Newport County have signed West Bromwich Albion teenage striker Owen Windsor on loan to the end of the season. The 19-year-old scored twice in 13 appearances for County’s League Two rivals Grimsby Town in the first half of the season before the Mariners’ then manager Ian Holloway sent him back to the Baggies. County boss Michael Flynn has been searching for a striker to add some extra firepower to his forward line as he bids to stay in the promotion race.

Morgan Jones is ready to step into Jake Ball’s large boots at the Scarlets – and has even been tipped to fill those of mighty Alun Wyn Jones for Wales. Jones is literally growing into the second row position at the Scarlets and feels big enough these days to shoulder any expectations of him The gangly second row on whom the region took a punt three years ago is blossoming into one of the best young locks in the professional game.

Gerwyn Price joked: “I hope 500K feels this heavy” as he struggled to hold aloft the World Darts Championship trophy moments after also becoming world number one. It’s been a long journey to the game’s summit for the Welshman whose darts career took off after he gave up on his dream of playing rugby for Wales. Tonight, that trek reached its destination as Price beat Gary Anderson 7-3 to claim his first title, the £500,000 first prize and end Michael van Gerwen’s reign at the top of the sport’s rankings.

Steve Cooper praised Jamal Lowe for his two goals, but was anxious to spread the love around his squad after Swansea City moved into the automatic promotion places. Lowe struck twice as the Swans climbed to second in the Championship with a 2-1 comeback victory over promotion rivals Watford. The red-hot Lowe made it six goals in as many games for Swansea to inflict a first defeat on new Watford manager Xisco Munoz, who had seen his side lead through Tom Cleverley.

Cardiff City boss Neil Harris is hoping his team don’t make it a miserable hat-trick of defeats to clubs anchored near the bottom of the Championship when his side heads to Rotherham today. Defeats at Coventry City and Wycombe Wanderers when they were both propping up the table put the skids under the Bluebirds manager and he knows a fourth defeat in a row could push him over the edge. “We are expected to beat teams near the bottom of the league. We didn’t take Coventry or Wycombe for granted,” said Harris.

Swansea City are making plans to prevent any more protests against their players taking the knee this weekend, following midweek disruption of the gesture before their match against Reading. The club are aware they have been targeted by opponents of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and have taken steps to try and prevent a repeat when they host Watford on Saturday. Demonstrators are understood to have gathered in the area under the South Stand near the entrance road to the Liberty Stadium.

Andre Ayew has claimed he should take the blame for Swansea City “drooping two points” at home to Reading. The Swans were held to a goalless draw on Wednesday night at the Liberty Stadium where their Ghanaian striker felt he failed to bury either of two great chances. Swansea had 32 touches in the reading penalty box, and Ayew had five attempts on goal, but two headers in particular could have won the game for the home side.

Swansea City are set to investigate the blaring horns and booing from outside the Liberty Stadium which occurred while players were taking the knee before their goalless draw with Reading. The club said they will look into the incident which appears to show a shift from protests inside a handful of grounds that recently were allowed crowds, to outside. The noise appeared to be an organised attempt directed from people behind the South Stand and lasted for the duration of the gesture that has been supporting the Black Lives Matter campaign since the summer.

Steve Cooper has admitted he is becoming boring, but makes no apologies for his one-game-at-a-time strategy at Swansea City. The Swans head coach sends his team out for the first time on the newly installed Liberty Stadium pitch against Reading this evening, knowing that a third successive victory would consolidate their current position in the Championship’s automatic promotion places. Cooper’s team have won back-to-back fixtures against Barnsley and QPR, but he insists he is not looking further ahead into 2021 as the play their final match of a very strange 2020.

Marc Guehi believes there are no secrets to Swansea City’s extraordinary defensive record this season – just hard work, strength in depth and experience. The Swans kept another clean sheet on Boxing Day as they won 2-0 at Queens Park Rangers to move into second place in the Championship. It was their 12th shutout of the season – more than any other club in all four divisions and their tally of just 12 goals conceded in 21 matches is also the best in the EFL and Premier League, along with Manchester City who have played seven games fewer.

Neil Harris still insists Cardiff City can pass teams on the way up the Championship, even though his team is back in reverse gear. The Bluebirds manager was in defiant mood, despite losing at home for the fifth time this season after a Sergi Canos’ hat-trick gave his Brentford side a 3-2 Boxing Day win. Cardiff are now back in 12th spot, have lost three of their last four games, and are seven points adrift of the play-offs.

Joe Allen has given Wales fans some Christmas cheer by coming through his comeback match for Stoke City. The Wales midfielder – who hopes to force his way back into Ryan Giggs’ squad in time for the delayed European Championship finals in 2021 – stepped up his return to fitness by completing 75 minutes for Stoke’s Under-23s in his first competitive appearance for over nine months. Allen ruptured an Achilles tendon against Hull on March 7 and would have missed Euro 2020 but for the tournament being delayed 12 months because of the coronavirus pandemic.