BOBBY Robson ended his reign as England manager with a trophy – but it was not the World Cup the nation craved for.

England finished fourth, losing the third-place play-off to the hosts, Italy, but picked up the tournament’s Fair Play award for collecting the fewest yellow cards.

Throughout the competition they had only five players booked – Steve McMahon, Peter Beardsley, Stuart Pearce, Paul Parker and Paul Gascoigne (twice) – a disciplinary record the FA hoped would go some way towards convincing UEFA to lift the ban on English clubs playing in Europe imposed in the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster.

That was by no means a foregone conclusion after the hooligan element among England’s travelling support again disgraced their country.

Argentina took the biscuit for bad behaviour, however, with a shameful performance in the final in Rome, which West Germany won courtesy of Andreas Brehme’s 85th-minute penalty.

What was meant to be football’s showcase event deteriorated into a shambles – arguably the worst final in World Cup history – thanks in the main to the behaviour of a team captained by an ageing Diego Maradona. They left the field heads bowed to a chorus of whistles after a cynical, ill-tempered performance in which they had two players sent off.

England striker Gary Lineker was hoping UEFA chiefs would recognise England’s fair play contribution.

“I think we have done all we can,” he said. “Winning the award shows we have got players who have the right attitude and with none of the antics we have seen in the final.”

Back home, Kearsley were clear leaders of the Bolton Cricket League with a nine-point lead over Egerton but it was much tighter at the top of the Association with Clifton holding just a three-point advantage over second-placed Atherton.

French world champion Alain Prost gave his fellow countrymen something to cheer when he won the French Grand Prix to give Ferrari their 100th formula one victory.

WOLVES emerged favourites to win the race to sign Bolton Wanderers’ wantaway midfielder Peter Reid.

The former England Under-21 international, valued at £750,000 by Wanderers, was also wanted by Everton and Manchester City.

But Molineux manager John Barnwell was in pole position after opening negotiations with the out-of-contract Burnden favourite, who was free to talk to and sign for other clubs and leave a tribunal to set the fee.

Cricket fans in Lancashire were looking forward to seeing England’s bid to square the Test series against Clive Lloyd’s West Indies at Old Trafford. Advance ticket bookings broke all records for a Manchester Test.

But the Windies, who were only denied a 2-0 series lead when rain intervened in the second Test at Lord’s, were clear favourites. They boasted a front line bowling attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding and Joel Garner and, with an abundance of stroke makers, were a formidable outfit.

World heavyweight champion Larry Holmes stopped ninth-ranked Scott Ledoux in the seventh round to retain his WBC crown for the seventh time, equalling the record of Joe Louis, formerly the only heavyweight to win seven title fights by stoppages.

Promoters billed the contest as a warm-up for a showdown with 38-year-old former champion Muhammad Ali, but Holmes insisted his next fight would be against another ex-champ, Leon Spinks.

“I don’t pay Ali any mind,” Holmes snapped. “He needs to beat me if he wants to go around calling himself the greatest. I knew he would be an ass from the beginning.”

Critical of Holmes’s display against Ledoux, Ali said: “The way he looked, I would have whupped him. He’s still my sparring partner.”

THE strength of local league cricket was illustrated when the Bolton League’s hopes of reaching the final of the Rothmam Cup were crushed by the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League.

The six-wicket semi-final defeat at Farnworth’s Bridgeman Park might have been a humbling, if not humiliating, experience for the local heroes had the visitors not boasted in their line-up the formidable West Indian Test duo of Garfield Sobers and Wes Hall.

The pair – Hall bowling virtually flat-out while Sobers bowled medium-pace seamers – produced a breathtaking opening spell to put five Bolton batsmen back in the pavilion inside nine overs with just 22 runs on the board.

Bolton were eventually bowled out for 66 – Brian Krikken top-scoring with 16 – and, although rain intervened, Sobers hit an unbeaten 35, including a towering last-ball six that landed on the roof of a nearby house, to see the visitors comfortably home.

Ken Barrington responded to being controversially dropped for dawdling in the first Test with a century on his recall as England thrashed New Zealand by an innings and 187 runs in the third and final test at Headingley.

But even he had to bow to John Edrich, whose 310 not out in the first innings total of 546-4 declared was the highest post-war score by an Englishman.

At Old Trafford, Ken Higgs produced career-best figures of 7-19 as Lancashire bowled out Leicestershire for just 59 runs.