MEDITERRANEAN LATEST: Former Blackburn Rovers man injured in Greece; ex-Aston Villa and Manchester City striker gets off the mark in Turkey

Bad luck for Matt Derbyshire, whose permanent deal at Olympiacos in Greece has got off to a bad start. The former Blackburn Rovers man picked up an abdominal injury during the pre-season and is out until sometime next month, as he has needed surgery. We wish him a speedy recovery.

It’s three games and two points for Ankaragucu and their English attacking duo of Darius Vassell and Ian Henderson. An opening day 2-2 draw with Diyarbakirspor saw both Henderson and Vassell come on in the second half, but it was the 1-1 draw with Manisaspor that saw Vassell make his mark. The former Aston Villa and Manchester City striker popped up with a last minute equaliser, earning a yellow card for his wild celebrations to boot. Henderson came on as a substitute again late on, but he played the full 90 minutes in the 1-0 away loss to Bursas or on Saturday night. Vassell did too, and had the better chances of the English duo, but it was not to be.

In Italy, former Newcastle United defender Kris Thackray was an unused substitute as Ancona fell to an opening evening 3-0 loss to Lecce in Serie B. With defending as poor as that, it is highly feasible that Thackray will get a call-up to start in their forthcoming matches.

Malta has seen a steady influx of English players over the past couple of weeks, joining former Arsenal and Ipswich Town great Brian Talbot, who is technical director at diffident Marsaxlokk. Donovan Simmonds, formerly of Coventry City, has turned up playing for Floriana, who drew 1-1 at home to Qormi in their season opener at the weekend. Simmonds didn’t play in that match but is expected to become a regular as the season progresses. Mark Miller, the manager of reigning champions Hibernians, has been identified as being English and he is looking at signing former Leyton Orient, Kidderminster Harriers and Mansfield Town striker Iyseden Christie, who is currently on trial at the club.