CHRIS WOOD haunted former boss Steve Cooper with the goals that took Nottingham Forest fifth in the table.

It was the now-Leicester City manager Cooper who took Wood to Forest 16 months ago in a £15million deal from Newcastle.

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Cooper may have known what he was doing – but he would not have seen this scenario coming.

The Kiwi striker struck in the space of 13 minutes after the break to make it a miserable reunion for Cooper – who was sacked by Forest last December.

And the travelling City Ground fans did not let him forget it at this East Midlands derby – as they revived a chant from his days on Trentside.

They sang: ‘Stevie Cooper, he hates the Leicester, he hates the Derby, Forest are magic’.

Forest had taken the lead through home-grown skipper Ryan Yates – only for Jamie Vardy to level the scores.

But it was Wood, 32, who had the final say as he scored for the third game running to make it seven for the season as Forest gatecrashed the top six.

Cooper will be furious with his side’s defending though – as Leicester made mistakes for all three of Forest’s goals.

The Foxes boss was reluctant to talk about his City Ground spell in the build up to the game – and only mentioned them once once in a paragraph near to the end of his programme notes.

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Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo was serving the second game of a three-match touchline ban and sat at the back of the main stand with the Forest analysts as his side clinched their second win in five days.

The Portuguese coach saw Forest take a 16th minute lead when Yates made the most of a series of defensive errors.

Facundo Buonanotte misplaced a pass and when the ball came back into the Leicester box from Elliot Anderson, James Justin sliced his clearance to Yates to net from the edge of the area.

But the Foxes levelled just seven minutes later as Vardy displayed his poacher instincts.

Harry Winks delivered an ideal cross into the six yard box – and Vardy got in ahead of Murillo to grab his fourth goal of the season after a superb team move.

But Forest should have regained the lead just moments later as Foxes keeper Mads Hermansen made a point blank save from Nicolas Dominguez.

Hermansen made another crucial save nine minutes before the break when the Dane produced a flying stop to keep out a long range effort from Callum Hudson-Odoi.

It was end to end stuff and Stephy Mavididi almost put Leicester ahead in first half stoppage time when he curled a shot just wide of the far post. 

But Forest went ahead just one minute after the restart.

Again, Leicester were at fault with Winks losing the ball with the Foxes in little danger.

It was Anderson once more who took advantage and slid the ball in for Wood to turn and fire home just out of Hermansen’s reach as the ball squeezed in.

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The goal put Forest in control, and Hudson-Odoi almost made it three when he swept a shot against the post – with Anderson putting the rebound wide.

But Leicester shot themselves in the foot yet again on the hour when they gifted Wood his second of the game.

Belgium defender Wout Faes appeared to have a long ball from Forest keeper Matz Sels under control – but when he mis-timed his header back to Hermansen, Wood nipped in to finish the job.

Wood was subbed as Forest saw out the game – wary of Leicester’s comeback at Southampton last weekend.

But the Foxes looked a beaten side after Forest’s third goal.

Forest fans continued to taunt Cooper in the final stages with a chant of: “Take them down, take them down Stevie Cooper”.

In contrast, Leicester fans booed their team off at the final whistle.

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Umar Nurmagomedov says he’s fighting soon, regardless of what Merab Dvalishvili does.

Back in August, Nurmagomedov defeated Cory Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Abu Dhabi, setting himself up as the next title challenger for the bantamweight title. So one month later, when Merab Dvalishvili took the belt from Sean O’Malley at UFC 306, it looked for all intents and purposes that the promotion had a fight, to the extent that they even asked Dvalishvili about Nurmagomedov in his post-fight speech.

But now things don’t seem nearly so certain.

Over the past couple of months, Dvalishvili and Nurmagomedov have feuded publicly over their possible fight, with Dvalishvili even lobbying for an immediate rematch with O’Malley during a Fan Q&A ahead of UFC 308 this weekend. And of course Nurmagomedov responded.

“I am always ready, and right now I am waiting for an opponent, as [Song] Yadong declined to fight in December — I was told he is injured.

“Merab, before my fight with Sandhagen, you said that if I beat him, I would deserve recognition. Now you have changed your position — decide who you are. All the fans and analysts are noticing how you are avoiding the fight. Championship is recognition, but you haven’t received it, and you know that perfectly well.

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“I am not waiting for anyone and I want to fight before Ramadan. I hope UFC finds an opponent. And the title, inshaAllah, is just a matter of time.”

While the fight was never confirmed, Nurmagomedov was rumored to face Song Yadong in the main event of UFC Tampa on Dec. 14. Meanwhile, Dvalishvili is targeting a return to the cage in 2025.

Teenager Luke Littler suffered a surprise defeat in the European Championship first round, losing 6-4 to Andrew Gilding in Dortmund.

Gilding showed a clinical edge and raced into a 3-0 lead against his English compatriot, the run including a 12-darter in the second leg but was pegged back as Littler responded with three straight legs of his own.

Gilding then regained momentum with an 11-darter and, despite Littler then levelling once more, saw out the next two legs to win and set up a meeting with home favourite Ricardo Pietreczko in the second round on Saturday.

In contrast to Littler, world champion Luke Humphries cruised through with a comfortable 6-2 win over Nathan Aspinall.

Humphries threw seven 180s and finished with a 46% checkout rate in a dominant display.

He will now face Welshman Jonny Clayton, who beat Chris Dobey 6-4 to advance.

However, Scottish defending champion Peter Wright will be absent from the latter stages, he finished with a disappointing average of below 75 as his bid to win a third European Championship title ended with a 6-0 loss to Jermaine Wattimena.

Dutchman Wattimena will face England’s James Wade in the next stage.

UFC 308 goes down this Saturday, headlined by the long-awaited featherweight title matchup between Ilia Topuria and ‘BMF’ champion Max Holloway. On top of that, the #UFC presents a highly-anticipated middleweight matchup in the co-main event, as former champion Robert Whittaker faces undefeated terror Khamzat Chimaev.

UFC 308 is one of the biggest events of the year and so ahead of Saturday’s doubleheader, MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew and Mike Heck preview the massive card, discuss Holloway’s chances at upsetting Topuria, whether or not Chimaev can finally earn himself a title shot, just how badly Magomed Ankalaev needs a win over Aleksandar Rakic, and much more.

Catch the UFC 307 preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

We are thrilled to announce that SOS Africa charity’s sponsored child Henwhill Scholtz has recently been awarded a rugby scholarship by Drostdy Technical College from January 2025!

Over the past 12 months, the progress of this rising star has been followed by sports coaches and scouts alike leading to his selection for the Under 12 Boland regional rugby side and more recently to participate in the Boland Under 13s 7s team. At Craven Week in June his electric pace and silky skills were once again on display and led to this exciting scholarship offer by Drostdy Technical College.

Following in the footsteps of SOS Africa’s Elvino, who attended Drostdy from January 2021 and has since received a full scholarship to Durban High, at Drostdy Henwhill will receive a high standard of academic teaching and sports coaching.

SOS Africa’s child sponsorship programmes and partnering schools’ pride themselves in encouraging students to both excel in the classroom and pursue extra-curricular interests which excite and motivate them; for Henwhill it has always been about rugby:

“It brings great excitement to go out and live my dream to the fullest. Playing for such a big school, whilst bearing in mind that I am just an ordinary farm boy whose wishes have come true. Playing rugby makes me happy. There is nothing else that I want to do more; I see myself wearing a green and gold jersey one day, playing for the Springboks and making everyone proud.” Henwhill Scholtz (SOS Africa Elgin, Grade 7)

Henwhill’s parents have proudly supported their son throughout his exciting journey:

“His achievements literally brought tears to our eyes; being selected for the U12 Boland Team and U13 7s Boland Team. Words cannot describe how super proud and honoured we are to be his parents. We cannot thank SOS Africa and St Michael’s Primary enough for what they have done and how much they have invested and still invest in him. You have guided our son and helped build his character and the wonderful person he is becoming. Our biggest thanks are to Henwhill’s SOS Africa sponsors for always believing in him!” Henry and Wilma Scholtz (Henwhill’s parents)

Although the SOS Africa staff and children will be sad to see him fly the nest, they all wish him well for the start of an exciting new chapter next year and cannot wait to follow his progress as he pursues his dreams!