Italy 1 Ireland 0: Noel King last night hailed the courage of his Ireland U21 players after they succumbed to a second-half winner against 10-man Italy in Vicenza.

Ireland maintained a 100% record in their Uefa U21 qualifiers last night as a pair of early goals killed off Andorra on their home patch.

The final day of the Championship brought contrasting emotions for the Irish as the title and the identity of the last two teams to reach the play-offs was decided.

England 4 Lithuania 0 

Cambridge chairman Dave Doggett plans to invest the expected £1.5m windfall from their FA Cup fourth-round replay at Manchester United on the League Two club’s own stadium.

Clinton Morrison has backed the Republic of Ireland to book a ticket to Euro 2016 in France.

Harry Arter marked his 25th birthday in style by scoring for the fifth successive league game as Bournemouth beat Millwall 2-0 to move four points clear at the top of the Championship.

Norway 4 Ireland 1

Steve McClaren hailed Jeff Hendrick as a player who has "everything" after the Republic of Ireland international struck a late winner to hand Derby a 1-0 victory over Rotherham on the opening day of the Championship season.

Arsenal have confirmed they are investigating “as a matter of urgency” whether academy coach Mark Arber bet on the signing of Mesut Ozil.

A certain pressure lifted, for sure, but might it just have felt a hint of loneliness this morning, our old friend The Fixtures Computer, as it prepared to spit out the first Premier League schedule of the post-Fergie era? Nobody took greater interest in its work than Fergie. Nobody was better able to detect malice in its algorithms or parse a conspiracy out of its sequences.

He could potentially be sacked by the time the transfer window closes if comments from the club’s global adviser are to be believed but Blackburn manager Steve Kean is on the lookout for a new striker and is looking for players close to these shores.

The cold snap continued to wreak further havoc to the British sporting calendar today after the npower Championship clash between Peterborough and West Ham was postponed.

MARK HUGHES marked his home debut as QPR boss with a win as the Premier League side edged past MK Dons 1-0 in their FA Cup third-round replay last night.

Millwall 5 Dagenham & Redbridge 0

Barclays Premier League top two Manchester City and Manchester United will meet in a mouth-watering FA Cup third-round tie.

Manchester City and Manchester United will face off in the third round of the FA Cup after today's draw.

MANCHESTER UNITED avoided further humiliation after their derby drubbing as they breezed through last night’s Carling Cup fourth round clash at Aldershot, winning 3-0.

Emile Sinclair scored twice as League Two minnows Macclesfield topped the bill on a night of Carling Cup upsets with a 2-0 win over npower Championship Hull at the KC Stadium tonight.

CRAIG BELLAMY set Cardiff on their way to reclaiming the second automatic promotion place in the Championship as rivals Swansea and Norwich both drew last night.

Today’s Barclays Premier League matches at Wigan and Liverpool have both fallen foul of the weather, the clubs have confirmed.

English Football League clubs paid out £12.7m (€15.4m) in agents’ fees last season – a rise of £3.9m (€4.7m) from the previous year.

Sheffield Wednesday started their npower League One campaign with a 2-0 victory over Dagenham & Redbridge.

JON NURSE’S scrambled goal gave Dagenham & Redbridge a remarkable promotion and victory in a pulsating Coca-Cola League Two play-off final at Wembley yesterday.

The cold snap continued to bite in the UK this afternoon as a raft of sporting fixtures fell prey to the sub-zero conditions sweeping the country.

Blizzards and plummeting temperatures across the UK have already claimed a number of the weekend’s sporting fixtures with more set to follow later in the day.

Leeds United face an away tie against Oldham Athletic in the first round of the FA Cup.

KEVIN KILBANE has backed Steve Staunton to resurrect his management career at League Two basement club Darlington.

Champions Wolves dominate the Coca-Cola Championship Team of the Year which has been announced at last night’s PFA Awards.

A LAST-GASP goal from Craig Mackail-Smith gave Peterborough a 1-0 win over Ryman Premier side AFC Hornchurch in the first round of the FA Cup yesterday.

Leeds have been handed a home clash against fellow Coca-Cola League One outfit Northampton following the draw for the first round of the FA Cup.

Stoke 2 Reading 2 (AET, Stoke win 4-3 on penalties)

MICHAEL KIGHTLY marked his first start in five months with a goal as Wolves gained ground in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off hunt at Molineux and ended Cardiff’s own lingering promotion hopes.

MANCHESTER UNITED will have to conquer a familiar foe if they hope to erase the memory of their FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea last season.

Manchester United will again travel to Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.

Dublin City manager Roddy Collins has former Northern Ireland international Keith Rowlands and West Ham United's Shaun Byrne set to make their debuts tonight as the Vikings' travel to Leeside to take on Cork City in the eircom League (7.45pm).

Dublin City Manager Roddy Collins has signed West Ham's Shaun Byrne and former Northern Ireland international Keith Rowlands.

Quinten Hann took a points decision over bitter rival Mark King in snooker’s brawl at York Hall, Bethnal Green, tonight.