hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm marc edwards. here's what's coming up on the show. wood rescues forest as nottingham avoid the cupset against 3rd tier blackpool to book their place in the fa cup 4th round. now you saudi, now you don't. jordan henderson's short—lived stint in the kingdom looks to be over. jamie george chosen to lead his country for the six nations in a new look england side.

hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. we're going to start with football and the magic of the fa cup was almost alive on wednesday. third—tier blackpool taking premier league side and 2—time european cup winners nottingham forest to extra time in a 5—goal thriller, ultimately losing 3—2 in this third round replay. chris wood the hero in the end but forest had looked to be cruising into the fourth round when danilo made it 2—0 in the first minute of the second half. but hosts blackpool fought back in style at a raucous bloomfield road. albie morgan pulled one back with an hour gone before substitute kylejoseph headed in from close range to make it 2—2 to set up a frantic finish. early in the second period of extra—time, the visitors retook the lead. chris wood scoring what proved to be the winning goal. nuno espirito santo�*s side will now play away at bristol city in the fourth round.

that is why it's such a special competition for everybody. they allow all the teams to have a chance, and blackpool gave us a hard one, credit for them, the way they fight the first game today with the comeback. this is the cup, you have to be ready for everything. thank god we did it and we want to go and move into the next run. i thought we caused a real problem when we took them outside their comfort zone. we had a great chance to win in normal time and if we had have won it, i don't think anyone would have grumbled. we have gone so far and have nothing — we have gone so far and have nothing to show for it. everton are through to the fourth round after beating crystal palace in an all premier league tie at goodison park. andre gomes the hero for the hosts in a 1—0 win. his fine free—kick the one true

moment of quality in a game of few key opportunities and enough to set up a tie against luton town. well, barely half a year and with just 17 matches under his belt in the country jordan henderson's time in saudi arabia looks to be coming to an end. the england midfielder is close tojoining ajax in a permanent move, with his contract at al—ettifaq set to be terminated. jo linskey has more it is just six months since he swapped the premier league for saudi arabia. a move that turned heads now looks a move that has turned sour. jordan henderson is a current england international. he put that at risk for a reported weekly wage of £700,000. the salary was extraordinary, the results were underwhelming. henderson on a nine—game winless run and one match in october was watched by around 700 fans. the player said to have struggled with

heat and humidity and the criticism he received for his move to the country. after talks with his club, he has been freed up to move on and now looks set to join the dutch side, ajax. at this moment, we understand ajax is breaking the bank and will make him the best—paid player ever at ajax. that shows how much they want him. i think you can find a platform here which is much better than in saudi arabia, the desert to show that he is ready to go out the european championships in germany. henderson is 33 and now has five months to prove he can help england at the euros. he has to win round a coach and fan base. three months ago, he came on at wembley and was booed by some supporters. henderson had previously spoken out on lgbt rights.

some welt a move to a country where same—sex releases are illegal undermines that message. a source that he left amicably. a three—year deal cut short to move closer to home. jordan henderson is a premier league and champions league winner. he is now set tojoin a team who sit fifth in the dutch league. at ajax, his hope is to lift up a club and rebuild his career. pre—tournament favourites morocco began their 2023 africa cup of nations campaign with a convincing 3—0 win over 10—man tanzania in group f. morocco won their sole continental title in 1976 but are firmly among the expected challengers for the trophy in ivory coast following their historic run to the semi—finals at the 2022 world cup. they had to wait until the final ten minutes to add to romain saiss�* goal from the first half, a slick finsih from azzedine ounahi's before sevilla striker, youssef en—nesyri rounded off the win,

in the day's other game, it finished 1—1 between zambia and the democratic republic of the congo. kings kangwa gave zambia an early lead in the ivorian coastal city of san—pedro after congolese goalkeeper lionel mpasi came racing out of his area. but yoane wissa scored the equaliser as drc came from behind to draw in their opening game. there's a huge match in group b on thursday when egypt take on ghana. both sides will be aiming for nothing less than a victory after an underwhelming start to the competition. egypt were held to a 1—1 draw by mozambique — thanks to an injury time goal from their star striker mo salah. while the black stars were beaten 2—1 by cape verde. egypt's head coach rui victoria is determined to move on from his side's disappointing opening performance. we know we have one point and ghana don't have any point but the quality of both teams are big and the quality of the players as well.

these players, all the players in ghana, these players playing the big team in the big competitions are ready for the match. akram afif struck again as holders and hosts qatar became the first team into the asian cup last 16 with a 1—0 win over tajikistan. afif, who scored twice in qatar's opening 3—0 victory over lebanon, hit the winner midway through the first half in front of 55,000 at the tent—like al bayt stadium. the result means the hosts are guaranteed to go through to the knockout round as group a winners. china's asian cup hopes are on a knife edge after they were held to a second successive goalless draw. this time against lebanon. china had their best chance at the end of the first half, former espanyol star wu lei as well as zhang yuning denied three times in quick succession

by goalkeeper mostafa matar. lebanon had their own chance to take the lead as hasan srour clipped the bar. china will need at least a point against qatar to have a chance of advancing to the knockout stage. to rugby union, and hooker jamie george will captain england in the 2024 six nations in the absence of owen farrell. george has been capped. 85 times having made his international debut in 2015. the 33—year—old takes over from farrell following his decision to step away from international rugby to prioritise his and his family's mental wellbeing. the england squad named by head coach steve borthwick features seven uncapped players, along with returns for henry slade and luke cowan—dickie. owen farrell is a unique character and a unique leader and i think we are both big supporters and fans of what owen farrell brings to a team. so, it is not about trying

to replace him, i think it is about, as i said earlier, i was asked if i had givenjamie any advice and the only thing i said to him, i want you to lead as you. give the players enough room to lead and what was really interesting was watching owen during that world cup and how he helped others grow and how he gave room to other leaders within the team and i think you can see a lot of leaders in this team. the team has been criticised in the past for not having leaders. i see a load of leaders in different way, shape or form. so i have no doubt that they will develop together. there will be a different dynamic and it will be a dynamic that will help build this team. ireland boss andy farrell has chosen peter o'mahony as his captain for the six nations. the munster flanker chosen to usher in a new era following johnny sexton�*s retirement. o'mahony has previously captained ireland on 10 occasions and will lead the team out when they begin

the defence of their six nations title away to france on february 2nd in marseille. golden state warriors assistant coach dejan milojevic, a mentor to two—time nba mvp nikola jokic and a former star player in his native serbia, has died at the age of 46. milojevic, who was part of the staff that helped the warriors win the 2022 nba championship was hospitalised in salt lake city after suffering a medical emergency on tuesday. warriors head coach steve kerr paid this tribute. "in addition to being a terrific basketball coach, "dejan was one of the most positive and beautiful human "beings i have ever known, someone who broughtjoy "and light to every single day with his passion and energy." you can get all the latest sports news at from the bbc sport app, orfrom our website — that's bbc.com/sport.

from me and the rest of the team at the bbc sport centre, goodbye. hello there. our current cold snap may well be coming to an end, but before it does so, i think something of a sting in the tail. of course, over recent days, we've seen plenty of these snow showers — this one looking very heavy as it obscures the skyline of the island of skye. and it is in northern scotland we've seen the largest accumulations of snow. through wednesday, we had over 20cm on the deck in lerwick, and that was before this lot arrived. this is a trough bringing particularly heavy showers, widespread, prolonged showers, southwards, and that will just increase the risk of seeing some disruption. now, for northern scotland, an additional 5cm—15cm of snow as we go through thursday. a much greater chance of seeing some disruption in northern ireland, too.

i think we could see around 5—10cm of snow building in here, so a much greater risk of seeing some disruption. and for northern scotland, as well as all that heavy snow, winds gusting to around 40—50 mph, so blizzard conditions, significant drifting of the snow and, for some communities, it'd be very difficult to travel around at all. now, there could be a bit of snow elsewhere in scotland and a few wintry showers coming down to clip the western side of wales, a few coming down the north sea coast of england. you might see some localised accumulations, but otherwise, a lot of dry, sunny and cold weather. into thursday evening, a shower stream sets up off the irish sea that will bring some snow showers to north wales across cheshire, merseyside into the north—west midlands. accumulations will vary a lot from place to place, but you could see a few centimetres in a few spots. on into friday, temperatures come up with just a little bit and that means the showers that we have in scotland will start to fall as rain and sleet at lower elevations — the snow becoming confined to the hills. temperatures a degree or two higher. you probably won't notice much in the way of change — it will still feel cold.

however, as we get into this weekend, that's when we see a real change in our weather pattern as these south—westerly winds push mild air off the atlantic and that will really boost the temperatures for most. now, on saturday, we've got these bands of rain moving from west to east along with those gusty south—westerly winds. now, there'll be a rapid thaw taking place in scotland, so there could be some localised flooding concerns here, given all of that snow lying on the deck, being a much milder kind of day. very windy weather then, for sunday and early next week, top gusts could reach around 70mph, potentially disruptive winds, but it does turn incredibly mild. bye for now.

live from washington, this is bbc news. the us again hits houthi targets in yemen — hours after reinstating them as global terrorists. as israel continues to hit gaza, its forces are accused of a deadly attack on civilians in the occupied west bank. and we look at how republican candidates for the us presidential nomination are trying to appeal to new hampshire primary voters. hello, i'm catriona perry. you are very welcome. the us military has confirmed that it has hit houthi positions in yemen for a fourth time. the strikes targeted 1a houthi missiles that were loaded to be

fired from yemen. that's according to us central command —