Today's other stories in brief

Cork frustrated as three slip net

CORK CITY, like Dundalk before them, were obliged to concede defeat yesterday in relation to efforts made to sign a number of players over the last week, with Admir Softic, Declan Edwards and Samuele Emiliano ineligible, it turns out, to play for the club at this time.

In a statement issued by FORAS yesterday, the group admitted the registrations of the three were still held by their previous clubs and they were, therefore, unable to sign after the recent transfer deadline.

The club had no option but to look elsewhere for players to add to the small squad.

Manager Tommy Dunne managed to recruit one new face, however, with former Cobh, Cork and Waterford striker Dave Warren signing up for the coming campaign.

“Dave is a good signing for the club,” said Dunne of the 29-year-old. “He has a lot of experience at League of Ireland level, and has also played cross-channel. With a small squad, it’s important to have players with experience of the division.”

– Emmet Malone

Rangers restore 13-point lead

Kilmarnock 0 Rangers 2: Steven Whittaker’s impressive goalscoring form continued as Rangers restored their 13-point advantage at the top of the Scottish Premier League last night.

The Ibrox full-back netted his 11th goal of the season before Kenny Miller doubled the advantage for the Scottish champions at Rugby Park.

The breakthrough came with 55 minutes gone. Tim Clancy attempted to nod a Sasa Papac cross clear only for the ball to fall for Whittaker to drill into the bottom corner from a tight angle.

Rangers doubled their advantage just six minutes later when Cameron Bell blocked from Steven Davis only for Miller to pounce on the rebound and lash the ball high into the net from close range.

England warned to take anti-bugging measures

ENGLAND OFFICIALS have been warned to sweep team venues for listening devices on a regular basis to avoid being bugged.

It is understood the English Football Association are reviewing security procedures after an apparent secret recording of conversations between England players and coaches before the Egypt friendly came to light.

The FA have yet to make a complaint to the police about the bugging, reportedly at The Grove hotel in Hertfordshire, because they are still waiting to have access to the recording.

They have, however, taken legal steps to ensure the conversations remain under wraps and have contacted media organisations warning that publication of the contents of the recording would be illegal and a breach of the Data Protection Act and Press Complaints Commission rules.

SIASS, a private intelligence agency with offices in London, Newcastle and Chester who work for sports teams, companies and foreign governments, said the FA need toregularly sweep for bugs.

A SIASS spokesman said “If they don’t already do so, then the people that run the security for England need to sweep for bugs.

“Any listening device can be picked up by a properly trained and experienced operator. We have worked for sports teams before and their sensitive information can be valuable both to opponents and to a scurrilous individual wanting to sell a scoop to the newspapers.”