Sport

England maul North Macedonia 7-0 at Old Trafford to sign off the season in style

Absolute demolition.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 19th June 2023

England tied off the 2022/23 season in fine fashion by smashing North Macedonia 7-0 in their Euro 2024 qualifier at Old Trafford on Monday evening.

Gareth Southgate‘s side came into the fixture with a 100% record in their Euros qualifying campaign and with England never having lost a game against their opposition and neither of those things changed by ended the night either.

Nevertheless, their performance against the no.65 ranked team who finished level on points in Group C with reigning European champions Italy was more of a mauling than anything, putting North Macedonia to the sword and then some.

While it took the home team around half an hour to open the scoring but once they did the floodgates completely burst and the group leaders were unstoppable.

After the first England goal went in, North Macedonia didn’t stand a chance.

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With finishes from our very own Marcus Rashford, who was arguably the biggest threat in the opening 45, a first international goal from Man City’s Kalvin Phillips, two from captain Harry Kane (now six in six) and a first-ever career hat-trick from man of the match, Buyako Saka, they showed no mercy whatsoever.

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Subjecting the visitors to their heaviest-ever defeat, England finish their season with all 12 points possible from their four Euro 2024 qualifying games thus far, scoring 15 — 11 in the last five days, in fact — and conceding just one in the process, with United stars Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire keeping yet another clean sheet on the night.

While there may have been questions surrounding whether Southgate should have stayed on or called it a day following his third major tournament, he’s still helped this team to a World Cup semi, an oh-so-close Euros final and is still clearly getting a tune out of this crop of players.

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You can watch all seven goals from England’s Old Trafford triumph and the rest of the highlights in full down below:

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Featured Image — England (via Twitter)

Sport

Scott McTominay jokes he’s ‘fuming’ he didn’t score a hat-trick against Chelsea as he reflects on Man United’s mentality

Danny Jones Danny Jones Scott McTominay jokes he could have scored a hattrick against Chelsea

Scott McTominay has joked he’s “fuming” with himself after failing to score a hat-trick in Manchester United’s 2-1 win over Chelsea on Wednesday night and shed some light on the mentality around Old Trafford.

McTominay starred in the Red Devils’ win over Mauricio Pochettino’s side on a cold night at home, managing to bag a brace with a goal in the first and second half to get his squad over the line, but he himself said he could have had more.

Speaking to MUTV after the game, the 26-year-old said he and the squad knew they needed to drum up a reaction after the Newcastle disappointment, adding that contributing more goals is something he wants to keep working on and insisting that plenty of people back him to do so.

Confessing that his mum, dad and grandad have all been encouraging him to “get in the box” and that he just needs to “believe in [him]self and go for it”, the Scotsman did go on to quip he was “fuming” to not grab a third as he shook his head went on to shake and reveal a wry smile.

Scott McTominay was the match-winner against Chelsea.

Commentator and presenter Stewart Gardner went on to list McTominay’s impressive stats this season, having now scored 14 goals in his last 33 appearances for club and country. A seriously good rate from a midfielder typically entrusted to help link play and break things up in the middle of the park.

Now boasting half a dozen goals and an assist across all competitions so far this campaign, he sits as the club’s leading goalscorer in the Premier League with five finishes to his name — with only Bruno Fernandes having contributed more (five goals and five assists) — he’s genuinely become one of Man United’s main goal threats.

He also led the goalscoring charts in the Euro 2024 qualifying for a good long while there and still ended up joint fifth with his new teammate Rasmus Højlund on seven goals.

While he recently rubbished talk that he played as a striker regularly coming up through the youth academy, simply having been deployed for the odd game in reality, he has always had a shot on him and it isn’t the first time he’s bagged a winner or a big goal for the Reds. This wasn’t a bad one either:

A great assist from Alejandro Garnacho as well, who also starred on the night.

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Chatting with the pundits on Amazon Prime Sport, he reiterated that he could have had “one or two more” on another night and agreed that the performance against Newcastle in the previous fixture was “pretty abysmal”, holding his hands up to admit that it was “no way near good enough”.

Reflecting on the later chance he had to seal the hat-trick towards the end of the game, he said he simply needed to “calm down on the last one”.

As for the mentality to get the result during a difficult period where the club remained under a lot of scrutiny from pundits and fans alike, McTominay went on to say that the manager is responsible for the way they played and some “lighter training sessions to keep energy levels up” definitely helped.

Regardless, he was sure to not get ahead of himself and assured ten Hag‘s team were still taking things a game at a time. You can watch the full highlights from Manchester United vs Chelsea down below:

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Featured Images — Scott McTominay (via Instagram)/MUTV

Sport

Kevin Sinfield has entered the final leg of yet another ultra marathon challenge for MND

Danny Jones Danny Jones Kevin Sinfield ultra 7 in 7 in 7 marathon challenge

Ex-rugby player turned England coach Kevin Sinfield has begun the final day of yet another incredible ultra marathon challenge he is undertaking to raise money and awareness around motor neurone disease (MND), with the sports personality scheduled to finish up this Thursday.

Having set off on 1 December, the Oldham-born athlete is facing what he has called easily his “toughest challenge” yet, taking on the newly-dubbed ‘Ultra 7 in 7 in 7’, which will see him once again run an ultra marathon every day for seven days across seven different cities.

Following on from his first Ultra 7 in 7 back in 2020 and most recent one last year, the Leeds Rhinos legend has now raised well over £8 million pounds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), the cause he got behind following his former teammate and best mate Rob Burrow’s diagnosis in 2019.

Now, having taken on the incredible feat once again — running the equivalent of 27 miles (43km) a day — Sinfield is hoping to not just reach the trademark £777,777 fundraising target, but smash it for a fourth consecutive time. Here he is finishing up his penultimate leg in his second home.

Setting off from Yorkshire’s iconic Headingley Stadium with a team of friends and volunteers, the 43-year-old has passed through the likes of Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin and Brighton, and is now staring down one last push towards the finale from Twickenham Stadium to the Mall in London.

Having already amassed over £557k in donations since the start of his remarkable journey, he is well on course to reach the finish line in every sense of the word.

The best part about this most recent Ultra 7 fundraising challenge, though, is that beyond just putting in the hard yards in Burrow‘s name and raising money for the MNDA, the funds generated from this series of runs will be going to multiple causes.

As well as the Leeds Hospitals Charity and The Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, money will also be going to the Irish MNDA set up by former Scottish rugby player, Doddie Weir, who sadly died from the condition in 2022 but has remained an inspiration to Sinfield and countless others over recent years.

Having echoed his lasting sentiment that “MND isn’t untreatable, it’s just underfunded” throughout his own campaigning for the cause, the local sporting hero will also be representing the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation in his honour. Heartwarming stuff.

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As we’re sure is the case for all of you too, we’ve been absolutely blown away by this man over the last few years not only in his ability to keep completing these huge feats of endurance but by the size of his heart in continuing to fundraise on such a massive scale.

From raising awareness around MND and becoming an emblem of friendship with his best mate Rob, Kevin Sinfield has truly set an example for all of us and will no doubt prove a role model to millions for years to come.

Be it setting up Leed’s first official marathon for years in the name of Rob Burrow, rightfully earning a Pride of Britain award, or sending personal messages of support to fellow sufferers, he is a truly incredible human being.

You can donate to this extremely worthy cause HERE and help do your bit to nudge Kevin across the line.

Rugby legend, ultra-marathon runner, inspiration | Kevin Sinfield — Manc of the Month November 2022

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Featured Images — Leeds Rhinos/Motor Neurone Disease Association (via Instagram)

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