Sport
We bring you exclusive sports updates, scores and news as it happens, right from our sports desk. With four daily sport updates on Breakfast and Drivetime during the week, and a specialised local sports bulletin on a Monday, we try to bring you the very up to date sports news. As well as this, our dedicated sports team are out and about all the time reporting straight to our website with the latest results and scores.
Sport News
FOOTBALL
Manchester City have now released the news of the sacking of manager Roberto Mancini after a year to the day when they won their first Premier League Title on that action paid day. The Italian had only been in charge at the club for 3 and a half years and there has been a mixed reaction about the news. Former Manchester City and England Defender Andy Hinchcliffe said that the decision to sack Mancini was a ‘harsh’ one but not everyone was as lenient. After every sacking the drama begins on who will be their successor at the moment Malaga Coach Manuel Pellegrini is the favourite but Real Madrid Manager Jose Mourinho is close behind other names mentioned are Carlo Ancelotti, Brendan Rodgers and Rafael Benitez so it will be interesting to find out who will be the new manager
Newly crowned FA Cup champions Wigan Athletic could turn Joy to Despair as defeat would send them down to the championship alongside QPR and Reading. Roberto Martinez’s men take on Arsenal this evening at The Emirates Stadium. Arsenal are also in a battle with North-London Rivals Tottenham Hotspur for that last Top 4 spot after Chelsea secured their spot against Aston Villa 4 days ago. Even though Arsenal have a game in hand Tottenham Hotspur are still favourites to Qualify. Wigan also have the delightment of their young player Callum Mcmanaman getting an England U21 call-up but can he show off his talent again when it is needed most…
BOXING
David Haye has been forced to pull out of his fight against Manuel Charr on June 29 with a hand injury.
The damage to his left hand occurred on Sunday evening and left the former WBA heavyweight champion with no option but to postpone his return to the ring. The news is a blow to Haye, who has not been in action since beating Dereck Chisora last summer and was hoping to fight twice this year in a bid to become mandatory challenger to one of the dominant Klitschko brothers.
FORMULA 1
Pirelli have accelerated plans to introduce changes to their controversial 2013 tyres, with the revisions to now be rolled out in time for the Canadian GP in two races’ time.
Under fire from both fans and drivers alike, Pirelli announced almost immediately after Sunday’s heavily-criticised Spanish GP that they would make changes to their range of compounds for the British GP at the end of June.
However, those changes to their slick tyres will now be introduced one race earlier – in Montreal – with Hembery revealing the amended rubber will feature structural changes which combine elements from both last year and this year’s products in a bid to beef up their durability
Latest sport
Snooker Sports News
Written by Alex Smith
First of all we will have a little discussion on snooker with Basildon born Stuart Bingham earlier in the month making it to the quarter final of the Snooker World Championship. Shamefully he was knocked out after being thrashed by that years championship winner, Ronnie O’Sullivan by 13-4. Despite that Bingham has still managed to reach 6th in the Snooker World Rankings after a truly amazing season from the Basildon boy, which is the highest ranking position he has ever reached within the sport.
Within the Snooker World Championship itself, because Bingham was seeded within the top 16, he automatically qualified for the main event. It all started very well for Bingham having demolished Crucible debutant Sam Baird 10-2 in the first round (last 32) to progress to the last 16. In the second round (last 16) Mark David, who knocked out four time World Champion John Higgins, gave Bingham more to think about, but in the end proved to be too strong, winning three frames in a row to clinch it to claim he first ever Snooker World Championship quarter final place, where he would face defending champions Ronnie Sullivan.
Considering Ronnie O’Sullivan has been out of the sport for the whole season, he looked like the player to beat and you had to be at the top of your game to do that. Shamefully for Bingham he was far from his best that day and spent most of his time in his chair admiring O’Sullivan’s best of the tournament snooker. Bingham could hardly even get a frame on the board, and ended up being badly beat 13-4. Of course Ronnie O’Sullivan went on to win his fifth world championship later that month, but refuses to guarantee he will return next to defend his title.
As for Bingham he will be back and will hope he can possibly reach the next level, because this has by far been Bingham’s best season in him snooker career, no questions asked. Stuart Bingham this season won the Premier League as well as the Pink Ribbon Pro-Am Charity tournament & the first Asian PTCof the season. Hopefully Stuart Bingham can make that next step and continue winning some of the events he attends.
Stuart Bingham – Snooker World Championship 2012/13 Results.
First Round (Last 32)
Stuart Bingham (Eng) 10-2 Sam Baird (Eng)
Second Round (Last 16)
Mark Davis (Eng) 10-13 Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Quarter Final
Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) 13-4 Stuart Bingham (Eng)
Sport update- Cricket
Essex have named a 13-man squad for the trip to Edinburgh on Sunday where they face Scotland in the Yorkshire Bank 40 competition.
Ben Foakes, Jaik Mickleburgh and Tymal Mills are added to the side that beat Durham Dynamos although Ravi Bopara is missing due to England Lions duty.
Having been thrashed by Hampshire in their opening match, the Eagles responded with a 4-wickets success against Durham Dynamos at Chester-le-Street and Head Coach Paul Grayson was delighted with the application and character shown by his side in the success.
“It was a pleasing performance especially after the way we bowled against Hampshire Royals,” he said.
“You are always looking for a reaction from players after a loss like that and we got it against Durham Dynamos.
“We can’t get away from it, the bowling performance against Hampshire was really disappointing after we had batted well but the way that we bowled at Durham was excellent. David Masters set the tone and he was superb for us and the rest of the guys backed him up really well.
“We got a bit nervy chasing the runs down at the end but we got over the line and that gives us a bit of confidence. We need to build on that, of course, and hopefully, we can add another win on Sunday. We are looking for consistent performances both in one-day cricket and four-day cricket but there’s an art to that.
“We couldn’t afford to go to Durham and lose because we don’t want to find ourselves playing catch-up in this group, so that was a pleasing win and the results so far have shown that this is a difficult group with some very good sides.
“We’ll assess the squad when we get up there and after looking at the wicket, we’ll select the best eleven in order to try and win the game.”
Scotland and Essex have met on six previous occasions in List A competition and the Eagles boast a 100% record.
Essex Eagles squad:
Tom Westley
Bobby Quiney
Jaik Mickleburgh
Mark Pettini
Ben Foakes
James Foster
Greg Smith
Graham Napier
Tim Phillips
Sajid Mahmood
David Masters
Reece Topley
Tymal Mill
Sport update
Essex Spartans American football team saw their early-season struggles continue with a 0-14 home defeat at the hands of the Milton Keynes Pathfinders.
After dropping their first two games, the Billericay-based Spartans welcomed the Pathfinders looking for their first win of the season. In an ill-tempered and scrappy game, Essex had Aaron Millar to thank for ensuring the opening quarter ended scoreless with his block of a Pathfinder field goal attempt.
After the teams traded interceptions, Nick Mayer snagging his first of the year for the Spartans, Milton Keynes were able to open the scoring shortly before halftime with a short-yardage plunge to give the visitors a 0-7 lead.
Spartan Craig Willis was fortunate to see his fumble of the second-half kickoff recovered by teammate Norris Owusu, who took the ball down to the visitors 4 yard line. After a long punt return by Mayer, the Spartans were unlucky to reduce the deficit when Mayer’s field goal narrowly missed wide right.
As tempers flared, Earnest Owusu ended another Pathfinder drive with an interception deep in Spartans territory, but with quarterback Tom Overton-Smith struggling, the home team were unable to capitalise.
A reflective Spartans Head Coach Marc Saunders commented, “Today’s loss was certainly a disappointment, we made mistakes and paid the price.
“Our next three weeks will certainly be spent going back to basics and getting the little things working as they should.”
The Spartans return to action on June 2 when they visit the Kent Exiles, before returning to Hannakins Farm on June 9th to play the Maidstone Pumas.
For more, visit www.essexspartanc.co.uk
BILLERICAY racer Stuart Voyce took a double victory at Brands Hatch last weekend.
Racing in the Marangoni / Gaz Shocks Compact Cup at the 750MC meeting at the Kent circuit, Voyce secured second on the grid in his BMW E36 compact 318ti for his first race with a sub one minute lap of 58.16 seconds.
He converted this into a win, finishing more than 10 seconds in front of second placed Colin Bysouth completing the 15 lap race in a little under 15 minutes.
In his second race, Voyce was up against a different group of rivals, as competitors are split into three groups.
Over the three races, each driver takes part in two, whereby all groups compete against each other at some point over the weekend.
He started from the front of the grid and led from the start, but did not have the cushion over his rivals he enjoyed in his first race.
Instead second placed Stephen Roberts piled on the pressure trying to look for a way to take the lead, but Voyce managed to stay ahead and took the chequered flag less than a quarter of a second ahead of Roberts
Sports update
The Vortex Lakeside Hammers head into their next fixture, which is away against the Coventry Bees on Bank Holiday Monday, 6th May, with the positive news that their influential skipper Davey Watt is set to return to racing action this weekend.
The Australian, who broke his scaphoid in a heat 15 crash at the Arena Essex Raceway in the Sky Sports Elite League match against Swindon in April, is set to practice in Poland on Saturday before making his competitive return for his Polish club on Sunday.
The Vortex Hammers team to face the Bees on Monday will have one change, with popular Double Up reserve Richard Lawson due to ride for his parent club Workington. Todd Kurtz, the Australian Under 21 rider who has been in good form for his Premier League side, the Plymouth Devils, comes into the team. Action at Brandon gets underway at 7.30pm.
The next home action for the Vortex Hammers will be the following Friday, 10th May, when they take on the Peterborough Panthers in the Sky Sports Elite League. The usual 8pm first heat start time will apply
STUART Bingham’s snooker world championship dream came crashing down on Wednesday after losing his quarter final to Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Basildon player made it through to his first ever Cruicible quarter final in Sheffield after seeing off Mark Davis in the second round.
However, Bingham faced one of the most successful players of the modern era in the final eight and was on the back foot from the very start.
O’Sullivan won the first frame 133-0 and the Rocket carried the momentum through the next six frames to lead by seven frames to nil, notching up several century scorelines.
Bingham managed to salvage the final frame before the end of Tuesday’s session to get him off the mark, but with a seven to one frame lead, O’Sullivan was in control of proceedings.
When play commenced on Wednesday the lead grew and Bingham had no answer to O’Sullivan’s onslaught who extended his lead to twelve frames to one.
It was almost over for Bingham as he had to win all of the remaining twelve frames to win, but just one more would have been enough for O’Sullivan to reach the 13 frame finishing line.
Bingham did not relent however, and made the Rocket wait a little longer before he could book himself into the semi finals by winning the next three frames.
But the final say went to O’Sullivan who won the seventeenth frame bringing their quarter final match to an early conclusion.
Despite his defeat, Bingham said he was proud to have reached his first quarter final in the championship.
O’Sullivan began his campaign for a spot in the final against Judd Trump on Thursday with the winner playing the victor of the second semi final – either Ricky Walden or Barry Hawkins – in the final showdown over the bank holiday weekend.
The champion is set to be crowned on Monday evening
ALI IN CHINA
If you have been following our sport reporter in China over the Easter period, Here is the Final report of his trip
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Ali in China
Our Gateway sport reporter Ali is in CHINA
Here is his second report covering sport!
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Sport -Ali – off to China!
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Gateway 97.8 Sport Reporter Ali Stafford takes a trip to China this week to work on sport on Radio. Television and On line, As part of our International link ups with other communities listen in to hear regular updates as we find out what Ali is doing.
This will be aired on breakfast and Drive time programmes this coming week with the first report on Tuesday 26TH March
Ali is no stranger to sport news having recently worked on placements for Sky TV as well as a national newspaper he has carved quite a name
in the Journalism circle. He finishes University this year and already works freelance for Radio, On line, and Newspapers.
Local football preview
Two ex-football league managers will meet on Saturday in a South Essex derby, as Steve Tilson’s Canvey Island host Mark Stimson’s Thurrock in the Ryman Premier Division.
The pair used to be teammates at both Southend United and Canvey Island during their playing careers over a decade ago, but they now find themselves in opposite dugouts a long away from the professional game.
Former Southend boss Tilson has kept his Canvey side in the hunt for promotion, as they sit just one point outside the play-off places in seventh spot. Thurrock made a torrid start to the season following their relegation from the BSS last season, but Stimson has improved their form in recent weeks to lift them out of the relegation spots.
Elsewhere, Concord Rangers look to continue their excellent season when they travel to 10th place Hampton & Richmond, who have made a mixed start since being relegated last year. Concord Rangers are currently on a three match winning streak and have only lost one of their last ten games, a run which sees them lie in third position.
East Thurrock United haven’t yet been able to replicate their magical FA Cup run in the league this season, and John Coventry’s side will need a strong display to have a chance of getting a result out of their away game at Bury Town.
In the division above, Billericay Town’s long trip away to Truro City can be billed as a six pointer despite nearly half the season still to play. Craig Edwards side are on a torrid run of form which has seen them slide to third from bottom in the Blue Square South table following seven defeats from eight matches. Their Cornwall based opponents are struggling themselves in bottom spot, although they were given a ten point deduction for financial problems earlier in the season.
Down in the Ryman League Division One North, third place Grays Athletic travel to mid-table Needham Market, who have still yet to register a home victory this season in ten attempts. Tilbury are also in action as they host Wroxham at Chadfields.
Bowers & Pitsea travel to Haringey and Waltham Development in the Essex Senior League looking to earn their first away win of the league season. Basildon United are also in action in the same division, as they visit third place Takeley aiming to secure back-to-back league wins for the first time since August.
You can hear how our local sides played in a round up on Monday’s breakfast show
FIXTURES
Blue Square South
Truro City v Billericay Town
Ryman Premier Division
Bury Town v East Thurrock United
Canvey Island v Thurrock
Hampton & Richmond v Concord Rangers
Ryman Division One North
Needham Market v Grays Athletic
Tilbury v Wroxham
Essex Senior League
Haringey & Waltham Development v Bowers & Pitsea
Takeley v Basildon United
New date for Wroxham away at Grays Athletic
The league meeting at Wroxham has again been postponed, with the new date set as Tuesday 15th January 2013, kick off 7.45pm.
The original match was due to be played on Saturday 24th November, however it was postponed due to Wroxham’s involvement in the Norfolk County Cup.
A date of Tuesday 11th December was agreed by all parties, however Tuesday’s League Cup match against Soham Town Rangers was postponed, and with the League stipulating that the League Cup takes precedance, the league fixture is the one to suffer.
The Club apologises to both players and supporters for the unfortunate circumstances, however they hope you understand this is out of their control.
