Finally, though, Kitson held the ball tight in his possession and roughly turned Des Walker to open up a shooting opportunity from some 20 yards. Admittedly the ball deflected cruelly in front of Pressman, but the shot was sufficiently well struck to warrant the goal.In reality, Wednesday’s inability to relieve the long second-half pressure imposed upon them suggested that their recent revival had been founded as much on adrenalin as any particular art of Atkinson’s.Obviously they are harder to beat but then West Ham, despite that result against Derby, are a team thriving on attack and Hartson, who was again denied by Pressman in the final moments, will clearly add many more to his 22 goals in 33 games.. Middlesbrough 4

Hignett 77, 90, Beck 79, 84
Reading 0Attendance: 29,876Options Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto were of little concern on Teesside terra firma yesterday. Middlesbrough were simply over the moon to pull clear at the top of the First Division.

They have no intention of sticking around to discover whether the out-of-this-world restructuring proposals mooted by the Football League’s chairmen will take effect.This coming week happens to mark the anniversary of Middlesbrough’s attempt to improvise the Premier League rules, by failing to show at Ewood Park. The subsequent deduction of three points ultimately cost Boro relegation and one of their season-ticket holders is taking the Premier League to the small claims court, claiming he has been unjustly deprived of first-class football. Middlesbrough, though, are busy gathering enough points to guarantee their instant return to where they and their followers believe they rightfully belong.The three points Bryan Robson’s side collected yesterday took their running total for the season to 45. In doing so, they moved three points clear of Nottingham Forest, who play at Wolves today, and extended their unbeaten run to 10 matches.

The manner in which Robson’s Boro boys gained their win was significant too. They did not exactly pull up any trees against the men from Elm Park, but they dug deep for a hard-earned victory on their cut-up home turf.It took 77 minutes for Craig Hignett to break through, with a blasting right-foot drive from 20 yards. Some 506 Boro fans have sent Christmas cards to Emerson urging the Brazilian not to join Tenerife, but they would have greater cause to suffer from parrot-sickness if the inestimable Hignett were to move on. The one-time Anfield apprentice burst through the middle to complete the scoring in the final minute and his midfield dynamism kept Boro driving from the first whistle to the last.Mikkel Beck scored two of his own, his second goal courtesy of Jaime Moreno, whose 70th-minute introduction provided attacking momentum when they needed it most. Having shot Washington DC United to the Major League Soccer title in the United States, the on-loan Bolivian is clearly well equipped to help Boro back into English football’s major league.. Two defeats in the preceding week had clearly shaken Sheffield United’s confidence for the visit of Swindon Town to Bramall Lane, but Dean Saunders, signed from Nottingham Forest less than two weeks ago, grabbed a late winner to lift the Blades up to third in the Nationwide First Division. The Robins took an early lead when George Ndah and Stephen Finney took advantage of Michel Vonk’s hesitancy in the Sheffield defence and Finney calmly beat Alan Kelly.
The hosts equalised on the stroke of half-time when Brian Deane headed back across goal for David Holdsworth to fire in from close range.

With nine minutes left, another Deane lay-back left Saunders to score with a low drive “I’m relieved to get off the mark,” he said “Hopefully I can now get on a run. I’m happy to be in team that’s going the right way.”"We played some good stuff in the second half,” Saunders’ new manager, Nigel Spackman, said. “At least we are creating chances.” The win took the Blades above West Brom who lost 2-0 at Sunderland, the Wearsiders’ 11th consecutive game without defeat.”We have now lost away to the three relegated clubs and I think it is ominous that they have all made their moves,” Richie Barker, Albion’s caretaker manager, said. But he could shed no light on whether he’ll be West Brom’s next manager “I was asked to take over the football affairs. I am happy to do that and I will think about it if I am asked.”Stockport kept up their good home form with a 3-1 win over Tranmere, for whom their player-manager John Aldridge, 39, scored. But County maintained the unbeaten home run, which stretches back to February, with goals by Chris Byrne, Kevin Cooper and Brett Angell’s 15th strike of the season.An injury-time brawl at the end of the match between Bradford City and Bury will see both clubs reported to the FA.

“Peter Swan was sent off for deliberately kicking the ball at a Bradford player who was on the floor at the time,” the overworked referee, Graham Frankland, said. “Edinho was sent off for the retaliation to that and he also threw a punch at a player.” Both clubs will be reported to the FA for the general melee around the dugout area. Oh, and Bradford won the match 1-0.Finally, congratulations to Fraserburgh of the Highland League who beat Clyde of the Scottish Second Division 1-0 in the first round of the Tennents Cup despite being reduced to 10 men with 82 minutes still to play Fortunately, they had scored a minute before.. Celtic 1

Burley 80
Heart Of Midlothian 0Attendance: 50,035The spotlight may have fallen on Harald Brattbakk, but Craig Burley stole the prolific Norwegian striker’s thunder with the vital goal which dented Hearts’ lead in the Premier League and breathed new life into Celtic’s own title challenge.Burley struck with wonderful composure in the 80th minute, controlling Henrik Larsson’s cross with his chest and burying his shot past the Hearts keeper, Gilles Rousset.