Championship: Fulham held by Derby, O’Neill fumes after Stoke defeat

Fulham were unable to find a breakthrough in the absence of the Championship’s leading goalscorer Aleksandar Mitrovic as they were held to a 0-0 draw by bottom club Derby at Craven Cottage.

Marco Silva’s team were seeking an eighth successive win but they were denied by Wayne Rooney’s determined side. Fulham were left frustrated after being unable to capitalise on a succession of good chances, with Silva revealing afterwards that “six or seven players” including Mitrovic were affected by illness.

“It is a good point, a very difficult game against one of the best teams in the division,” Rooney said afterwards. “After the last week, to get four points against Bournemouth and Fulham, they deserve credit…

England will enjoy having a target on their backs at World Cup, says Toone

Ella Toone believes England’s players will embrace the pressure of travelling to the Women’s World Cup “with a target on their backs” after their triumph at Euro 2022.

Sarina Wiegman’s side are second-favourites behind the holders, USA, despite losing their 30-match unbeaten record in a friendly against Australia in April. They face Portugal at Milton Keynes on Saturdaytomorrow before departing for a pre-tournament training camp on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Alessia Russo savours England duty after ‘tough’ spotlight on club futureRead more

Toone, who scored England’s opening goal in the Euro 2022 final against Germany, expects the Lionesses to rise to the challenge in Australia and New Zealand. �…

Washington enters Top 25 for first time since 2017

Undefeated South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 while Washington — also undefeated — entered the Associated Press Top 25 women's college basketball poll for the first time since 2017. The Gamecocks improved to 10-0 with a 99-29 demolition of Presbyterian on Saturday. The entire top 10 remains unchanged from the previous week — UCLA (9-0), North Carolina State (11-0), Iowa (11-1) and Texas (11-0) round out the top five, followed by Southern California (8-0), LSU (11-1), Colorado (9-1), Stanford (9-1) and Baylor (9-0). Washington (11-0) debuts at No. 23 after a 64-32 win over Saint Mary's, its first appearance in the Top 25 since the final poll in the 2016-17 season. TCU (11-0) also made its 2023-24 debut at No. 25. Miami and UNLV dropped out of the poll. The res…

How Those 3-on-3 Overtime Rules Would Cut Down NHL Shootouts

The NHL general managers are having their annual meetings this week and for the second year in a row they are discussing rule changes to decrease the number of games that are resolved by a shootout. The particular ideas they're tossing around—centered around adopting a 3-on-3 overtime—stand a very good chance of working. Since the 2005-2006 season when the NHL got rid of regular season ties by adding the shootout, roughly 2 out of every 5 overtime games ended with a sudden-death goal in overtime. The winners of the remaining 60 percent of games were decided by the shootout, which is a huge amount of games to end in such an unsatisfying fashion. A couple seasons ago, the NHL decreased the value of shootout wins by decreasing their impact as a tiebreaker in the standings. Prio…