BLACK CATS’ GAFFE IN LAFFERTY TWEET
MICKY MELLON hopes Tranmere’s dodgy pitch can help his League One strugglers land an FA Cup jackpot against Manchester United. The Rovers boss believes the way Watford’s shadow squad adapt to the heavy Prenton Park surface will be a huge factor tonight. Sunday’s Women’s Super League clash between Liverpool and Manchester United was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch and there was heavy rain on Merseyside yesterday with showers expected today. “I’m sure after playing on that wonderful surface at Vicarage Road, Watford can’t wait to come up and play on ours,” said Mellon. “That will be an experience for them.” The winners will clinch a potentially lucrative fourth round home tie against United or Wolves, who replay tomorrow. Mellon wants his players to repeat their second-half performance in the first game at Vicarage Road when they fought back to draw 3-3 from being 3-0 down.
He added: “We were disappointed we didn’t make more of a contest of it in the first half.
“I said to the players at half-time we had let ourselves down massively.
“I told them that my heart’s bleeding because I saw the support we had behind the goal so let’s give them something to cheer.
“I expected a response but I didn’t expect us to get back to 3-3.
“It was a special day, right up with the big days for the club.” and (main)
SUNDERLAND were forced to delete a tweet formally unveiling new signing Kyle Lafferty yesterday due to its sectarian overtones.
The Northern Ireland striker, 32, has joined the League One side on a short-term contract from Norwegian side Sarpsborg.
But the social media announcement on the Black Cats’ official Twitter page accompanied pictures of Lafferty (above) with the message: “He’s seven foot and plays the flute”.
The line, from a chant sung by
Rangers fans during his time at Ibrox, is a reference to Loyalist flute bands in Northern Ireland.
Within 15 minutes, club officials realised the controversial nature of the tweet and it was taken down.
A spokesman said: “It was written in all innocence by someone unaware of how it could be interpreted.
“As soon as it was pointed out the tweet was deleted.”
The FA confirmed last night that officials were aware of the social media post.