Hamburg: Club they love to 8
SUTTON had to put a defender in goal when No.1 Ross Worner picked up an injury against Torquay as roly-poly goalie Wayne Shaw’s exit meant they had no sub keeper on the bench.
United’s reserve goalkeeper and coach Shaw resigned amid a betting probe after he was seen eating a pie on the bench during the second half of the televised FA Cup fifth-round defeat by Arsenal at Gander Green Lane on Monday night.
Shaw was shown on television tucking into the snack towards the end of the 2-0 loss, before admitting after the game he was aware that a bookmaker was offering odds on him to do so.
He is now the subject of an FA investigation.
Yesterday, defender Simon Downer had to go in goal but conceded only once as Sutton won 3-2.
Luke Young had opened the scoring for Torquay early on before Roarie Deacon fired in for Sutton from outside the box.
Brett Williams slotted under Downer within a minute of the restart but Maxime Biamou drew Sutton level for the second time with a shot which went in off the underside of the crossbar.
And Dean Beckwith headed in to earn their first win in five National League games. BAYERN MUNICH went goal crazy at the Allianz Arena, putting eight past Hamburg.
And the Bundesliga strugglers must be Bayern’s favourite opponents – that is 44 home goals they have put past them since 2010.
Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick after Arturo Vidal had put the hosts ahead in the 17th minute.
Hamburg had pledged to put up a fight, pointing to their three-game unbeaten run before Saturday but they froze on the day.
David Alaba netted in the 56th minute, substitute Kingsley Coman scored twice in five minutes and Arjen Robben scored on the break with Hamburg capitulating.
Meanwhile, Sevilla captain Vicente Iborra came off the bench to lead his side to a second-half comeback at fierce local rivals Real Betis, assisting and scoring in a 2-1 win to provisionally take Jorge Sampaoli’s side – who beat Leicester in midweek – joint-top of La Liga.
And Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane says Gareth Bale may be back for today’s clash against Villarreal.
Bale is in line to make his first start since injuring his ankle in November.
Zidane said the Wales international, who came on as a substitute against Valencia and in the 2-0 win over Espanyol, was “physically 100 per cent”.
Portugal defender Pepe is also expected to play. CRYSTAL PALACE:
He celebrated only his second win with Palace by moving out of the relegation zone – for 24 hours at least – with a nervy win that pulled Middlesbrough right into the mire. Both teams are now on 22 points and if this is anything to go by, Boro are the ones who have rather more to be bothered about.
While they were dire all day Sam’s survivors showed the sort of fighting spirit that suggests the boss – who has never been relegated from the top flight – could well achieve yet another escape act come May.
Big Sam said: “We got that fantastic goal then we showed resilience and character when we needed to.
“The players made the right decisions today and the full-backs gave us a lot of space and that was very encouraging for me.
“This has moved us out of the bottom three and now hopefully we can build on it at West Brom next week.
“This result is very good for confidence. The players have been living with a lot of pressure and the only way we can relieve that is by following up this fantastic win with another one.”
But it did not look to be going Sam’s way – especially when Christian Benteke headed a clear chance straight into the grateful hands of Victor Valdes early on and then gave the Boro keeper time and space to save another effort soon after.
But to be honest, if possession was worth points, Palace would have had at least half a dozen at that stage.