Des Lynam yesterday won his fight with the BBC to allow Match of the Day to kick off earlier on a Saturday night.

Lynam had been unhappy with the 10.50 p.m. start time which he said was "in the land of the nodding-off". Lynam was not alone in his criticism of the scheduling which he said could badly affect ratings of the Premiership highlights programme.

And although the BBC said they had not been inundated with complaints, they announced yesterday the show would gradually move to an earlier time slot. By the end of the current season, the programme will be screened at 10.30 p.m.