Yorke's corkers lift Villa

Football Round-up

DWIGHT YORKE, who flashed in the goal that beat Tottenham last weekend, was at it again yesterday, scoring twice to lead Aston Villa to a 3-0 victory over Leeds United. Villa are now fourth in the Premiership.

It took him only 11 minutes to score his 50th goal for the club, a flying header from a cross by full-back Gary Charles. The luck then went against out-of-form Leeds, who lost John Pemberton after a 20th-minute collision with Savo Milosevic. While they were waiting for Nigel Worthington to replace him, a clearance rebounded off the Serb for Yorke to score again.

The Trinidadian international then provided the lay-off for full-back Alan Wright to score Villa's third, in the 62nd minute.

The news was mixed for Arsenal. Dennis Bergkamp scored his first goal for them for 10 weeks, with a powerful header from Glenn Helder's cross, but because of shambolic defending a minute earlier it was only an equaliser in their 1-1 home draw with Coventry City. A Kevin Richardson through- ball unhinged the Arsenal defence, not for the first time, in the 23rd minute and Noel Whelan slipped the ball past David Seaman.

Such lapses will cause Arsenal's manager, Bruce Rioch, all the more worry because Tony Adams, his defensive rock, had keyhole surgery yesterday to remove a knee cartilage, and will be out for some weeks.

At least Rioch does not have such serious problems as his fellow London manager, Ray Wilkins. He saw his Queen's Park Rangers side go down 2-0 at fellow strugglers Manchester City and lose striker Daniele Dichio three minutes from time, sent off for a second offence.

The match was a personal triumph for Nigel Clough, who put the miseries of his former life at Liverpool behind him by marking his home debut for City with the opening goal. He scored after a cross by Martin Phillips, a teenage winger making his first start, had been fumbled by goalkeeper Jurgen Sommer.

It was a blow to QPR, who had dominated early on, and their hopes disappeared when Kit Symons headed City's second goal five minutes after the break.

As winter made its presence felt again, putting paid to the games at Stockport and Bury, the attractions of Brazil and its beaches seemed all the greater. In a tournament that appeals to the nostalgic, Zico scored five times as Brazil beat Italy 12-4 to reach the final of the beach football World Championship. They will play Uruguay, who saw off the United States 7-0.