Saturday football: Premier League, Football League, El Clasico

Tonight's Match of the Day will be well worth watching as usual, it's on BBC One, BBC HD and the website from 2225.

First up is Southampton v QPR, followed by Man United v Norwich.

Wiganv Liverpool is next.

Another win for Billy Davies as his Nottingham Forest side see off Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at Hillsborough. Forest are four points away from the play-offs now.

With 10 minutes remaining at Hillsborough, Nottingham Forest remain 1-0 up over Sheffield Wednesday. Forest looking good for a late-season play-off push under the returning Billy Davies.

We are back playing at Hillsborough, as Nottingham Forest look to close out a win which would leave them within four points of the play-off places.

League Two side York City have sacked manager Gary Mills following the club's 2-0 home defeat to Yorkshire rivals Bradford this afternoon.

Mills, 51, who led the Minstermen back to the Football League last season, has seen his side fail to win any of their last 11 league games and slip to within four points of the relegation zone.

News just in, and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar could be switched from summer to winter if medical evidence shows that players could be harmed by the extreme heat in the Middle Eastern country.

Jerome Valcke, the general secretary of football's world governing body Fifa, said: "Maybe the FIFA Exco (Executive Committee) will say based on medical reports or whatever, 'We really have to look at playing the World Cup not in summer but in winter'."

How on earth would that work?

It's half-time at Hillsborough, where Nottingham Forest lead Sheffield Wednesday 1-0. The Billy Davies show is back in town with a bang...

Radoslaw Majewski certainly likes playing under Billy Davies. The Nottingham Forest man has just hit his fifth goal in the last three matches to put them ahead against Sheffield Wednesday.

Cardiff fall to a surprise 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough in a game in which Kieron Dyer scored his first league goal since 2007. That result allows Hull to move to within five points of the league leaders after they thrashed Birmingham 5-2 thanks to doubles from George Boyd and Mohamed Gedo.

At the other end of the table, Peterborough raced into a 3-0 lead at Blackburn but were forced to sweat for the win after Jordan Rhodes and David Jones scored for the hosts in the final minutes.

Elsewhere, Bolton continued their positive recent run after on-loan defender Craig Dawson's fourth goal for the club sealed an entertaining win against Barnsley in a game in which manager Dougie Freedman's side had earlier given up a 2-0 lead straight after the interval.

Barnet suffer a painful turnaround as bottom-placed Plymouth come back from a goal down to win 2-1 thanks to Ronan Murray's strike.

In a bad day for teams at the top, leaders Gillingham are held 1-1 by Aldershot, Port Vale lose 2-1 to Oxford thanks to Deane Smalley's shot from close-range and Burton crash to a 3-0 defeat away at Bristol Rovers.

Let's take a look at what today's results mean for the Premier League table, starting from the bottom.

QPR remain rooted to the basement but are now only four points adrift of safety after a much-needed 2-1 victory at Southampton on manager Harry Redknapp's 66th birthday. Jay Bothroyd struck the crucial winner as QPR made up ground on second-bottom Reading who lost 3-1 at Everton and are a point behind Aston Villa who currently occupy the other relegation spot.

That means fourth-bottom Wigan have a chance to draw level with 16th-placed Southampton if they can overcome Liverpool in the late game. Newcastle are three points better off but not entirely out of trouble after their 1-0 defeat to Swansea while West Ham are nine points clear of danger after an impressive 1-0 win at Stoke.

At the top, Manchester United are now 15 points clear of Manchester City after Shinji Kagawa-inspired 4-0 win over Norwich with City not in action until they face Villa on Monday. Rafa Benitez's Chelsea are back up to third thanks to an uneventful 1-0 victory against West Brom. Remember fourth-placed Tottenham face Arsenal, who are fifth, on Sunday. In the day's other match, mid-table Fulham earned a 2-2 draw at Sunderland.

Excitement a-plenty at the death at the Ricoh Arena as veteran defender Darren Ward scores in injury time to give Swindon a hard earned win against Coventry.

Elsewhere, Portsmouth hold on to to gain their first win in 24 games.

First Division Falkirk join Celtic in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 win at Hamilton. Blair Alston scored both the Bairns' goal, the second a screamer of a volley into the top corner. Accies really should have taken the match to a replay but Andy Ryan scooped the ball over the Falkirk bar from three yards. In the Scottish Premier League, Hearts fell to their fifth defeat in a row, losing 2-1 at home to Motherwell, who strengthened their grip on second place because the teams immediately behind them, Inverness CT and Ross County, drew 0-0 in Dingwall.

Expect a frantic few minutes at Ewood Park as new boy David Jones scores to make the score Blackburn 2-3 Peterborough in injury time.

Aron Gunnarsson gives leaders Cardiff hope as he puts them within one goal of Middlesbrough, heading in from six yards.

Exeter are 10 minutes away from moving to within one point of the automatic promotion places as they are winning 2-0 at home to Northampton while third-placed Burton are 3-0 down against Bristol Rovers.

Colchester look odds-on to escape from the relegation zone as they lead 2-0 against Stevenage thanks to a double from Jabo Ibehre with less than 20 minutes to go.

Bolton do not sulk after giving up a 2-0 lead against Barnsley and go back ahead thanks to on-loan defender Craig Dawson's fourth goal since joining from West Brom.

The big game of the day in League One is being edged by Yeovil as Edward Upson puts them 1-0 up against fellow automatic promotion hopefuls Tranmere.

It is not proving to be a great day for the other sides in the play-off places as Swindon are down 1-0 at Coventry and Brentford are drawing 0-0 against Scunthorpe.

Bolton are enduring a second half to forget as goals from Tomasz Cywka and Chris O'Grady see Barnsley level things up after being 2-0 down at the break.

Bottom-placed Plymouth began the second half with a bang as Ronan Murray puts them 2-1 up against Barnet. Relegation rivals Aldershot could get a memorable result as they are winning 1-0 against leaders Gillingham.

I dread to think what the atmosphere was like in that half-time team talk by Blackburn manager Michael Appleton with his side losing 3-0 at home to bottom side Peterborough. The ex-Blackpool boss reacts by making three changes at the break, with David Jones, Adam Henley and Cameron Stewart coming on for Danny Murphy, David Bentley and Bradley Orr.

As it stands, it will be the second 3-0 defeat in a week for Rovers.

It's goalless in a tense Highland derby where Ross County host Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Don't forget, these teams are pushing Motherwell hard for the runners-up place in the Scottish Premier League. The charged atmosphere might explain David Raven and Iain Vigurs going head to head, which triggered big Terry Butcher, the Inverness boss, and his County counterpart Derek Adams squaring up to one another. Motherwell, meanwhile are enjoying a 2-0 half-time lead at troubled Hearts, who have Gary Locke as interim manager following the departure of John McGlynn in midweek. The Steelmen's goals came in the opening 10 minutes from Michael Higdon and a Dylan McGowan own-goal. In the second Scottish Cup quarter-final, Falkirk have Blair Alston to thank for their 1-0 advantage at Hamilton.

Time for a breather and a glance at the overall situation at half-time in the Premier League.

Manchester United are on course to extend their lead at the top to 15 points after Shinji Kagawa put them ahead in first-half injury time against Norwich. The Chelsea boo-boys have been at least temporarily silenced at Stamford Bridge where the Blues lead 1-0 against West Brom thanks to Demba Ba's close-range goal.

At the bottom, QPR went ahead early on against the run of play at Southampton through Loic Remy but were pegged back on the stroke of half-time when Gaston Ramirez levelled. Relegation rivals Reading trail 1-0 to Marouane Fellaini's goal at Everton.

Elsewhere, Fulham are 2-1 up at Sunderland while West Ham scored just before half-time through Jack Collison to lead 1-0 at Stoke City and it's goalless between Swansea and Newcastle.

Judging by his first half performance, there seems nothing wrong with George Boyd's eyesight as his double helps Hull to a 3-0 lead against Birmingham. The goals are his first for his new club.

Barnet are making steady progress up the table since Edgar Davids's arrival as player-manager and they are currently drawing 1-1 at bottom-placed Plymouth as Conor Hourihane levels up for the hosts.

At the other end of the division, leaders Gillingham are being held at Aldershot, Port Vale are drawing 1-1 at Oxford and Burton are losing 1-0 to Bristol Rovers.

Portsmouth's wait for a win looks to be ending at the 24th attempt as they lead 2-0 at Crewe thanks to goals from Patrick Agyemang and David Connolly.

The Championship is proving to be as gloriously inconsistent as usual. Leaders Cardiff are currently trailing 2-0 away to Middlesbrough, with Kieron Dyer opening the scoring with his first league goal since 2007, while Hull look on course to move up into the automatic promotion places as they lead 2-0 at Birmingham.

At the other end of the table, Blackburn manager Michael Appleton is enduring a dreadful week as his side are losing 3-0 at home to bottom-placed Peterborough with just more than 30 minutes gone.

El Clasico is under way.

Big news from the SPL, where Hearts have stolen a march on their rivals by launching a phone app which allows fans to order their half-time pie from the comfort of their seats.

A statement on the Scottish Premier League club's website said: "Supporters seated in the upper sections of the Wheatfield Stand will have the unique opportunity to use their Android or iOS smartphones to skip the queues and have their food delivered direct to their seats, ensuring that they don't miss a minute of the action on the pitch."

Genius. Sheer genius.

League Two's runaway top two are both on the road this afternoon, with leaders Gillingham at Aldershot and second-placed Port Vale at Oxford. The race for the third automatic promotion spot is hotting up, with Burton needing a win at Bristol Rovers to definitely keep hold of it.

Elsewhere, fourth-placed Northampton - who were 17th in October - are at sixth-placed Exeter, while draw specialists Cheltenham need a win at Wimbledon to keep their promotion hopes from stalling.

Celtic are the first team through to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup but they were made to work hard for their 2-1 win at St Mirren. Joe Ledley's early header was cancelled out in 13 minutes by Jose Goncalves's tap-in following a gaffe by Celtic's Honduran left-back Emilio Izaguirre. But Neil Lennon's side moved in front again through Irish striker Anthony Stokes eight minutes later and, despite the best efforts of the Buddies, Celtic held firm. Hamilton and Falkirk go toe to toe at 1500 for a last-four place in the Cup, with two further quarter-finals to follow on Sunday.

Earlier, Rangers moved 23 points clear at the top of the Third Division with a 3-1 win over East Stirlingshire. The Shire's small band of fans were in dreamland when Andy Stirling rounded off a one-two by slotting past Gers keeper Neil Alexander, but after the break it was the home fans in the 44,534 crowd who were celebrating as two goals by Andy Little and one by returning captain Lee McCulloch made the points safe.

You can follow all the action on the Scottish live text.

It's incredibly tight at the top of League One. Just four points separate leaders Doncaster - who host strugglers Hartlepool this afternoon - and Bournemouth, who are one place short of the play-off places. Those top six positions could all change by this evening.

New Swindon boss Kevin MacDonald takes charge for the first time at Coventry, while at the bottom Portsmouth could end the day 14 points adrift of safety if they lose at Crewe and Colchester pick up three points at Stevenage.

In the Championship, Leaders Cardiff could end the day 10 points clear at the top should they win at Middlesbrough and third-placed Hull fail to beat Birmingham at home. Second-placed Watford were denied a win by a late goal at Wolves last night.

At the bottom of the table, Peterborough can close the gap with a win at Blackburn while fellow strugglers Bristol City are also on the road at Paul Ince's Blackburn.

Today is a significant anniversary in the football world.

On 2 March, 1888, 125 years ago to the day, William McGregor, then the secretary of Aston Villa, wrote a letter to four other clubs - Blackburn, Bolton, Preston and West Brom - to propose playing in a league.

It remains a pivotal point in football's development because it is the moment when the idea of league football was given a public expression. Before that, the major clubs in England played mainly in cup competitions, with those games supplemented by a series of ad-hoc friendlies.

Where would we be without that letter eh? Shopping this afternoon, miserable. That's where...