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| Monday, October 28, 2002 20:38 EST |
U.S. captain suffers twisted knee
[ESPN.com news services]
BOLTON, England -- A late own goal by
Sunderland defender Phil Babb enabled Bolton Wanderers to
scramble a 1-1 home draw and summed up a dire battle between the
English premier league's bottom two clubs on Monday.
Sunderland had gone ahead with a speculative 30-meter effort
by Michael Gray in first-half injury time.
It was a rare good moment for the visitors, who lost
goalkeeper Thomas Myhre in the 27th minute with a thigh strain
and with regular keeper Thomas Sorensen already out with an
elbow injury, had to replace him with Austrian Juergen Macho.
Ten minutes later Sunderland suffered another setback when
key midfielder Claudio Reyna twisted a knee.
The U.S. captain injured his left knee after falling awkwardly. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and later left on crutches with a cast on his leg.
But the club's new manager Howard Wilkinson, who replaced the
sacked Peter Reid two weeks ago, finally had something to smile
about when Gray's shot swerved beyond the reach of Jussi
Jaaskelainen and in off a post.
Bolton had barely mustered a shot on goal in a ragged
performance but took a point after Sunderland failed to clear a
long throw in the 80th minute, the ball eventually skidding off
Babb's head and into his own net.
The draw was of little use to either side. Bolton remains
last, on eight points, with Sunderland one place and one point
above in the table.
Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was disappointed to yet again
concede an early goal.
"It was exactly what we expected -- a nervous, scrappy
affair at times, but going behind makes life difficult for us,"
he told Sky Sports TV.
"Our problem is that we give our defenders nothing to hold
on to," added Allardyce, who changed his regular formation to
five at the back in a bid to end the run of defeats.
Wilkinson said he was pleased with his side's performance.
"It took me until the West Ham game (a 1-0 home defeat last
week) to realize how deep the run had got into their skins," he
said.
"But I sensed coming into this game that we are starting to
show that we are not going to just accept things and are going
to make things difficult for people."
Information from Reuters and AP was used in this report.
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