Dan Evans

Last Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the celebrations that greeted Harry Kane’s decisive 15th-minute goal against Manchester City took on an added level of importance.

Hampton and Richmond Borough winger Brandon Barzey speaks to The Sports Gazette about the challenge of playing semi-professional football in the National League South while also appearing alongside Premier League players for the Montserrat national team.

Despite spending the majority of the last 40 years away from his native Leicester, there are some aspects of travelling that Colin Bell is still getting used to.

As the snow continues to fall and temperatures remain close to freezing at Reading’s Bearwood Park training ground, the weather seems more late winter than early spring on this particular mid-March morning. Diane Caldwell is used to the cold. The versatile Republic of Ireland international spent five seasons playing across Iceland and Norway as part of a career that has taken her from the east coast of Ireland to the state of New York before eventually bringing her to Berkshire last summer.

Nobody ever wants their club to become ‘that kind of club’, but orthodoxy in football now dictates that replacing one manager with another is the easiest way to encourage an upturn in fortunes. That is what happened when Dean Holden stepped in as Charlton boss, initially on a non-committal six-month contract in December 2022. Charlton won three of their next five games, pulled away from the threat of an unthinkable relegation to League Two and duly offered Holden a three-year deal in March.

Rather than go out kicking and screaming, raging against the dying of the Allianz Premier 15’s light, there was acceptance, even joy, at Twyford Avenue as Wasps’ time in the topflight of women’s rugby came to an end on Saturday after 38 years.

Nights like these are where good teams become great ones and heroes become legends. Where circumstance and adversity draw the best out of some and cause others to crumble. Champions League tie in the balance. Emirates floodlights shining brightly enough to show who really wants to make a rainy night in north London their own.

The Sports Gazette caught up with the Lebanese rugby league squad ahead of their World Cup quarterfinal against Australia on Friday. They spoke about hybrid nationalities, singing the anthem like you mean it and growing the game in Lebanon.

Chelsea favourite Mark Hughes paid tribute to former Stamford Bridge team-mate Gianluca Vialli following the Italian’s passing late last week.