| Stoke City 1-0 Blackburn Rovers | Premier League match report There is something about the first half of a match that has Stoke flummoxed this season, but it did not take them much of the second to score a deserved winner against Blackburn.At least the home side, who had yet to make it to the halfway point without conceding, managed as much here, and within three minutes of the restart Jonathan Walters scored the goal the first half threatened but somehow failed to deliver.Kenwyne Jones had scored with his head in each of Stoke's last four games, but he turned creator here, nodding the ball to Matthew Etherington from the centre circle in the 48th minute. Etherington strode forwards with the ball before sliding it neatly between Christopher Samba and Walters. The former Rovers youth player let it run on to his right before stroking it past Paul Robinson.Sam Allardyce – yet to win two consecutive away matches as Blackburn manager – reacted quickly, swapping El Hadji Diouf, the architect of Blackburn's win over Blackpool but of limited influence here, for Martin Olsson and added Benjani to the mix soon after. But the visitors' rarely looked as if they might steal a point.Stoke kept Paul Robinson occupied if rarely panicked with several early chances, including a Jones strike that went just wide. After 10 minutes, Brett Emerton flicked a trademark Rory Delap throw on to his own post to cause the first of several flutters at the back for Blackburn.By the time Robinson stopped a low Etherington drive sneaking in at his near post in the 35th minute, the captain, Ryan Shawcross, had seen Stoke through the only moment of genuine threat from Blackburn, heading a dipping Emerton volley off the line.Premier LeagueStoke CityBlackburn RoversGeorgina Turnerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Didier Drogba: signing for Chelsea rather than Arsenal was my destiny Didier Drogba says fate saw him end up at Chelsea rather than Arsenal. telegraph.co.uk |
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WBA fightback stuns Red Devils Manchester United draw 2-2 with West Bromwich Albion as Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to leave Wayne Rooney on the bench backfires. foxsports.com.au |
Sweden back in football's dark ages Violence in the stands, threats to players and coaches, and poor quality on the pitch are blighting Swedish footballThe Swedish football season is dragging itself towards the finishing line and, when the league finally ends on 7 November, maybe the violence will stop too. Or perhaps it will just move on to the ice hockey.It has been a long season. AIK, last year's double winners, are involved in a relegation battle. The standard of the top flight is incredibly poor. All the Swedish teams were out of European competition before September. And just to complete the misery, one well-known player is standing trial for rape.But the saddest thing about the whole situation is the violence. Sweden appears to be where England was 30 years ago. There are fights before games, fights after games and fights during games. There are missiles. Anything goes.AIK's fans are deemed by many to be the worst. In August a group of AIK fans threw stones and bottles at the visiting Levski Sofia team bus and clashed with police following a Europa League qualifier. The Bulgarian club's media officer and a masseur were hit by stones while two players suffered cuts.The Levski president, Todor Batkov, was hit by a bottle. "It's shocking," he said. "Sweden is a civilised country and such scenes are completely inadmissible. I've been to so many countries and I've never seen such things." The Stockholm club were fined €60,000 (£52,750) but were probably expecting a more severe punishment as there had been incidents during a Champions League qualifier against Norwegian side Rosenborg just a few weeks earlier.AIK, who are coached by the former Rangers player Alex Miller, are not the only club in trouble. In the second division, Hammarby (also a Stockholm team) have been involved in unsavoury scenes this season and, during one away game against IFK Norrkoping, the family section of Parken had to be evacuated after fighting broke out.Hammarby were in the news last month when one of their co-managers, Michael Borgqvist, resigned after being threatened by the club's own fans. It is believed some of the texts sent to Borgqvist – a former AIK player – contained death threats. "The threats are criminal acts and we can't accept that so we have contacted the police," Hammarby's chief executive, Asa Sanemyr, said.Borgqvist's co-manager, the former Manchester United winger Jesper Blomqvist, said: "Michael and I have talked about everything this season so I knew there were threats. I haven't received any threats myself but you start to think about what kind of environment you are working in. Who wants to be a coach under these conditions? It is extremely sad."The problems are prevalent in the big cities, such as Gothenburg and Stockholm. AIK have had several managers in the past decade, such as Olle Nordin and Peter Larsson, who have had to leave after supporters put pressure on the board to sack them. This season the club appeared to bow to pressure from supporters to drop the player Walid Atta (although they claim he was left out of the team because he would not sign a new contract). After Atta had been dropped, AIK fans vandalised his car.Earlier this year, AIK fans approached players and the coach at the club's training ground to have "a chat" with the top people at the club, who then said: "What is said in such a meeting stays with the people at the meeting." It is a sign of how far things have gone.At the same time, attendances are dwindling. The most recent Stockholm derby between AIK and Djurgarden was watched by 18,500 spectators; a few years ago that number would have been well above 30,000.A recent survey, reported by the daily Svenska Dagbladet, showed that one in five Allsvenskan [the Swedish top flight] players have been threatened or bullied by fans. One in five! And for club officials the number was even higher: 31%.Tore Brännberg, a social psychology researcher at Gothenburg University, told Svenska Dagbladet: "The main thing today is not the fighting between fans but fans turning against their own clubs. The fans [we are seeing today] think differently and see this as their religion, where AIK, IFK Gothenburg, Malmo or whatever team it is, is the most important thing in their life. And when things go badly they feel that they have to act."Will next season be better? I doubt it. No one is prepared to take responsibility – neither the clubs nor the authorities. Fans who are caught vandalising or fighting are not given tough enough punishments. There is no deterrent.Sepp Blatter this week congratulated England on how the country has dealt with the hooligan problem. The Fifa president was, for once, right. In Sweden, meanwhile, everyone is wondering when and where the next act of hooliganism is going to take place.AIK SolnaEuropean footballMarcus Christensonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |