Good week, bad week

Disappointed: Andrew Strauss
Giles Lucas13 April 2012

We round up who had a wonderful weekend of sport, and those who had a woeful one.

GOOD WEEK

Tony McCoy
After riding 3,383 winning horses and finally landing the Grand National, McCoy can now add the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award to his list of accolades after he was given the trophy on Sunday.

"To win this award is very surreal," said the jubilant jockey, who has broken his middle and lower vertebrae, his shoulder blades, collarbones, ribs, an ankle, cheekbones, wrist and leg on his way to being the best.

"Nothing stops him," said 2007 Derby winner Frankie Dettori. "He's made of concrete," said two-time Grand National winner Ruby Walsh. "[He's] a super-natural sportsman."

London Wasps
Joe Ward, Mark van Gisbergen, Tom Varndell and Nic Berry all touched down to help Wasps beat the Dragons 37-10 at the weekend – and their victory climbed them to the top of Heineken Cup Pool Six. "We're pleased because we beat a good team," reflected Wasps' Director of Rugby Tony Hanks.

Leeds
Leeds crept up to second in the Championship table after beating league leaders QPR 2-0 on Saturday. Max Gradel's double was enough to down Neil Warnock's side. "We were outstanding for large parts of the game," reflected Simon Grayson, Leeds' delighted manager.

Sunderland
With the myriad Premier League games called off due to the adverse weather conditions, the spotlight shined on Sunderland as they earned the only top-flight win of the weekend, a 1-0 triumph over Bolton. Danny Welbeck's strike separated the two sides as the Black Cats leaped into sixth place in the league.

David Beckham
The 35-year-old former England captain received the BBC's prestigious lifetime achievement award for his seemingly perennial endeavor on and off the football field.

"I'm really humbled to receive an award for something that I love doing, and always have loved doing and continue to love doing," said an emotional Beckham.

BAD WEEK

England's cricketers
Andrew Strauss' men suffered a 267-run defeat to Australia in the third Test at the Waca at the weekend. The hosts only needed 50 minutes on the fourth day to take England's last five wickets.

But the England skipper was quick to douse any flames of overreaction. "Now is not a time to panic," he said.

Derby County
Derby suffered their fourth consecutive Championship defeat at the weekend, a 2-1 loss to Reading. Shane Long was Derby's downfall, his two goals either side of half-time sandwiched Kris Commons' header for County. Nigel Clough, Derby's manager, remained confident of turning around the poor results. "We just want to try to keep the confidence up," he said, "keep the level of performance as it is, but cut out the silly mistakes and put away our chances."

Bath
Bath fell to a 26-22 defeat to Ulster at the Rec in Heineken Cup Pool Four on Saturday. Matthew Carraro and Matt Banahan scored tries in vain for Bath and they remain third in the Pool, five points behind third-placed Ulster.

Crystal Palace
While it was a wonderful weekend for Nottingham Forest, whose 3-0 victory over Palace stretched their unbeaten run at home to 29 league games, it was a woeful one for George Burley's men. Palace now sit in a precarious 22nd place in the Championship. "It was a poor performance," said Burley. "We didn't have enough penetration. At times it was too easy for Forest."

Leicester City
It was a dreadful weekend for the Foxes and their furious manager. Leicester were consigned to a 3-0 defeat by Ipswich after referee Stuart Attwell deemed the pitch – which was afflicted by a blizzard – playable.

Attwell even had to declare a 17-minute second-half adjournment of the contest in order for the linesmen to clear away the snow to make the lines visible. And Leicester's boss was far from happy with Attwell's decision-making.

"You go skiing on snow, not play football," said Sven-Goran Eriksson. "Who wants to see a game in conditions like that? It was being shown worldwide but was very bad PR for football."

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