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Stuart Rayner

United are virgin on return to top

”TROPHY virgins” mocked the Middlesbrough banner.Read

Hartlepool United 2 Leeds United 2

IN recent seasons Hartlepool United have made a bad habit of playing well and losing to Leeds United.Read

Middlesbrough 0 Bristol City 0

MIDDLESBROUGH manager Gordon Strachan said this week that three months into the job, he was still striving to implement his “vision” of how he would like the Teessiders to play.Read

Strachan praises Boro enthusiasm

GORDON Strachan praised the energy and enthusiasm of his reshaped side, but felt their work is not getting its just reward at the moment.Read

Reggie Jackson seeks capital show

REGGIE Jackson knows if he does not meet player-coach Fabulous Flournoy’s high standards in London today he could go from All Action to Inaction Jackson.Read

Figure skating: Matt figures he is ready for big test

THE biggest day of Matt Parr’s sporting career so far came in a courtroom and ended in defeat. His most important competition was ruined by nerves.Read

Strachan pulling in favour from old club to strengthen squad

GORDON STRACHAN wants to sign half a team for Middlesbrough in the January transfer window – despite having little or no funds to play with.Read

Bruce can open a new chapter of Cats success

THE author of a new book on Sunderland’s last piece of major silverware is hoping the Black Cats’ barren spell can come to an end in May.Read

Barnsley 2 Newcastle United 2

EVEN if they emulate Kevin Keegan’s title-winning team of 1992-93, Chris Hughton’s Newcastle United will never be thought of as affectionately as The Entertainers.Read

Criticism is easier to take now: Strachan

THE longer Gordon Strachan has been a manager, the easier he has found it to block out the criticism which comes with his job.Read

Rhys: I’m not expecting the Welsh fans to welcome me!

RHYS Williams can expect a fair bit of stick when Cardiff City’s fans come to the Riverside today after choosing to become Middlesbrough’s latest Australia international.Read

Kevin Mitchell boxes clever to defeat Prescott

KEVIN MITCHELL set himself up for a shot at world glory with a points victory in last night’s WBO eliminator in Newcastle.Read

Amir Khan storms to first-round win

AMIR KHAN made a hugely successful first defence of his WBA light-welterweight title with a first-round blow-out victory against unbeaten Dmitriy Salita in Newcastle last night.Read

Hartlepool 3 Millwall 0

CHRIS Turner said at the start of this week his team would travel to Carlisle “confident” because they had lost their previous two games.Read

Michael: I will stay in the hunt

MICHAEL HUNTER will fight on despite suffering only the second defeat of his career.Read

Evans is flying high despite slow progress

TALKING to Luke Evans about cricket is like speaking to a veteran trapped in a young man’s body. A very big body.Read

Durham can’t go out with a bang

TONIGHT Durham head to Ireland on a mission to drink Dublin dry, but yesterday they were handed a sobering experience by the weakest team in this year’s County Championship Division One.Read

Champions won’t be resting on their laurels

THE trouble with scaling the heights is that when you reach them, suddenly there’s nowhere else to go.Read

Stoke City 1 Sunderland 0

SUNDERLAND’S new-look team came up against a side littered with players not deemed good enough for the Stadium of Light but their early style was quickly overwhelmed by Stoke City’s substance.Read

Ice Hockey: Robinson will be Vipers’ new hero

ICE hockey returns to Newcastle Arena for the first time in five months today with coach Rob Wilson warning the place will be haunted.Read

Author Profile

Stuart Rayner is a sports writer who covers a wide range of sports in the North East. Before heading to the region in February 2005, he worked for the Liverpool Echo.