Sporting briefs

Celtic double: Scott Brown has been named Player of the Year at PFA Scotland's annual awards dinner in Glasgow. The Celtic midfielder beat competition from team-mate Gary Caldwell and Rangers pair Pedro Mendes and Steven Davis to land the prize for the first time. The Hoops completed an awards double when boss Gordon Strachan captured the Manager of the Year prize for the second time.

Derbyshire: Blackburn's Matt Derbyshire hopes to seal a permanent move to Greek double winners Olympiakos. "If you're asking me if I'd like to stay here then yes, of course," Derbyshire replied when asked where he would like to continue his career next season. "But it isn't down to me it's down to Blackburn Rovers and Olympiakos."

Ancona: Ancona have sacked Franco Monaco and appointed Sandro Salvioni as first-team coach for the remaining weeks of the campaign. The Serie B team took the decision to sack Monaco after Saturday's 2-0 defeat against Pisa. That result saw them slip down to 19th place with only 42 points and they run the real risk of relegation without even going through the play-outs.

Ronaldo: Cristiano Ronaldo has given Manchester United a timely boost by declaring a move to Real Madrid is no longer in his plans. Real Madrid tried to sign Ronaldo last summer and the player himself refused to rule out the move, admitting his dream was to one day move to Spain. But now Ronaldo has come out and stressed that he is no longer contemplating a 'dream' move to the Bernabeu. "I'm no longer thinking of Madrid. That dream is dead," he said.

Heineken Cup: Leicester number eight Jordan Crane, a former semi-professional footballer, kicked the winning goal in the Heineken Cup's first penalty shoot-out yesterday. Crane stepped up to the 22-metre line to slot over the goal which took his team through to the final against Leinster after a pulsating match against Cardiff Blues ended 26-26 following extra time. The 13th kick of the competition came directly after Martyn Williams had missed for Cardiff.

Snooker: World Championship final - Higgins leads Murphy 11-5.

Athletics: US Olympian Darvis Patton took advantage of the absence of injured Jamaican world record holder Usain Bolt to win the 100 and 200 metres at the Jamaica International Invitational. Patton, who finished eighth in Bolt's world record 100m final at the Beijing Olympics, claimed the double with runs of 10.02 seconds in the 100 and 20.49 in the 200. Bolt pulled out of the meeting on Thursday after suffering minor injuries when he crashed his sports car the previous day. Olympic silver medallist Kerron Stewart won the women's 100 metres in the year's fastest time, 10.92 seconds, upsetting Beijing champion Shelly-Ann Fraser.

Basketball, NBA: The Boston Celtics finally overcame a determined challenge from the Chicago Bulls with a 109-99 victory on Saturday, the NBA champions edging their enthralling Eastern Conference first-round series by a 4-3 margin. Ray Allen scored 23 points and Paul Pierce had 20 for the second-seeded Celtics, who will face the Orlando Magic in the conference semi-finals which start in Boston tonight.