FOOTBALL SUPERHERO OF THE YEAR

The famous names have been dropping like flies during the last year, but luckily for some there has been a professional footballer on hand to save the day. In Poole, Jame Beattie showed an unusual turn of pace to help two kids marooned on a yacht (“I acted on instinct, but too many people were getting phones out to video it”), while Sunderland winger Duncan Watmore valiantly kept some pensioners afloat after a speedboat crash in Barbados. Francis Kone wins top gong, though, after saving the life of opposing keeper Martin Berkovec in a Czech First League game. “I’m always checking players haven’t swallowed their tongue,” he said. “I’ve done it four times now!”