football — and northern ireland have been in action tonight — in a vital world cup play—off. they faced switzerland in belfast — in the first of two matches. at stake — a place in next year's finals in russia. our sports correspondentjoe wilson is outside windsor park. there is a second leg to come at basel at the weekend. under the floodlights behind me northern ireland were defeated after a refereeing decision. their manager described it as per wheel during an staggering. you may well decide he was right. inside belfast‘s modernised stadium, doors are decorated with the past. the great patjennings was in goal when northern ireland were world cup regulars. 1982, that will never fade. 1986 was the last time northern ireland qualified. now, the shiny new era, northern ireland on the brink of the world cup again. stuart dallas yelled forward by belfast towards switzerland, stopped without subtlety. just a yellow card for the defender.

world rankings in individual talent, switzerland stood superior. xherdan shaqiri teased passes towards the northern ireland goal and they were getting close. dallas couldn't continue in the second half and dealing with the swiss attack was tough enough for northern ireland without the referee intervening. hang on, the referee interpreted this as handball by corrie eva ns. in his mind it was a penalty. and, thus, it was 1—0. a manager plots and plans for everything and then sees that. northern ireland launched late attempts, not on target. 1—0 down with the second leg in switzerland, a refereeing decision has left them climbing a mountain. joe wilson, bbc news, belfast. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. here's kirsty wark. tonight, gordon brown tells us britain may be headed for brexit

crisis. scotland is unstable. and tony blair, the rows were all about policy and not ambition. join me now on bbc two. here on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday, the headlines this evening. halfway through their world cup tie northern ireland trail i—o halfway through their world cup tie northern ireland trail 1—0 after a

controversial penalty was awarded. there is a defeat for scotland as well as the netherlands beat them in a friendly. and we will have the action from the women's ashes test in sydney where england have work to do going into day two. we will start with that disappointing night for northern ireland. michael o'neill's side was beaten. our sports correspondence is at windsor park. it was a hugely frustrating night given the way the goal came about? i think that is absolutely right. there were 18,000 fa ns absolutely right. there were 18,000 fans in the stadium behind me. you may be able to see the floodlights still on that still is referred to

as windsor park and they made a tremendously enthusiastic noise right through the 50 minutes of the match. it was fair to say that switzerland were on top. they could of and should have scored once or twice before the infamous incident. that is hard to accept the way in which switzerland got their chance to score their goal. a volley from shaqiri which was locked by evans. it was amazing to everybody in the ground that the referee decided there was anything wrong with that. when we saw replays we saw that evans when we saw replays we saw that eva ns ha d when we saw replays we saw that evans had turned his back and it seemed to hit his shoulder. penalty given and goal scored. 1—0. i think theissueis given and goal scored. 1—0. i think the issue is that it is very hard for the northern ireland fans to accept, the ones in the ground will have seen replays by now, but there isa have seen replays by now, but there is a broader issue about the credibility of the sport. if everybody seen the replay can insta ntly tell that everybody seen the replay can instantly tell that that was not a penalty, how come the man in the

middle does not get the opportunity to change his mind or is top to change his mind. if it can happen in by, change his mind. if it can happen in rugby, cricket or tennis, why can't it happen in football? that was a desperately unfortunate incident, but overall switzerland deserved to win the tie. we have heard from michael 0'neill in the last 15 minutes and he used the word staggered on the official performance tonight. it was notjust the penalty decision but there was an incident when he thought they should be playing against ten men. this was interesting early in the game. stuart dallas on the left wing, he was likely at times and had a great run, probably the best attacking moment of the first half. he was taken down by the swiss full—back. it was a very, very obvious foul and stuart dallas to get up and then he came off in the second half. it was very close to a red card, i think it was later in the game a referee would be more inclined. i think you can say he was on the borderline of losing control

and in other circumstances that could of been a red card rather than yellow. 0ther could of been a red card rather than yellow. other things that northern ireland can feel frustrated about is that that booking for evans means that that booking for evans means that he misses that game. there were other challenges that northern ireland feel they didn't went their way. i think there is some justification for feeling hard way. i think there is some justification forfeeling hard done by in that regard. but overall, i also think is northern ireland will be wondering if they really showed enough to deserve to win or draw this leg with the second leg coming on sunday. it is a disappointing result, but we have to emphasise it is the halfway point and not over yet. it is difficult because northern ireland in this world cup campaign go back to 86 when they qualify. those successful campaigns are based really not conceding goals and being strong. can they be more of attacking force the next game where switzerland have a good attacking record better than in belfast? i think michael 0'neill did

go for it in a way, he put lafferty in the starting line—up and i'm not sure if he really worked in that target role. not had the movement he really needed. but they have to lift themselves, and northern ireland have shed a capability of showing huge teen spirit of this campaign and in recent years going back to the euros. if they do pull this off, it will top anything may have done before. thank you. one other world cup play—off in europe tonight, croatia beat greece, they thrashed them. 4—1. this was a gift for the greek left back. the second leg is in athens on sunday. it's been confirmed by the scottish fa that malky mackay is not in the running to become scotland manager on a full—time basis. mackay is in interim charge of the national side for tonight's

friendly against the netherlands at pittodrie. he watched his side beaten 1—0. they had the chance to take the lead in the first half. then the former manchester united winger put the netherlands ahead five minutes before the break, a goal which proved to be the winner. women beat the norwegian side. they we re women beat the norwegian side. they were up before the interval, then a brace completed the rout. city maintaina100% brace completed the rout. city maintain a 100% record in the competition. england's women closed on 235 for seven on the first day of their one—off test in the ashes series. it's a match england can't afford to lose if they're to have any chance of regaining them.

from sydney here's our sports correspondent andy swiss. queueing for a glimpse of cricket history, the first—ever day night ashes test brought australia's fans brimming with confidence because if they win here, they will retain the women's ashes. for england, the pressure was on and it soon showed. lauren winfield brilliantly caught for just four. australia's bowlers on top but not for long, as tammy beaumont led the england fightback, casting off the early shackles as she shared a century stand with captain heather knight. in the sydney sunshine, england were blossoming and australia seemingly wilting. but as the shadows began to lengthen, so the fortunes began to turn. beaumont was finally out for 70 and with the pink ball under the floodlights, australia dazzled. ellyse perry might not have seen it but she still somehow caught it to remove sarah taylor, as england's middle order struggled. by the end, a day which they had controlled for so long was left delicately poised.

tomorrow morning, maybe the first hour or two will be really important so hopefully if we can bat through the session, the lights will come on later and we will be able to get the ball nipping around and hopefully have a decent amount of runs on the board to put some pressure on australia. so an historic day for cricket and a slightly frustrating one for england. from such a promising position, they know australia are right back in this. andy swiss, bbc news, sydney. exeter‘s henry slade will start at inside centre for england against argentina with niether 0wen farrell and maro itoje both rested. elliott day is recovering from a knee injury to start on the wing.

wales placed early onset today. i wing williams will make his first wales start at centre and they hope to halt a run of 12 successive defeat against the wallabies. we have been very close and number of those games have been leading going into the last minute and u nfortu nately we lost. going into the last minute and unfortunately we lost. we know the challenge of saturday. we trained well last week. we had a good week this week. and the players were very disappointed to lose that opening game against australia last year and then go on to win the other three. scotland kick off their autumn test series against samoa at murrayfield on saturday. head coach gregor townsend has named four uncapped players in his squad as they host a samoan side that have endured a turbulent week off from the field. they face opposition declared bankrupt by their prime minister.‘

nation like samoa that has produced so nation like samoa that has produced so many good players and so many good wins over the years. let's hope they get through this in a much better state than they are just now. they are a huge part of the worldwide game of rugby. it will be a big challenge to take on this week because we know how proud they are to play for their country, but also what a good team now. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. with me are kate proctor, political correspondent at the london evening standard and the broadcasterjohn stapleton. the daily express says that eu membership is costing the uk nearly £1 billion a month — almost treble the amount quoted by the leave campaign. the metro has more on the removal of kevin spacey from an upcoming film — as the controversy continues over his alleged sexual misconduct. priti patel‘s replacement penny mourdant‘s leads on the ft— which has according to the fuelled pressure on theresa may to carry out a big cabinet reshuffle. the telegraph reports that the prime minister has told pro—european tory rebels that she will not "tolerate" any attempts to undermine brexit — as the government tables brexit is also the lead for the i — which talks about brexiteers acceptance for a bigger divorce settlement and downing street's worry about voter backlash.

the guardian has more on brexit — but also features a picture of donald trump and the chinese president xijinping on his tour of asia. kevin spacey‘s career is in tatters according to the times following the director ridley scott's decision to erase him for his new film only six weeks before its release. let's start with kate, talk to us about the financial times. penny mordaunt is on the front page as she is on mordaunt is on the front page as she isona mordaunt is on the front page as she is on a lot of the papers. as the replacement for priti patel after a very difficult week for the prime minister. it has been a torrid couple of weeks for theresa may. good week for a politicaljournalist like yourself! it has been a busy time for recess. penny mordaunt has come in and she is supposed to be a breath of fresh air. new blood coming into the cabinet. by all accou nts coming into the cabinet. by all accounts she is well liked by her

colleagues. she was working as a disability is minister beforehand. now she takes the role as international development secretary. i think it will be really well—suited to her. i think there was a little bit of disappointment that there was not a wider reshuffle. there is concern about borisjohnson still reshuffle. there is concern about boris johnson still and we reshuffle. there is concern about borisjohnson still and we still have some of those allegations from the sexual harassment. we will talk about boris johnson in the sexual harassment. we will talk about borisjohnson in a minute. but john, the express has a picture of penny mordaunt in her swimsuit. that is the picture they have chosen to use, what do you make of that?l is the picture they have chosen to use, what do you make of that? a lot of this is why not? she went like this, but she is probably better remembered for her appearance on splash than anything in politics which is probably unfair but true. it was for charity which shows her