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Bent fails to stake claim as Rooney replacement

Darren Bent atoned for his early howler © PA Photos

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Hell Bent on scoring
With Wayne Rooney ruled out of England's first three matches at Euro 2012, you would expect Darren Bent to be rubbing his hands together at his chances to establish himself as the Three Lions' top striker. But in the opening moments of the West Midlands derby against West Brom at Villa Park, Bent had a moment to forget. Finding himself eight yards out with the ball at his feet, you would have put a lot of money on Bent to bury it. But the former Spurs striker inexplicably blasted the ball over the crossbar. Bent later atoned for that howler, converting from the penalty spot, but Villa boss Alex McLeish was left to rue a host of early chances as the Baggies battled back to claim all three points and local bragging rights.

Ruddy marvellous
Norwich had keeper John Ruddy to thank as the Canaries held Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Anfield. Despite Liverpool's 29 attempts at goal, Ruddy pulled off a series of heroic saves to deny the likes of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. Ruddy's goal was living a charmed life as the Reds hit the woodwork on a number of occasions, but the pick of the bunch was an instinctive block from a Suarez volley in stoppage time. "Making a save like that feels like it does for a striker scoring a goal," Ruddy told ESPN after the game.

Brunt of the joke
The conversion rate for penalty takers hasn't been great this season, but Chris Brunt is in the running for the worst penalty miss of the decade. After Villa's Chris Herd had seen red for a seemingly inoffensive tussle with Jonas Olsson, Brunt stepped up to take the ensuing penalty. Darren Bent had coolly dispatched from the spot earlier in the game, but Brunt failed to follow suit, and his spot-kick failed to trouble Villa keeper Shay Given as the ball flew well wide of the goal in the vein of Chris Waddle at Italia '90.

Cabaye corker
What better time to score your first Newcastle goal than a late winner at St James' Park? Newcastle looked to have squandered the chance to go level on points with third-placed Chelsea as the clocked ticked beyond 80 minutes, but Yohan Cabaye stepped up to curl a superb strike past Ali Al Habsi to condemn the Latics to a sixth consecutive Premier League defeat.

A crying shame
Swansea were cruising at the break against Wolves, with Danny Graham scoring one and creating another for Joe Allen. Wolves were in despair, their younger supporters in tears and older fans spluttering choice words under their breath. But Swansea have found winning on the road difficult. That's not exactly true, they've found it impossible in the Premier League and they wilted in the final 10 minutes. Kevin Doyle stabbed home after Swansea failed to clear a corner and he then teed up Jamie O'Hara to slam home and grab a point. It was left to a young Swansea fan to turn on the waterworks at full time, ahead of what could well be a long journey back to South Wales.

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