Wanderers exact derby revenge

Sweet revenge ... Beauchamp scores the winner against his old club. Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited

Western Sydney turned the tables on cross-town rivals Sydney FC with a classy 2-0 win in their A-League derby at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.

After losing 1-0 at home in the first clash between the sides in October, the Wanderers always looked in control as they sealed a sweet maiden derby triumph in front of 26,176 fans.

Wanderers coach Tony Popovic said the win against his former club ranked as one of the club's greatest moments yet.

"There've been a lot of milestones at this club from the first pre-season game, winning our first (A-League) game against Brisbane, now this one," Popovic said.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Central Coast	11	8	2	1	13	26
2	Adelaide	10	7	1	2	8	22
3	Victory	11	5	2	4	-3	17
4	Western Sydney	11	5	1	5	0	16
5	Perth	11	4	2	5	2	14
6	Newcastle	11	4	1	6	-8	13
7	Wellington	10	3	3	4	1	12
8	Heart	11	3	3	5	-2	12
9	Brisbane	11	3	2	6	0	11
10	Sydney	11	3	1	7	-11	10

"This was sweet. This was special. I certainly enjoyed that."

Popovic said the performance illustrated how far his side had come since the derby loss at Parramatta Stadium, when the coach felt his side had been overawed.

"We matched them this time with intensity," he said.

"... I think it just shows how much we've improved as a club, from round three to now. We're certainly on the right track."

Goals in either half to Ethiopian-born midfielder Youssouf Hersi and captain Michael Beauchamp ensured the Wanderers climbed up to fourth spot and continued a superb debut season.

The Sky Blues remain last after failing to build on a valuable win away to Wellington last week.

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They welcomed back Brett Emerton and Terry Antonis from Socceroos duty but marquee star Alessandro Del Piero started on the bench as he continues to battle a troublesome hamstring.

The Italian striker came on with 20 minutes to go but had little impact as the Sky Blues struggled to penetrate a well-organised Western Sydney defence.

The early stages were evenly contested but the Wanderers quickly began causing problems for Sydney's defence.

Mateo Poljak was allowed space to shoot in the eighth minute but his effort went just wide.

Lacopo La Rocca also wasted a good chance before Shinji Ono came close with an ambitious volley in the 17th minute.

Western Sydney continued to mount pressure and capitalised when Hersi struck his first A-League goal in the 24th minute.

Sydney defender Seb Ryall failed to clear a dangerous Jerome Polenz cross and Hersi showed great composure to turn and score from close range.

Ono almost doubled the advantage six minutes later with a curling, long-range effort floating just wide.

Sydney created little in attack with Adam Griffiths wasting their best chance of the half, hitting a header wide from Jason Culina's 33rd minute free kick.

Sky Blues coach Frank Farina injected Ali Abbas off the bench midway through the second half but the home fans got the substitution they wanted when Del Piero replaced Culina in the 70th minute.

However it failed to halt the Wanderers, who doubled their advantage seven minutes later.

Sydney were again punished for failing to clear, with Ono's cross finding its way to Beauchamp on the back post and the former Sky Blues defender smashed it into the roof of the net.

Farina gave an honest assessment of the performance, and the job ahead for the club.

"I think the disappointing thing is we were outplayed tonight pretty much on all fronts," Farina said.

"You've got to be honest about it. They were more enthusiastic and it's disappointing coming off the back of a good win last week and not being able to back it up, at least performance-wise.

"We've got work to do. I knew that when I came here and we have to try and get that consistency."

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Stars edge out Hurricanes at MCG

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Close call ... this seagull escaped after nearly copping Cameron White's bat. Source: Michael Klein / News Limited

Melbourne Stars all-rounder James Faulkner has survived an appeal for handling the ball to steer his side to a tight KFC T20 Big Bash League win over Hobart Hurricanes at the MCG.

T20 - Melbourne Cricket Ground

15 December 2012 - Day 1, Session 2

Stars 1st Innings

J. Faulkner	6	4	1	0	150
P. Handscomb	2	2	0	0	100
E. Gulbis	3.1	0	28	0	8.84

Chasing just 135 to win, the Stars made tough work of their chase before getting home with five balls and four wickets in hand on Saturday night.

Faulkner was given not out off a handling-the-ball appeal in the penultimate over, bowled by medium-pacer Ben Laughlin (3-14), who almost proved a match-winner.

But with just five needed off Evan Gulbis' final over, Faulkner top-edged the first ball for four, before a no-ball finished the game.

Faulkner said fellow Tasmanian Laughlin was "clutching at straws" with his vehement appeal for handling the ball.

"He's like that all the time, he carries on like a two-bob watch, what you see is what you get," Faulkner said.

"Having said that, he was one of the first to come up and shake hands."

Hurricanes skipper George Bailey agreed there was nothing in it.

"Benny Laughlin gets pretty excited, I think Jimmy Faulkner gets pretty excited. They're both pretty competitive," Bailey said.

"I think even Benny when he saw the replay realised there wasn't much in it."

The Stars had struggled early in their chase in the face of a fiery opening spell from left-arm quick Doug Bollinger, whose first two overs were just the third and fourth maidens of the BBL season.

But after reaching just 1-38 from their first eight overs, the introduction of New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris for the ninth proved disastrous for Hobart, yielding 21 runs including three sixes.

Despite losing three wickets in the next five overs, including two in a quality spell from Laughlin, the Stars were always likely winners from that point.

Laughlin bowled a tight 19th over, which included the appeal against Faulkner when the ball brushed his hand after he fended a delivery off his body.

Earlier, the Hurricanes struggled to 8-134, with Stars quicks Clint McKay (3-25), Faulkner (2-23) and in-form Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga (2-19) dominating with 7-67 between them.

Tim Paine (46 from 46 balls) was Hobart's top-scorer, while Styris (24 off 17) provided some inventive shot-making late, but Ricky Ponting (eight) failed in possibly his last MCG innings.

The Stars have now won two of three games and the Hurricanes one of two.

Man of the match McKay said the Stars were building momentum but had clear areas to work on.

"We're always looking to improve and play the perfect game that coach Greg Shipperd talks about and get a bit more clinical with the batting," he said.

"But at the end of the day we got over the line and got the points and that's what we came here tonight to do and it sets us up beautifully."

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Fight for Life: league trumps rugby

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Fight for Life ... Gallen and Bird win their respective bouts. Source: Gregg porteous / News Limited

Rugby league dominants with a 3-1 victory over rugby union at the explosive, wild and ruthless Fight for Life charity boxing event in Auckland.

NRL players Paul Gallen, Greg Bird and Manu Vatuvei all won their bouts over three two-minute rounds at the Fight for Life event in Auckland.

Former All Black Carlos Spencer got one back for rugby, while Willie Mason and another ex-All Black, Troy Flavell, fought out a draw in the battle of the big boys.

NSW skipper Gallen proved the surprise packet with a unanimous decision against All Blacks hooker Hika Elliot.

At the weigh-in, Gallen had talked down his abilities against an opponent who boasted a 62-0 record in karate.

But the Cronulla forward picked his moments to throw punches and was able to find a target with a series of combinations.

"I didn't want to be over-confident, to be honest,'' he said.

"I heard so much about the bloke and how good a fighter he was, I just wanted to go out there and do what my trainer told me.''

Gallen said he privately backed himself, even if all the talk about Elliot's ability had made him nervous.

Despite his clear-cut victory, he won't be hurrying back into the ring.

"I've got no plans to be a boxer.''

Gallen won despite carrying an elbow injury from training a couple of weeks ago and for which he will have surgery on.

He said the rehabilitation period was only a fortnight, so he would be 100 per cent for the start of the NRL season.

Vatuvei also got all the judges' votes against London Games rowing gold medallist Eric Murray.

The Warriors winger couldn't quite tag Murray with a big shot, his opponent managing mostly to keep himself out of range, but he was buzzing after the fight.

"It was an awesome feeling,'' he said.

"I'm happy I jumped in. Eric and I went in to put on a good show and hopefully everyone enjoyed it.''

Bird won an incident-filled contest over Auckland Blues back Rene Ranger via a split decision.

Bird was caught flush with a right hand in the second round and dropped to the canvas.

But Ranger was docked two points for throwing the punch after the referee had called for the fighters to break.

"I've copped bigger hits than that on the footy paddock,'' Bird said.

"I'll be right. The head's pretty solid.''

Spencer won a majority verdict over former Kiwi Jarrod McCracken.

The bout developed some feeling, with Spencer unhappy with some of McCracken's tactics, including a couple of punches thrown when Spencer's back was turned.

"A win's a win,'' he said.

"It was more like a league match than a boxing match.''

Mason and Flavell provided plenty of entertainment with a mix of big punches and occasional wrestling, and couldn't be separated by the judges.

In a six-round women's lightweight professional bout, New Zealander Daniella Smith's aggressiveness paid dividends as she beat Australian Lauryn Eagle by unanimous decision.

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Video: view from behind the stumps

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Cop that ... Paine gave viewers a unique perspective of the action. Source: Michael Klein / News Limited

Ever wondered what it's like to wicketkeep up to the stumps to someone bowling 120 kilometres per hour?

You can be a step closer to finding out by watching the video at the top of the page.

Hobart Hurricanes wicketkeeper Tim Paine took Fox Sports viewers into the thick of the action when he had a go wearing helmet cam while 'keeping up to the stumps to the bowling of Scott Styris during the KFC T20 Big Bash League clash with Melbourne Stars.

Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, the pictures weren't great as Styris was belted for 21 runs from the over by Stars batsmen Rob Quiney and Brad Hodge.

That wasn't the only treat for those watching the game on television, with the 'Third Eye' camera on the umpire's hat helping plenty of people have a chuckle at the expense of Jeff Joshua, who had to jump to the ground to avoid a firmly-struck ball by Rob Quiney. 

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Bolton gifts Mariners victory

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Double ... Pedj Bojic puts two past Melbourne Heart keeper Clint Bolton. Picture: Liam Driver. Source: Liam Driver / News Limited

A brace from Pedj Bojic secures the Central Coast a 2-0 win over Melbourne Heart to extend the Mariners' unbeaten run to eight games and consolidate their place at the A-League's summit.

It was a case of history repeating with Bojic, scoring the winning in the Mariners 1-0 win over the Heart in their last meeting, sinking the visitors with two second-half goals at Bluetongue Stadium.

Heart's veteran gloveman Clint Bolton will want to forget his sloppy keeping gifting Bojic his first goal and he should have done better to save his second.

The loss leaves the Heart in seventh place.

Melbourne had a defensive game plan from the outset not attempting one shot on goal in the opening half, while the table-topping Mariners ran riot in the front third.

Bojic looked like netting four minutes in, curling a free-kick from about 25 metres out to force a spectacular save from Bolton.

The Mariners had another chance just before the half-hour mark when Joshua Rose beat the Heart defence with a through-ball to Berni Ibini, who instead of passing the ball to the waiting Daniel McBreen, went for glory himself with Bolton saving the effort.

The Mariners had a flurry of chances late in the opening half but the stoic Heart defence of Simon Colosimo and Patrick Gerhardt managed to keep them scoreless.

Bojic finally opened the scoring in the the 49th minute with what looked like an innocuous long range strike but Bolton made a meal of saving the effort letting it slip through his hands and into the back of the net.

McBreen, currently the league's top scorer, looked like adding to his tally of nine goals this season keeping Bolton busy with a long range shot.

Socceroo tyro Tomas Rogic, who was kept relatively quiet, set McBreen up for another but the veteran striker sent it sailing over the crossbar.

Bojic continued to be Bolton's nightmare when the keeper was unable to save his dipping free-kick in the 69th minute putting the Mariners 2-0 up.

McBreen outpaced Gerhardt and could have put the game beyond doubt with 10 minutes remaining but didn't get a clean connection.

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Renegades cruise past Thunder

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On top ... Muralitharan stars in the Renegades win over the Thunder. Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited

Sydney Thunder's ice-cool cavalry arrived on Friday night in the form of Chris Gayle, but the West Indies superstar was unable to save the Big Bash League franchise's blushes in a five-wicket loss to the Melbourne Renegades at ANZ Stadium.

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Gayle was run out by Darren Pattinson for 12 in the fifth over when his sliding bat became stuck in the soft grass adjacent to the wicket, the dismissal starting a rapid rot as the Thunder were restricted to just 7-116.

It was never going to be enough and so it proved as a cautious 31 from Renegades captain Aaron Finch, who earlier sent the hosts in, laid the platform for the Thunder's seventh consecutive Twenty20 loss.

Finch, who hammered an unbeaten 111 in the season opener against the Melbourne Stars, took a risk-averse approach and left the visitors needing 50 off 52 balls when he was caught behind off Sean Abbott.

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But according to the Renegades skipper, this was partly due to a fiery opening spell from Dirk Nannes, which forced the chase to stay conservative.

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"That's right up there with the best first couple of overs I've faced in Twenty20 cricket," Finch said.

"It was fast, it was swinging late and he had his radar on.

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"In a small run chase you need to get off to a good start because things can snowball ... we took our medicine against Dirk and played pretty well."

Nannes described the loss as frustrating, given his side's work with the ball.

"I thought we bowled pretty well as a whole, but we were short with the bat," Nannes said.

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"We've just got to talk about our intent a little bit.

"At the moment we're ... either defending or trying to hit it for four, and you're not going to win a lot of games doing that.

"Bowling we're right, fielding we're right. If we can manage the stick a little bit better we'll be a decent team."

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There threatened to be some late drama when Tom Cooper (11) and Ben Rohrer (27) fell in the space of 11 balls shortly after Finch's exit, but the Thunder simply didn't have enough runs to play with.

Will Sheridan brought up the winning runs with 10 deliveries remaining in front of 7413 fans.

Express paceman Nannes bowled with great venom, typified by speeds of almost 150km/h and a crunching collision with Renegades opener Daniel Harris, and was unlucky to only capture the wicket of Cooper.

Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood, like Gayle playing his first game of the BBL season, had Harris out edging and clean bowled Marlon Samuels with a full toss to give the hosts hope in the fledgling stage of the Renegades' at-times unconvincing chase.

Earlier, Gayle launched a towering six over the head of mid-on from Sheridan's bowling, while Usman Khawaja was starting to look comfortable when the hosts reached 0-23 after four overs.

Gayle's departure was followed by a slew of wickets - the vast majority from poor shot selection while the run-rate dried up - as the Thunder crumbled to just 7-60 in the 14th over.

The lusty hitting of tailender Chris Tremain (37no from 23 balls) pushed the Thunder's total past 100, but the fact the No.9 was the only batsman to pass 20 encapsulated an innings that unravelled far too easily.

Aaron O'Brien claimed figures of 3-15 to be the Renegades' best bowler, while Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan deceived Khawaja (19) and Mark Cosgrove (12) to snare 2-16 from his four overs.

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Zhang joins Popovic in PGA lead

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Joint leader ... Daniel Popovic continues his dream run at the Australian PGA. Source: Dave Hunt / AAP

Battler Daniel Popovic worked as a stop-go traffic man and pizza-maker in Melbourne to fund the dream he is living at the Australian PGA.

The Victorian produces a classy two-under 70 at Coolum to stay in the lead and fortify his confidence for the biggest weekend of his life.

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China's Zhang Xin Jun (67-67) joines him to share the lead at 10 under but 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy (67-69) is just two shots adrift beside young gun Matt Griffin (69-67), a tournament winner in South Korea three months ago.

Former British Open champion Darren Clarke (70-69) did a fine job of holding it together for a share of 10th after being ill on course.

Popovic led by five early in the day, playing beautifully for four birdies until a punched nine-iron over the 15th green led to a double-bogey seven.

"Being the hunted ... it feels fantastic and I hope it happens a lot more often," Popovic said.

He tossed and turned and barely slept after his 64 led the field on Thursday.

"My confidence over the putter is unbelievable and I hope I can play every single round for the rest of my life with that confidence," he said.

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Not so long ago, he was putting toppings on supreme pizzas at Pompeo's in Doncaster East in Melbourne.

"I was making pizzas for five years and I worked for months as a traffic controller with a stop-go sign to get the money to go to European Tour School in 2010," Popovic said.

Popovic's mum Mila cried when he rang her after his 64 and she was too nervous to watch her son on TV. His father Radi was in hospital getting blood tests for his bone cancer on Thursday and his anxiety about flying will stop him joining his son at Coolum.

Zhang, 25, missed a 2m par putt on the last when the outright lead was his for the taking after five birdies on the back nine had twice nudged his nose in front.

Greg Norman said on tournament eve that "China will take over the West in 20 years" in golf terms and Zhang is more living proof.

Zhang, from a village in western China, left school at 15 imagining that life as a security guard would provide a $95-a-month wage to help support his farmer parents.

His first assignment after training was at a golf course where he was gripped by the game, hit the driving range and was representing Team China within five years. 

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Dodd's double shoots down Jets

Dodd double ... Perth Glory celebrate Travis Dodd's first goal. Source: Faith Moran / News Limited

Perth midfielder Travis Dodd scores a brace and Shane Smeltz chipped in with a controversial goal to inspire Glory to a 3-0 victory over the Newcastle Jets at nib Stadium.

The Jets entered the match with a cloud hanging over their future after the Australian Tax Office applied to have both them and NRL outfit Newcastle Knights wound up due to unpaid debts.

The week got worse for the Jets when Dodd scored in the 45th and 49th minutes, before Smeltz won and converted a questionable penalty in the 75th minute.

"If he's deemed it's a penalty, it's a penalty.

"I want the players and the game to have the headlines rather than referees. So let's just try to keep it that way.''

Glory coach Ian Ferguson said it was a relief to break the club's five-match winless run, but admitted his team were lucky to be awarded the penalty.

"From where I was sitting it was a bit soft, but I'll take it,'' Ferguson said.

"These are the things I speak about when you say you need that bit of luck, and we got it tonight.

"There was a lot of pressure on us tonight and to get the 3-0 victory was pleasing.''

Perth's first win in six games lifted them from eighth into fourth on the table, while the Jets, who have lost four of their past five games, slipped to sixth.

Glory created a glut of chances in the opening half, but Newcastle should have opened the scoring in the fifth minute when James Virgili streamed into the box with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Danny Vukovic pulled off a good save with his legs to deny Virgili, and Jets goalkeeper Matthew Nash had to pull off some heroics of his own at the other end to keep out wave after wave of attacking forays from Perth.

But a defensive mistake from debutant Jets midfielder Mitchell Oxborrow opened the door for Perth on the stroke of half-time, with Dodd intercepting the weak pass before unleashing a cool strike to finally beat Nash.

Dodd was at it again shortly after the break, with the former Adelaide skipper capitalising on a quickly-taken Glory corner to head home the second goal of the match.

And Jets coach Gary van Egmond was left clearly aggrieved when Perth were awarded a penalty in the 75th minute despite defender Josh Mitchell making contact with the ball first in a tackle on Smeltz..

Marquee Jets striker Emile Heskey had a quiet match, with the former England international well held by Glory's defence.

And Perth had extra reason to celebrate the win after captain Jacob Burns managed to stay out of the referee's book for the first time this season.

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Heat trump Strikers in BBL thriller

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Powerful ... Kireon Pollard wasted little time adjusting to life in the Big Bash. Source:News Limited

West Indian whirlwind Kieron 'Polly' Pollard played a cracker for Adelaide Strikers but Brisbane Heat pinched a dramatic last-ball win in Thursday night's KFC T20 Big Bash League match.

T20 - Adelaide Oval

13 December 2012 - Day 1, Session 2

Heat 1st Innings

P. Forrest	12	7	0	1	171.43
C. Hartley	5	2	1	0	250
G. Putland	4	0	39	0	9.75

Pollard, a day after arriving in Adelaide, smashed 48 runs from just 23 balls as the Strikers posted 8-185 from their 20 overs.

The Trinidad star then took two clutch wickets and fluked a run out as Brisbane were left with four runs to win from the final ball.

Brisbane's Chris Hartley hit the ultimate delivery from Striker speedster Gary Putland over cover towards the boundary and the batsmen ran three as Callum Ferguson dived to stop the ball.

But replays showed Ferguson failed by a whisker to halt the ball and, after an agonising minute-long review as players stood mid-pitch awaiting the verdict, the Heat were winners, finishing 7-186.

"I'm still trying to work out what happened," Hartley said of hitting the final ball for four to win.

"It's a cliche in cricket, but the more you think about what you're trying to do, the more you usually stuff up.

"A little bit of luck goes your way ... and you're able to take advantage of it but there are no secret formulas."

Adelaide captain Johan Botha said the loss was particularly bitter.

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"It's never nice to lose close games," he said.

Botha remained uncertain from initial replays whether Hartley's strike was a four.

"The one replay we saw on the field, you can't say from that far out from the big screen," he said.

Brisbane's run chase was on track when one-time ticking time bomb Luke Pomersbach exploded with the bat, making 65 from 39 balls.

Pomersbach, who considers himself lucky to be alive after a period of alcohol abuse, hit eight fours and two sixes to propel Brisbane to 1-105 in the 12th over.

But in the next 14 balls, Adelaide's Pollard claimed Joe Burns (37 from 30 balls), Pomersbach fell to spinner Cameron Boyce, and Pollard struck again to dismiss Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera.

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And with the Heat needing 35 runs from their final three overs, Pollard dropped a tough caught and bowled chance from Chris Lynn, only to watch the ball rebound into the bowler's end stumps with Brisbane's Ben Cutting stranded out of his crease.

The Heat required 14 runs from Putland's final over, with Peter Forrest blasting a six before Hartley's last-ball heroics.

Earlier the Strikers made 8-185 with Pollard muscling three sixes and five fours to overshadow his teammate Ferguson's stylish 52 from 36 balls.

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Clive wants Coolum stay for Aussie PGA

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Confident ... Clive Palmer wants the Aussie PGA to stay at Coolum. Source: Megan Slade / News Limited

Billionaire Clive Palmer has dismissed reports the Australian PGA Championship is being played at his Coolum resort for the last time.

PGA chief executive Brian Thorburn revealed earlier this week ongoing discussions with current hosts Palmer Coolum Resort had failed to reach a new hosting agreement despite months of talks.

But Palmer was bullish when asked his thoughts on losing the tournament at a press conference on the Gold Coast on Thursday.

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"I think the PGA will stay at Palmer Coolum Resort ... I'm pretty confident there's not a better place in Australia to have the PGA," he said.

"It's got all the facilities. It's got international standing and, as we know, the players love it.

"The PGA is the Professional Golfers' Association so if the players love it, the ayes have got the number.

"I'm sure it's going to stay there."

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What will definitely be staying regardless of where the PGA is hosted is Palmer's controversial animatronic dinosaur - a lifesize Tyrannosaurus Rex called Jeff.

The large model, the first of several dinosaur replicas Palmer plans to install, moves and growls and has caused much debate in the build up to this week's tournament.

Large signs dedicated to assassinated US president John F Kennedy as well as promoting Palmer's Titanic II project have also caused a stir.

But Palmer says golfers, signs and dinosaurs will come together in harmony for next year's event.

"I don't think the PGA is annoyed," Palmer said.

"I think they love it. They love the media attention. They love how the brand's being sent around the world.

"I'm sure the board is very happy with what's happening at Palmer Coolum Resort, so happy they want to come back next year and we want to have them."

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