Italy made a winning start in the opening match of Euro 2020 as they comfortably beat Turkey 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Rome.Turkey defender Merih Demiral’s own goal early in the second half gave Italy a deserved lead and their impressive display was rewarded by further goals from Ciro Immobile and Lorenzo Insigne.Roberto Mancini’s side are now unbeaten in 28 matches, last losing ...Full Story »

Gavin Bazunu and Caoimhin Kelleher staked their claims for the goalkeeper’s shirt as the Republic of Ireland fought out a 0-0 draw with Euros-bound Hungary.Nineteen-year-old Manchester City keeper Bazunu and Liverpool counterpart Kelleher, 22, played a half each in front of a passionate crowd at the Szusza Ferenc Stadion in Budapest.Bazunu denied striker Adam Szalai and Kelleher the same m...Full Story »

Three goals in seven first-half minutes did the damage as Hartlepool booked their place in the semi-finals of the Vanarama National League play-offs with a 3-2 win over Bromley.Rhys Oates grabbed a brace and Luke Armstrong was also on the scoresheet as Pools proved just too strong in their eliminator clash.Dave Challinor’s side, who finished fourth, will now face Stockport next Sunday to t...Full Story »

Wales failed to get a winning Euro 2020 send-off as Albania held them to a goalless draw in Cardiff.This was Wales’ final game before the Dragons start their European Championship campaign against Switzerland in Baku on June 12.For the most part, it was a frustrating exercise for interim manager Robert Page as Wales created few chances and Albania had an easy ride.🏴󠁧𖙰...Full Story »

Mark Ellis’ 90th-minute header gave Notts County a 3-2 victory over local rivals Chesterfield in the National League play-off eliminator at Meadow Lane on Saturday.A thoroughly entertaining match looked to be heading for extra time until the unmarked defender nodded Ruben Rodrigues’ free-kick past injured Spireites goalkeeper James Montgomery.Montgomery played the majority of the sec...Full Story »

Second-half chances went unrewarded as Northern Ireland fell to a 1-0 friendly defeat against Ukraine on Thursday night.After Oleksandr Zubkov highlighted a strong Ukrainian start with a 10th-minute goal it looked as though the hosts might cruise to a big win, but they spent much of the second half on the back foot as Northern Ireland gave Andriy Shevchenko plenty to think about going into Euro ...Full Story »

Troy Parrott’s first international goals spared the Republic of Ireland’s blushes as they came from behind in Andorra to finally hand manager Stephen Kenny victory at the 12th attempt.The 19-year-old Tottenham striker cancelled out Marc Vales’ shock 52nd-minute opener with a sweet strike and then powered home a header to restore order in Andorra La Vella with Jason Knight and s...Full Story »

A weakened Scotland side showed their mettle with an encouraging 2-2 draw against Holland in Portugal.Boss Steve Clarke have opted to leave six players – David Marshall, Stephen O’Donnell, Nathan Patterson, Grant Hanley, John McGinn and Che Adams – behind in Spain, where they had been in a training camp, following John Fleck’s positive Covid-19 test.It was an “...Full Story »

Wales fell to a 3-0 Euro 2020 warm-up defeat to France after Neco Williams’ controversial red card left them playing with 10 men for more than an hour.Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele made France’s numerical advantage count as Wales went into damage limitation mode on a night in Nice which proved anything but pleasant for the Dragons.Williams was banished on 26 mi...Full Story »

Bukayo Saka got absentee-hit England’s Euro 2020 preparations off to a winning start against Austria but all eyes will be on Trent Alexander-Arnold after his late injury.Having whittled his 33-man provisional squad down to 26 players on the eve of Wednesday’s friendly, Gareth Southgate’s side triumphed as they played in front of fans for the first time in 18 months.Saka’s...Full Story »