The visitors gave everything, seemingly rescuing a hopeless situation, only to see the Fire claim a 17-10 victory when their quarterback, Mike Quinn, threw a 17-yard touchdown to Dialleo Burks with less than eight minutes remaining Unbeaten this season, the German franchise remains on course for a place in next month's World Bowl. Inspired by Quinn, the Fire accumulated 164 yards of offence compared to the Claymores' paltry 17. The Fire opened the scoring through Manfred Burgsmuller's 23-yard field goal, extending their lead when Quinn connected with the tight end Harold Bishop.Outplayed on offence and defence, Scotland responded when Cedric Samuel intercepted Quinn and the ensuing drive culminated in a 27-yard field goal from the converted Scottish rugby player, Gary Parker.The half-time statistics, however, made grim reading. "Despite the situation they have found themselves, they have never failed to give a good account of themselves, and they deserve better."There was little evidence of Scottish passion in a first half dominated by the home side. In contrast, the Claymores have won just once in six games, their cause fatally undermined by a succession of injuries to key performers. On Saturday they fielded eight players who had spent the last few days battling a stomach virus: They played to the point of exhaustion only to fade away in the latter stages. "I can't say enough about the quality and character of this football team," said the Scotland head coach, Jim Criner.

The German side will be no pushover - they have had a fair season domestically and lie fourth in the Bundesliga but the moderate displays from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen in the European Cup and the unlikely emergence of FC Kaiserslautern at home this season suggests the once mighty German league may have a slipped a little from its pedestal in the last year. Certainly it can no longer be mentioned in the same breath as Serie A. Chelsea, doing equally well in the Premiership and winners of the Coca- Cola Cup, need have nothing to fear from Stuttgart who struggled to beat the ordinary Werder Bremen 1-0 at home on Saturday, whereas yesterday Chelsea ruthlessly relegated Bolton 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Every underdog has its day but it takes quite a stretch of the imagination to envisage a dog day afternoon when Newcastle attempt to contain the mighty Arsenal in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday.Arsenal, in racing parlance, with the title already secure were not off a yard at Anfield or Villas Park on their most recent outings, but Wenger's men will be up for it on Saturday afternoon and should make no mistake against the struggling Magpies, who went down 1-0 at Blackburn yesterday.Troubled Alan Shearer is unlikely to get the service from midfield he needs to unlock Arsenal's solid defence, Petit and Vieira should dominate the midfield, Overmars and Parlour will give the Gunners width and strikers Bergkamp, Anelka and Wright have the guile and pace to penetrate Newcastle's shaky defence head on.Ladbrokes bet: Cup Winner's Cup final: 8-15 Chelsea, 11-8 Stuttgart FA Cup Final: 2-5 Arsenal, 7-4 Newcastle.. The boats will be looking forward to a depression falling in front of them and hoping they can get a good lift."Britain's Damian Foxall, partnered by Sidney Gavignet, is holding seventh place as the Figaro fleet fights the last 1,000 miles of their second leg from Madeira to St Barts.WHITBREAD ROUND THE WORLD RACE Eighth leg: (3,390 miles, Annapolis, US to La Rochelle, Fr): 1 Toshiba (US) P Standbridge 1,675 miles to finish; 2 Merit Cup (Monaco) G Dalton 1.3 miles behind leader; 3 EF Language (Swe) P Cayard +18.7; 4 Innovation Kvaerner (Nor) K Frostad +20.2; 5 EF Education (Swe) C Guillou +30.6; 6 Swedish Match (Swe) G Krantz +41.3; 7 Brunel Sunergy (Neth) R Heiner 41.9; 8 Silk Cut (GB) L Smith +82.7; 9 Chessie Racing (US) J Kostecki +91.4.. CHELSEA should beat VfB Stuttgart in the Cup-Winners' Cup final in Stockholm on Wednesday night. It is the high-pressure weather system they are approaching over the next 48 hours which could provide any upsets as the organisers revise their estimation of the finish time to a spectator-friendly Saturday morning."It didn't go our way with the high pressure.

"This is not quite the Great Circle route but is slightly below it. Nearly all the yachts have cleared the ice exclusion zone but they seem to be holding the same course they have held for some time," Krantz said. Substitute used: E Basterfield.Umpires: C Thurston, D Prewett.Results, Digest, page 22. AS Paul Standbridge kept Toshiba's nose just in front of Grant Dalton's Merit Cup, and Paul Cayard sneaked EF Language ahead of Knut Frostad's Innovation Kvaerner, Lawrie Smith was paying a high price to dive north and join the procession in the eighth leg of the Whitbread Race yesterday. Substitutes used: C Cummins, K Brannigan.Clifton Scottish Life: C Burr; S Brimble; J Martin, M Robertson, J Scullion; T Miller (capt), L Marsden, L Hipkins; L Culliford, D Marston-Smith, J Rayden. Back on the attack, Clifton continued to create opportunities, but they were unable to get past Knight and the game went to penalty strokes.Slough: S Knight; L Copeland; A Pottow, M Hall, A Wallace; L Cope, S Chandler (capt), A Burd, J Robertson; L Hobley, H Thornalley.

CLIFTON, in their third successive Cup final appearance, finally secured the trophy, but, as in each of their previous appearances, the final went to penalty strokes. After a dismal 1-1 draw the West Country side won the shoot-out 5-4 with goalkeeper Claire Burr saving Slough's last stroke from Ali Burd. So ended Slough's dreams of a unique triple of indoor and outdoor league titles and the Cup. Handicapped by the absence of five current internationals, Slough elected to play with a defensive format, limiting their attack to a number of lone raids by Lesley Hobley and the overlapping Julie Robertson. Not surprisingly Clifton, with Lorraine Marsden and Tammy Miller controlling the midfield, quickly took control, opening the scoring in the 17th minute through Juliet Rayden.Although Slough came more into the game after the interval, it was generally one way traffic towards the Slough goal with goalkeeper Sue Knight making a series of courageous saves.A complicated switch from only Slough's second corner, after Robertson had been upended by Louise Hipkins, saw Lisa Copeland scoring the equaliser in the 50th minute. At one point Hislop was three seconds ahead, but was reeled in by the charging Mackenzie.Then as Mackenzie tried to nudge ahead at the chicane on the final lap, the Yamahas touched.Their demise allowed Terry Rymer to take his and Sony Suzuki's first victory of the season ahead of Kawasaki's Chris Walker.. Substitutes used: Johnson, Holgate, Cassidy, Gilmour.Referee: S.Presley (Castleford)..

WARRINGTON WOLVES secured their first Super League points of the season yesterday with a 31-20 win over Halifax, leaving Huddersfield at the foot of the table. In a bad-tempered affair, third-placed Halifax fell four points behind the top two - Wigan and Leeds - as Wolves scored five tries, including two from Toa Kohe-Love. But the match was marred by the dismissals of Jon Roper and the Halifax captain, Karl Harrison, for nasty challenges. Huddersfield are still without a win - or a point - after a dismal display at the Willows against Salford. Salford scored eight tries, including two apiece from forward David Bradbury and Nathan McAvoy, in their 40- 6 rout.Castleford bounced back from defeat against Halifax and Leeds with a 31-18 win over Hull.