Rockers snap away losing streak

Manchester Rockers finally learned how to win away from home again when Gary McManus' goal won it for the northerners at FC Nottingham.

Scot McManus took a shot from 10 yards which beat keeper Mehdi Kaziri.

This was the Rockers' first away win since they won 1-0 at Sheffield Strikers on 9 April.

Goals
FC Nottingham: none.
Manchester Rockers: McManus 44'.

Redwood breaks duck at last

Redwood shows his joy and relief
Manchester Rockers 0-1 Monsters

Edward Redwood finally ended his goal drought with as Monsters beat Manchester Rockers 1-0.

The England striker, who had not found the back of the net since his country's 3-1 win over Wales in June, got the ball on the edge of the box whilst his back was facing goal, turned and then beat keeper Edward Wilson.

Rockers continue to slip and slide, having only won one match in ten, falling from sixth to thirteenth.

Goals
Manchester Rockers: none.
Monsters: Redwood 64'.

Shocker as Rockers beat Town

Mid-table Manchester Rockers ripped up the form book when claimed a surprising 1-0 victory over title-chasing London Town.

Manchester's new French striker Christophe Minardi, a signing from AS Essonne, scored his first goal as time ran out.

Town had dominated most of the play, but great defending plus the goalkeeping of Ed Wilson had served the Rockers well.

And the home side got their reward when Juanpa allowed Minardi space to run into and the Gallic hitman beat Marco Schuipers unchallenged.

Goals
Manchester Rockers: Minardi 89'.
London Town: none.

Saturday's Action from Round 1

FC Nottingham cruised to a 3-0 win at Glasgow, while South Coast Rangers managed a 1-0 win at Dublin.

Manchester Rockers defeated Edinburgh 2-0, Newcastle Geordies easily defeated Sheffield Strikers 3-0, while Dragons and East Anglia were held to a 1-1 draw.

London Town 4-0 Rockers

Saturday 3rd April

HMV Park, London. Att: 40,048.

London Town routed Manchester Rockers 4-0 with a brilliant display from the Champions.

After a slow start to the game, Andrea Romano put Town in front five minutes from the break.

John Carey cannot stop scoring, putting fierce shot through Manchester keeper Eddie Wilson's legs.

Daniel Perry headed in the third, after John Jeffries lost the England captain.

And American striker Billy Bernhardt put the icing on the cake in stoppage time with a crisp finish.

Goals

London Town: Romano 40', Carey 60', Perry 72', Bernhardt 90'.

Rockers: none.

Rockers 7-1 Burn

Friday 26th March

Rockers Park, Salford. Att: 27,684.

Manchester Rockers stormed to a 7-1 victory over Belfast Burn.

Gary McManus hit a hat-trick, with Peter Elkins, Dean Whitley, Mihaly Mirosevics and Roberto Ramirez joining in the party.

Chris Hunter scored Belfast's goal.

Goals

Rockers: Elkins 11', McManus 26', 44', 76', Ramirez 81', Whitley 86', Mirosevics 89'.

Burn: Hunter 83'.

Rockers 2-1 Dragons

Wednesday 17th March

Rockers Park, Salford. Att: 26,765.

John Jeffries' emotional winner helped Manchester Rockers put the shock defeat in Edinburgh to bed with a 2-1 win over the Dragons.

Peter Elkins' stunning overhead kick put the Rockers in front before Adam Owens' header tied the game.

In the dying minutes, beleaguered former Scotland captain Jeffries headed home the winner celebrating in front of his fans.

Jeffries kissed the Rockers badge on his shirt at the final whistle, and then took his shirt off, throwing it into the green and yellow sea of Rockers supporters.

Goals

Rockers: Elkins 21', Jeffries 87'.

Dragons: Owens 43'.

Edinburgh FC 2-0 Rockers

Saturday 13th March

Tynecastle, Edinburgh. Att: 9,237.

Edinburgh pulled off a stunning 2-0 victory over the Manchester Rockers at Tynecastle.

The game was centred on the Rockers' John Jeffries and EFC's Kevin Tennent, after Jeffries allegedly slept with Tennent's wife, leading to Jeffries being stripped of the Scottish captaincy.

And Tennent made his feelings known when he avoided shaking his Scotland CSA colleague Jeffries' hand in the pre-game.

Jeffries was booed every time he touched the ball, and the crowd chanted, "Carefree, wherever you may be, don't leave your wife with John Jeffries" and "Who's the b****** in the beige?" (The Rockers were wearing their beige away kit.)

And Mark Danicoletta headed Edinburgh in front after 23 minutes and in the ensuing celebrations pointed at Tennent in support of his beleaguered teammate. Danicoletta and others were also seen wearing 'Team Tennent" t-shirts in the warm-up.

And a miserable afternoon for Jeffries and the Rockers was complete when the centre-back misplayed it to Keith Morkins, and Edinburgh's young English striker slotted home.

But for the beleaguered former Scotland captain, the misery would not end until after the final whistle when the crowd sang "Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye" as he walked off the pitch.

Goals

Edinburgh FC: Danicoletta 23', Morkins 86'.

Rockers: none.

Rockers 2-1 Glasgow FC

Saturday 6th March

Rockers Park, Salford, Greater Manchester. Att: 27,013.

Manchester Rockers won 2-1 over Glasgow FC.

Peter Elkins headed the Rockers in front on the beanpole striker's debut for the club, before Scott MacRae equalised for Glasgow.

And Manchester's Glaswegian midfielder Gary McManus scored the winner.

Goals

Rockers: Elkins 15', McManus 71'.

Glasgow FC: Scott MacRae 35'.

MLF to become BritLeague for '09, plus more changes

Major League Football has announced that they will change its name to the BritLeague with immediate effect following that they don't want any confusion with the similarly named North American football (soccer) league called Major League Soccer.

"We want to be our own identity," said the BritLeague commisioner.

MLF2 is now to be known as BritLeague D (the Development League), MLF Europe will now be known as EuroLeague Football and MLF International will be called InterLeague.

Also many teams have changed their names. Manchester Magic will become Manchester Rockers because of Manchester's long history of indie music, Edinburgh Eagles will now be FC Edinburgh 2007, Dublin Druids (who were criticised for their name, they had no idea what druid meant at the time) will now be the Dublin Shamrocks, and Ajax London (who have ended their partnership with the Dutch team Ajax Amsterdam this year) will now become London Town.

Also the Middlesbrough Monsters have dropped the town name in favour of the Monsters Football Club, as they will move into their own stadium next year outside Middlesbrough after using Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium for the past three years.

And finally, Reading Ruckus will move to Hampshire next year, after poor attendances at the Madejski Stadium. They will now be known as the South Coast Ruckus, however it is unknown whether they will use Southampton's St. Mary's or Portsmouth's Fratton Park as their main arena.