Mkhitaryan slotted in a fourth, and his third, with a late penalty. Ireland now sit bottom of Group 2, swapping places with their opponents, with just four points from six games. 22 METROSPORT Wednesday, November 18, 2009 D SPORTDigest Talks: Button could join Hamilton at McLaren Champion Button nears move to rivals McLaren FORMULA ONE: McLaren remain locked in talks with Jenson Button over a deal which could see the new world champion paired with Lewis Hamilton in an all-British line-up from next year. Button has been heavily linked with McLaren since capturing his maiden drivers title in Brazil last month, after talks stalled over a new deal with current employers Brawn GP. The announcement on Monday that Mercedes- Benz had secured a controlling interest in Brawn has only served to intensify speculation over where the 29-year- old will be driving next season. Button and his manager Richard Goddard were shown around McLarens headquarters last week, and reports suggest Button will put pen to paper on a three-year, 21million contract in the coming days. A spokesperson for McLaren confirmed talks were ongoing, saying: The situation is that weve got no comment at the moment. Theres been a lot said on it already and theres nothing I can say over and above what is out there. Glock joins new boys FORMULA ONE: Former Toyota driver Timo Glock has signed to drive for Manor Grand Prix in 2010, the new Formula One team said in a statement yesterday. I had several options for 2010, some of them with more established teams, the 27-year-old German said. Every driver has the same overall objective, to win the world championship one day, but the way I want to succeed is to be part of the process of building a team and to play a key role in developing the car. This is why the opportunity with Manor Grand Prix is so exciting for me. Roach targets Floyd fight BOXING: Manny Pacquiaos trainer has confirmed he wants a superfight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Pacquiao beat Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on Saturday and Freddie Roach said: Ive thought about Mayweather for a long time now. Hes the ultimate opponent. His style does pose some problems but well definitely knock Mayweather out. Hell break down. He cant stand up to Mannys pressure. I went wrong in Hong Kong, says Westwood GOLF: Lee Westwood has admitted it was a mistake to play last weeks Hong Kong Open. The event saw Rory McIlroy finish runner-up for the second straight year and take the European Tour Order of Merit lead with only this weeks Dubai World Championship remaining. Westwood (pictured) went into the week on top but could only finish joint-54th and fell more than 120,000 behind McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings. In hindsight, it probably was a mistake [to play in Hong Kong], said Westwood, before playing his first practice round at the Earth course. I obviously didnt know the course because I had never been there but it definitely didnt suit me. I like harder courses where theres a bigger premium on tee-to-green stuff. Trapattoni tells Irish sure to battle us right until the end, says Henry STRIKER Thierry Henry insists the hard work is far from over for France after they claimed a 1-0 victory in the first leg of their World Cup play-off against the Republic of Ireland in Croke Park, and he expects the Irish to fight back in the return leg. France only need a draw in tonights game at Stade de France to qualify for next years World Cup in South Africa, while Ireland must win to stand any chance of qualifying. Even though France won in Dublin on Saturday courtesy of Nicolas Anelkas deflected strike in the second half, Henry (pictured) expects the Irish to come out fighting and to push France all the way. The hardest is yet to come, the hardest part is finishing what youve started, Henry said yesterday at Les Bleus Clairefontaine training camp. Weve been fighting to qualify for the last two years, now there is one game to go. We won over there but we still have one battle left. We know they never give up, he added. And French head coach Raymond Domenech admitted he was doing everything he could to avoid complacency in the camp. He said: We will start the game as if nothing has been done yet and actually nothing has been done yet. They [the players] are all desperate to win the game, there is no need for me to excite them. I wont tire them out with words, they must be tired out by the game only. With central defender Eric Abidal out after picking up a thigh injury, Domenech has had little time to rearrange his defence. But Domenech is leaving it until the last minute, saying he would wait until after last nights final training session before choosing Abidals replacement, either Julien Escude or Sebastien Squillaci. Under-21s suffer in Armenia SOCCER REP OF IRELANd v FRANCE Wide boys: Paul McShane looks on as Ireland wingers damien duff (left) and Liam Lawrence train at the Stade de France last night Picture: Sportsfile The Republic of Ireland Under-21s continued their winless run in Group 2 of the U-21 european Championship as henrik Mkhitaryan plundered a hat-trick to fire Armenia to a comfortable home win. Led for the first time by MK Dons midfielder Stephen Gleeson, Ireland fell behind to Mkhitaryans opener after half-an-hours play. Mkhitaryan made it 2-0 in the 61st minute before Plymouths Cillian Sheridan gave his side a lifeline four minutes later, turning in James OSheas cross. Armenia continued to enjoy the best of the game, though, and re-established a two-goal gap through hovhaness Goharyans 20- yard strike with 15 minutes to play. ARmEniA u-21 4 iRElAnd u-21 1 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html