Its not just Manchester United who score late, by Danny Harris

Republic of Ireland were robbed of a credible draw at the weekend, after scoring late only to see their opponents Italy equalise with stunning impertinence.

After the jump, we choose our six favourite similarly chaotic upside-down closing stages:

Rugged Welsh centre-half clearly intent on meeting Katy Perry

New Aston Villa centre half James Collins is clearly missing his old buddies down the East End. Aston Villa fans may not be too chuffed to hear he was intent on spending the day before the club’s huge match with Manchester City, desperately trying to grab a night out with Russell Brand however.

But the club deny being in financial trouble

Landsbanki, the bank that West Ham’s Icelandic chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson owns a 40 per cent stake in alongside his son, has been put into receivership and will be taken over by the country’s government.

The news could prove disastrous for West Ham who, having sold players this summer to balance the books, are without a shirt sponsor following the collapse of XL and may be forced to pay Sheffield United in excess of £30 million over the Carlos Tevez affair.

However, an unnamed West Ham board member denied reports that recent developments have left the club in financial danger, telling the BBC:

“This is not affecting West Ham.

Liverpool defender wanted revenge for broken leg

Jamie Carragher clearly doesn’t understand the art of releasing a football autobiography. Wayne Rooney was 20 when he released his so at 30, Carragher has left it far too late. He should be on his third or fourth instalment by now.

Secondly, you’re not supposed to reveal anything interesting. The footballer is supposed to bore the reader with stories about their greatest games and the amazing “banter” with teammates. Under no circumstances should you reveal that you didn’t care as much about losing in an England shirt or that you hate the Everton fanbase that you were once a part of.

Carragher obviously thought he hadn’t been controversial enough so in today’s Daily Mirror serialisation he admits that after having his leg broken in a challenge by Lucas Neill, he seriously considered allowing his mates to assault the Australian defender:

Sam Allardyce 4/1 favourite to take over

Alan Curbishley has stolen Kevin Keegan’s thunder and won the sack race by walking out of West Ham after getting fed-up with players being sold over his head, most notably George McCartney on deadline day.

Reports claim that Curbishley believes the club’s board have been undermining him and that he has only been keeping the manager’s seat in the dugout warm until Croatia boss Slaven Bilic is available.

The former Charlton boss failed to win over a vocal section of the West Ham support but a poll held on the forum of West Ham fansite Knees Up Mother Brown in the last 24 hours saw Curbishley garner a 87% approval rating.

Sam Allardyce is 4/1 favourite with Sky Bet to take over, while Bilic is close behind at 5/1.

Striker misinterprets purpose of goodwill mission

When it comes down to it, Craig Bellamy is a good guy. If you ignore the golf club attacks on teammates, nightclub assaults on women, chair hurling, racially aggravated assault and his thoroughly unprofessional attitude to transfers, he’s just a sweet little lamb with a pure heart. In testament to that fact, he’s just set up the Craig Bellamy Foundation in Sierra Leone, using £650,000 of his own money to help the disadvantaged children of the war-torn nation. Awww.

Oh wait, he’s just gone and duffed up a charity worker after an all-day drinking session in a casino:

The incident happened in the country’s capital, Freetown, in the early hours of Saturday after Bellamy and his two former SAS bodyguards went for drinks at the Lagonda Casino.

One witness said: “Bellamy had two minders with him but within 20 minutes of his arrival there was trouble.

“He was playing on a roulette table when something seemed to upset him. He was shouting and squaring up to people at the table.

“A few seconds later he jumped on one guy and started wrestling