Port Vale 3-0 Barrow
Carlisle 2-2 MKDons

Whow.
If I was ever going to use the word "underwhelmed', it would be to describe England - yet again - last night.
I guess it will take a while for our new man to completely free the team of the mental shackles that were securely fastened by Mr Southgate.....
... OR... is there something sinister going on? Is Agent Tuchel also secretly employed by the German FA?

Reading owner Dai Yongge has been given a deadline of 4 April to sell the club after he was disqualified under the EFL's Owners' and Directors' Test.

The date imposed by the English Football League emerged at a hearing at the Commercial Court in London on Friday, where Yongge was trying to get an injunction against ex-Wycombe owner Rob Couhig - who he claimed was blocking his attempt to sell the Royals.

The request for a mandatory injunction was not granted by judge Mr Justice Jacobs.

"Following its disclosure in open court earlier today, the League can confirm that Mr Yongge has been recently disqualified under the EFL's Owners' and Directors' Test," the EFL said in a statement.

"The disqualification requires Mr Yongge to divest his interests in the club, and in the event that he fails to do so within the agreed timeframe, the League will consider all options available within its regulations to bring the matter to a conclusion.

"The League continues to work closely with Reading FC to progress a sale of the club at the earliest opportunity, in order to end the current uncertainty surrounding its future for its staff, supporters and wider community."

In court on Friday, Yongge argued he is unable to sell while Couhig - who previously tried to buy the club - and his securities remain in place.

The Royals announced they had entered into a period of exclusivity with an unnamed party over a potential takeover late last month.

At the time, they said they were optimistic the deal could be completed quickly and it would be "for the benefit of all concerned".

A number of attempted takeovers - including Couhig's - have fallen through since Yongge committed to a letter of intent to sell the club last March.

Reading are eighth in League One, two points off a play-off place, following a 10-game unbeaten run.

Reading 'committed to working with EFL'
Following Friday's hearing the Royals issued a statement, external saying they would work with Couhig and the EFL to find a resolution.

"The club acknowledges the judge's clear indication that the parties should find a solution to the current impasse regarding the sale of the club by way of its owners providing alternative security or a payment into escrow," the statement said.

"To allow a sale to proceed, the club looks forward to working with Mr Couhig to resolve this element of his claim.

"Mr Dai remains committed to working with the EFL to sell the club and secure its long-term future."

Reading could face 'new level of ridiculous' in long-running saga
BBC Radio Berkshire's Reading commentator Tim Dellor:

Do Reading fans feel reassured or less confident following today's court hearing?

Most will be left feeling more anxious and uncertain. The hearing gave us more questions than answers.

Reading's plight has been ramped up. Had the judge issued the injunction the club sale could have been relatively easy to envisage.

We would be closer to Dai Yongge leaving the stage, and the club would have been able to move on from years of uncertainty.

Instead, with Rob Couhig's securities remaining in place, and Yongge's seemingly obstinate refusal to sell to him, or anyone else, while they are in place it seems the impasse remains.

The really worrying message from the hearing came from the EFL.

For months there have been calls from some quarters to disqualify Yongge from ownership - which they have now done.

By 4 April Reading will need to be sold, or they will be told they can't play any games while Yongge is still at the helm.

Reading have never had any success in play-off campaigns previously, so to finish in the top six but then not be permitted to even take part would be a new level of ridiculous in this long-running saga.

Reading 'don't have any excuses now' - reaction
Reading fan and SellBeforeWeDai campaigner Caroline Parker

It feels like something big is about to happen and we could be at end game.

It is mixed emotions because we don't know what the future holds, the fact the judge has cleared a path for a sale and said that the side issue with Rob Couhig can be resolved separately to the sale is really positive news.

The club don't have any excuses now to not get a sale done.

There is clarity now but the problem is that we don't know what to think, we're often left in the dark and left to piece the jigsaw ourselves.

We still have a lot of questions as to what will be the final date and what action the EFL will take but we just hope we can get a new owner, we have all had enough.

Please, can this be the beginning of the end of Dai Yongge at Reading.

Crawley Town have appointed Scott Lindsey as their manager for a second spell on a deal until June 2028.

Lindsey previously spent 20 months as manager of the Sussex club, leading them to promotion from League Two last May before he dropped down a division in September to take charge at MK Dons.

The 52-year-old returns to Crawley two days after they sacked his replacement, Rob Elliot.

The club are 22nd in League One, 12 points from safety and facing an immediate return to the fourth tier after only one season.

"We are very excited to welcome Scott back to Crawley Town," said chairman Preston Johnson.

"We all love the culture and commitment he brings to the club and the game. We're striving for success at the highest levels of English football and to strengthen relationships with our fans and the broader community.

"Our lead investors are committed to a long-term vision, and Scott Lindsey is essential

Assistant Louis Storey, who had been made interim head coach following Elliott's departure, and fellow coaches Anthony Sweeney and Steve Hafner have all left the club.

Lindsey has appointed Neil Smith - who leaves his role in charge of Isthmian League side Cray Wanderers - as his assistant manager, with his first game back in charge set to be Saturday's match at home to fellow strugglers Bristol Rovers.

Lindsey was sacked by MK Dons on 2 March after just five months in charge, having lost 11 of 16 matches and picking up only nine points from a possible 48 to drop to 17th in the League Two table.

In his first spell at Crawley he took the club to the third tier for the first time since 2015, following an 8-1 thrashing of MK Dons in the play-offs, before they beat Crewe 2-0 in the Wembley final.

Lindsey was in charge for 87 Crawley games, winning 36 and losing 35.

A mix of league and cup games for the last weekend of March.

Gamball:
Norwich - WBA

Others:
Fulham - Crystal Palace
Brighton - Nottingham Forest
Hull - Luton
Cardiff - Sheff Wed
Portsmouth - Blackburn
Stoke - QPR
Charlton - Huddersfield
Walsall - Wimbledon
Bournemouth - Man City

Crawley Town have parted company with manager Rob Elliot with the club 12 points adrift of safety in League One.

The former Gateshead manager, 38, took over at Broadfield Stadium in October after Scott Lindsey left to join League Two MK Dons.

Ex-Newcastle goalkeeper Elliot only won six of his 33 matches in charge of the Reds, losing 19.

He leaves the club 22nd in the league, with relegation looming in their first season back in the third tier.

Crawley said Louis Storey would step up as interim head coach,, external with Anthony Sweeney as interim assistant head coach.

"The club would like to thank Rob for all of his efforts during his time at the Broadfield Stadium and wish him all the best for the future," Crawley said in a statement.

Storey's first match in charge will be at home to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

Group A

Twerton 23
Minizin 12
Zinman 7
Themaclad 5
A.A.A. 5
Amelia 4

Above average week for the group as a whole, but a season’s best for one player, Twerton!! For the second week in a row he tops the weekly table but this week he crushed the rest of the players and set a personal season high score of 23. He scored on 7 games including 3 CSs, he got a CR on the Gamball and Bonus and had he not failed to score on the scoreball he would have equaled the season high score in Group A!! Minizin was 2nd and the only other player to get into double figures. He needed this to arrest his drop in recent weeks.

Zinman was 3rd with 7 points, closely followed by Themaclad and AAA with 5 points. All three missed the Gamball but at least managed to score on the Bonus with Zin getting a max. Unfortunately they managed virtually nothing else!! Amelia actually scored on more games than all of them but she missed on all her balls to keep her score down at 4 points.

280 Themaclad
264 Twerton
260 Zinman
252 Minizin
195 A.A.A.
193 Amelia

Twerton’s excellent week sees him move above Zinman and into second place, he is 16 points behind Themaclad. Zinman is just 4 points behind Twerton with Minizin 8 further points behind. These 4 are all fighting for playoff spaces and Themaclad is not quite there yet despite being leader for the vast majority of the season.


Group B

BaggieOne 14
Snooty 14
Stairs 10
BBB 9
SCO 8
Lady Jane 7
Derby 7

A better week for Group B, largely down to good ball play - 35 points from the balls represents the 2nd best return this season. Just one failure on the bonus - no prizes for guessing who that was - and 4 players scoring on the gamball.

something of a role reversal in the week's table with the seasons 2 worst performers sharing top spot with 14 points. BaggieOne scored on all the balls for just the 2nd time while Snooty was the only player to get 5 correct predictions but was prevented from securing first place on his own by failing to turn any of those 5 into correct scores. This is something of a theme for Snooty - he has the lowest percentage of correct scores to results in the group - just 25% compared to Lady Jane at 36%.
Not much between the rest. Stairs crept into double figures in 3rd place - he matched B1's results/scores but was held back by his miss on the gamball. SCo only scored on 2 games but it makes a difference when your 1 correct score is the bonus. Lady Jane matched SCO but without having her correct score as the bonus while Derby's only 2 correct results would normally have seen him flirting with a negative score, but as those 2 were his gamball and bonus, he wasn't too far behind the pack.


250 Lady Jane
241 SCO
228 Derby
228 Stairs
211 BBB
196 Snooty
170 BaggieOne

As seems to be the case every week, the only positional change involves Derby and Stairs with Stairs climbing back level with Derby in 3rd place. The only other notable event sees Lady Jane hitting the 250 point mark.

So we have the final international break this week so everyone should rest up and get ready for the final push to the play offs. There are 4 weeks left so still a ton of points left to be won so a lot can still change. Here are the current standings:

League Leaders (Bye in first round)
Themaclad - 280 - 16 points ahead of Twerton.
Lady Jane - 250 - 9 points ahead of SCO.

Play off places
Twerton - 264
Zinman - 260
Minizin - 252
SCO - 241

The Chasing Pack
Derby - 228 - 13 points off the PO spots
Stairs - 228 - 13 points off the PO spots

The Also Rans
BBB - 211
Snooty - 196
AAA - 195
Amelia - 193
BaggieOne - 170

So Themaclad and Lady Jane have both led for ages in their respective leagues, but both are now potentially catchable by those just behind them, so all still to play for. SCO is slowly catching the rest of the players in the top 3 PO spots but at the same time is only 13 points ahead of Derby and Stairs so is by no means secure yet.

The rest seem to be out of it at this point but with 188 points still up for grabs it’s possible for anyone to do it. Realistically someone from this group is going to need to score 20+ points per week for the last 4 weeks to close the gap.

Cheers
Zin & SCO

Notts C 2-1 Crewe
Wimbledon 3-0 Barrow
Bradford 1-1 Colchester
Carlisle 0-0 Bromley
Cheltenham 1-0 MKDons
Chesterfield 3-1 Harrogate
Fleetwood 1-2 Tranmere
Gillingham 1-1 Walsall
Grimsby 2-0 Newport
Port Vale 3-1 Morecambe
Swindon 3-2 Accrington

Preston North End acknowledges the charges brought against Milutin Osmajić by The FA following last month’s Sky Bet Championship fixture against Burnley.


Milutin continues to strongly deny the allegations of the use of abusive language with reference to colour and/or race and will provide an official response to The FA charges in due course.

Until such a time where the case has been concluded, the club will be making no further comment.

The charge sheet says alleged, cannot see how they can prove this, but smell a stitch up, think the EFL have an agenda against us, I know of no other club who has been fined for complaints about what they sang.

Now that my curling is finished for the season, I'll have more time to do a more comprehensive report on the major World Championships. The World Women's event, as previously promoted by theo luddite, is taking place in Uijeongbu, Korea, from Saturday 15 March to Sunday 23 March. There are 13 teams - perfectly sensible if you represent a vested interest - who play each other from 15 March to 21 March, followed by qualifying games and Semi-finals on Saturday 22 March - 3rd place plays 6th and 4th place plays 5th with 1st and 2nd places being thrust straight into the Semi-finals. The Medal Games will be played on Sunday 23 March.

Scotland represent the Home Nations and the team consists of (from left to right) Fay Henderson (Alternate), Sophie Jackson (Lead), Sophie Sinclair (Second), Jennifer Dodds (Third) and Rebecca Morrison (Fourth). Sophie J will skip and call the shots, except for her own stones, when Rebecca does the needful.


Scotland have been involved in 3 very tight games so far. They beat Canada by 8-7 on Saturday night, scoring 3 shots in the last end, then lost 7-8 at the last end against Norway on Sunday morning. An even tighter game followed with the Scots forcing an extra end against Korea with 2 shots in the 10th end. After a tense extra end, they lost out by 4 shots to 5.

Tomorrow Scotland play Italy at midnight (UK time) and Switzerland at 10.00. That's 09.00 and 19.00 Korean time. The Koreans have stayed on the same time zone since 1988, as being pragmatic and sensible people, they have realised that Daylight Saving Time in summer doesn't make the slightest difference to saving (or expending) any daylight. Not like us, who have abandoned the absurd Imperial notion that we standardised GMT for the benefit of the world. Now we're apparently using UTC - I never knew either - having joined the Atomic Age in 1967. However I digress. Back to the future (in curling terms).