private club' Wales are eclipsed by the Orient Russell Thomas MARTIN O'NEILL and Dave Bassett vie this afternoon to complete a transformation of personal fortunes that mirrors the startling change in Leicester and Crystal Palace fates this season.

O'Neill takes Leicester back to Wembley it is their fourth play-off final in five seasons with memories fresh of fans calling for his Hockey 1AHILE England were campaigning in the Far East, Wales went in pursuit of their own taste of the Orient yesterday and found it pretty unpalatable. Bobby Gould's men lost 2-1 to the side who finished Rugby League 0, Plymouth Argyle 1 formed a noisy sea of green shirts, hats, wigs and faces, although the 'record crowd for a Third Division play-off of 43,431 was way below the 55,000 predicted, Darlington's supporters were 'swamped by the Argyle masses. Darlington, who had defeated Argyle twice in the League and had lost only one away game all season, tried doughtily to overcome their status as underdogs, and it was not until the report on George Graham. This commission cannot, and will not, get to the bottom of the allegations. It has no powers to subpoena evidence or witnesses." Hoey claimed that too many people with vested interests in the game had hindered the the present commission's efforts.

"The public has a right to know as money being siphoned illegally out of clubs means fans are being cheated at the turnstiles." American Football Hastings saves the day for Claymores Mike Carlson PAUL McCALLUM's 46-yard field goal two seconds from time gave the Scottish Claymores a 20-17 victory over Frankfurt Galaxy at Murrayfield, although it needed a saving tackle by Gavin Hastings from the game's final kick-off to make the win safe. Two passes from Steve Matthews to Sean la Cha-pelle covering 49 yards set up the winning kick after Frankfurt's Jay Kearney had tied the game with 57 seconds left from the backup quarterback Brad Bretz's 44-yard touchdown pass. Until the final minute two interceptions by George Coghill, one returned for a touchdown and the other preventing a Frankfurt score, had been the difference in the match. The Claymores' defence repeatedly repelled Frankfurt drives as the Galaxy, who won their first four matches averaging 37 points, suffered a third successive defeat. Matthews had thrown 109 passes without an interception before this game but Frankfurt picked him off four times, including a 27-yard touchdown by Chris Hall.

However, Matthews did manage a 52-yard touchdown pass to La Cha-pelle, who finished the match with seven catches for 182 yards. off final: Darlington To survive this sudden-death ordeal they had a talisman in the manager Neil Warnock. He has achieved success in four 'play-off final twice with Notts County, once with Hudders-field and now with Argyle. "It was bloody hard work," he said afterwards. It always is, but hard work brings its rewards and the Devon team's supporters who had jammed the M4 were in winning mood from the start.

They new "compliance unit" would make the transfer procedure and any undercover dealings more transparent, said: "Football is indeed a multi-million pound business and yet in many areas it is still run like a seedy private club. "The Premier League set up a commission more than two and a half years ago to look into allegations of undercover payments and the role of agents, yet in all this time there has been only one Oldham tried to set up a drop-goal and at the third attempt succeeded, Crompton popping the ball over seven minutes from time. But it was not enough. Kitchin replied in kind and then, as the game drifted into injury time, he came up with the winner. It took a brave referee to award a penalty for not aligning correctly at the play-the-ball.

Oldham were livid. The kick was directly in front of the posts and Kitchin took an age to compose himself. But over went the kick and Town had their first Super League victory. Oldham Baarsi Atcheson: Myler, Abran, Patmore. Sells: Malonoy, Crompton; QUdart, Clarko, Tomu, Salmalo, Munro, Lord.

Substitutes Davidson, Sherratt, Topping, Cowan. Workington Towm Llvetl; Wallace, Penrlce. Allen, Smitti; Kitchin, Marwood; Armstrong, McKenzie, Phillip. Patmada, Holgalo, Nairn. Substitutes! Burns, Belltwaile, Filipo, Smith.

Rsfemi Kirkpatrick (Warrington), on to be busted captain returning after a two-match suspension, was dismissive of his side's performance at Wilderspool but he was being unduly hard on a side who fought superbly against the odds. They were eventually beaten by an outstanding try from Jon Roper, bis second of the match, and the Warrington centre is looking increasingly impressive after a long absence with Injury. Super League Oldham Bears 27, Workington Town 29 Kitchin sinks grizzling Bears International Great Britain 1 Germany 2 Coppoutof luck in first match Jones spectacular winner fourth from bottom of the Third Division. Shearer and a triallist. Garland, did the damage, Robinson replying, at Brisbane Road in a supposed morale-booster for next Sunday's World Cup quaiiner in san Marino.

He was then confronted by a small but highly disgruntled group of fans demanding his resignation. Goodway will not give them that satisfaction but the pressure is mounting on Oldham's young coach. A crowd of 2,228 was one major cause for concern but the way in which Oldham tossed away the two points at stake was almost wanton. Little wonder that the players, as they trooped off at the end, looked like men who had been sandbagged. They had the game won at the interval when they, led 22-8 with tries from Clarke, Atcheson and two from that feisty winger Belle, who opened Oldham's account in the 11th minute and got his second just past the half-hour after some excellent approach work by Crompton.

Palmada's try for Town had THE Labour MP Kate Hoey, a long-time critic of the England coach Terry Venab-les's business dealings, yesterday turned her guns on the British game and demanded "urgent action to clean up the whole murky world of agents, transfer fees and The member for Vauxhall went on to claim that supporters are being cheated by the illegal siphoning of money out of clubs. Hoey, who feels that a a seemed little more than a gesture of defiance and even Leigh Smith's touchdown soon after the interval failed to set the alarm bells ringing as Oldham were apparently edging towards safety soon afterwards with a couple of penalties from Maloney. The roof fell in during a six-minute spell just past the hour when Town were down to 12 men, Phillips having been sent to the sin-bin. But Town's optimism was rising and tries from Wallace and Filipo stood the game on its head. Marwood, who had landed an early penalty and improved the tries from Pal-mada and Smith, was absent at this point, having been carried off on a stretcher with a damaged leg.

But Kitchin proved an able stand-in, converting both tries, and astonishingly it was 26-26. they lost 28-24 only at the death. Broncos were leading 10-8. through tries from Terry Matterson and Scott Roskell, when Cochrane got the red card. Barrow needed blood-bin treatment and the Wire hooker Andrew.

Bennett was sent to the sin-bin for retaliation. Cochrane will be lucky to escape suspension at Thursday's disciplinary hearing. Matterson, the Broncos' Paul Fltzpatrick AS THIS curio of a game came to a close Gracie Fields burst forth over the Watersheddings Tannoy warbling "Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me It was not the piece of music Andy Gcodway would have chosen. He had just seen his side lose in injury-time when they should have won comfortably. News and Scores 0891 22 88 Counties update Derbyshire 31 Middlesex 40 Durham 32 Northartts.

41 hm 33 Nottingham 42 Glamorgan 34 Somerset 43 Oloucs. 35 Surrey 44 Hampshire 36 Sussex 49 Kent 37 Warwicka. 46 Lanes 3B Worcester 47 teles. 39 Yorkshire 48 Complete county scores 0891 22 88 30 Calls cost 39pmtn cheap rate, 49pmin at all athor times. Supplied by.

IMS, 15 Mark Lane, Leoda LSI SIB. I Helpline: 0171 7134473 7yOnardlan Cricket Stttrt Pat Rowley at Milton Keynes JOHN COPP failed to celebrate his appointment as Britain's Olympic team coach when, in his first game in charge, the Olympic champions Germany defeated their predecessors 2-1 here yesterday. The result was hardly unexpected. Britain have not beaten Germany since the 1988 Olympic final, and the match could hardly have come at a worse time for Copp after a hectic transitional week. Nor was it ideal for Germany, with five of their Olympic players unavailable.

Germany went ahead from their second corner. Luckes saved Gerke's shot but Soma Singh miscued the ball and Bjorn Emmerling took a simple chance. Britain were having trouble reaching their front men and Rob Thompson departed at half-time having hardly received a pass. When Mayer did get in a cross in the first half, Shaw failed to profit The one success of the first period was Philip McGuire in his new position of right half. He sprayed the ball accurately all over the pitch but felt unwell at the interval and took no further part.

The reshuffle led to Mayer changing Errant Bronco Cochrane is odds LONDON BRONCOS will play their first home match for six weeks when they meet Oldham at The Valley on Sunday hut they are likely to be without their centre Evan Cochrane, writes Paul Fttzpatrick. Cochrane was sent off on Saturday for punching Warrington's young forward Paul Barrow, a lapse of discipline which left London playing with 12 men for 55 minutes of a match.