As early as the 20th minute Paul Ritchie made a saving tackle for Hearts, sliding in to deny Ally McCoist who seemed poised to supply the finish after an interchange between Trevor Steven and Brian Laudrup had seen the Dane aim a low cross into the goalmouth.After Paul Gascoigne had aimed a shot high and wide, the home side, who had started in confident mood, opened the scoring with a delightful goal in the 34th minute. Boxing

Barry Hearn yesterday implored terrestrial television to step up its boxing coverage, with the warning: “If the young fighters don’t get terrestrial exposure to a wide audience, boxing is doomed.”
Hearn believes that the Joe Calzaghe-Mark Delaney British super-middleweight title fight at the Brentwood International Centre on 20 April is the type of good quality attraction to bring major boxing back to terrestrial television. Ice hockey

Great Britain 5 Latvia 6
Peter Woods, the Great Britain coach, was not a happy man after his side’s 6-5 defeat to Latvia in their opening World Championship Pool B game in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, yesterday.Britain lost to a goal scored midway through the final period by Alexander Belavskis, who struck for Latvia while their opponents were a man short. “The refereeing was a bit one-sided and the penalty which led to their winning goal was something of a mystery call,” Woods said. “We had nine penalties [against us] while they had only two, and the refereeing was a major factor in the game.”Britain’s next game in the tournament is against Switzerland today.. So it seems unlikely that he would appear [before them] until after the final.

Even if Rugby Lions imposed a club suspension – and I reckon that is improbable – then it would not affect his availability for the county.”Revan will train with the squad on Sunday and Warwickshire will announce their team the following morning.LIONS TOUR TO SOUTH AFRICA (24 May-5 July 1997): 24 May v Eastern Province Invitation XV, Adcock Stadium, Port Elizabeth; 28 v Western Province, Cape Town; 31 v Free State, Bloemfontein; 4 June v Transvaal, Johannesburg; 7 v Northern Transvaal, Pretoria; 11 v South Eastern Transvaal, Witbank; 14 v Natal, Durban; 17 v Emerging Springboks, Wellington; 21 v SOUTH AFRICA, Cape Town; 24 v Border, East London; 28 v SOUTH AFRICA, Durban; 1 July v SA Barbarians, Welkom; 5 v SOUTH AFRICA, Johannesburg.. They then return to the coast for the first Test in Cape Town and the second Test in Durban. The final Test is back at altitude in the World Cup final stadium at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, on 5 July.While Lions tours are a popular survivor of the professional era, far less welcome, to the clubs at least, would be the continuation of the County Championship. The final of this season’s CIS-sponsored version goes ahead at Twickenham on Saturday week, when Gloucestershire will take on a Warwickshire side that includes Trevor Revan, who was ordered off during a league match against Fylde last weekend.The Rugby Lions forward, a member of last season’s title-winning team, was dismissed for alleged punching, but Harry Walker, Warwickshire’s match secretary, said: “Trevor can play until he comes before the county disciplinary committee, which has a backlog of cases to consider.

A South African Rugby Football Union official said: “Sarfu remain committed to a vision of rugby becoming a truly national sport, representing the whole country. For this reason we are pleased that the Lions will visit a disadvantaged area in a suburb of Port Elizabeth.”The Lions will encounter South Africa’s leading regional sides during their six-week spell in the Republic – Western Province, Orange Free State, Transvaal, North Transvaal and Natal – in a demanding build-up to the Test matches.The games against Western Province and Transvaal are in midweek, which means there will be little opportunity during the early stages of the trip to split the squad into a Test side and a second team.The Lions start at sea level, at Port Elizabeth, before going to the 6,000ft altitude of Johannesburg and Pretoria for the second phase of the tour at the start of June. The Lions will play in a South African township for the first time since apartheid was abolished when their 13-match tour of the Republic begins on 24 May next year in Korsten, outside Port Elizabeth. It will be the first Lions visit to South Africa since 1980 and follows the recent pattern of Lions’ trips to Australia and New Zealand, with the three Tests being crammed into the final weeks of the tour.
The Lions agreed to one match on their fixture list being in a township to assist the growth of the game there. Their fans have faced the long trip three times in the space of eight days, and now face another long trek on Tuesday.Aberdeen’s general manager, David Johnston, said: “We will have a look at helping out our supporters, something we did last year but, until the directors can get round to discussing the matter, we can’t comment.”However, Roddie Arnott, the chairman of the Aberdeen Supporters’ Association, believes that, if fans are to be recompensed for their travel, Thistle should be the club to do it. “I would prefer to see Partick pay for the Aberdeen supporters’ buses because I don’t see why Aberdeen should have to pay out for Thistle’s blunder,” he said. The match referee, Bill Crombie, abandoned Tuesday’s game six minutes before the interval, with Thistle’s Firhill Park stadium in semi-darkness.The Partick manager, Murdo MacLeod, said: “The problem occurred in mid- afternoon and the electricians were called in.

We were told before the game began that it was likely to be repaired and the referee instructed that the floodlights be switched on as soon as possible. But each time we tried they went back out.”The game was goalless when Crombie finally called a halt, although Partick, who remain desperate for points in their attempt to escape relegation, had been frustrated when the Aberdeen goalkeeper, Michael Watt, saved Ian Cameron’s penalty after Derek McWilliams was pulled down.. Our only other home game left this season is against Celtic and that is an all-ticket match, so those vouchers will admit supporters to Tuesday’s game only.”Aberdeen will decide over the next 48 hours whether to subsidise supporters travelling back to Glasgow. Football

Partick Thistle yesterday insisted that they will not offer refunds to spectators following the abandonment of Tuesday’s Scottish Premier Division game against Aberdeen.
The match was called off after 39 minutes because of floodlight failure, with supporters given vouchers for free entry when the match is replayed on Tuesday 16 April.The Thistle secretary, Robert Reid, said: “There will be no cash refunds, nor will the vouchers be available for any other game.