Graham Coughlan paid tribute to Omar Bogle as his two penalties helped Newport to a 2-0 win over Gillingham at Priestfield, while the Welsh club said they were “extremely disappointed” after a Gills supporter appeared to make a racist gesture towards the striker as he celebrated.
The County forward found the net twice in the space of seven first-half minutes, and appeared to be racially abused by a Gillingham supporter after the first goal – with the fan promptly issued a lifetime ban, according to Gills director of operations Joe Comper.
And Newport boss Coughlan, a central defender in his day, gave Bogle the ultimate compliment after the win.
He said: “He was a real handful all afternoon, which we know he’s got in his locker. He worked his socks off. As a centre-half, I wouldn’t have enjoyed playing against him when he’s in that form. I just had a little nibble at him inside as I thought he should have got a hat-trick.
“He had a couple of chances to do so and that’s the ruthlessness that I’m after. I could have rested a bit easier on the sidelines if we’d have got another one!
“I thought we were magnificent. I’m really proud of the way they managed the game. Let’s be honest – it is a big, big win for us. We really needed that.”
On the supporter incident, he added: “It has no place in the game. But, I’ve got to say that, having competed against Gillingham for years, I don’t think that’s representative of this football club. It’s a minority and these people don’t represent the club or the fans.”
A statement on Newport’s website read: “Newport County is extremely disappointed with the racist gesture made to striker Omar Bogle by a Gillingham supporter during today’s League Two fixture at Priestfield Stadium.
“Newport County abhors any forms of racism, prejudice or discrimination and has a zero-tolerance policy towards incidence of such nature.
“The EFL have confirmed that the individual has been identified and arrested.”
Anti-discrimination body Kick It Out wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “We are aware of the disgusting abuse from a fan directed towards Newport forward Omar Bogle during Saturday’s League Two match at Gillingham.
“There is absolutely no room for so-called supporters like this in football and offences such as this should be met with the strongest possible punishments.
“We send our support to Omar and remind fans that discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated. If you see it or hear it, report it.”
Bogle opened the scoring when he was fouled by Gills keeper Jake Turner after a careless back pass from Cheye Alexander.
And he doubled the advantage, making no mistake again from the spot, when Alexander was at fault once more, this time bundling over Matty Bondswell, leaving Gills interim boss Keith Millen particularly frustrated.
He said: “It’s a tough one to get my head around. I wasn’t expecting that performance or the result. It’s difficult to digest, especially off the back of the last two performances.
“They changed their shape, which threw us a little, as they’ve never done that before and we did a lot of work on how they normally set up. But we played against a 5-3-2 on Tuesday, so it’s not rocket science. We didn’t get to grips with it and we didn’t really look like creating chances.
“When you look at the two penalties and the build-up to them, we should have played forward instead of going for a back pass for the first, then we gave the ball away for the second and they punished us.”
On the supporter incident, he added: “It’s disgusting. It’s not acceptable. As a club we don’t accept it, it’s wrong. It involved one person in a crowd, and thankfully the club have identified him and acted quickly. I feel sorry for the rest of the Gillingham fans as there are a lot of really good supporters here.”
Cabal becomes second Juventus defender to suffer ACL injury
Juventus' Juan Cabal will undergo surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, intensifying the Serie A giants' defensive injury crisis.
The 23-year-old was forced to return to Turin after injuring his knee during training with the Colombia national team ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Ecuador.
Cabal is the second Juventus defender to suffer an ACL injury this season after Gleison Bremer, who hurt his left knee during their 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig last month.
Cabal has so far made nine appearances across all competitions this season.
Juventus are sixth in the Serie A standings and 11th in the Champions League's new-look league phase.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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