Aston Villa and Fulham played out a draw in a low-key encounter at Villa Park as the hosts missed the chance to move into third in the table.
Villa had by far the better chances, with Ashley Young again underlining his England potential with a fine display.
He was the creator as Steve Sidwell and Gareth Barry both headed off target from close ra! nge, while the winger himself had a stinging shot well saved.
Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Laursen, Davies, Luke Young, Sidwell, Petrov, Barry, Milner, Agbonlahor, Ashley Young.
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Harewood, Delfouneso, Knight, Salifou, Shorey, Gardner.
Fulham: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Davies, Murphy, Bullard, Dempsey, Johnson, Zamora (Gera 85).
Subs Not Used: Zuberbuhler, Nevland, Gray, Etuhu, Stoor, Kallio.
Booked: Dempsey, Pantsil.
Att: 36,625
Ref: Mike Jones (Cheshire).
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Middlesbrough and near neighbours Newcastle played out a stalemate in a match desperately short on quality at The Riverside.
Newcastle's Obafemi Martins came closest to breaking the deadlock with a shot that hit the bar after 35 minutes.
He also saw a deflected shot fly just off target after the break.
Afonso Alves shot inches over for Middlesbrough and Magpies keeper Shay Given saved well from Justin Hoyte's effort with 16 minutes left.
Joe Kinnear, confirmed as Newcastle manager until the end of the season 24 hours before kick-off, will be happy with a point that takes them out of the bottom three of the Premier League as arch-rivals Sunderland fall into the! drop zone.
Middlesbrough: Turnbull, Hoyte, Wheater, Pogatetz, Taylor, Aliadiere (Mido 77), Arca, Digard, Downing, Sanli, Alves.
Subs Not Used: Jones, Emnes, Johnson, Hines, Grounds, Walker.
Booked: Arca.
Newcastle: Given, Beye, Coloccini, Bassong, Jose Enrique, Gutierrez, Guthrie, Butt, N'Zogbia, Martins (Viduka 65), Owen.
Subs Not Used: Harper, Cacapa, Geremi, Taylor, Edgar, Carroll.
Booked: Bassong.
Att: 32,160
Ref: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).
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| Stoke | 1-1
(HT 0-1) | Hull |
! Fuller (pen) 73
|
| King 45+2
|
Bookings:
Griffin 45+2
Diao 83
|
| Bookings:
Windass 45+1
Myhill 72
Zayatte 88 |
Ricardo Fuller's penalty cancelled out Marlon King's first-half strike at a very foggy Britannia Stadium.
Stoke showed the greater early ambition but could only manage tame efforts from Fuller and Mamade Sidibe.
Hull took the lead with their first shot, King putting the ball in the top corner from eight yards.
Boaz Myhill saved a Fuller header but brought down the striker later in the game, the Jamaican stroking home the spot-kick to salvage a draw.
It was a fair scoreline as neither side were able to exert their a! uthority on the game or create many chances.
Stoke: Sorensen, Griffin, Abdoulaye Faye, Cort, Higginbotham, Soares (Tonge 62), Amdy Faye, Diao, Delap, Sidibe, Fuller.
Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Olofinjana, Whelan, Cresswell, Dickinson, Sonko.
Booked: Griffin, Diao.
Goals: Fuller 73 pen.
Hull: Myhill, McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Ricketts, Marney, Boateng (Cousin 78), Ashbee, Barmby (Halmosi 69), Geovanni (Garcia 90), King.
Subs Not Used: Duke, Windass, Mendy, Giannakopoulos.
Booked: Windass, Myhill, Zayatte.
Goals: King 45.
Att: 27,500
Ref: Keith Stroud (Hampshire).
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| Sunder! land | 1-4
(HT! 1-3) | Bolton |
Cisse 11
|
| Taylor 18
Cahill 21
Elmander 39
Elmander 55
|
Bookings:
Richardson 21
Nosworthy 42
Bardsley 64
Chimbonda 88
|
|
|
Sunderland slipped into the bottom three on a miserable day for Roy Keane's side as Bolton ran riot at a disgruntled Stadium of Light.
The hosts had taken an early lead through Djibril Cisse's classy strike.
But Bolton soon equalised via Matthew Taylor's header and swiftly stole the lead through Gary Cahill's low drive.
Woeful defensive errors then let J! ohan Elmander put away clinical goals either side of half-time as Sunderland fell to their fifth defeat in six league games.
It was Keane's 100th game in charge of the Black Cats, but many Sunderland supporters left before full-time while boos rang out around the stadium at the final whistle following the club's third straight home defeat.
Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Collins, Chimbonda, Malbranque (Tainio 62), Whitehead, Richardson (Leadbitter 46), Reid (Miller 63), Cisse, Jones.
Subs Not Used: Fulop, Diouf, Murphy, Ferdinand.
Booked: Richardson, Nosworthy, Bardsley, Chimbonda.
Goals: Cisse 11.
Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Andrew O'Brien, Samuel, Muamba, Davies, Nolan, McCann, Taylor (Gardner 46), Elmander (Basham 89).
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Smolarek, Riga, Shittu, Obadeyi.
Goals: Taylor 18, Cahill 21, Elmander 39, 55.
Att: 35,457!
Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside)
_______! ________ _____________________________________________________
| Wigan | 2-1
(HT 0-0) | West Brom |
Camara 61
Boyce 87
|
| Miller 47
|
|
| Bookings:
Miller 48
Greening 86 |
Emmerson Boyce headed Wigan's winner five minutes from time to deny luckless West Brom.
Boyce's first goal i! n three years completed Wigan's comeback, after Henri Camara capitalised on Paul Robinson's mistake to equalise.
West Brom took a deserved lead when Ishmael Miller took advantage of Titus Bramble's error to slot home.
Wigan's hero was goalkeeper Chris Kirkland, who produced four brilliant second-half saves to deny Albion.
James Morrison made an instant contribution on his recall to the West Brom team, wriggling to the dead-ball line in the opening minute where his pull-back almost found the stretching Miller
Wigan: Kirkland, Taylor (Melchiot 70), Bramble, Boyce, Figueroa (Kilbane 81), Valencia, Brown (Koumas 60), Cattermole, Palacios, Heskey, Camara.
Subs Not Used: Pollitt, Kingson, De Ridder, Cywka.
Goals: Camara 61, Boyce 87.
West Brom: Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite, Olsson, Robinson, Morrison (Moore 89), Koren, Greening, Borja Valero, Brunt (Bednar 89), Miller.
Subs Not Used: Kiel! y, Cech, Barnett, Kim, Filipe Teixeira.
Booked:! Miller, Greening.
Goals: Miller 47.
Att: 17,054
Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire).
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After a deflating loss to Tampa on Tuesday afternoon that saw Koji Uehara lose despite a strong effort, the Orioles rebounded last night and won in a rain-shortened game defeating the Minnesota Twins, 4-1, in six innings. It was sloppy, wet, and miserable, but the Orioles pulled it out.
