Raheem Sterling believes Manchester City are built to win football matches after they eased to a 3-1 victory at Watford.
Bernardo Silva scored twice in a 3-1 win that moved City to the top of the Premier League, following Sterling’s opener.
Watford pulled one back through Cucho Hernandez, who followed up his own shot after it rebounded off a post, to deny Pep Guardiola’s side a ninth clean sheet of the season.
Bernardo Silva scored twice in Manchester City’s win at Watford (Tess Derry/PA)
Sterling told the City website: “(It was) good. Good game management, really disappointing to concede in the end but overall I thought we battled really well.
“We had a few chances we could have taken in the first half to finish it off but a great win in the end.”
City made the most of Chelsea’s defeat at West Ham earlier in the day with a seventh straight win in all competitions, climbing back above Liverpool who had won 1-0 at Wolves to briefly reach the summit.
“That’s all we can keep doing is keep winning football matches. That’s what this football club is built to do, we just need to keep doing that,” the City forward said.
He added: “It’s a winning team, a team that challenges every three days and we keep doing that, we’ve been doing that for many years now and we’ll keep doing that.”
Watford goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann remained upbeat after the match, insisting that games against the likes of Manchester City will not determine the success of the Hornets’ campaign.
Daniel Bachmann remains upbeat despite Watford’s defeat to Manchester City (Jonathan Brady/PA)
“These aren’t the sorts of games that are going to define our season,” the goalkeeper told his club website.
“When the fixture list came out in the summer we always knew it would be tough to pick up points in this period, but we’ve proven we can compete with some of the league’s best in our last few games, which is very positive.”
He added: “The right team won today, but we tried until the end. It’s been a tough week for us, playing Leicester, Chelsea and Manchester City in quick succession, but the fixtures coming up are really important now.”
Matthew Morgan has apologised for his strongly-worded tweet while Cardiff were stranded in South Africa.
The Welsh international full-back posted his comment just after the Arms Park outfit had been thwarted in their bid to leave Cape Town for a third time.
In it, he hit out at both the United Rugby Championship and Welsh Government, rounding off his tweet with the message: “Get us the f*** out of here you clowns”.
He swiftly deleted his tweet but screenshots of it were posted online and his comments were reported in the media.
Now the 29-year-old – known throughout the game as Nipper – has put out a fresh statement, in which he explains the background to his original outburst.
Posting on Twitter, he wrote: “As reflection of my previous post, I am aware this was uncalled for and written in heat of the moment, which is out of character for me.
“It’s been a very stressful, uneasy time for all and my anxiety has been triggered by my heavily pregnant partner back home.
“I apologise for any offence caused and remain grateful for all the continued support.
“Wishing myself and the rest of team a safe journey home and exciting season ahead.”
He accompanied his message with the words “Nipper is a clown”.
It took Cardiff a week to eventually leave South Africa, where they had been preparing for two rounds of United Rugby Championship matches, games which were called off after the country was put on the UK Government’s red travel list due to concerns over the new Omicron Covid variant.
Their departure was delayed by positive Covid tests, plus problems over securing permission for their charter plane to take off.
A travelling party of 42 players and staff finally flew out of South Africa on Friday, December 3, heading for Dublin, with a connecting flight to Heathrow to follow.
They are now undertaking 10 days of quarantine in a London hotel.
Six members of the original tour group have remained in Cape Town having tested positive for Covid.
They will begin the journey back to the UK once they have completed an isolation period.
BOSS Dean Ryan admits that his Dragons squad are finding it “too fast and too physical” without being fully-loaded.
The Rodney Parade side have lost six of seven United Rugby Championship games and head into a French double-header in the Challenge Cup on the back of a pair of poor displays.
They were beaten 30-14 in Newport by Edinburgh on the return from the November break and on Saturday night were given a five-try, 33-14 hammering by Glasgow.
STRUGGLING: Dean Ryan’s Dragons have lost six from seven in the URC
“I don’t think effort was something that was up for question but we were well beaten, and well beaten in the first half hour of the game again,” admitted director of rugby Ryan.
“It was a challenge for us to stay together in that second half because we could have imploded trying to get back into it.
“As always, we have got to try and support this group because the current resources that we have got at the Dragons, and the strategy that gives us those resources, means that we have got to put some guys out there that are right up against it. My job is to keep things stable and keep supporting them.”
The Dragons are currently without Wales forwards Ross Moriarty (shoulder) and Elliot Dee (ankle) while they were without frontline scrum-halves Gonzalo Bertranou and Rhodri Williams in Glasgow because of niggles.
Young international forwards Taine Basham and Ben Carter were given the week off after their autumn Test efforts while full-back Jordan Williams joined fellow speedster Ashton Hewitt on the injured list with a broken hand in the first half.
INJURED: Jordan Williams is helped from the field
The Scotstoun showing once again highlighted the Dragons’ lack of depth in several positions.
“I don’t think that we were close at Glasgow, we were so under pressure that we made mistakes,” said Ryan.
“It was the second week in a row that it was too fast and too physical for us.
“There are some guys that are putting in big shifts trying to stop it but as a collective we are not achieving that.”
The Dragons don’t have long to lick their wounds and face a trip to Perpignan on Saturday followed by a home encounter with Lyon to kick off the Challenge Cup.
“It goes into another competition and that could breathe a little bit of fresh air into us,” said Ryan.
“We can’t hide away from it and, with the current resources we have got, we are struggling to cope with this level of game.
“At the start of the season when we had everybody on deck [we were coping] but we are finding it difficult now we have lost a few and have got some injuries.”
The European games are followed by the three festive derbies against the Ospreys, Cardiff and Scarlets in the URC.
Seven of the Liberal Party’s 31 current Victorian MPs – about 23 per cent – are women, compared with 48 per cent in state Labor. Labor introduced a quota system in the mid-1990s to ensure women would be preselected for 35 per cent of winnable seats at all parliamentary elections, since increased to 50 per cent for all party positions.
Incumbent Robert Clark was re-relected as Liberal Party state president in a bitter blow to the group aligned with federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
It is more difficult for the Liberals to establish gender quotas than the Labor Party, given the way local preselections operate in the two major parties.
The ALP often picks its candidates in deals between factional operatives, meaning those officials can work to ensure enough women are picked for winnable seats. Liberal candidates are chosen in local preselections, where a field of candidates is voted on by branch members – a grassroots democratic system fiercely guarded by the Liberal Party.
“The Liberal Party is in the business of winning elections,” said one Liberal member who opposes gender quotas. “When we think of winning elections, it shouldn’t involve taking cues from activist journalists who have aneurysms at the mere mention of the word diversity, but instead harbour the greatest political monocultures in the nation.
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“In 1994, the ALP introduced a mandatory 35 per cent preselection quota for women in winnable seats … since this monumental occasion, they have held government for eight of 28 years.”
He said the Liberal Party did not have a problem with women, and that it was “the media that have a problem with the Liberal Party”.
Another member said a push for quotas “reflects Marxism”. He said while he wanted to see more women in the Liberal Party, mandating it through gender targets was antithesis to Liberal values of individualism.
Mr Guy said Women2Win was a program he had started in 2015 to diversify the Liberals’ ranks. In one of his first interviews after being re-elected as leader earlier this year, he said he was open to quotas and he would tell the Liberal Party it needed to introduce quotas if it failed to get more women preselected for next November’s election.
“I totally accept [diversification is] overdue for the Victorian division,” Mr Guy said yesterday. “I’m not sure we’re at the stage of needing quotas because we’re now seeing, particularly federal and state preselections opening up, of very, very strong female candidates, and candidates from diverse backgrounds. That is positive, you’ve got to look like the state you want to represent.”
Mr Clark was re-elected party president, defeating Dinesh Gourisetty. After former premier Jeff Kennett publicly flirted with running for the presidency, then decided not to run, Mr Clark’s re-election was all but sealed.
Mr Clark’s group won a clean sweep of internal party positions, including vice-president and treasurer, and is likely to maintain its majority on the party’s powerful administrative committee, in a blow to the conservative faction aligned with senior federal MPs, including Mr Frydenberg and Housing Minister Michael Sukkar.
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Public health officials in Wales are investigating two E. coli O157 infections at different primary schools in the country.
Public Health Wales, Conwy County Borough Council and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board are looking into a case of E. coli O157 at a primary school in Abergele.
The same three agencies are also investigating a probable case of E. coli O157 at a primary school in Conwy to try and find the source.
There is currently no evidence in either case to suggest the child acquired the infection at the school.
Richard Firth, consultant in public health at Public Health Wales, said E. coli infections can be serious.
he said.
“Parents and guardians of pupils that attend the school and who may have had contact with this case have been contacted and advised on infection prevention and control measures, and what steps to take if their child develops symptoms. Contacts have been asked to submit samples for testing and to remain off school until negative results are received,” he said.
“Anyone who is unwell with diarrhea or vomiting should stay away from school, nursery or work until they are advised by a medical professional that they are well enough to return or they are free from symptoms for at least 48 hours.”
Those suffering with diarrhea or vomiting are advised to wash hands thoroughly before eating, preparing food or serving food for others and after going to the toilet. All surfaces, including food preparation surfaces and door handles, should be cleaned on a regular, at least daily, basis with standard cleaning materials.
People can become infected through eating contaminated food, from direct contact with animals. Sick people can pass the infection to others. The time between exposure and occurrence of symptoms is usually between one and eight days.
About E. coli infections Anyone who has developed symptoms of E. coli infection should seek medical attention and tell their doctor about their possible food poisoning. Specific tests are required to diagnose the infections, which can mimic other illnesses.
The symptoms of E. coli infections vary for each person but often include severe stomach cramps and diarrhea, which is often bloody. Some patients may also have a fever. Most patients recover within five to seven days. Others can develop severe or life-threatening symptoms and complications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
About 5 to 10 percent of those diagnosed with E. coli infections develop a potentially life-threatening kidney failure complication, known as a hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Symptoms of HUS include fever, abdominal pain, feeling very tired, decreased frequency of urination, small unexplained bruises or bleeding, and pallor.
Many people with HUS recover within a few weeks, but some suffer permanent injuries or death. This condition can occur among people of any age but is most common in children younger than five years old because of their immature immune systems, older adults because of deteriorating immune systems, and people with compromised immune systems such as cancer patients.
People who experience HUS symptoms should immediately seek emergency medical care. People with HUS will likely be hospitalized because the condition can cause other serious and ongoing problems such as hypertension, chronic kidney disease, brain damage, and neurologic problems.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)
Five people in Sydney, Australia’s largest city, have contracted the omicron variant of the coronavirus locally, New South Wales health authorities confirmed.
The cases are linked to two schools and a climbing gym in Sydney’s western suburbs, which may also be the source of a confirmed omicron infection in the Australian Capital Territory, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said Sunday. Urgent genome testing is underway for a number of other cases linked to the venues and should be available in coming days, she said in a video update.
New South Wales state has confirmed 15 omicron infections and more are likely, Chant said. The outbreak was seeded from infected travelers on a flight from Doha who had been in southern Africa.
The omicron variant of Covid-19, first identified in southern Africa, has now been detected in countries from the U.S. to South Korea, underscoring the difficulties of curtailing contagious new strains. Researchers worldwide are racing to understand the full impact of the new strain, and governments have banned travelers from South Africa and nearby countries on concerns omicron could evade the protection of vaccines and fuel new surges.
South Australia state on Saturday increased restrictions for international travelers over omicron fears, requiring all arrivals to quarantine for 14 days, not just those from southern Africa. Travelers arriving from Australia’s south-eastern states will need to test on arrival and isolate until a negative result is received, state Premier Steven Marshall said.
South Australian authorities are “extraordinarily concerned” about the outbreak in Sydney and the case in the ACT, but will keep its border open at this stage, Marshall told reporters Saturday. “We don’t know enough about the omicron variant at this stage,” he said after a meeting with officials to discuss closing the border.
Omicron is “here in Australia,” he said. “It’s contained to this point but we could receive further information in the coming days that it is no longer contained.”
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The travel industry has reacted with fury after it was announced all passengers arriving in the UK will have to take a Covid pre-departure test amid fears about the spread of the Omicron variant.
Ministers said it was intended to be a temporary measure following new data showing an increase in the number of cases of the new strain linked to foreign travel.
The move, which will be introduced on Tuesday, was welcomed by Labour which has been pressing for the return of pre-departure tests since the variant was first identified in South Africa.
But the party criticised the Government for not acting sooner.
It came as the latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency (HSA) showed as of Saturday, a further 26 cases of the Omicron variant had been reported across the UK – taking the total so far to 160.
The travel sector said the return of pre-departure tests was another “hammer blow” for an industry which was just beginning to pick up again after the devastation wrought by the pandemic.
Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association, said it directly contradicted assurances given by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and he called on the Government to step in and support the sector.
“The introduction of pre-departure testing with little warning is a hammer blow to the business travel industry,” he said.
“Public safety is a priority, but businesses will fail, travellers will be stranded and livelihoods devastated by the lack of coherent plans from Government.”
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body Airlines UK, said the rapidly changing measures meant planning was becoming impossible.
“It is premature to hit millions of passengers and industry before we see the full data. We don’t have the clinical evidence,” he said.
“These measures must be removed as quickly as possible in line with the speed of the booster programme.”
From Tuesday, those travelling to the UK will have to take either a PCR or a lateral flow test up to a maximum of 48 hours before they depart (Andrew Milligan/PA)
The Airport Operators Association chief executive Karen Dee said pre-departure tests were a “major deterrent to travel”.
“Most of the limited remaining demand following the reintroduction of self-isolation will now fall away, just as airports were hoping for a small uplift over the Christmas holiday,” she said.
The new measures for England, which come into force at 4am on Tuesday, were announced late on Saturday by Health Secretary Sajid Javid and were immediately followed by the Scottish and Welsh government.
It means passengers travelling to the UK will have to take either a PCR or a lateral flow test up to a maximum of 48 hours before they depart regardless of their vaccination status.
“We have always said we would act swiftly if we need to if the changing data requires it,” Mr Javid said.
“These are temporary measures we want to remove them as soon as we possibly can, but before we learn more about Omicron it is right that we have these measures in place.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper welcomed the “u-turn” after ministers previously resisted calls to reintroduce pre-departure tests but said they should have moved sooner.
“We badly need them to learn the lessons on the importance of acting quickly on Covid border measures rather than each time having to be put under huge pressure to finally act,” she said.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had acted in part because said new analysis by the UK Health and Security Agency (HSA) suggested the window between infection and infectiousness may be shorter for the Omicron variant.
It said this increased the efficacy of pre-departure testing, making it more likely it would to identify positive cases before travel.
In a further move the Government said that Nigeria was being added to the travel red list after 21 cases of the Omicron variant in England were linked to travel from the west African nation.
From 4am on Monday only British and Irish nationals and residents travelling from Nigeria will be allowed into the country and must isolate in a Government-managed quarantine hotel.
A man who once played in the Champions League became a prolific drug dealer who flooded a city with heroin and crack cocaine.
John Lawless had a promising lower-league career as a midfielder who played UEFA Champions League football against Liverpool before going on to manage. He played and managed in Wales.
But it has been revealed that Lawless, 39, was leading a double life as a prolific drug dealer, Hull Live reports.
He ran a county lines gang from Liverpool, from where he flooded the Yorkshire city with heroin and crack cocaine as part of the so-called Liverpool ‘Scouse J’ gang who were one of Humberside Police’s top targets to combat drugs in Hull.
Lawless was the point man for the Liverpool gang with a string of street dealers scattered around the city centre. He ran his operation from the historic former offices of one of the city’s prestigious legal firms. The dad of six was managing Prestatyn Town when he was arrested for county lines dealing in Hull. He has now begun a seven-year jail sentence.
The lifelong Liverpool FC fan boasted that he grew up alongside Everton and Manchester United player Wayne Rooney. But his footballing career never took off to the same extent and he instead played for a number of lower league clubs, including Welsh champions TNS, with whom he faced Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League. During the game, he came on as a sub in front of 45,000 fans at Anfield. TNS lost 3-0 that night and 6-0 on aggregate.
After this, he would go on to play another six seasons in the lower leagues before being appointed manager of Prestatyn Town in October 2020 during lockdown.
But, unbeknownst to his bosses and the team, Lawless was already involved in drug dealing. County lines involves gangs which export hard drugs from large English cities into smaller towns and cities around Britain. Days after his arrest in January, Lawless was sacked by Prestatyn without ever getting a chance to lead the club in a competitive game.
His arrest was part of a major undercover operation by Humberside Police in partnership with Merseyside Police against the ‘Scouse J’ gang which was suspected of being behind a heavy flow of heroin and crack cocaine.
Ringleader Daniel Condliff, 26, sourced and supplied the drugs from Liverpool while his lieutenant, Lawless, acted as an ‘area manager’ with 11 drug dealers working under him in Hull.
At a court appearance in Hull last month, it was revealed that Condliff made and received an average of almost 320 calls and messages a day on his ‘burner’ over a 60-week period from March 2020 to January 2021. Another 650 messages were sent to Lawless regarding the movement of “stock” from Liverpool to Hull and onto the streets. Humberside Police said the exchanges valued the drugs imported into Hull by Condliff, and distributed by Lawless, at £1 million. The pair were arrested in joint raids on January 4.
Drugs, burner phones, a weapon and cash seized by Humberside Police in a County Lines raid which saw arrest of dealer John Lawless(Image: Humberside Police)
Condliff, a father of two, was seen throwing packages out of his window into a next-door garden, the parcels were later discovered to be 56 wraps of heroin. Police also discovered a machete knife, an electronic cash counting machine and a cutting agent in his house. During the dual raids, police also found bundles of cash, wraps of heroin and cocaine and a Japanese style fighting knife.
DS Matthew Grantham, who led the Humberside Police investigation, said: “We believe that by stopping this gang’s activities we have prevented significant amounts of heroin and crack cocaine from being sold on the streets of Hull and the associated crime and anti-social behaviour that goes with this kind of offending.
“We know the impact this has on our communities and that’s why we will do everything we can to find those who are responsible and bring them to justice. Hopefully the sentences handed down to these two men, and those working beneath them, will serve as a warning to others looking to come to our towns and cities to deal drugs that they’re not welcome here and we won’t tolerate it.
“I would like to thank our colleagues in Merseyside for their support, as well as the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre, which provided a massive support throughout the investigation.
“I would also like to thank all the people who contact us with information about drug dealing and drug-related crime in their areas.
“It’s thanks to you that we can put together successful operations like this one and make it clear that if you’re looking to sell drugs, Humberside is not an easy target.”
Inspector Gary Stratton from Merseyside Police’s Project Medusa team said: “County Lines drug dealing not only blights the lives of the drug users, the communities in which they deal in but also the lives of the young and vulnerable people used to store and sell the drugs.
“The sentence Condliffe has received reflects the severity of his crimes and re-enforces our collective commitment to take county lines offenders off our streets and bring them to justice.
“As we have done in this case, we will continue to work with police forces and authorities across the country to make sure there is no safe place for such criminals to hide.”
At Hull Crown Court on November 8, Condliff, of Auburn Road, Liverpool, and Lawless, of Exchange Court, admitted to the possession and intent of supplying heroin and crack cocaine, and being concerned in the supply of heroin and crack cocaine.
Richard Thompson, mitigating for Lawless, said he was working as a painter and a decorated before the pandemic but turned to offending.
He said: “He is in a long-term relationship with his partner and has six children ranging from six to 18. He has accepted he is going to miss a significant number of years of his children’s lives, and regrets it. He hopes to continue maintaining contact with them until he is released. This is likely to have a significant impact on his behaviour.”
Defence barrister Charlotte Noddings for Condliff, who received 10 years in jail, said her client had “potential to show a great change of character.”
She said: “He is determined to come out of prison a different person. Despite being young, he has two young children himself. He knows he is facing serious years ahead of him.
“When he is released, his children will be of schooling age, they are the biggest reason he wants to rehabilitate his life.”
Judge John Thackray QC said to Condliffe and Lawless: “You both profess to be family men, concerned about your partners and children and while that might be right, you certainly have no regard for the families of other people affect by drug dealing.
“Drug dealing ruins lives and destroys communities. Every day these courts see the misery caused by drug dealing and you were both playing significant roles.”
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A SPECIAL rock event is returning to a Blaenau Gwent venue in December.
Dolls House in Abertillery will be hosting the seventh annual Rock & Roll Circus Xmas Bash on Saturday, December 11.
All proceeds from the event will be going to Velindre Cancer Centre’s Stepping Stones appeal.
Rock & Roll Circus’ Ceri Davies said: “It’s great to be back. We have had an amazing response from bands across the UK who wanted to take part and loads of fans have been in touch to say that they will be making their way to Abertillery.”
Eight bands from across the UK will be performing at the event – a staple in the Dolls House calendar. It will be headlined by Staffordshire rock band Ryders Creed and will feature The Philo Beddoe Band and TREP representing South Wales.
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Joining them will be Straight For The Sun, Pearler, Lords of Ruin, Six Sins Till Sunday and Kikamora.
Ryders Creed vocalist Ryan Hulme said: “We’re really looking forward to being part of the Xmas Bash again for the first time since 2018. We’re honoured to be headlining the event and can’t wait to get back on that stage.
“We’ll all be going home nice and sweaty.”
Ryders Creed
Organisers are urging fans who wish to attend to buy tickets as early as they can to avoid disappointment as tickets are selling fast and there is a smaller capacity.
by Staff
