fa cup line ups: newcastle utd v plymouth argyle

... nicky butt captains the side for his 150th start for the club as alan smith remains sidelined through an eye injury

barry ferguson breaks duck – and nottingham forest's fa cup hopes

... substitutes not used: p smith, r majewski, j lynch, b moloney

time for kevin pietersen to get in touch with his swaggering former self

... once negotiated, his eardrums ringing with the abuse generated by what graeme smith, the south africa captain, has called “the burden” of comments made about his homeland, pietersen must confront, as every test batsman must at some stage, that dread moment: a green-tinged pitch, an attack that has sensed in the past couple of games a clear weakness and the knowledge of the frailty of his form

nigel clough finds respite with shoot-out success

... millwall (4-4-2): d forde — j smith, p robinson, d ward, a frampton (sub: s barron, 32) — c hackett (sub: a dunne, 119), m laird, n abdou, d martin — s morison, l grabban (sub: d schofield, 64)

rangers striker kris boyd has successful hernia operation

... the rangers manager, walter smith, said earlier today that he expects to be without the spl's record goalscorer for up to six weeks – the standard recovery time for such operations

boyd surgery blow strikes rangers

... and manager walter smith was not relishing the prospect of having to do without both players, especially as they have formed a lethal partnership in recent games despite boyd carrying a slight niggle in his groin for a couple of weeks ... "kris got an injury, which we obviously don't want at this time because he has been doing so well for us," smith told rangers' website

charles sale- fiszmans fight is worry for arsenal

... a ruthless operator, fiszman was mainly responsible for vice-chairman david dein, managing-director keith edelman and board member lady nina bracewell-smith being ousted

patrick vieira eyes future job as manchester city coach

... related articlestime running out for petrov at citywenger nearly re-signed vieiravieira: i can help city to win title this yearalan smith: vieira gamble a test of mancini's judgmentpatrick vieira completes man city movetransfer talkhis likely debut against blackburn on monday night should be read as a first step towards his acceptance into the backroom team of roberto mancini, the man who was his mentor at inter milan

“if angola can’t keep players safe from terrorists, can south africa protect the world’s biggest stars in the summer?” - ralph ellis

... the guardian’s dave smith provides the facts, detailing “the team was travelling from a training camp in congo-brazzaville

a-league preview: central coast mariners - north queensland fury

... smith, tadrosse, grossman, spagnuolo, g ... smith, brockie, daal, fowlerplayers to watchdean heffernan (central coast mariners)coming off the back of a big performance with the socceroos in kuwait, heffernan’s confidence will be sky high