Football: Flo finish seals furious battle

RUPERT MURDOCH'S bid to take over Manchester United is being opposed by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers' Association.

The Premier League is formulating a submission to the Office of Fair Trading outlining its fears about the pounds 625m BSkyB offer. It is unhappy that the takeover would make United a "superclub" and ruin the level of competition in the Premiership. And with Murdoch having a team at the negotiating table when the next television contract is discussed, they argue it could create a conflict of interest.

The PFA is supporting the Premier League and will outline a similar case to the OFT before the end of the month. Discussions have gone on between the two bodies over the past few days as they mount an opposition strategy. The Premier League is aware that it could be swept away if the bid goes through, and other TV companies buy up the elite clubs.

Tottenham Hotspur denied yesterday that they were still trying to prise George Graham away from Leeds United. "It is true that we did make an approach for permission to speak to George Graham, but our approach was denied," a spokesman said. "All references in today's papers are fictitious." The club also denied an interest in signing David Batty, the Newcastle and England midfielder.

Aston Villa's manager, John Gregory, is to renew his attempts to sign the Manchester United striker, Andy Cole, with a bid of around pounds 10m.

The Sunderland goalkeeper Tony Coton has joined the coaching staff at Manchester United, one of his former clubs. Coton has not played since breaking a leg two years ago and has been suspended from his duties as reserve team coach at the Stadium of Light. He has initiated high court proceedings against Sunderland, claiming negligence and breach of contract. He is suing the club for pounds 500,000, alleging that the club failed to arrange suitable disability cover.

Neil Shipperley has completed his pounds 1.5m move from Crystal Palace to Nottingham Forest and could be in contention for Saturday's match at Newcastle United. Forest are thought to be planning to offer Bolton pounds 1.5m for their their Icelandic attacking midfielder, Arnar Gunnlaugsson, but the First Division club have offerd him a new contract in the hope of keeping him.

Celtic have signed Norwegian international Vidar Riseth from Austrian club Lask Linz on a four-year contract for an unspecified fee, believed to be about pounds 1.5m. The 26-year-old midfielder played in all of his country's matches in the World Cup in France this summer and has been capped 10 times in all.

Mark Bosnich has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over alleged remarks to spectators. The Aston Villa goalkeeper's comments at the game between Everton and Villa were included in a police report of the incident on 15 August.

Another goalkeeper, Alan Knight of Portsmouth, has also been charged with misconduct following comments made to referee Roger Furnandiz after the Worthington Cup tie against Plymouth on 11 August.

Sheffield United and Swindon Town will face charges of failing to control their players after a brawl on the pitch on the opening day of the Nationwide League season.

Despite having decamped to the United States, the former Rangers defender, Richard Gough, has been fined pounds 500 by the Scottish FA for comments made after he was sent off against Hearts in February.

TORE ANDRE FLO was on the pitch for only 11 minutes last night, but you could not call it a cameo role. The Norwegian scored twice to decide a tempestuous match that was a fast and furious cocktail of the exciting and the ugly.

With 10 minutes remaining Blackburn were ahead for the first time in the game and their second win of the season appeared likely. Instead, Flo came off the substitutes' bench with deadly effect, scoring twice in the last eight minutes.

Both sides could have won and both finished with 10 men after Graeme Le Saux and Sebastien Perez were sent off after an unsavoury scuffle. Television evidence, it should be said, confirmed that the former was the more guilty.

Blackburn certainly felt aggrieved by Perez's dismissal and the winning goal, which they thought was offside. "If this was Old Trafford, Arsenal or Stamford Bridge the referee wouldn't have got out of the ground," Roy Hodgson, the Blackburn manager, said. "But we don't have lynch mobs here, we're nice people."

The climax was an explosion of action, but you could not say it was wholly unexpected because the balance of the game lurched violently from one side of the pitch to the other.

The scoring began after 14 minutes when Pierluigi Casiraghi was barged down by Christian Dailly 25 yards out and you could envisage where the ball would go even as Gianfranco Zola lined up his sights. Tim Flowers could only watch with alarm as a right-foot shot curled into the top corner.

Seven minutes later it was almost 2-0 as Zola and Casiraghi carved through the Blackburn defence with a delightful one-two. Zola beat Flowers with outrageous ease but as the ball skimmed towards the net Callum Davidson slid in to clear.

That seemed likely to be only a temporary halt to Chelsea's domination, instead it inspired a Blackburn revival. A long pass was headed goalwards by Jason Wilcox but what made space in the visiting area was an athletic lunge and pass from Dahlin. Sutton, 12 yards out, turned to manouevre away from Le Saux and then shot low into the far corner.

The first half proved to be merely a quiet prelude to the second as incident was piled on top of controversy. Gustavo Poyet flicked a pass after 50 minutes to the electric Zola, who skipped past Flowers and Blackburn would argue he had knocked the ball too far when he was brought to the floor by the goalkeeper's diving body. Peter Jones, the referee, thought otherwise and Franck Leboeuf converted the penalty.

Again Blackburn countered just as Chelsea felt they were slipping away from their clutches, the second equaliser coming within seven minutes this time. Gary Flitcroft challenged for a header on the edge of the area and when the outcome was inconclusive, reacted sharply to flick the ball into the six-yard box, where Perez volleyed past De Goey.

That proved to be the Frenchman's last positive act because he was dismissed soon afterwards. He and Le Saux were involved in some shirt pulling that finished when the Chelsea defender hit his opponent with a right uppercut. Le Saux had to be sent off but Perez was unfortunate to go with him.

Their dismissal created space and at first it seemed Blackburn would use it better when Dahlin was tripped by Duberry and Sutton scored with a penalty after 79 minutes.

Two minutes earlier Flo had entered the game and his arrival was the key one. After 82 minutes he stretched out a leg to push Brian Laudrup's cross beyond Flowers and four minutes later he was suspiciously clear of the Blackburn back four when Albert Ferrer's long pass found him. But the raised flag did not follow and he found the corner of Flowers' net.

"It's not difficult to make substitutions when you have so many good players on the bench," Gianluca Vialli, Chel-sea's player-manager, said.

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Flowers; Dailly, Henchoz, Peacock, Davidson; Perez, Sherwood, Flitcroft, Wilcox (McKinlay, 79); Sutton, Dahlin. Substitutes not used: Kenna, Johnson, Dunn, Filan (gk).

Chelsea (4-4-1-1): De Goey; Ferrer, Duberry, Leboeuf, Le Saux; Poyet, Desailly, Wise (Di Matteo, 54), Babayaro; Zola (Laudrup, 70); Casiraghi (Flo, 77). Substitutes not used: Lambourde, Hitchcock (gk).

Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).