Celtic close in on title

Soccer Shorts: Stephen McManus and Shaun Maloney hit the net in either half to sink Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Parkhead last night and move Celtic to within touching distance of the Scottish Premier League title.

The League Cup winners have opened up a a 17 point gap at the top and can now secure the championship and Gordon Strachan's second trophy as manager if they beat Livingston and Hearts in their next two games.

Celtic were not at their very best following their comfortable weekend win over Dunfermline at Hampden Park but young starlets McManus and Maloney were again on target in a hard-fought success.

Inverness, who scored a late consolation through Richard Hart, remain a point behind sixth-placed Aberdeen with three games to go before the split, after which they will play a further five games.

Robson backs O'Neill

Former England boss Bobby Robson, who now works as an adviser to Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton, believes Derry-born Martin O'Neill would make a high-calibre successor to Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Robson said: "I would like to see an English manager get the job because he will have the fervour and passion from within, but that also applies to Martin O'Neill.

"He is a good manager and in the equation. Martin is a good, intelligent man. He did very well at Celtic - although that is not the Premiership, I have to tell you that."

Manchester City boss Stuart Pearce is also in the running but the former England boss believes his time will come later. He said: "Stuart is gathering experience and might in time be the England manager, but maybe he should be the England manager after the next one. It is a job for an experienced man."

Charlton boss Alan Curbishley fits that category, having been in charge at the Valley for 15 years, although he has yet to win a trophy there or take a team into Europe.

But Robson insisted: "You can't please everybody. I was 14 years at Ipswich before I got the England job so Alan Curbishley is in a very similar position to me."

Meanwhile, Dutchman Guus Hiddink appears to have ruled himself out of the race to become England's next boss.

The PSV coach has admitted he already knows where he will be working next season. Hiddink said. "I have already decided what I am going to do and will announce my intentions at the end of the month."

Bruce on thin ice

Birmingham City would be nowhere near the relegation zone if Steve Bruce could accumulate points as he does votes of confidence, writes Stuart James.

There has been no shortage of the latter during a disastrous season, and the pattern continued yesterday when Birmingham's co-owner David Sullivan insisted Bruce's position as manager was not under immediate threat despite the 7-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat by Liverpool.

But Sullivan was not in entirely forgiving mood. He described the hammering at St Andrew's on Tuesday as "the worst defeat in the 13 years I've been here" and claimed "an average League Two team would probably do better".

"These are real dark days for the club," he continued, who held talks with Bruce yesterday. "With regard to the manager, he is not going to be sacked this season. He won't be sacked for the foreseeable future. It would be foolhardy to change managers now, absolute madness."

• Guardian Service

London derby changed

The English Premier League have made a number of fixture alterations over the remainder of the season, including: Arsenal v Tottenham on April 22nd has been moved to a 12.45 kick-off; Chelsea's clash with Manchester United on Saturday, April 29th, has been moved to 12.30; and West Ham v Liverpool is postponed with no date yet fixed.

In brief . . .

Hearts chairman Roman Romanov claims head coach Graham Rix, who was sacked yesterday, was only appointed because there was nobody else available at the time . . . In an international friendly fixture World Cup hosts Germany defeated fellow qualifiers United States 4-1 in Dortmund last night . . . Jim Smith (65) has returned to English League Two side Oxford United as manager, he was previously in charge of the side between 1983 and 1985 when he took them into the old first division . . . QPR winger Gareth Ainsworth has called for former Republic of Ireland midfielder Gary Waddock, currently the caretaker manager at the club, to be given the job full-time.