Thomas Frank said he is not surprised with Neal Maupay after the French striker scored for Brentford during their 3-1 home win over Luton in the Premier League. Maupay scored his second goal of the season since his loan move from Everton in the summer when he finished from close range past Hatters goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski to open the scoring in the 49th minute. Ben Mee and Shandon Baptiste also netted for the home side in the second half, either side of Jacob Brown’s 56th-minute reply for Luton. Afterwards, Bees boss Frank lauded the influence of striker Maupay, who has returned to Gtech Community Stadium after leaving the club in 2019 for Brighton. “For me I’m not surprised (about the goal),” Frank said. “We were sure that he’ll do well for us because we know him well and he can score goals. “He’s had to get back into it and in the last weeks he’s played really good. I’m pleased it’s paying off for him. “He scores goals. That’s a big thing. He’s a good pressing player and link up player when he drops down and finds a solution. As a mentality character he’s good for the group and drives the group.” Frank’s injury issues continued, with Kristoffer Ajer replaced by Saman Ghoddos in the starting line-up after the central defender suffered a foot injury in the warm-up. The Danish manager credited the players who stepped up after Brentford bounced back from last week’s late 1-0 home loss to Arsenal. He continued: “I’m very happy with them. Vitaly Janelt is one of our flexible players (starting at left-back) but Saman stepped in and looked like he’d played at right-back for years. “It’s incredible that we can turn around with the amount of injuries we have. We have four full-backs out. Big credit to the players.” Luton manager Rob Edwards was disappointed with how his side started the second half. He explained: “I felt we gave some early Christmas presents away in the second half and I feel they didn’t have to work too hard for their goals. They had control and they deserved the win. “We had gone away from giving gifts away – and we had done that in the first couple games of the season.” Read More Kevin Sinfield greeted by Sir Gareth Edwards after latest fundraising challenge Paul Heckingbottom stands by his work as Sheffield United lose again Mikel Arteta heaps praise on players as Arsenal pull four points clear at summit Will Jacks looks at positives after England central contract snub Brentford beat Luton with strong second-half show Five-star Burnley crush Sheffield United at Turf Moor

Under-fire Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom insisted he could hold his head up high after a number of fans turned on him following his side’s 5-0 capitulation away to fellow strugglers Burnley. The odds on Heckingbottom becoming the first Premier League manager to lose his job this season tumbled after a humbling defeat, in which a Burnley side who started the day bottom of the table scored an opener through Jay Rodriguez just 15 seconds in and recorded their biggest top-flight win since 1970. Jacob Bruun Larsen doubled the lead and, with the Blades reduced to 10 men when Oli McBurnie was sent off before half-time, they crumbled in the second half with Zeki Amdouni, Luca Koleosho and Josh Brownhill helping Burnley end their wait for a home league win this season at the eighth attempt. United never looked in the game, and fans made their feelings known at the final whistle. “I bet they’re nearly as angry as me,” Heckingbottom said. “I’ve had this now since the beginning of September. But the one thing I can say is I can walk out of this stadium with my head held high. “I know how hard I work for everyone at the club. I won’t change, I’ll make sure the staff do the same. And we continue to give everything we’ve got with what we’ve got. That won’t change. But, as I said the first time I was asked this, you’re asking the wrong person (about his future)… “Of course if fans start changing, it changes the dynamic. It doesn’t change how I feel or my job. I just said to the players in there, I can walk out with my head held high but you can’t kid people. “The fans are right to shout, say that wasn’t good enough. I was almost singing along with them at one point.” Given Burnley were two goals to the good at the time with United barely laying a glove on them, McBurnie’s red card in the first minute of stoppage time was hardly a turning point, but the Scot’s two yellow cards in the space of 10 minutes killed off any hope of a comeback. “He’s let me down,” Heckingbottom said. “He knows he has.” Burnley’s first home win and first clean sheet of the season lifted them off the foot of the table, and relieved some of the tension that has been building around Turf Moor. “I think we were so desperate to do it,” Kompany said. “We felt against (Crystal) Palace was good, against West Ham was good. You don’t know when it’s coming but I felt we always believed it was coming so for us hopefully it’s a starting point. “The performance today was really good but you have to turn it into results. I just hope with the goals they’ve scored today and the fact we had a lot of goalscorers as well, that’s an important sign with Lyle Foster still not being there. Hopefully of the consistency of doing that will remain.” Both of Burnley’s wins to date have come against sides they were promoted with during the summer. The challenge of taking points of established Premier League sides remains, starting away to Wolves on Tuesday night. “I’ll have a glass of red wine tonight and then back on to Wolves, it’s coming on Tuesday,” Kompany said. “When we win there’s only three days to enjoy it. But we go again. It’s the same recipe really. “I see the boys making progress, they work as hard as the top teams in the league. They don’t get the rewards for it at the moment but now we live towards the Wolverhampton game.” Read More Kevin Sinfield greeted by Sir Gareth Edwards after latest fundraising challenge Neal Maupay makes the right impression on his manager Mikel Arteta heaps praise on players as Arsenal pull four points clear at summit Will Jacks looks at positives after England central contract snub Brentford beat Luton with strong second-half show Five-star Burnley crush Sheffield United at Turf Moor

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An apparent prankster has blighted the draw for the 2024 UEFA European Championships with sex noises being played throughout the proceedings. This comes just months after a similar incident occurred on Match of the Day which left the likes of Gary Lineker and Danny Murphy red-faced when loud pornographic noises were played during the broadcast of a game between Liverpool and Wolverhampton Wanderers. It's hard to determine if these were exactly the same noises that were heard on the BBC but they were most apparent when the final teams in the draw were taken out of the hat, with ex-Manchester City and Spain midfielder David Silva struggling not to laugh. The host of the draw, which was taking place in the German city of Hamburg, acknowledged the disruption by saying "there is some noise here..." but they attempted to power through despite the problems. More to follow...

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Scotland will kick off Euro 2024 after they were drawn to face tournament hosts Germany in Group A. Steve Clarke’s side, who sealed qualification for the finals with two matches to spare, will play in the opening match in Munich on June 14 before games against Switzerland and Hungary. Gareth Southgate’s England were drawn to face Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia in Group C. Wales still need to win two play-off matches in March if they are going to make it, but face a difficult assignment against 2022 World Cup finalists France, the Netherlands and Austria if they do. Scotland lost to Germany at the group stage of Euro 92, a 2-0 defeat preventing the Scots from progressing. Scotland also faced West Germany at the finals of the 1986 World Cup, where the Germans won 2-1 en route to the final. The Germans have won the three most recent encounters. Scotland have never faced Hungary in a competitive match but have won three of their previous nine encounters, while they beat the Swiss 1-0 in Euro 96 at Villa Park – the teams’ last competitive encounter. England’s opening match will be against Serbia, a team they have never faced at senior level before, in Gelsenkirchen. The team then move on to Frankfurt to take on Denmark, who they beat in the semi-final of Euro 2020. Their final group match will be against Slovenia in Cologne, a team England beat in their final group match at the 2010 World Cup. Read More Will Jacks looks at positives after England central contract snub Brentford beat Luton with strong second-half show Five-star Burnley crush Sheffield United at Turf Moor

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