England failed to reach the T20 Blind World Cup final following a 147-run defeat by Pakistan in Bangalore.

Pakistan, who won all nine of their group games, managed 309-1 from their 20 overs with Israr Hassan scoring an unbeaten 143, including 25 fours.
Fellow opener Badar Munir managed 103 off only 43 balls before retiring.
Pakistan restricted England to 162-7 - with Matthew Page making 41 - to set up a final against hosts India which takes place on Sunday, again in Bangalore.


The A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful in Argyll has been closed overnight as efforts continue to make safe a 150 tonne boulder on the hillside.

The road closed for a time last week after a landslip during Storm Frank.
It closed again on Monday amid concerns about the boulder, which is about 175m above the carriageway.
The Old Military Road diversion, which was in use since 09:00, closed at 16:30. An alternative diversion via Dalmally will be in place overnight.
In a statement, roads operator Bear Scotland, said that efforts to make safe the boulder had been been "ongoing since first light this morning".
"A helicopter bringing materials to site was delayed reaching the area due to inclement weather but the specialist teams have now begun to install the anchors required to remove the boulder safely," Bear said.
"Good progress has been made and preparatory works should be completed today ready for works to make safe the boulder to take place tomorrow morning."
Bear said the "monitoring process cannot continue safely during the hours of darkness and the Old Military Road will close at 4:30pm this evening and reopen at 9:00am tomorrow".
During this time, the diversion via Dalmally and Crianlarich will be reinstated.
Overnight, the A83 will remain open from Inveraray to the B828 junction, allowing continued access to Lochgoilhead, Dunoon and the ferries to Gourock.
At the south side of the closure, access is available from Tarbet to Ardgartan.


North African rivals Egypt and Algeria drew 1-1 in their opening Under-23 Africa Cup Of Nations Group B match in Mbour on Sunday.

Mahmoud Ablehamid Soliman opened the scoring for the Egyptians, before Oussama Chita equalised for Algeria.
The tournament, which features eight African countries, also serves as a qualifying tournament for next year's Olympic Games with the top three finishers booking a place in Rio.
Nigeria survived a second-half onslaught  to beat Mali 3-2 in the other Group B match to complete a joyful weekend for coach Samson Siasia .
The mother of former national team star Siasia was released Saturday 12 days after being kidnapped from a southern Nigerian village by gunmen.
Siasia, who was in the Gambia preparing the Olympic hopefuls when the abduction occurred, said he had spoken to his "happy" 72-year-old mother before  the Mali match.
Mali hit the woodwork after just 35 seconds before Junior Ajayi Oluwafemi scored twice and Muhammed Usman once to build a 3-0 half-time lead for Nigeria.
A resurgent Mali scored twice within 11 minutes to trail by only one goal with a quarter of the game left, and missed several chances to equalise against  the constantly back-pedalling Nigerians.
Adama Niane converted a penalty to offer the Malians a glimmer of hope and  Soulyemane Sissoko claimed a second goal on 65 minutes from close range.
Meanwhile, hosts Senegal opened the tournament on Saturday with a 3-1 victory over South Africa in the first match of Group A in Dakar.
Two goals from Ibrahima Keita and a late Sidy Sarr strike helped the hosts secure their win on Saturday, with South Africa's goal coming from Phumlani Ntshangase.
After a bright opening spell from South Africa, it was Senegal who took the lead after 16 minutes, with Ibrahima Keita scoring from the penalty spot.
Just four minutes later, Senegal made it 2-0 with Keita grabbing his second, this time from open play.
In an eventful first half, South Africa hauled themselves back into the game just before the half-hour mark.
Phumlani Ntshangase made it 2-1 with another penalty in the 28th minute to give South Africa hope going into the second half.
But Senegal increased their lead three minutes from time as substitute Sidy Sarr struck to make it 3-1 to the hosts.
Later on Saturday, Tunisia defeated Zambia 2-1 in the second Group A fixture.
Haithem Jouini put Tunisia ahead after just four minutes.
Zambia equalised in the 15th minute through Ronaldo Kampamba.
It was 1-1 at the break, and the match looked to be heading for a draw until Jouini struck for a second time six minutes from time to hand the Tunisians the victory.
It means that Senegal lead the Group A standings.


One of the most important space launches of the year has just occurred in California.

It saw the Landsat-8 mission hurtle skywards on an Atlas rocket from the US Air Force base at Vandenberg shortly after 10:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
The spacecraft will maintain the longest continuous image record of the Earth's surface as viewed from space.
It is a record that now stretches back over 40 years - an invaluable tool for studying our changing world.
The latest spacecraft was lifted by the Atlas into a 680km-high polar orbit.  It will take about three months for Nasa engineers to test the platform and get it ready for use at its operational altitude of 705km.
"Landsat is a critical asset," said US space agency (Nasa) project scientist Dr Jim Irons.
"Land cover and land use are changing now at rates unprecedented in human history due to an increasing population, advancing technology and shifts in the climate.
"In order for us to adapt to these changes and make sensible decisions about what we do to the surface of the planet, we need the information this satellite series gives us," he told told BBC News.
The entire 40-year image archive is open and free.  Scientists around the globe exploit the information in myriad ways - from monitoring the health of crops and the status of volcanoes, to measuring the growth of cities and the extent of glaciers.
One of the uses best known to the general public will be on their phones and computers through Google, which incorporates Landsat data into its Earth and Maps applications.
Known officially as the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LCDM), the new spacecraft is the eighth in the series that is jointly managed by Nasa and the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Landsat-8 will operate alongside Landsat-7, which has sufficient fuel to keep working until about 2016.
Both satellites carry an optical imager to take pictures in visible and infrared light, and a thermal infrared sensor to measure the heat radiation coming up off the Earth's surface.
The instruments see details in the range of 15m to 100m across, depending on the particular wavelength of light being measured.
Landsat-8's instruments are more sensitive, but, critically, directly comparable with 7's.
One key development is the move away from a so-called "whiskbroom" detector design to a "pushbroom" architecture.
In the former, the satellite employs mirrors that sweep back and forth across the field of view, building an image on a relatively small set of detectors.
On Landsat-7, one of these mirrors failed in 2003, leaving gaps in the pictures which then have to be filled with data from a subsequent pass.
The pushbroom technology on Landsat-8 does away with the mirrors and relies instead on a much larger array of detectors.
"We call it pushbroom because it is like pushing a big broom of detectors across the ground track," said Dr Irons.
It will be May before the new spacecraft enters full service.  To get to that point, all its systems must go through a strenuous check-out process.
The spacecraft must also be lifted under its own propulsion system into the operational orbit some 705km above the Earth.
As it rises in the sky, it will pass under Landsat-7, giving scientists the opportunity to cross-calibrate their instruments.
Ultimately, the two spacecraft will be separated such that every point on the Earth's land surface is visited every eight days.
"We have a minimum goal of collecting a cloud-free scene once per season for every land location on the Earth," explained Dr Irons.
"In some places that's just a dry season and a rainy season. But in other places, there's winter, spring, summer and fall."
There is a plan for Europe's forthcoming Sentinel series of satellites to combine with Landsat.
The European Union's Copernicus programme will see the launch of Sentinel-2a and 2b in the next three years.  Their Multi-Spectral Imagers are broadly similar to the Operational Land Imager on Landsat-8.
"The repeat period for the two Sentinels will be five days, so working with Landsat we would dramatically increase the amount of data available.  Our data policies still have to be formally approved but our expectation is that Sentinel data will also be open and free," Dr Josef Aschbacher at the European Space Agency told BBC News.
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos


Nigeria international defender Kenneth Omeruo has agreed to return for a second loan spell at English Championship side Middlesbrough from Chelsea.

The 20-year-old centre-back spent the second half of last season at the Riverside and played 14 games.
BBC Sport has learned he turned down offers from outside England to rejoin the North East outfit.
Omeruo started every game for Nigeria at the World Cup in Brazil.
I like the atmosphere at Middlesbrough, the players and fans too are very supportive
"I am not in a hurry [to break into the Chelsea team] because everything in life is step by step," Omeruo told BBC Sport.
"I decided to return to Boro because I really enjoyed my last loan there and working with the manager Aitor Karanka.
"I like the atmosphere at Middlesbrough, the players and fans too are very supportive.
"It's such an easy choice to make and a key factor in going there is the chance to play first-team football."
A member of the Nigerian side that reached the round of 16 at the World Cup in Brazil, Omeruo has largely been loaned out by Chelsea since he joined in January 2012.
After signing for the Blues from Standard Liege, Omeruo was immediately sent to ADO Den Haag where he played 36 games on loan at the Dutch top-flight side.
He is yet to make his Chelsea debut, but remains positive about his chances at the London club where he recently signed a new deal that keeps him at the club until 2018.
"I was rewarded with a new contract because the club [Chelsea] knows what I am capable of," he added.
"I just need to focus on my career, give my best all the time and let my football speak for me.
"At the right time, I'll get my chance. For now, I believe in the Middlesbrough project and want to help the club compete for promotion."
Omeruo was key for Nigeria's defence that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 and also played in last summer's Confederations Cup in Brazil.


Caledonian MacBrayne has become the latest employer in Scotland to commit to paying the living wage.

The company said it was the first ferry operator in the UK and first major transport firm north of the border to gain official Living Wage accreditation.
The recognition is made by the Poverty Alliance on behalf of the Living Wage foundation.
CalMac said it was "right and proper" to pay staff "fairly for their work".
About 300 companies and organisations in Scotland, and 1,600 throughout the UK, have signed up to the Living Wage Foundation's higher rates.
Chancellor George Osborne announced a new National Living Wage as part of his Budget in July, but this is lower than the rates set by the Living Wage Foundation.
CalMac's managing director Martin Dorchester said: "It is absolutely right and proper that CalMac's employees should earn a Living Wage.
"It is something we were already doing with our staff and gaining accreditation simply formalises our commitment to this.
"A recent independent study by the Fraser of Allander Institute into CalMac's social and economic impact across the network found that its staff earn 12% more than the Scottish average.
"This reflects not only the importance we place on ensuring our staff - often in areas where job opportunities can be limited and also low paid - are financially recognised fairly for their work, but that they can live well within the prevailing financial climate."
Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance, said: "As the first ferry company to become accredited, CalMac is leading the way.
"With over half of children in poverty in Scotland living in a household where someone works, paying the Living Wage is now more important than ever.
"We hope to see more employers following in CalMac's steps in the coming weeks and months."


The way price comparison websites work is to be examined by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Among other issues, it will look at how well sites such as Moneysupermarket, Uswitch and Gocompare can be trusted by their customers.
The CMA says it will look at whether consumers should be made more aware of how such sites earn their commission.
The study will look at all price comparison sites, including broadband, energy, insurance and banking.
Consumers are not always made aware of the cheapest deals on price websites, and usually they cannot switch to such deals immediately.
Companies often pay a fee of about Â£30 to a site for each new customer they gain.
Analysis: Brian Milligan, personal finance reporter
The CMA study will be seen by many as an opportunity to revisit one of its most controversial decisions. Back in June, its inquiry into the energy market ruled that price comparison sites would no longer be under an obligation to show consumers the cheapest deals.
In other words, such sites only need to show deals on which they are making a commission.
That decision reversed a previous ruling by the energy regulator Ofgem, which said consumers should see all the deals on offer. MPs on the Energy Select Committee have already complained about the U-turn.
While the CMA claims this new inquiry is completely separate, it says it will "see what issues it throws up".
It is now asking for evidence. There will certainly be no shortage of people willing to give it.
Andrea Coscelli, CMA acting chief executive, said: "Digital comparison tools have played a big part in changing markets for the better, bringing new ways of doing things and forcing businesses to up their game.
"Consumers have benefited as choice and access to goods and services have grown."
He said they had been more successful in some sectors than others.
The CMA said it wanted to understand why this was the case and whether more could be done to ensure consumers and businesses can benefit from them more widely.
It will examine four areas:
One energy provider said the CMA was clueless about comparison sites.
Luke Watson, GB Energy managing director, said: "This latest investigation shows that the CMA has no idea what it thinks when it comes to comparison sites.
"It makes a farce of the CMA's energy market review, which handed more power to the comparison sites only a few months ago.  Let's not forget some of those sites are also being investigated for anti-competitive practices. I think this is beyond a question of trust; these sites are profit-making machines posing as consumer champions, and they need proper regulation."
A MoneySuperMarket spokesperson said: "We look forward to working with the regulator to provide information and support as its work progresses."
The CMA must announce within six months whether it intends to refer the market for a more in-depth investigation and must publish its report within 12 months.
Margot James, the consumer minister, said: "The government welcomes this market study, as consumers deserve to have access to the best deals and the clear, reliable information they need to make the best decisions."


Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish have formally converted their civil partnership to a marriage - with the musician documenting the day on the Instagram website.

The couple have been hosting a ceremony at their Windsor estate in Berkshire with a number of stars in attendance.
David and Victoria Beckham, musician Ed Sheeran and actor David Walliams were among the guests.
Mr Furnish and Sir Elton, who have two sons, became civil partners in 2005.
The couple's sons Zachary, who was born in 2010, and Elijah, born last year attended the ceremony.
One image - showing the newlyweds holding hands, with Elijah standing between them - bears the caption: "Zachary grabs David's iPhone and takes a photo of his brother while we exchange our vows."
Sir Elton has been including the hashtag #ShareTheLove on his posts on Sunday.
Friends of the couple have also been using the tag, with the Beckhams' eldest son Brooklyn writing:  "Amazing day with family and special friends congratulations Uncle Elton and Uncle David #ShareTheLove."
The teenager posted a photograph of the wedding lunch menu, which included wild mushroom soup with truffle cream, beef short rib and caramelised onion pie and warm chocolate pudding with ice cream. Guests were served Laurent-Perrier champagne.
Sir Elton has posted a number of pictures to the photo-sharing website, where he has thousands of followers, including a picture taken at a window showing a garden, with the caption: "Good morning! Nice day for a wedding".
He later wrote: "The tables look stunning! We had red roses at our Civil Partnership 9 years ago and they brought us so much luck."
On 21 December 2005, they held a civil partnership ceremony at the Windsor Guildhall.
In March, the law was changed in England and Wales to allow same-sex marriage.
Sir Elton said at the time he was "very proud" of Britain for changing the law.
"Having our civil partnership was an incredible breakthrough for people that have campaigned for a long time - through the 60s and the 50s in England when it was so hard to be gay and hard to be open about it. And it was a criminal act.
"So for this legislation to come through is joyous, and we should celebrate it. We shouldn't just say, 'Oh, well we have a civil partnership. We're not going to bother to get married'. We will get married."
Celebrities gave their reaction on Twitter. Gary Barlow wrote: "What an incredible day." Graham Norton said: "Huge congratulations to Sir Elton John and David Furnish. Married at last!!"
Walliams said it was a "magnificent" day, while Hugh Grant tweeted: "Groom Groom - Britain races into the future. Congrats Elton and David. Congrats enlightened UK."
Guests also included singer Lulu, Burberry chief executive Christopher Bailey, as well as comedian Jimmy Carr who tweeted:  "#ShareTheLove at the beautiful wedding of two beautiful people. Wishing Elton & David every happiness. X".


University leaders might talk about the virtues of diversity but they don't often embody it.

When vice chancellors and presidents are gathered together, they often match the stereotypes of being grey, male and pale.
But not Ana Mari Cauce, president of the University of Washington in Seattle in the United States.
As well as being a first lady in Washington - as in the first female president of this major US university - she is also Cuban-American and gay.
It gives her a different perspective on the wave of protests about race and identity that have hit US university campuses.
When Dr Cauce delivered a speech to students about prejudice and arguments about campus racism, it was a long way from the usual platitudes.
Her own story has been much tougher than those of the many students now protesting.
She told her students, in painful detail, about how she had been rejected by her mother when she came out as gay.
Born in Cuba, she came to the US at the age of three, and her parents worked in a shoe factory - despite her father having been a minister of education in Cuba.
Her brother was a civil rights campaigner who was killed at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally - and she told her students how she had had to break the news of his death to her mother.
"Because my mother didn't understand English well, it fell on me to tell her what had happened. I'll never forget the sound she made. It was not quite human. It was unbearable for us both."
It was a long way from a traditional speech of a president from a top-ranking university.
So what does she think is causing the current soul-searching about racism in universities?
"It's everything to do with changing demographics," says Dr Cauce, speaking in London.
"It's now in your face, literally. The face of our country. We tend to think in terms of majority and minority, but in the US we're at a point where there is no majority."
More stories from the BBC's Global education series, looking at education from an international perspective and how to get in touch
Dr Cauce, a professor of psychology, says universities have still to catch up with a society in which there is no longer a single dominant group or culture.
In the past, she says, black and Latino students, or those from poorer backgrounds, might have felt that the university system "wasn't made with you in mind".
But now universities, with their own long traditions, are facing difficult questions about how to be more inclusive.
Such debates have seen Harvard Law School change its seal, part of which was the coat of arms of a notoriously brutal slave owner. Harvard has also dropped the title "master" for members of staff, because of uncomfortable associations with slavery.
Dr Cauce says that such symbolic decisions are difficult for universities, which are balancing a sense of continuity and tradition with the need to be sensitive to contemporary expectations of students. They have to be "timely and timeless," she says.
But she says fear of being accused of being racist or bigoted should not be used as an excuse for avoiding controversial subjects.
She argues it is better to have "difficult conversations" rather than hide behind a cosmetic appearance of inclusivity.
Dr Cauce uses the image of a university cafeteria - where it might appear from the outside to be an integrated student body but where, on closer inspection, ethnic groups are sticking to their separate tables.
"You can have all the diversity in the world but if all the kids are sitting in their own spaces in the cafeteria but not talking to each other, you're missing the point."
She says there is no point in trying to "sugarcoat" the racism and prejudice that is part of society.
But when it is challenged it is often about misunderstandings rather than malice.
"In my experience, often when students do things that are very offensive, it can be done more out of ignorance than purposefully," says Dr Cauce.
The polarisation in politics - being played out in the presidential election campaigns - is also adding to the rising temperature on such issues, she says.
What makes the stakes even higher is that universities have increasingly become the "gatekeepers" for entry into middle class professions.
This means that ethnic groups missing out on university, or feeling that they don't fit in, can be excluded from getting a good job.
"More and more a university degree is becoming the calling card to success in the future, to being able to achieve leadership positions," says Dr Cauce.
"We have a real obligation to make sure higher education remains accessible - either by low cost or a good system of scholarships."
In terms of affordability, Washington's tuition fees are cheaper than universities in England.
Fees for students from Washington state are about $12,000 (Â£8,200) a year and after means-testing for financial support, about a third of these students pay no fees at all.
It's also reaching a lot of people, with 45,000 students on campus and another 50,000 studying online.
Dr Cauce says she would be delighted if her own story helped to give confidence to a young person thinking of applying to university.
But she also says that people can "transcend" their own history.
The conclusion of the story of her relationship with her mother, after she told her that she was gay, shows how attitudes can change. And it's hard to think of a more honest speech from a university head.
"She even offered to sell her condo, her only real possession of worth, to get me conversion treatment," Dr Cauce told her students.
"It was tough between us for several years, until finally something changed. I'm still not quite sure how, but she was ready to visit me in our house.
"She grew to love my partner, now spouse. Years later, trying to fight her way back from a massive stroke, my mother died in my arms, and I knew she was proud of me.
"I think she knew I was proud of her. It was the last gift we gave each other."


Two former Metropolitan Police officers have pleaded guilty to misconduct in public office at the Old Bailey.

Timothy Edwards, 48, from Surrey, pleaded guilty to one charge and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Edwards, who worked at Heathrow airport, received more than Â£22,000 for selling stories to a newspaper between 31 March 2008 and 1 July 2011.
Sam Azouelos, 35, from north London, admitted one count and is due to be sentenced on 4 July.
Azouelos, who admitted misconduct in public office between 3 July 2006 and 30 April 2010, was granted bail at the Old Bailey.
However, Judge Richard Marks QC warned that he too faced jail.
PC Timothy Edwards, who was sacked by the Met in 2013, provided up to 30 stories involving celebrities, drug smuggling and the behaviour of airline crew to a newspaper over a three-year period in exchange for money.
He took evidence from the police computer system, including crime reports and custody records.
The court heard how one woman - whose story was turned into a "smutty sex-laden scandal" - suffered such "severe emotional stress" she tried to take her own life.
Sentencing Edwards, from Lingfield, the judge told him he had been working for "two paymasters".
"Your case is a particularly serious one of its type, bearing in mind the number of stories involved, the amount of money you received and the period of time it went on," he added.


Animal-rights groups want the Scottish government to make this year's Boxing Day hunts the last to take place.

The plea by the League Against Cruel Sports and OneKind comes after a review by Lord Bonomy who said fox hunting laws should be changed.
He concluded that the current rules were "unduly complicated".
Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said Lord Bonomy's findings were being considered "carefully" and would be responded to early in 2017.
The Scottish Countryside Alliance, which represents hunts, accused LACS of "peddling lies" about foxhunting in Scotland.
Boxing Day is a traditional time to hold hunts in the UK with the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance claiming that more than 200,000 people attend such events.
The Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 saw fox hunting with dogs banned.
The law stated that a person who deliberately hunted a wild mammal with a dog was committing an offence.
An exception was made when dogs can be used to stalk or flush out a fox to be shot in the interests of pest control, protecting livestock or ground-nesting birds.
That prompted mounted hunts in Scotland to be offered to farmers, landowners and estate managers as a form of pest or fox control.
Lord Bonomy's report concluded there were grounds to suspect "there may be occasions when hunting, which does not fall within one of the exceptions, does take place" and recommended further clarification of the law as well as independent hunt monitors.
Robbie Marsland, director of the League Against Cruel Sports Scotland, believed the "ball is now firmly in the Scottish government's court".
He added "Public opinion in Scotland wants to see fox hunting banned, the government thought they had banned it, but as our evidence, Lord Bonomy and Police Scotland have revealed, hunts are running a coach and horses through the current legislation.
"In short, the law isn't fit for purpose and, in keeping with the commitments made by the first minister to strengthen the law if it were necessary, we look to the government to do that by November 2017 - in time to stop next year's hunting season."
The organisation said nearly 10,000 people had signed an online petition calling for Ms Cunningham to take speedy action.
Harry Huyton, director of OneKind, echoed Mr Marsland's plea and asked the Scottish government to "act as early as possible in 2017".
Ms Cunningham said the Holyrood administration recognised concerns around the current legislation and that was why Lord Bonomy was asked to carry out the review.
She added: "Back in 2002, Scotland led the way in addressing animal-welfare concerns and we remain committed to ensuring the highest levels of welfare for our wild animals.
"We will now carefully consider the findings with a view to responding early in 2017.
"Any ensuing proposals for legislative change will be subject to the normal consultation processes."
The Scottish Countryside Alliance said the Bonomy review was "absolutely supportive" of the principle of using packs of hounds to flush to guns.
Its director, Jamie Stewart, said: "The League Against Cruel Sports team should try reading the review before commenting on it. Just because the proposals they made have been so comprehensively rejected is no excuse for so seriously misrepresenting the review.
"I find Mr Marsland's tactics hugely disrespectful to Lord Bonomy and his team. LACS are obviously in disagreement with his recommendations to the Scottish government and have taken to paying for propaganda to try and influence the mind of the cabinet secretary and members of the Scottish parliament.
"Mr Marsland continues to peddle LACS lies over the timeline of events and the contents of his heavily edited footage, which despite drawing on hundreds of hours of secretly filmed footage, failed to show any illegal action."


Deaths and violence at HMP Liverpool have been highlighted by campaigners in light of a damning inspection.

An official report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) found the jail in Walton to be "dirty, overcrowded and poorly equipped".
HMIP said the prison, where there have been 11 deaths, has "deteriorated dramatically" with drug use, staff assaults and self-harm.
The Howard League for Penal Reform said the report makes for "grim reading."
The HMIP report followed an unannounced 11-day visit in May and found a "worrying" three-fold increase in staff assaults,
Mark Fairhurst, a prison officer, told the BBC he believed at least one recent death was due to the legal high "Spice".
The Howard League, a charity that campaigns for prison reform, said 10 men had died in the preceding 14 months and another died shortly after the inspection. The HMIP report said three deaths were self-inflicted.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the charity, said a "lack of managerial oversight" meant prisoners spent hours "locked inside their cells" and "these are the symptoms of a prison system that has been in meltdown".
She said staff were "working under intolerable pressure as prison conditions have deteriorated".
The HMIP report found health provision has "deteriorated dramatically" during 2014 and was the subject of a number of interventions.
Sex offenders located in the first-night centre felt "unsafe" because of their proximity to mainstream prisoners.
Nick Hardwick, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, said: "Throughout this report we have noted a series of backward steps.
"The prison has many longstanding problems to deal with and we acknowledge that urgent issues concerning health and to an extent the number of deaths in custody were being addressed."
He said there were pockets of good work but managers and staff need to "get a better grip on issues".
The Ministry of Justice said: "Prisons should offer offenders the chance to get the skills and qualifications they need to turn away from a life of crime."
Michael Spurr, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, said the governor and staff at Liverpool are determined to improve and action is being taken.
"The Victorian environment is challenging," he said.
"But as the chief inspector makes clear - Liverpool is 'not a fundamentally poor prison' and I'm confident the action being taken will deliver real progress over the coming months."


The bodies of a man and woman found dead in a house were discovered after relatives raised the alarm because they had not heard from them.

The 21-year-old man and woman aged 29 from Poland - named as Daniel Fedec and Malgorzata Marczak by the Polish Embassy - were found in Debdale Avenue, Worcester, on Tuesday.
The woman's death is being treated as murder.
West Mercia Police said there were no previous reports of domestic violence.
Police said they had been contacted by their families on Tuesday who were worried after not hearing from them since Sunday.
Det Ch Insp Neil Austin said: "The death of the woman is being treated as suspicious and being investigated as a murder and the death of the man is being treated as non-suspicious."


Damien Hirst's new gallery, a partly-underground house, three educational buildings and a London estate redevelopment have been nominated for the UK's top architecture award.

The six buildings make up the shortlist for the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) Stirling Prize.
Riba president Jane Duncan said they showed "the huge benefit well-designed buildings can bring to people's lives".
The winner of the prize will be announced on 6 October.
Hirst's Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall houses his private collection.
It will face competition from Outhouse, located in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, which is the first private house to feature on the prize's shortlist for 15 years.
The other four nominees are the Riverside Campus at the City of Glasgow college, two buildings within the University of Oxford - the Blavatnik School of Government and the restored Weston Library - and Trafalgar Place, the first whole-scale redevelopment of London's 1970s Heygate Estate.
Duncan said the gallery and the south London estate showed "well-designed buildings can breathe life and kick-start regeneration in neglected urban pockets", while the educational spaces were new landmarks "to delight and draw in visitors, improve education potential, and increase civic pride".
She added that Outhouse provided "a fantastic model for a private house - one that delights its owners and responds exceptionally sensitively to its treasured rural position".
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Free school meals for infant pupils must be protected and not sacrificed in any budget cuts, say top doctors and nutritionists in a letter to a paper.

Writing to the Sunday Times, the group say that if the meals were scrapped, the move could harm children's health.
The coalition government introduced the meals a year ago for all pupils in the first three years of school in England.
But there has been speculation the policy could face cuts under the Conservative administration.
Such a move would be "short-term thinking indeed", argues the letter, although there has been no word that the meals are under threat in the cuts of between 25% and 40% demanded by Chancellor George Osborne from every government department from unprotected budgets for his spending review.
The free school meals budget has cost around Â£600m each year - but the meals could be vulnerable as they are not part of the per-pupil schools budget, which is protected.
The letter, signed by 40 leading health professionals, applauds the government for its "continued support" of universal infant free school meals and the School Food Plan which stipulates nutritional standards for meals served in local authority-run schools.
"With one in three children currently leaving primary school overweight or obese, ensuring a healthy, nutritionally balanced school lunch has never been so important," it says.
The signatories, who include Prof Lord Darzi of Denham, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, and Prof Sheila the Baroness Hollins, who chairs the British Medical Association's science board, describe childhood obesity as "one of our greatest public health challenges".
They list health risks faced by overweight and obese children, including insulin resistance, hypertension, early signs of heart disease, asthma and poor mental health.
The letter argues free meals could pay for themselves many times over by improving diets and reducing NHS costs.
Only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards which apply to school food, it adds.
"There is evidence that children who eat a healthy school lunch consume more vegetables and fewer sugary drinks and crisps.
"It would be short-term thinking indeed for the government to cut the funding for universal infant free school meals."
The letter says free healthy school lunches for infants are "the bedrock" of a "transformative childhood obesity strategy" to tackle the marketing of less healthy food and drink, boost food education in schools, encourage companies to reformulate their products and support families in healthier eating.
Dr Colin Michie, chairman of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health nutrition committee, said the meals should remain free because everyone would use them.
Rates of obesity have soared, said Dr Michie, who added: "We are now spending billions in the NHS on conditions such as diabetes which we are creating in our teenagers because they are getting overweight.
"Any investment in young children that reduces that rate of pathology in older children and young adults would be terribly worthwhile. This is a small investment and not a big one."
But Jonathan Simons, head of education at the centre-right Policy Exchange, said pilot studies could not find "any direct impact, purely from having a free school meal on things like childhood obesity or body mass index".
He added: "So although it sounds like a nice thing to have, the evidence simply isn't there to suggest it is a good use of money in tight financial circumstances."
A Department for Education spokesman said the belief that every child, regardless of background, should have the same opportunities was "at the heart" of what the government was doing with school food.
"No child should be hindered because they are not eating a nutritious meal at lunchtime," he said.
"We have provided significant financial support to schools to help them deliver universal infant free school meals. We have come a long way and the new School Food Standards mean pupils of all ages are eating good food that sows the seeds for healthy eating for life."
The spending review will be published on 25 November.


Two men have appeared in court charged with attempted murder following an alleged attack at a house in West Lothian.

Justin Mallon, 31, and Owen McLaughlin, 34, both from Livingston, appeared on petition at Livingston Sheriff Court.
They were both accused of assault to injury, danger of life and attempted murder at a house in Camps Riggs, Livingston.
They made no plea and were remanded in custody for further inquiries.
Police had been called to the house at about 21:20 on Saturday following reports that a man had been seriously injured.
The 36-year-old was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he remains in a critical but stable condition.


Jamie Roberts hopes Wales maintain their record of winning high stakes games against England when they meet in the Six Nations Championship.

The 29-year-old Harlequins centre thinks the winners will go on to win the tournament and that Wales have a proven record of coming out on top.
"The stakes are high this week, there's no doubt about that," he said.
"And when I look back over the moments when the stakes have been highest we've delivered as a group."
Roberts, who lines up in an unchanged Wales side, highlighted the 2013 Grand Slam decider in Cardiff when Wales beat England 30-3 and last September's Pool A match in the World Cup when they triumphed 28-25 in Twickenham.
"Certainly, it's an experienced group and we go to Twickenham knowing what it takes to win there and we have to deliver," he added.
"It's 80 minutes. We get it right we win, we get it wrong we lose; so we know what's on the line, the stakes are high.
"And that high pressure environment certainly brings out the best of us."
England go into the game with a 100% record under new coach Eddie Jones, while Wales have beaten Scotland and France after drawing their opening game 16-16 in Ireland.
If England win they face a trip to France on 19 France chasing a first Grand Slam since 2003. A win for Wales would see them needing to beat Italy at home to win the championship.
"We won't leave any stone unturned in our preparation and it's amazing everything boils down to 80 minutes," said Roberts.
"It will take bodies on the line and full concentration because one missed tackle, one break, one unforced error or one penalty could decide the championship.
"Because if you fast forward a week and I'd like to think we won't lose at home to Italy, which we never have done, and I doubt England will lose in France if they're hunting for the Grand Slam.
"So this game will go a long way towards deciding the championship."
At Harlequins Roberts plays alongside Chris Robshaw, who lost the captaincy of England in the fall-out following the World Cup failure which the defeat against Wales instigated.
Coach Stuart Lancaster also lost his job following the tournament along with the bulk of the coaching team.
And Roberts is full of admiration for the way the team has recovered from adversity under Jones.
"It's a credit to Chris as a bloke the way he's been able to bounce back, especially after the flack he took personally at the World Cup and if anything he's playing some of his best rugby now.
"And that's a credit to the bloke more than the player.
"Full respected to England, they've come back very strong.
"Ultimately after going through a tough time like that as a side they're probably at their most dangerous, as we've seen.
"They are unbeaten - they're three from three and we'll be facing a very determined England side on Saturday."


German Muslim schoolgirls who went on a visit to Holocaust memorials in eastern Poland say they were racially abused by locals during their trip.

The girls, from a Berlin school, spoke on Deutschlandfunk radio about their experience. Four were wearing Muslim headscarves - and say they were abused.
One girl said a man had spat on her in the street in Lublin, as police stood by grinning and did nothing.
Another girl said she was expelled from a shop for speaking Persian.
She had been speaking to her brother on the phone.
"They came up to me and said 'can you leave, you're disturbing the people here'. And I thought: Why? Just because I'm speaking Persian and I'm a foreigner? Yes," she told the radio station.
A Lublin police statement on Tuesday said "the trip participants did not report any complaints to Lublin police officers".
Group members had addressed two policemen in English, who "heard from the people translating that there was no problem", the statement said, adding: "the people exchanged polite smiles".
It also said police had examined CCTV footage, but it did "not show any incident involving foreigners".
In Lublin, the girls said, a market stallholder had refused to sell them water because they were foreigners. On another occasion, one girl was reportedly threatened with a knife.
And one girl said that in Lodz "a woman just came up to me and shouted 'get out!' and threw her drink over me and my camera - she said 'get lost!'"
They were among a group of 20 children - mostly Muslims - from the Theodor Heuss Community School in Berlin-Moabit.
The Holocaust is a sensitive topic for many Muslims because Jewish survivors settled in British-mandate Palestine, on land which later became the state of Israel.
The Holocaust: Who are the missing million?
The Holocaust year by year
The Poland trip was arranged by a German Holocaust memorial body, the House of the Wannsee Conference.
Its director Hans-Christian Jasch said: "I'm especially shocked that this happened to youngsters in our care on this trip - indeed, on a trip dedicated to studying this very topic [racism]. Of course that's particularly sad." He plans to complain to the Polish embassy in Berlin.
The Berlin group visited Majdanek, a camp on the outskirts of Lublin where the Nazi German SS murdered Jews during World War Two.
They also visited Treblinka, site of another Nazi death camp, and the cities of Warsaw and Lodz, whose Jewish communities were slaughtered by the Nazis.
The purpose of the trip was also to find out about the suffering of Polish civilians in general under Nazi occupation.
The Polish National Prosecutor's Office says that in 2016 anti-Muslim hate attacks almost doubled in Poland, compared with 2015.
"Foreigners residing in Poland, especially individuals from Arab countries, more and more often experience various types of attacks," said Sylwia Spurek, Polish Deputy Ombudsperson for Human Rights.
She told the BBC that the authorities - especially the police - must act against the "growing aversion or even hostility" towards foreigners.
Poland's nationalist government refuses to take in Muslim refugees, arguing that they would struggle to integrate in Poland's Catholic-majority society.
The EU is in dispute with Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary on the issue. The four countries reject an EU decision to relocate 160,000 refugees - many of them Muslim Syrians - currently stuck at reception centres in Italy and Greece.
The leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, said in October 2015 that the refugees posed a health hazard. He was speaking shortly before PiS triumphed in a general election.
"Also there are some differences related to geography, various parasites, protozoa that are common and are not dangerous in the bodies of these people, (but) may be dangerous here," he said.
Defending Poland's policy, Science and Higher Education Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said "every nation and people has a right to protect itself from extinction".


Two men have appeared in court charged with attempted murder following an incident on a Borders housing estate.

Michael Gilbert, 26, and Robert Gregg, 38, both of Galashiels, are accused of assaulting a man to his severe injury and permanent disfigurement.
It follows an early morning incident in Langlee - the largest housing estate in Galashiels - on Saturday.
Both men made no plea or declaration at Selkirk Sheriff Court and their cases were continued for further examination.
Mr Gregg also faces a charge of being in possession of a bladed item in a public place.
The men were remanded in custody by Sheriff Peter Paterson and are expected to appear in court again next Tuesday.


A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after thousands of pounds worth of remembrance poppies were destroyed in Gwynedd.

The incident was uncovered in a storage facility in Caernarfon on 27 April.
North Wales Police said the poppies were now unusable and have had to be disposed of.
The boy was arrested on Tuesday, and has now been released on police bail. Officers said inquiries were continuing.


A sharp decline in entries to modern foreign language A-levels has been blamed by head teachers on severe funding pressures.

Entries to A-levels in French have dropped by 6.4% from last year, in German by 4.2% and in Spanish by 2.7%.
Malcolm Trobe of the ASCL heads' union said schools and colleges were finding it hard to run courses with small pupil numbers, due to funding shortages.
The government replied that it had been encouraging pupils to take languages.
This is mainly through the English Baccalaureate - the wrap-around qualification which requires pupils to sit a range of certain GCSES including a language.
The claimed effect of funding shortages comes as pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving their A-level results.
But Mr Trobe, interim general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said he was worried about the "continuing decline" in the number of A-level entrants in modern foreign languages, and other "minority" subjects such as music, and design and technology.
"These statistics reflect the fact that sixth forms and colleges are finding it increasingly difficult to run courses where there are relatively small numbers of students because of severe funding pressures," he said.
"The level of post-16 funding is woeful and urgently needs to be addressed.
"We are in danger of becoming trapped in a vicious circle where entries to these very important subjects continues to decline and there are consequently fewer people to teach them in the future, exacerbating an ongoing recruitment crisis," he added.
Mr Trobe also said changes to the AS-level - which do not now count towards the final A-level grade - had also effectively narrowed pupils' choices.
In the past, pupils had generally been allowed to take four subjects and then drop one at the end of the first year, he said.
Now, he argued, "we are just reducing curriculum choice, full stop."
National Association of Head Teachers general secretary, Russell Hobby, said that while it was "good to see an increase in the top grades awarded in modern foreign language", a national strategy needed to be implemented to address the drop in entries.
He said: "Yet again we see a decrease in the number of students taking these subjects."
"We need to ensure that there are enough trained teachers to offer a breadth of languages, and for schools to be supported to ensure primary pupils are also exposed to the challenges of learning a language," he added.
Schools minister Nick Gibb acknowledged that the drop-off in foreign languages was a "worry".
"There has been a slight decline in modern foreign languages but the introduction of the EBacc has arrested the historic fall of foreign languages at GCSE and we expect this will grow the pool of young people who are equipped to go on to study languages at A level."
The Department for Education said it was protecting funding for 16- to 19-year-olds and ended the unfair difference between post-16 schools and colleges.


A memorial in honour of Sikh soldiers who fought during World War One has been unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The national WW1 Sikh Memorial statue commemorates the 130,000 Sikh men who took part in the war.
More than 150 people pledged over Â£22,000 to pay for it.
Sikhs made up 20% of the British Indian Army in action, despite being just 1% of the Indian population at the time, the WW1 Sikh Memorial Fund said.
The founder and chairman of the charity, Jay Singh-Sohal, said some Sikhs left their towns and villages for the first time "to venture abroad to fight for Great Britain" and "made a contribution when Britain itself didn't have the troops".
Describing the memorial, he said: "It's got a large turban, long flowing beard, very much the image of a Sikh soldier from that period.
"[It has] the look and feel of a Sikh solider with the uniform and the medal that they would have been eligible for and would have won as a result of their service."
The memorial at Alrewas was sanctified with a traditional Sikh prayer and a minute's silence was held to remember all who fought for Great Britain.
The statue was funded through a campaign by the WW1 Sikh Memorial Fund on the Kickstarter website.


Great Britain could have won another Olympic gold had the women's football team been allowed to compete, believes England head coach Mark Sampson.

The four national football associations were unable to agree on sending Great Britain teams to Rio.
Sampson, who led England to a bronze medal at the 2015 World Cup, described the situation as "frustrating".
"I've watched the tournament and I believe this team would have won the gold medal," he said.
"This group of players did earn the right to go to an Olympics and represent themselves and their country, but it's been taken away from them".
England captain Steph Houghton, who scored three goals at London 2012 for Great Britain, added that it was "very disappointing" to not go to Rio.
"That was originally our place - the place that we won at the World Cup, and it's hard, but at the same time there's no point about complaining we can't be there," she added.
England's Football Association had put forward the idea of sending Great Britain teams to the Olympics, but Fifa said it would need the agreement of the ruling bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who were against it.
Stewart Regan, the Scottish Football Association's chief executive, has been among those to voice concerns that a Great Britain team would threaten the separate status of the home nations at future international tournaments such as World Cups.


A team of firefighters in Auckland, New Zealand have rescued a group of ducklings from a cesspit, reuniting them with their mother.

The Titirangi Volunteer Fire Brigade received a call from the public on Saturday morning.
One of them reached down into the cesspit while a colleague held on to him to prevent him from falling.
"The mother duck seemed pretty anxious," chief officer Randolph Covich told the BBC.
"But we got them all and sent them off into the wild."
The rescue, which took about 20 minutes, was filmed by the volunteer team and uploaded onto their Facebook page. It received more than 200,000 views over 24 hours.
"We're surprised to see how far the video went," said Chief Officer Covich.
"Winter is coming so we thought a video like this would be something to cheer people up a bit."


Companies would not be allowed to own land in Scotland unless they are registered within the European Union, under government proposals.

Scottish ministers are also considering extending such a restriction to trusts and partnerships, as part of proposed "radical" land reforms.
The government said Scotland's land should benefit "the many, not the few".
But landowners said they now faced the threat of being forced to sell off land, under the proposals.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already announced her intention to bring forward measures allowing ministers to take action against landlords seen as a "barrier to sustainable development".
And she earlier outlined moves to scrap tax breaks for shooting and deerstalking estates, as part of a proposed Land Reform Bill.
As the Scottish government asked for public views on its plans, it said restricting ownership to EU companies, trusts and partnerships would end the current situation where communities and others find it difficult to trace their local landowners.
The restrictions would not apply to individuals from other parts of the world who want to buy Scottish land.
'Transparent system'
Environment Minister Aileen McLeod, said: "The Scottish government's vision is for a strong relationship between the people of Scotland and the land of Scotland, where ownership and use of the land delivers greater public benefits through a democratically accountable and transparent system of land rights that promotes fairness and social justice, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.
"I am keen to see a fairer and more equitable, distribution of land in Scotland where communities and individuals can own and use land to realise their potential. Scotland's land must be an asset that benefits the many, not the few."
Labour has backed the government's land reform proposals, but the Conservatives have branded them, "a Big Brother-style land grab."
And Scottish Land and Estates, which speaks for private landowners, said it was dismayed over a lack of clarity in the government's plans.
David Johnstone, chairman of the organisation, said: "We believe the government's desire to make rural Scotland more prosperous would be better served by viewing private landowners and land based businesses as part of the solution.
"Instead, we are now faced with the threat of landowners being forced to sell land if they are regarded as being a barrier to sustainable development."
He added: "Taken in the round, all these proposals have the potential to deliver a serious blow to land-based businesses of all types and sizes and we do not think that is in the interests of rural Scotland."


Some health workers are still reluctant to blow the whistle on unsafe practices for fear of being victimised, the chief executive of NHS Scotland has admitted.

Paul Gray also said some staff do not raise issues because they believe it would not lead to any real change.
Writing in The Herald, he urged them to "have the confidence to come forward" with any genuine concerns.
He added: "You will be listened to and your concerns will be investigated. And you should tell me if they are not."
NHS Scotland staff can raise concerns about patient safety and malpractice through a confidential whistleblowing helpline.
Alert Line has been running for about three years and it is run by Public Concern at Work, an independent whistleblowing charity.
But Mr Gray, who is also the Scottish government's director of general health and social care, said more could still be done to encourage people to raise any concerns they have.
"When I meet staff and trade union representatives, I ask them about their concerns. The answers are interesting, and varied," he wrote.
"Some say that they don't think that there would be any point - nothing would happen if they raised a concern.
"Some say that they fear that there could be consequences for them - perhaps in terms of their career, or a fear of being victimised.
"And others say that they have raised concerns in the past, and nothing happened - or if it did, nobody gave them any feedback. That tells me that there is still something we need to tackle."
Mr Gray said he always welcomed the fact that staff raise concerns because it ultimately leads to a better and safer NHS.
He added: "There's absolutely no room for complacency here. That's why I will continue to champion a culture where genuine whistleblowers are encouraged, supported and valued in NHS Scotland."
Mr Gray also revealed further details about the role of an Independent National Whistleblowing Officer (INO), planned by the Scottish government.
The findings of a consultation on the role were published earlier this year.
Mr Gray said: "The INO will provide external review where individuals have a legitimate concern about the handling of a whistleblowng case and is a further step in developing an open and transparent reporting culture in NHS Scotland."
He added: "The INO will complement a range of policies and procedures already agreed and in place to support and encourage staff to raise concerns."


Chelsea maintained their 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 win at Stoke, while Tottenham beat Southampton 2-1 at home to stay second.

Manchester City and Liverpool played out a pulsating 1-1 draw and Manchester United moved into fifth as a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough saw them move above Arsenal, who lost 3-1 at West Brom.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth steered well clear of the drop thanks to a 2-0 victory over Swansea, while there were wins for Everton, Crystal Palace and Leicester City.
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Two of the best saves you will see from Kasper Schmeichel, and reminiscent of his father Peter Schmeichel at his best. The save from Andy Carroll's header was immense and the shot stop from the same player was even better.
It could be argued that Schmeichel has been Leicester's most consistent player in what can only be described as a complicated season for the Foxes. However, what has been most impressive from the young keeper has been his honesty off the field around all the speculation involving Claudio Ranieri's departure. He fronted up for interviews and spoke with clarity and maturity about a very difficult situation, giving Leicester fans (and the public at large) some indication of what was happening behind the scenes.
It was not an easy situation for the goalkeeper but he stood up to the challenge. The Dane now faces a different test and that is having to maintain the sort of performance he showed against an unlucky West Ham to ensure his team remain in the Premier League. They can flirt with the Champions League all they want, but their Premier League status is what really matters. A point Ranieri apparently failed to understand.
Arguably against the tallest back four in the Premier League, Arsenal were in complete disarray when defending set-pieces and Craig Dawson took complete advantage. His two goals from almost identical set-pieces told the story. Arsenal did not, and could not, handle West Brom's aerial power.
If ever there was a time to bring on Per Mertesacker and plonk him in the heart of the Arsenal back four then this was it. So what was the point of having the German defender on the bench if you were not going to use him when necessary? Was Arsene Wenger waiting for Laurent Koscielny or Shkodran Mustafi to pull a white handkerchief from out of their shirt sleeve and wave it to the bench to signal that they couldn't cope? No, of course not, that's the manager's job to see the faults in his team and correct them as quickly as possible.
If you were ever going to bring on the big German, wasn't this the game? It was so obvious to me that no-one in the Arsenal back four fancied taking on West Brom's aerial threat. Which brings me to a much more worrying point for Wenger. It's one thing his team not having the heart for the battle, however it is something entirely different when your players don't have any heart left for the manager any more.
This display by Arsenal players was very telling and Wenger must seek a dignified exit from the Emirates as soon as possible otherwise his impressive record at the club will count for nought.
A couple of great blocks by John Stones were enough for me to realise this young man was on top of his game against the Reds. As the game unfolded, and the skiddy conditions became a nightmare for defenders, Stones seemed to become more assured. I must say his defensive partner Nicolas Otamendi often makes me nervous on occasions like these, but to be fair to the Argentine he handled Liverpool's counter-attack very well in the second half.
There is no doubt in my mind that Stones is growing into an excellent central defender, and the more I see him the more I detect that the juvenile risk-taking we saw in the early part of his career is being replaced with a calm maturity. It's good news for City and very good news for England.
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte was absolutely right when he said "you can't go to Stoke and expect to win a game without a fight". For someone who is in his first season of management in the Premier League, he's worked that out very quickly. Gary Cahill, on the other hand, will know all about the Potteries and what it takes to win at the Bet365 Stadium. The Chelsea captain gave a penalty away but redeemed himself and his team with a well-taken goal which puts the Blues in what I consider to be an unassailable position at the top of the table.
This time there was no Eden Hazard to bully, so Diego Costa was Stoke's target, and boy did they give it to him. If it wasn't Bruno Martins Indi dishing out the punishment then it was Ryan Shawcross who was putting Costa on notice that this was not the place that would suffer the Spaniard's antics.
However, it was Phil Bardsley who stood out amongst the would-be assassins having taken a piece out of Costa earlier in the contest before totally disgracing himself with the sort of lunge on Cesc Fabregas normally associated with WWE. It's perfectly obvious to everyone that Chelsea are the team to stop - any further advance toward the Premier League title and sides like Stoke are not going to be pleasant about it.
This full-back caught my attention during his days at Watford and even made my Team of the Week on a couple of occasions in the Quique Flores days. His run in the early part of the game down Arsenal's left-hand side would have resulted in a tap-in for Salomon Rondon had the centre-forward been more alert.
The Cameroon defender was equally adept in defence as he thwarted Theo Walcott's attempt to put Arsenal ahead having seen Ben Foster make a wonderful save from Aaron Ramsey.  As for Arsenal, it's all very well fans holding up banners in the stadium requesting their manager leave the club, meanwhile the team descends into farce.
Wenger might be struggling to do his job but Arsenal are in grave danger of losing that perennial Premier League fourth spot and an FA Cup semi-final if this form continues. There is no reason why the fans shouldn't do their job and support the team. So much depends on it.
What a way to score your first goal of the season. I was never one for chasing lost causes because logic seemed to suggest the cause was lost. However, Antonio Valencia chased a ball that looked utterly futile to everyone except Valencia. It seemed the threat of Valencia's speedy approach served to hurry Victor Valdes and in so doing caused the Boro goalkeeper to slip and offer the United player an empty net.
At that point there must have been thousands of coaches justifying themselves to youngsters all over the country on why chasing lost causes has always been worthwhile. But to see United boss Jose Mourinho disappear down the tunnel before the final whistle shaking both fists in total delight at the apparent three points was for me utterly shameful. What happens to head coach Steve Agnew in future, or Middlesbrough Football Club for that matter is, at this moment, in the balance but Agnew did deserve to receive a handshake from the Manchester United manager at the end of the game as tradition demands.
This is Manchester United Football Club and it has a long and proud history of doing things properly. I hope the United board have the courage to remind their employee who he represents. Sir Alex Ferguson, with all his tantrums, always respected the traditions of the game and would never have behaved in such a manner. As for Valencia, there can only be Zlatan Ibrahimovic stopping him from becoming United's fans' player of the season. I know who I would pick.
In the absence of Harry Kane, it was left to Christian Eriksen to pull the strings for Spurs against a very dangerous Southampton. His first-half performance was exceptional, epitomised by his well-taken goal. Tottenham are cruising at the moment. Second in the league and looking like finishing above Arsenal for the first time in 22 years.
I'm not entirely sure whether finishing in the top four or above Arsenal is a sign of real success, but I know Spurs fans will take both. Nevertheless, the mark of a top team has to be winning trophies and if they were to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final and go on to win the trophy I would be duty bound to acknowledge this Spurs team has finally come of age.
However, as far as Tottenham are concerned, winning the FA Cup is only a stepping stone to winning the Premier League. That's the real prize.
This was a game I didn't want anyone to lose. It was a fabulous game of football and, for once, referee Michael Oliver didn't do anything daft. The managers were great with each other on the touchline, and both teams appeared totally committed to winning, with 22 players giving everything in very tricky conditions.
Kevin de Bruyne deserves a mention for that moment of magic and the ball of the game. It opened up Liverpool's defence so completely and left Sergio Aguero, the best natural finisher in the game, to do what he does best. Yet for me it was David Silva who provided City with all their inspiration. He had great support from Fernandinho, especially when the Brazilian joined him in midfield in the second half.
It was Silva who nearly provided City with all three points with a wonderful chipped ball for Raheem Sterling, but the England international simply wasn't equal to it. Credit to both managers, to the players and the referee. We saw a hell of a game.
There were so many good performances in this match I could have selected a number of Liverpool players. I thought Emre Can had one of his best games for Liverpool in months, Joel Matip showed composure under pressure and Georginio Wijnaldum looked like he was back to his best. However, as far as Liverpool were concerned I thought Sadio Mane was probably the pick of the bunch. It was Mane who looked the most threatening.
For the Liverpool penalty, it was James Milner who stepped up and converted the spot-kick, but I thought Raheem Sterling deserved a penalty when Milner clipped his heels in the box.
Granted, it would have taken a very brave referee to point to the spot, but there was no doubt in my mind. Liverpool look a side again now Mane is back and buzzing since his return from the African Cup of Nations. However, I still don't understand why Liverpool seem to struggle against the lesser teams.
This was a tricky game for Romelu Lukaku against Hull. The fact the player's refusal to sign a new contract was made public could have resulted in a negative reaction from Everton fans. Interestingly enough, no such reaction occurred, which must have been a relief and bolstered the player's confidence immensely. Lukaku's response was emphatic. An assist and two goals in the dying minutes by Lukaku killed off any thought of a Hull revival.
However, the sad truth is that any chance of Hull staging a fightback was destroyed much earlier with the utterly preposterous dismissal of Tom Huddlestone by referee Paul Tierney, which destroyed what would have been a perfectly good contest. There have been lots of good innovations since the introduction of the Premier League, but trying to turn the game into a 'non-contact' sport is not one of them. Fans want to see 11 versus 11 in all but extreme circumstances. A yellow card at best was all Huddlestone deserved for his tackle on Idrissa Gueye. The card would have put Huddlestone on notice that if repeated, he walked. A sending-off offence is like sending a man to the gallows - you can't afford to get it wrong. This sending-off offence was by no means conclusive.
As for Lukaku, I can think of a number of top teams at home and abroad who would pay considerably more for Lukaku than Everton spent bringing him to the club. Manchester United need to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic sooner rather than later. Chelsea have doubts about retaining Diego Costa because of the interests of China, Arsenal will need rebuilding post-Arsene Wenger - and Lukaku joining Sadio Mane at Liverpool is just too scary for words.
This was a lovely winner from a local lad with an enormous amount of talent. When Jesse Lingard scores goals they tend to be tremendous finishes and his strike against an outclassed Middlesbrough was an absolute belter. He and his partner in crime, Marcus Rashford, were superb against Boro. The problem for Rashford is that goals are proving to be rather elusive at the moment, while Lingard looks comfortable in front of the sticks.
These two young, local lads continue to prove United still have the capacity to develop talent.
What I also noticed during this very credible performance by United was they didn't miss the presence of Paul Pogba. The only interesting feature about United's record signing these days are his meticulous haircuts. If the Frenchman put as much effort into his game as he does in his hair there's no telling what he could achieve.


A report into how a tug boat came to capsize in Southampton Water has pointed to inadequacies in training.

The tug Asterix had been moving the chemical tanker Donizetti off a berth at the Fawley marine terminal in March 2015 when it was pulled over sideways.
It capsized, trapping the coxswain in the wheelhouse, who was rescued by a colleague shortly before it sank.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found there were safety issues with how the crew were trained.
Investigators found the coxswain lost control of the vessel in strong winds shortly after 20:00 BST on 30 March 2015.
According to the report, the coxswain lacked training in the correct use of a rope -known as a 'gog', used to reduce the risk of the tug being pulled over sideways.
It also found "weaknesses in the communications" between the Donizetti and Asterix.
The report also identified launch crews were not sufficiently experienced in the use of the tug's towing hook emergency release mechanism.
Safety and training recommendations have been made to the tug's operator Ã˜stensjÃ¸ Rederi AS, to ABP Southampton and to the National Workboat Association.
Following the incident a crew member of the tug boat was given a bravery award for his actions in saving the coxswain.
Both men needed hospital treatment  for shock and hypothermia.


An attack on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) warehouse and a United Nations aid convoy in a rebel-held part of northern Syria on 19 September killed at least 18 civilians, including one aid worker.

The United States, which backs the rebels, believes Russian or Syrian government warplanes bombed the convoy.
But Russia, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad, has rejected the accusation and said a US drone was flying overhead at the time of the attack.
The SARC said the convoy consisted of 31 lorries loaded with non-food items, clothes and paediatric nutrients, supported by the World Food Programme, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UN Children's Fund (Unicef), and the International Organisation for Migration.
On the afternoon of 19 September, after co-ordinating with all parties on the ground, the convoy reached a SARC warehouse in Urum al-Kubra, a rebel-held town about 12km (8 miles) west of the divided second city of Aleppo, from where the aid was to be distributed to some 78,000 civilians, the SARC added.
At around 19:10 (16:10 GMT), as they were being unloaded, the attack on the lorries began, witnesses said. It was to last more than three hours.
Ammar al-Salmo, a volunteer search-and-rescue worker from the Syria Civil Defence, was in the area at the time and told Human Rights Watch: "We heard helicopters in the air just before the attack.
"The fires and strikes were so bad that we weren't able to even start a response to save people until three in the morning. That's when we started to pull out the deceased from under the rubble," he added.
"It is known to everyone in Urum al-Kubra and the area that this is a Red Crescent warehouse and there are no military bases around it."
Photos and videos of the aftermath of the attack showed destroyed buildings and charred lorries, and damaged boxes of food and other supplies bearing the logos of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and UN agencies.
The following day, the SARC confirmed the deaths of around 20 civilians and the director of its Urum al-Kubra sub-branch, Omar Barakat. The UN subsequently gave a lower death toll of 18.
Of the 31 aid lorries, 18 were totally destroyed. The warehouse and an adjoining clinic operated by the SARC were also damaged.
The UN has said it is not yet in a position to determine how the convoy was attacked, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to establish an internal board of inquiry to investigate.
But the US, which backs the rebels, has said its information clearly indicates it was an air strike.
On 22 September, the chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Joseph Dunford, told a Senate committee that two Russian warplanes - reportedly Su-24 ground attack aircraft - had been in that area at the time of the attack, along with some "some other aircraft" belonging to the Syrian government.
"There's no doubt in my mind that the Russians are responsible. I just don't know whose aircraft actually dropped the bomb," he said, calling the incident "an unacceptable atrocity".
The allegations have been vigorously denied by Russia. It has suggested they are an attempt to "distract attention" from an air strike by the US-led coalition against so-called Islamic State in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on 13 September, which killed dozens of Syrian troops.
However, Moscow's story seems to have gone through several changes, says the BBC's Paul Adams.
On 20 September, defence ministry spokesman Maj-Gen Igor Konashenkov said it had studied videos of the aftermath and "did not find any evidence that the convoy had been struck by ordnance".
"There are no craters and the exterior of the vehicles do not have the kind of damage consistent with blasts caused by bombs dropped from the air," he explained.
That seemed to contradict many of the images broadcast afterwards, our correspondent says.
The Russian defence ministry later released surveillance footage filmed by a drone, which it said showed the stationary aid convoy being passed by a pick-up truck towing a heavy mortar.
But the Interpreter magazine reported that the video was filmed in the Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Asal, some 6.5km (4 miles) east of Urum al-Kubra.
It also pointed to screengrabs of other drone footage reportedly streamed online by Russia on the day of the attack that appears to show the convoy being unloaded. The timestamp says 18:41.
On 21 September, Gen Konashenkov said a US Predator drone, armed with air-to-ground missiles, was flying above Urum al-Kubra at the time of the attack - an allegation the US military quickly denied.
The general said the drone took off from Incirlik air base in Turkey, reached the area several minutes before the convoy caught fire and left about 30 minutes later.
"Only its owners know why the drone was in the area at the right time and what kind of tasks it was conducting there," he added.
On 5 October, Lars Bromley of the UN Operational Satellite Applications Programme (Unosat), told a news briefing: "With our analysis we determined it was an air strike, and I think multiple other sources have said that as well."
However, Unosat manager Einar Bjorgo, who also attended the briefing, later clarified that they could not be 100% certain. "There is significant damage, and we believe it may be air strikes, but it's not conclusive," he told Reuters news agency.
The UN's Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Stephen O'Brien, has called for an immediate, impartial and independent investigation into the incident.
UN officials stressed that officials had "completely deconflicted" the aid delivery with all parties beforehand by obtaining necessary permits from the government and notifying combatants on the ground of the lorries' movements. The convoy was also clearly marked as humanitarian.
"International humanitarian law and human rights law plainly set out the basic responsibilities of warring parties to ensure the necessary protection of all humanitarian organizations, including personnel, facilities and other relief assets," Mr O'Brien said.
"Let me be clear: if this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime."
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, described the attack as a "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law".
Correction 24 November 2016: A reference to photos and videos showing dead and injured people has been removed from this report.


A fifth of crimes in England and Wales could be going unrecorded by police, according to a report.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said 14 alleged rapes were among the offences that had not been recorded by officers.
One report of rape was not recorded because of "workload pressure", the inspection of 13 forces found.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the report exposed "unacceptable failings" by the police.
HMIC - which inspects and monitors the 43 police forces in England and Wales - is conducting an inspection into the recording of crime data.
If its initial findings were repeated across England and Wales, it could mean 20% of all crimes were going unrecorded, it said.
Mrs May said it was "quite possible" the HMIC study could lead to an increase in recorded crime.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said the report highlighted both "strengths and weakness" in the forces inspected.
An unrecorded crime is classed as one that is reported to the police, but not recorded as an offence.
The failure rate among the forces so far inspected was too high, HMIC found.
"We believe that it is weak or absent management, poor knowledge on the part of those making the crime recording decisions with the crime recording rules, weak or absent training or workload pressures," said Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor.
"But because the failure rate is as high as it is... it is impossible to rule out discreditable or unethical behaviour."
The BBC's home editor Mark Easton said crime levels were decreasing.
He said: "There is a great temptation to suggest the police recording of crime reports issue is evidence that stats on crime trends cannot be trusted, fuelling suggestions that crime is rising while politicians say it is falling.
"Crime is falling - fast. It has been for 20 years. Police records have always been a poor measure of crime trends, partly for the reasons identified by the HMIC.
"People should not think their risk of being a crime victim is rising. It is at an historically low level."
Inspectors listened to original calls from the public and the resulting incident reports to check whether or not crimes had been recorded correctly.
Out of a sample of 3,102 incidents across 13 forces audited so far, HMIC found 2,551 crimes should have been recorded but 523 were not. This included reported sexual offences, violent crimes, robbery and burglary.
Describing "workload pressure" being cited as the basis for not recording a report of rape, the report said: "In this example, it was considered that recording the crime would entail too much work, as the officer made a judgment that the circumstances of the complaint made it unlikely that the case would be prosecuted."
The watchdog also found some offenders were being wrongly given out-of-court disposals, including cautions and fixed-penalty notices. In one in 10 cases, the measure could not be justified because of the individual's offending history, it said.
Adam Pemberton, of the Victim Support charity, said unrecorded crimes were "completely unacceptable".
"This is about much more than inaccurate statistics or poor number-crunching - each mistake represents a victim losing their chance to get justice and to access support services."
Mrs May said: "HMIC's interim report exposes unacceptable failings by the police.
"It is quite possible, once HMIC has completed its work on recorded crime statistics and made recommendations on how the police need to improve, that we will see an increase in recorded crime.
"If that increase is driven by improved accuracy in the recording of crime or more victims reporting crime to the police, we should welcome it. Such an increase would not mean that crime itself is rising."
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Though only an interim report, the inspectorate's findings are extremely serious."
Chief Constable Jeff Farrar, Acpo's national police lead for crime statistics, said: "There's more to do to raise standards and get consistency across the country but it's important to recognise that in many of the cases identified by HMIC as failing to comply with the Home Office counting rules there's clear evidence that the public have still received an appropriate and responsive service.
"While the report identifies that the Home Office counting rules are not especially complicated, they can be interpreted by forces in different ways. We are working hard to rectify this through training and accreditation of force crime registrars led by the College of Policing.
"The vast majority of officers join the police motivated by a desire to protect the public; nobody joins the police service with the intention of recording crime inaccurately. However, it is clear that the service has not always met the standards of data quality that the public expects."
Met officer James Patrick said he was forced to resign from the force after raising concerns similar to those in the report.
"I started discussing this on a blog way back in 2012 and I feel like telling the truth has resulted in a negative impact," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"Victims weren't receiving the right service."
Although HMIC has only inspected 13 of 43 forces so far, this covers 60% of crimes, because two of the largest - the Metropolitan Police and Great Manchester Police - have already been done, HMIC said.
The other forces already inspected are Cheshire, City of London, Devon and Cornwall, Essex, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, North Wales, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.


Flood alerts have been issued to people in and near coastal areas, with high spring tides set to hit.

The tides are set to reach their peak between Sunday and Monday evening, with a threat to homes and roads near the Wye estuary in Tintern, Monmouthshire.
Natural Resources Wales also warned people living in Crofty, Gower, to install their flood protection gates.
There are 10 alerts, with three in south east Wales, four in south west, one in Ceredigion and two in the north.
Warnings in south east Wales cover the Wye estuary and also the rivers Severn and Usk, with Tintern, Monmouthshire, highlighted as a potential trouble spot.
The road at the village could be closed, while there was a alert about a risk to some properties.
A warning was also issued for Crofty in the Gower.
Locals there have been told to install their flood protection gates - supplied to keep sea water at bay.
NRW's Rick Park said astronomical tides will be "very high" over the coming days.
However, he said: "With relatively settled weather the risk of flooding to the majority of Wales is very low."


An editor with the conservative website Breitbart has been banned from Twitter after racist abuse was directed at a star of the new Ghostbusters film.

Leslie Jones quit Twitter this week after the abuse, and said the network was not doing enough to stop it.
She accused Breitbart technology editor Milo Yiannopoulos, known as @nero, of directing the abuse.
Yiannopoulos says his account has now been shut down by Twitter and will not be restored.
A screenshot of a message sent to him by Twitter, and posted by Breitbart, said he had broken its rules "prohibiting participating in or inciting targeted abuse of individuals".
He had received "repeated warnings" about similar issues in the past, the note said.
Jones is in the remake of the hit 1980s film Ghostbusters, which was released in the UK and the US last week.
The decision to cast all women has been criticised by some Ghostbusters fans.
Jones was sent tweets blaming her for Aids and comparing her to a gorilla. On Monday, the 48-year-old shared some of the offensive messages she had received.
She later wrote that she was leaving Twitter "with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie."
Yiannopoulos posted two insulting tweets about Jones on Monday. Associated Press and Reuters both reported that he had also orchestrated wider abuse against the actress.
Before leaving, Jones wrote to him to say she had reported him and hoped his account would be locked.
Yiannopoulos had close to 338,000 followers before being banned. Many of the accounts that tweeted racist abuse at Jones have not been suspended.
"With the cowardly suspension of my account, Twitter has confirmed itself as a safe space for Muslim terrorists and Black Lives Matter extremists, but a no-go zone for conservatives," Yiannopoulos told Breitbart.
"This is the end for Twitter. Anyone who cares about free speech has been sent a clear message: you're not welcome on Twitter."
The website said his suspension came 20 minutes before he was due to speak at a "Gays for Trump" event at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Jones had criticised Twitter for not doing enough to block abuse, a criticism it has repeatedly faced.
After her complaint, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey messaged her on Tuesday.
In a statement the network said it was "continuing to invest heavily in improving our tools and enforcement systems to prevent this kind of abuse", adding that it realised there was "a lot of work in front of us before Twitter is where it should be on how we handle these issues".


The world is focusing  on the Ebola outbreak in three West African states but what about malaria and measles?

A year of battling Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea has seen unprecedented effort and resources poured into one outbreak over such a short time.
That has also meant that the more common killer diseases - malaria, tuberculosis and measles - have to a large extent been neglected.
A study published in the journal, Science, earlier this month warns that measles could cause as many deaths as Ebola after vaccinations were disrupted.
"We project that after six to 18 months of disruptions, a large connected cluster of children unvaccinated for measles will accumulate across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone," the study says.
It finds that the number of children susceptible to measles in the three countries is expected to double, resulting in between 2,000 and 16,000 additional deaths.
It is a worrying prediction in countries that had weak health systems even before the Ebola outbreak.
Sierra Leone had some of the highest rates of death from tuberculosis, malaria and measles in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The burden of Ebola, and the devastating impact it has had on the country's health system, compounds the problem.
Furthermore, a report by medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres says the Ebola outbreak has affected the attitudes of people towards modern healthcare.
"The trauma of Ebola has left people distrustful of health facilities, has left health workers demoralised and fearful of resuming services, and has left communities bereaved, impoverished and suspicious," the report says.
528,000
deaths from malaria in 2013
54%
drop in mortality since 2000
49% of at-risk people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to mosquito nets
70% of malaria patients could be treated but not all sick children are taken to a clinic
43% of pregnant women did not receive a single dose of preventative medicine
Nearly 500 health workers - most of them local - have died as a result of Ebola leaving even the most caring professional wary of rushing to help a mother in labour.
The expatriates have a specific brief - to deal with Ebola, and the remaining local work force will be expected to deal with the other health concerns.
Fighting the other big killers in the affected countries is going to be even more challenging.
WHO says it has sent out a new guidance to the affected countries to help them maintain and restart immunisation programmes.
"We are calling for the intensification of routine immunisation services in all areas, and for mass measles vaccination campaigns in areas that are free of Ebola transmission," says Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, director of the WHO's Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals Department.
How to beat malaria
Malaria: a major global killer
It has also recommended mass drug administration of anti-malarial medicines to all eligible people in areas heavily affected by Ebola.
People infected with malaria have been unable to get treatment during the Ebola outbreak, either because they have been too afraid to seek help at health centres or because such facilities have been closed.
But shipping in loads of drugs and enlisting the services of the remaining health workers is not going to be enough.
Health promotion - getting communities to trust the health system enough to seek care, assuring health workers that they can operate in a safe environment and reinstating normal services in health facilities and streamlining them - is where the real work is.
But with new cases still emerging each week, the focus is no doubt still going to be on Ebola.


The Africa Cup of Nations semi-final between Ghana and hosts Equatorial Guinea was described as a "war zone" after play was suspended for more than 30 minutes because of crowd trouble.

Media playback is not supported on this device
Players ducked bottles thrown from the stands, Ghana fans sought safety behind a goal, riot police used tear gas and a helicopter hovered over the stadium.
"It's now like a war zone," the Ghana Football Association (GFA) tweeted, claiming "barbaric acts of vandalism" while its president told the BBC it was lucky no-one was killed.
When play resumed, Ghana sealed a 3-0 win to reach Sunday's final, where they will play Ivory Coast, who beat DR Congo 3-1 on Wednesday.
GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi blamed Equatorial Guinea supporters for "unprovoked violent attacks" inside the stadium.
"We are lucky that we haven't lost any lives, though people have sustained various degrees of injuries arising from objects thrown at them," he told BBC World Service.
Trouble flared at half-time between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.
Ghana players had to be protected by riot police using plastic shields as they left the field, already 2-0 up in the tie.
The second half was then halted eight minutes from time when Ghana supporters sought sanctuary on the field after coming under attack.
Confederation of African Football (Caf) officials had used the public address system to threaten to call off the game if the crowd did not stop pelting Ghana's players.
Nyantakyi called security at the match "a flop" but said he expected "more decency" from fans.
"I don't think this is a fair commentary of Africa," he said.
"This has been a very successful tournament and this isolated incident of violence will leave a slur on the reputation of African football.
"A high profile game of this nature should have attracted policemen, intelligence officers and military.
"I couldn't have counted 50 policemen at the stadium. The rest were from Angola, who were not familiar with the terrain, so they didn't know how to handle the situation.
"So the Ghanaian fans were left at the mercy of these violent fans."
BBC World Service reporter Piers Edwards was with the visiting supporters as they left the stadium and said some were taken to hospital.
He picked up several objects that ended up on the pitch, including a jagged piece of broken mirror, half a plate and a rock.
Play finally resumed after many fans had left the stadium, with both teams seeing out the final three minutes.
--------------------------------
BBC World Service reporter Nick Cavell in Malabo:
"The trouble began before half-time, with fans angry at some refereeing decisions. Bottles were thrown onto the pitch and the Ghana players were forced to leave the pitch at half-time under a tunnel made of riot shields. The bottle throwing continued after the break.
"Soon after the third goal went in, a section of Ghana fans pushed through a gate and made it onto the running track behind the goal. With them so close to the pitch, the match was stopped. Equatorial Guinea players pleaded with fans to stop throwing objects but to no avail.
"A police helicopter tried to intimidate fans by flying just 20 or 30 metres above their heads. Then police moved in with tear gas and batons to move the fans away. The press box emptied, too, as the tear gas spread.
"The Ghana fans were eventually guided to an empty area of the stadium and the match restarted for a token few minutes."
--------------------------------
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) refused to take questions on the crowd trouble after the match.
"I didn't know what was happening," said bemused Ghana coach Avram Grant, the former Portsmouth, Chelsea and West Ham manager. "I saw something on the pitch, some incident or violence.
"I can't say I wasn't concerned, I care about the security of my players, it's very important to me."
--------------------------------
BBC World Service reporter Steve Crossman in Malabo:
Media playback is not supported on this device
"The Ghana fans had Equatorial Guinea fans pelting them with bottles and stones. I saw a couple of seats thrown and then the riot police stepped in.
"The Equatorial Guinea fans, regardless if they were responsible, suffered, too.  Tear gas was used. It got to our commentary position and we had to abandon our broadcast.
"You could see fans hanging off the stadium walls as they tried to get to safety. All in all, nobody comes out of this in any good shape at all."
--------------------------------
Equatorial Guinea coach Esteban Becker added: "I am sad about the way the fans acted out there."
Emilio Nsue, captain of Equatorial Guinea, said he was proud of the team for reaching the semi-finals but wanted to apologise for the crowd trouble.
"Regarding the public and the way they acted, I've never experienced that," he said. "I'd like to say sorry. It was something we've never experienced before."


Ireland Women's coach Tom Tierney says his squad boasts a "nice blend of youth and experience" as they prepare to defend their Six Nations crown.

Ireland play Wales at Donnybrook on 6 February as they begin their attempt to win a third successive title.
"We have a squad full of talent and the vibe in the camp has been very positive over the last few weeks," said Tierney.
Ireland, who lost 15-5 in Wales in a warm-up game last weekend, will again be captained by full-back Niamh Briggs.
Queen's University and Ulster back Claire McLaughlin is one of seven uncapped players included in the squad.
Munster players Zoe Grattage and Ciara Griffin are joined by Tralee club-mate Ciara O'Connor, who plays provincial rugby for Connacht.
St Mary's and Connacht flanker Grainne Egan is the other uncapped player in the pack.
Munster wing Liz Burke and centre Elise O'Byrne-White are also yet to make their first appearance in an Ireland shirt.
"We've had the opportunity to see a lot of the girls play and we've looked at a number of combinations. The newer members of the squad are doing really well," enthused Tierney.
Ireland will play all their home games at Donnybrook, but face testing away trips to France and England.
The Irish side won four of their five fixtures last year, while Wales finished in a disappointing fifth place.
Ireland Women's Six Nations 2016 squad:
Forwards: Elaine Anthony (Munster), Ciara Cooney (Leinster), Ailis Egan (Leinster), Grainne Egan (Connacht), Paula Fitzpatrick (Leinster), Orla Fitzsimons (Leinster), Zoe Grattage (Munster), Ciara Griffin (Munster), Claire Molloy (Bristol), Cliodhna Moloney (Leinster), Heather O'Brien (Munster), Fiona O'Brien (Leinster), Ciara O'Connor (Connacht), Ruth O'Reilly (Connacht), Lindsay Peat (Leinster), Fiona Reidy (Munster), Marie-Louise Reilly (Leinster), Sophie Spence (Leinster).
Backs: Niamh Briggs (Munster), Liz Burke (Munster), Nikki Caughey (Ulster), Mairead Coyne (Connacht), Aine Donnelly (Leinster), Mary Healy (Connacht), Claire McLaughlin (Leinster), Larissa Muldoon (Skewen), Sene Naoupu (Connacht), Elise O'Byrne-White (Leinster), Jackie Shiels (Richmond), Nora Stapleton (Leinster).