Q.P.R. slip from soccer lead

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34131, 19 April 1976, Page 3

Q.P.R. slip from soccer lead

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON. Liverpool. defeating Stoke City 5-3. took over top spot in the first division of the English Foot- j ball League on Saturday I as the former leaders i Queen’s Park Rangers! slid to a 3-2 defeat at Norwich. Rangers’ defeat. which ended a spell in which they ! dropped only one point in 12 successive matches, has thrown the championship race wide open. Liverpool now lead the table with 56 points from 40 matches with Rangers a point behind. Manchester United, who beat Everton 2-1 today, are on 52 points with two matches in hand. Derby County’s hopes faded when they dropped a home point today, drawing 2-2 with Leicester City. They have 51 points from 39 games. At the bottom of the table, Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers now look the clubs most likely to accompany Sheffield United

into the second division next;! season. ; Birmingham City took a : big stride towards safety! with a 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur and now have! 32 points to 28 apiece for < Burnley and Wolves. ; Liverpool came back to I jbeat Stoke handsomely after' ITerry Conroy had given | their rivals the lead in thej thirty-first minute. Queen’s! i Park Rangers were a goal j down to Norwich after 26; minutes, and though they! ’equalised in the sixty-sixth minute, Norwich goals by| Peter Morris in the sixty-! ; sixth minute and Phil Boyer; ! 10 minutes later set thei i league leaders a task which! they could not achieve. The teenage substituted David McCreery, scored a! sixty-ninth minute winning! goal for Manchester United! against Everton before the! biggest league crowd of the! season, 61,879. George Telferj headed Everton into the lead! in the twentieth minute, but! Ken McNaught put through his own goal for a Manches-! ter United equaliser before McCreery cracked in their; winner from 20 yards. The former England stri-: iker, Francis Lee, scored both;

Derby County’s goals! igainst a more inventive and spirited Leicester City team; ,vho were well worth their; jraw. Brian Alderson and; Chris Garland were the Lei-1 :ester scorers. The draw dropped Derby! to fifth place in the table, oehind Leeds United, who took over fourth spot on goal average with a 2-1 win aver Manchester City. Leeds scored their two goals in two minutes in the second half after trailing at the interval. David McNiven, a 21-year-old Scot playing in his first league game, crashed in a tremendous shot in the sixty-second minute and Carl Harris got the winner two minutes later. West Ham United, who are through to the final of the European Cup-winners’ Cup, snatched a 2-2 home draw against Aston Villa with a goal by Tevor Brooking 90 seconds from the end. Up to then Villa looked headed for their first away league win of the season. ENGLISH LEAGUE Division one.—Arsenal 1. Ipswich 2; Birmingham City 3. Tottenham Hotspur 1; Coventry 3. Wolverhampton I; Derby 2. Leicester 2; Leeds United 2,

Manchester City 1; Liverpool 5,i. Stoke 3; Manchester United 2. i Everton 1; Middlebrough 3.> Sheffield 0; Newcastle 0. Burnley:; 1; Norwich 3. Queen’s Park J Rangers 2; West Ham 2. Aston Villa 2. Division two.—Blackburn 4, York 0; Blackpool 2, Carlisle United 1; Bolton Wanderers 4, Oldham 0; Bristol Rovers 2. Southampton 0; Chelsea 0, Orient 2; Hull 1, Sunderland 4. Notts 4. Fulham 0; Oxford 1. Luton 3; Portsmouth 2, Charlton 2; West Bromwich Albion 2, Nottingham Forest 0. Division three.—Aidershot 1, Brighton and Hove Albion 1; ' Cardiff 0, Swindon 0; Chestei 1. Wrexham 3; Chesterfield 1,1 Mansfield 2; Colchester 2,i Southend United 1: Gillingham 1, Crystal Palace 2: Mill wall 2. Peterborough 0; Port Vale 1,1 Halifax 1: Rotherham United 3.' Grimsby 0; Sheffield Wednesday 1. Bury 0; Shrewsbury 1, Preston. North End 0; Walsall 0. Hereford United 0. Division four.—Bournemouth o.' Torquay 0; Brenford 5. Exeter, 1; Crew Alexandra 4. Newport 0; Lincoln 5, Doncaster Roversj 0; Northampton Town 5, Hartlepool 2; Rochdale 0, Barnsley 0: Scunthorpe United 2, Bradford I 0; Southport 2, Stockport 0; | Tranmere 3, Huddersfield 0; Watford 2, Swansea 1; Workington 0, Darlington 0. SCOTTISH SPRING CUP Quarter-final, first leg.—Raith Rovers 2, Dumbarton 2. Quarter-final, second legs.— Airdrieonians 3, Dunfermline Athletic 0 (aggregate score 5-4);; Albion Rovers 2, Clydebank 0, (aggregate 3-41; Alloa 1, St Mirren 4 (aggregate 1-71; East; Fife 2, Partick Thistle 0 (aggre-i

I gate 2-1); Falkirk 2. Arbroath 0, i (aggregate 3-2); Hamilton Academicals 6. Montrose 3 (aggie j gate 6-3); Queens Park 2, Morton* 3 (aggregate 3-4). SCOTTISH DIVISION TWO Brechin City 0. Stranraer 4:; Cowdenbeath 2. Stirling Albion 1.! Results of matches played on Wednesday were.— ENGLISH LEAGUE Division one.—Leeds United 0.1 Sheffield United 1; Newcastle ■United 2. Manchester City 1. Division two.—West Bromwich! iAlbion 3, Fulham 1. I Division three.—Aidershot 0. !Swindon 1; Cardiff 2. Hereford 0. j Division four.—Crewe Alexandra 0, Huddersfield 2; Tran’mere Rovers 3, Newport 1. SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE ! Aberdeen 0. Rangers 0; A> r : United 1, Dundee United 0;! Dundee 1, Hibernian 1; Motherswell 2. St Johnstone 0. SCOTTISH CUP Quarter-final, first legs.— (Arbroath 2, Falkirk 1; Clydebank i 4, Albion Rovers 1: Dunfermline; Athletic 4. Airdrieonians 2: Mont-; rose 3, Hamilton Academicals 1; Morton 1, Queen Park 1: Patrick! IThistle 1, East Fife 0; St Mirren 13, Alloa 0. SCOTTISH CUP Semi-final replay.—Dumbarton 0, Hearts 3. (Hearts now meet Rangers in the final on May 1 at Archery.—The New Zealand : champion, Gary Price, emerged ;.a clear-cut winner in the Aus-' l.tralian national archery chamJ pionships in Brisbane. but because he is not an Australian, •the could not claim the title.