After only two minutes the Gunners, who won this trophy last May, needed a goal-line clearance from Lee Dixon to prevent Costas Constantinou scoring with a fierce drive.Arsenal began to settle, although a packed crowd in the Makarion National Stadium whistled and jeered their every mistake on a bumpy pitch that was unacceptable for this level of football.Arsenal gradually began to cope, however, and when Dixon sprung the Cypriots’ offside trap with a run down the right in the ninth minute, both Ray Parlour and Stefan Schwarz were inches away from making a touch.An anxious Graham strode from his seat in the stand to take up residence on the bench. It seemed to do the trick with Merson giving Arsenal an undeserved lead in the 37th minute – their first goal in six hours and 51 minutes of play since the opening game this season.Ian Wright’s through ball was perfectly weighted for Merson to beat the goalkeeper, Christos Christou, and slot the ball past him.Five minutes into the second half the bumpy pitch, which Arsenal had complained about before the start, worked in their favour when Wright scored. David Seaman’s clearance bounced awkwardly for the Omonia’s centre-back and captain, Evagoras Christophi, who had to re-adjust his leap to make a back- header towards his goalkeeper.He left it short and Wright, spotting the opportunity pounced before the goalkeeper could intervene and clipped it over him.Arsenal could have added further goals in the next 15 minutes but after 72 minutes it was Omonia who scored a deserved goal, after an error in midfield by Schwarz. He lost possession and allowed Malekos to run through and fire a shot from just outside the area in off the post.Just when the Cypriots seemed likely to get back in the match and give themselves a chance for the second leg, Merson scored his second goal, nine minutes from time. It was a bad error which enabled Wright to gallop away on the left and an even worse mistake which allowed his low cross to find its way to the far side of the box, where Merson lashed it into the net.Omonia Nicosia: Christou; Christodoulou, Panagiotsu, Constantinou, Christophi, Andreou, Kantilos (Kaiaphas, 66), Savvides, Gogritsiani, Malekos, Xiourouppas (Kizilasvili, 58).Arsenal: Seaman; Dixon, Linighan, Keown, Winterburn, Jensen, Parlour, Schwarz (Morrow, 82), Merson, Wright, Smith.Referee: A Marcal (Portugal).. If you typed in a URL, please make sure you have typed it correctly.

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}. Head teachers in a west London borough are becoming increasingly concerned at the heavy workload and alleged underfunding they face as a result of opting out of local authority control. Rod Stafford, head of Mellow Lane grant-maintained school and chair of Hillingdon secondary-school heads, said they have all seen their workload increase since they switched to opted-out status.
Mr Stafford voiced growing concern at the funding arrangements: ‘We are not getting what we should. ‘ He said that his school was pounds 200,000 short of what it should have. ‘We would blame only one body for that, and it’s Hillingdon Council.’He argued that Hillingdon council has underfunded the schools in the past, which has distorted current funding.Heads are particularly concerned because Hillingdon is one of only two London boroughs taking part in a pilot project this year to base grant-maintained schools’ funding on the profile of the local population, rather than using a figure based on former local authority funding.Head teachers are concerned that future funding arrangements are still uncertain as the pilot arrangements will last only this year.’It’s very difficult for us to plan satisfactorily if we can’t predict what our income will be in the years ahead,’ said Mr Stafford.

But he denied that heads might wish they had not opted out in the first place.Peter Ryerson, Labour chair of Hillingdon’s education committee, said that he had heard otherwise, though none of the heads would admit it publicly ‘Some of the heads are getting very disgruntled.’. What the 20 Irascible Tattoo Faced Food-Bearing Nomads like best is to play with home-made flamethrowers, bicker constantly over food, and indulge a particular fondness for freshly-ground pepper, writes John Carr Brown. They have been chosen as one of the main acts to relaunch Deptford’s Albany Theatre. What is more, when it is the turn of other acts such as George Egg and his extraordinary feats of self-mutilation, the Nomads refuse to leave the performance area – where their wigwam is pitched – and insist on feeding everybody in sight.
Nomad’s leader Paxo-Nectarine (aka Ian Smith) explained: ‘Okay, scoring the pepper makes us a bit irascible, and maybe the way we serve the food is a bit slap-dash but we only assault each other.’The Albany’s purpose-built round reopens tonight after four years of effective closure due to lack of funding. To try to move away from the stand-up comedy format which made the Albany’s name in the 1980s, Andrew Broadley, the theatre director, has created an alternative programme of anarchic circus, cabaret, music and food that he hopes will win the Albany a reputation for innovative entertainment. The theatre’s rebirth is thanks to a pounds 100,000 regeneration package put together by Lewisham Council and Deptford City Challenge.More details about The Feast can be obtained from the box office (081 692 4446.)(Photograph omitted). A salesman was cleared yesterday of attempting to push a woman under a train at London Bridge station in March.

George Cameron, 30, said he had been assaulted by Caroline Smith, 22, a banker from Dartford, Kent, and two friends.
The prosecution told the jury it was ‘every commuter’s nightmare,’ but Mr Cameron said: ‘They beat the living daylights out of me.’Mr Cameron, of Algernon Road, Ladywell, had to be supported by a guard as the verdict was announced. He sobbed loudly as he left the dock.The Crown alleged that Mr Cameron bumped into Miss Smith’s boyfriend, had an altercation with him, and then tried to push Miss Smith under a train. She was saved by her friends and other passengers.Anthony Scott-Gall, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Cameron was in a ‘belligerent’ mood. But Mr Cameron told the jury that one of Miss Smith’s group hurled racial abuse and swore at him after he accidently knocked him with his shoulder bag He swore at the man and walked away. As he leant down to get a book from his bag, Miss Smith approached and asked: ‘Why do you black people always cause trouble?”I looked up I thought everything was over and done with. I said: ‘Keep away from me, you ugly bitch.’ ‘ Mr Cameron said the woman continued to make remarks.