38 39 SPORT SPORT Western Mail Wednesday, 27 October Western Mail Wednesday, 27 October 2010

CARLING CUP
Mowbray returns home with a mission to lift Boro back to top Uefa are turning to the courts over corruption claims
Tony Mowbray
Martinez has last word
as Wigan put an end to
Swans big Carling dream
Tim Lewis
at DW Stadium
WIGANATH
2
BOSELLI 52
WATSON 90 (pen)
SWANSEACITY
0
Al Habsi, Stam, G Caldwell, Alcaraz,
Figueroa, Moses, Watson, Thomas, Diame,
Gomez (NZogbia 66), Boselli (Di Santo
78).
Substitutes not used: Kirkland, Caldwell,
McArthur, De Ridder,Rodallega
Ma-kalambay, Taylor, Tate, Serran (Monk
18), Rangel, Emnes, Agustien, Pratley,
Cotterill, Van Der Gun, Beattie (Dobbie 62)
Substitutes not used: De Vries,
Dyer,Sinclair, Allen
Attendance: 11,705
Referee: Kevin Friend (Leicestershire)
R
OBERTO Mar-
tinez showed
there is no
room for senti-
ment in foot-
ball, ending
Swansea Citys Carling Cup
dream as they were ready to
make history.
Brendan Rodgers was look-
ing to guide Swansea into the
quarter-finals of the League Cup
for the first time in the clubs
long history, but, after three
excellent performances in pre-
vious rounds, they were cut
down by their former boss Mar-
tinez.
Once loved by the Swansea
faithful, the Spaniards sudden
departure 16 months ago still
felt very rawat the DWStadium
last night, but it was Martinez
who walked away from the en-
counter with a smile on his
face.
Swansea had more than held
their own against the Premier
League side Martinez had
dumped them for, dominating
large spells of the first half, but
eventually the quality of Wigans
multi-million pound side shone
through against their Champi-
onship opponents.
Martinez admitted in the
build-up he expected to be
jeered by some Swansea sup-
porters still hurting about his
departure from the Liberty and
as the game kicked off the ma-
jority of the 4,500 travelling fans
were venting their anger at the
Spaniard.
The abuse continuedfor most
of the first half, but the former
Swansea favourite seemed un-
affected by the chants.
Martinez made five changes
from the team which drew 1-1
with Bolton Wanderers at the
weekend, but it remained a
strong Wigan side which in-
cluded former Swansea loan
star Jordi Gomez in attack.
Swanseas Championship
form had been hurt by the loss
of key players like Scott Sinclair
to injury after the Carling Cup
third-round tie with Peterbor-
ough and, with that in mind,
Brendan Rodgers made eight
changes from the side who beat
Leicester City on Saturday.
Alan Tate, Angel Rangel and
Darren Pratley were the only
three to keep their places with
first starts of the season for
Kemy Agustien and Craig Beat-
tie.
Ex-Celtic forward Beattie al-
most gave the Swans a dream
opening on nine minutes, but
had his goal ruled out for off-
side.
Beattie was furious with the
official, but, without the benefit
of a television replay, it looked
too close to call.
Wigans back four went miss-
ing as Pratley slid a ball through
to Cedric van der Gun, but the
Dutchman didnt look confident
to finish the move himself and
passed to Beattie.
He put the ball in under pres-
sure fromGary Caldwell but the
linesman said the ball from van
der Gun had gone forward.
Both Rodgers and Martinez
are building their reputations as
managers who want open and
expansive football from their
players and it was making for a
frantic opening half hour to the
tie.
Pratley, linked with a possible
reunion with Martinez at Wigan
in the summer, burst clear on 20
minutes, but his driven cross
was cut out before it reached
Beattie.
Wigans Gomez, who scored
15 goals in his last full season at
the Swans, wasted a couple of
free-kicks in the first half and
was restricted to shooting from
long range.
The home sides best chance
came on 30 minutes when Ben
Watson got free at the edge of
the Swanseas boxandplayedin
Mauro Boselli, but the forward
wanted too much time to get his
shot awayandMakalambaywas
able to clear with his leg.
Swansea were looking dan-
gerous on the break, but were
being allowed far too much
space to work by the Wigan
back four.
Pratley and Agustien com-
bined well after an interception
by Angel Rangel, but Maynor
Figueroa crowed the midfielder
out and the chance was gone.
Rodgers had lost Albert Ser-
ran to injury in the first half and
was then dealt another blow
whenAgustienwas forcedoff at
the break, with Andrea Orlandi
coming on in his place.
Agustien had been giving the
Swans plenty of bite in the
middle and with him off the
pitch it only took Wigan seven
minutes to take advantage of
the change.
Paraguay international Ant-
olinAlcaraz playedthe ball from
the back and it ran through to
Wigans record 6.5m signing
Mauro Boselli, who calmly
rounded Makalambay before
producing a smart side-foot fin-
ish.
It was the Argentineans first
goal in English football since his
move from Estudiantes in June
and he should have doubled his
tally fir the home side five
minutes later.
Goalkeeper Makalamaby got
nowhere near a Ben Watson
corner from the right, but the
striker could only head over
with the goal gaping.
Wigan were at last starting to
move the ball about like a
Premier League side and
Swansea were under sustained
pressure for the first time in the
game.
First Figueroa stung the fin-
gers of Makalambay from 30
yards when the ball dropped to
him from a free-kick then
Boselli had the Swans stopper
scrambling, trying his luck from
40 yards.
With nothing to lose Swansea
were pushing on for an equal-
iser, but it left them looking
slightly exposed at the back and
if Victor Moses had been more
accurate with his pass to Boselli
on 73 minutes they could have
sealed the game with time to
spare.
When they eventually did get
the second it came in the very
final seconds of the match.
Substitute Charles NZogbia
hit Swansea on the break and
when he entered the Swansea
box he was brought down by a
stray leg from Rangel.
Ben Watson stepped up to
take the resulting penalty and
drilled it low into the bottom
left-hand corner of the goal to
compound Swanseas misery.
TONY MOWBRAY has set his
sights on steering boyhood club
Middlesbrough back into the
Barclays Premier League after
being unveiled as their new
manager.
Mowbray, who was born in
nearby Saltburn and captained
Boro during a successful
10-year spell between 1981 and
1991, succeeds Gordon
Strachan after he resigned from
his post at the Riverside last
Monday.
Strachan quit with the club
20th in the npower Champi-
onship their lowest league
position for 20 years while
successive 1-0 defeats at Not-
tingham Forest and Norwich
have since seen them slip to
third from bottom.
Their disappointing start to
the campaign comes after last
seasons unimpressive
11th-placedfinishonthebackof
their relegation from the top
flight in 2008-09.
Mowbray, the former Celtic,
West Brom and Hibernian man-
ager, has now been charged
with the task of turning his
hometown club around in the
same way he did during his
inspirational playing days at
Ayresome Park.
He guided Boro from liquid-
ation to successive promotions
from the old Division Three to
the top tier in English football,
making 424 appearances before
being sold to Celtic for 1m.
Mowbray who will be as-
sisted by Mark Venus, also his
right-hand man during his spells
at Easter Road, The Hawthorns
and Celtic Park told Sky
Sports News: Since I was six or
seven I have been a Middles-
brough fan and I used to come
and stand on the terraces with
mydadsowhentheopportunity
arose and a few things got
ironed out it didnt take me a
moments thought.
This is a club I have been
passionate about all my life and
I now have an opportunity to
manage them and try to steer
themback to where we all want
to be.
Everybody involved in the
club wants to go back to the
Premier League, everyone
wants to manage in the Premier
League and play in the Premier
League, supporters want to
watch their team play against
some of the best players in the
world.
UEFAhave announcedthey will
initiate legal proceedings
against the former Cyprus
Football Federation official
who has claimed to have
evidence of corruption
surrounding the appointment of
Poland and Ukraine as Euro
2012 hosts.
Spyros Marangos, who left
the CFA in 2007, made the al-
legations in German newspaper
Suddeutsche Zeitung.
Uefa said the claims were
unsubstantiated and demanded
Marangos provide evidence to
support his allegations.
According to Uefa, Marangos
is yet to provide them with
those details and has refused to
attend a meeting arranged for
today.
As a result the governing
body yesterday released a state-
ment stating they will pursue
legal action to protect the in-
tegrity of European football.
The statement read: Follow-
ing the release of the statement
yesterday requesting informa-
tiontosupport theallegations of
corruption regarding the attri-
bution of the Uefa Euro 2012 to
Poland and Ukraine in 2007,
Uefa is disappointed to notice
that, and in spite of requests, it
has until today still not received
any tangible element to support
the allegations.
Mr Spyros Marangos, re-
sponsible for these allegations,
has refused to meet an official
delegation of Uefa tomorrow,
comprising an independent dis-
ciplinary inspector.
Uefa reiterates that in the
interest of protecting the in-
tegrity of European football it is
ready and willing to open a
relevant disciplinary investiga-
tion, on the basis of any element
of proof that wouldjustify doing
so, but not on the basis of
rumours or allegations that may
also be defamatory.
The statement added: Uefa
therefore has nooptionnowbut
to open legal proceedings
against Mr Marangos, as it is the
only way in which to make
public any evidence Mr
Marangos may have regarding
this alleged case.
The allegations are the latest
claims to rock football follow-
ing the Sunday Times report on
two Fifa executive committee
members who are alleged to
have asked for money in return
for World Cup votes.
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Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers greets Wigans former Swan
Roberto Martinez ahead of last nights tie
Swansea
Citys Cedric
Van Der Gun,
right, is tackled
by Wigans
Hendry
Thomas during
last nights
Carling Cup
clash at DW
Stadium
PICTURE: Huw
Evans Agency