Football Round-Up: Makin goes too far

WHOOPEE was probably the last thing Oldham Athletic's Chris Makin felt like making last night after an eventful 59 minutes against West Ham. Shortly before half-time, with the teams still goalless, Oldham's fierce tackling resolve tested the referee, David Allinson, once too often and Makin was booked for a foul on Tim Breacker. Alvin Martin put the Hammers ahead from Matt Holmes' free-kick.

A protracted half-time break - the floodlights above a new stand went out - did not cool Makin's passion. Fourteen minutes after the restart he floored Breacker again and was sent off. Trevor Morley sealed it with West Ham's second.

Last season, Coventry did the double over Sheffield Wednesday but the Owls, unbeaten in four matches, began yesterday's home game in vibrant, if inaccurate mood, missing three good early chances. It set the tone for an exciting but goalless game.

Terry Butcher survived a two-hour meeting with Sunderland's board of directors after the club's 2-0 home defeat to Southend in the Endsleigh First Division. Butcher's position has come under scrutiny with Sunderland lying fifth from bottom after six successive defeats. The Roker chairman Bob Murray refused to comment but Butcher said: 'I am still the manager and I expect to be in charge of next week's home game against Nottingham Forest.'

There were shocks aplenty at or near the top of all three Endsleigh divisions. In the First, while Charlton, Crystal Palace and Southend consolidated their positions in the top four with solid away wins at Peterborough, Barnsley, and Sunderland respectively, Leicester City came down to earth with a mighty bump, beaten at Filbert Street by lowly Oxford United.

After taking the lead minutes before the break, City seemed to have rescued their unbeaten home record when Michael Whitlow made it 2-2. But Alex Dyer's dramatic winner three minutes from time gave Oxford their first away League success.

Tranmere were lucky not to lose by five or six at Millwall according to the Lions' manager, Mick McCarthy. As it was he was delighted with the 3-1 win and his side's best performance of the season.

Stockport County's 100 per cent home record came to grief when Bristol Rovers claimed their fifth away win of the season and there was a big surprise for Reading at Brighton. They won, sure enough, and hopped over County into top spot, but Jimmy Quinn didn't score. Dwight Marshall did, three times for Plymouth to celebrate a rare starting appearance as Argyle won 5-1 at Bradford.

In the Third, Wycombe showed few ill-effects after the sale of their top-scorer, Keith Scott, to Swindon. They beat second-placed Crewe, Tony Hemmings, a pounds 25,000 buy from Northwich, scoring twice in their 3-1 success. A late goal from leading scorer Tony Ellis at Carlisle kept leaders Preston ahead of the pack.

With Aberdeen frostbound, Motherwell and Rangers took full advantage, moving into first and second spots respectively with wins over Dundee United and Hibernian. Rangers scraped by 1-0 but Motherwell took the lead in 90 seconds through Doug Arnott and never looked like losing.

Paul Sturrock's reign as manager of St Johnstone got off to a winning start and brought the club its first away win of the season. But they were playing bottom club Dundee.

Four teams are tied on 16 points at the top of the Spanish League - Seville, La Coruna, Barcelona and Valencia - after last night's matches. Barcelona suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Lerida, for whom Jaime scored four minutes from time, while Bulgaria's Luboslav Penev hit Valencia's first-half winner at Seville. In France, troubled Marseille were beaten 3-0 at home by Auxerre.

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