DARREN BENT scored twice in the first 21 minutes as Tottenham Hotspur crushed Orlando Pirates 3-0 in Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld stadium to bring the Vodacom Challenge trophy back from South Africa. Spurs’ quickfire opening, Bent’s goals coming either side of a strike by Dimitar Berbatov, effectively killed off the game as a contest with more than an hour remaining.

Paul Robinson, Michael Dawson, Steed Malbranque, Didier Zokora and Berbatov returned to the starting lineup for the tour finale at the home of rugby union side side Blou Bulls. Bent struck the opener off the bar and into the net after 10 minutes. Eight minutes later he robbed Makita inside the area and set up Berbatov to make it 2-0. Bent even had time to rattle an upright before sealing the victory, swapping passes with Adel Taarabt before rolling the ball into the net.

Reading could manage only a goalless draw in their friendly at Brighton. It must have brought back painful memories for Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, who was in charge of the Seagulls for a year before moving to the Madejski stadium in 2003. While at the Withdean stadium, Coppell could not prevent Brighton’s relegation from the Championship and, since then, little has changed in terms of facilities and conditions for the “homeless” south coast club.

Things might be about to get better, however. Recent developments suggest Brighton may have finally received the go-ahead for a permanent 22,374-seater stadium at Falmer. On the pitch, though, where a substantial transfer budget has never been available, manager Dean Wilkins has a difficult season ahead trying to improve on last season’s 18th position in League One. But in their second clash against Premier League opposition this summer – visitors Fulham won 2-1 a week ago – there were some hopeful indicators. Striker Nicky Forster, who played for Reading until two years ago, twice threatened the visitors’ goal. The problem is that, at 33, his contribution cannot be regarded as long-term.

An 83rd-minute goal from Ricardo Vaz Te gave Bolton a 1-0 victory over Tranmere at Prenton Park. The Portuguese latched onto a pass from El-Hadji Diouf to lash home from 12 yards. Vaz Te, Diouf and Heidar Helguson were the only three players to keep their places in the starting lineup from the team which lost 3-0 to Hibernian in midweek, with captain Kevin Nolan, Kevin Davies and goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen all returning. New loan signing Christian Wilhelmsson, from Nantes, had to be left out because his work permit was not received in time. Bolton’s French striker Nicolas Anelka, the subject of recent transfer speculation, was also omitted.

Leicester City fell to a 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock, Gary Wales scoring the only goal after 50 seconds. Recent Leicester signing DJ Campbell wasted his side’s best chance from 18 yards. Birmingham won 2-0 at neighbours Walsall thanks to first-half goals from Mikael Forssell and Cameron Jerome.