It would help children’s hospitals in the north-east and Dublin, and also deepen the threat of football acquiring a good name.. Brighton grabbed a last-gasp victory over Bristol City in an early kick-off at the Withdean Stadium to go top of the Second Division yesterday. The Robins, still with aspirations of making the play-offs, equalised in the 52nd minute through Tommy Doherty.Lee Steele scored for the visitors in the last minute, and with Reading’s goalless draw at home to Northampton, Brighton ended the day two points clear.Third-placed Brentford, who would have gone above Reading into second with a win, lost 2-0 to cash-strapped Bury. The Shakers, who still occupy the uppermost relegation berth, won 2-0 thanks to a second-half brace from Chris Billy.Stoke closed the gap on Brentford in third to two points with a 2-0 triumph at home to Swindon.Wrexham were granted a stay of execution from relegation after they lost, but Northampton and Notts County failed to win, with both needing three points to have sent the Welsh side down yesterday.Wrexham lost 3-0 at Blackpool. Notts County had looked well on course to win at QPR, Paul Heffernan and Ian Baraclough giving the Magpies a 2-0 lead after 35 minutes. However, goals from Dan Shittu, Matthew Rose and the on-loan Dominic Foley, six minutes from the end, gave QPR a 3-2 win.In the Third Division Luton, who secured promotion on Saturday, dented Mansfield’s hopes of following them automatically into the Second Division with a 5-3 win at Kenilworth Road.Cheltenham moved four points clear of Mansfield in fourth after a 1-0 win at home to Hull, John Brough netting the Robins’ only goal in the 71st minute. Rushden & Diamonds took advantage of Rochdale’s 3-0 defeat at Torquay to climb to fifth.

The leaders Plymouth lost 1-0 at Hartlepool, Darrell Clarke’s 86th-minute giving the home side victory.. The match involving play-off contenders at Selhurst Park yesterday was a side-show to the main event which was the public vilification of Steve Bruce. From the moment he stepped off Birmingham City’s coach 75 minutes before the start to be welcomed by a hail of missiles which were, thankfully, nothing more serious than empty plastic bottles, the visiting manager suffered an afternoon of acute discomfort. “Stand up, if you hate Steve Bruce,” was one of the more polite refrains from the Palace crowd.Bruce declined to discuss a traumatic day.

Trevor Francis, the Palace manager who had swapped jobs with Bruce in November, claimed not to have heard the various chants and comments. Contradicting himself, Francis said that he thought the abuse was for him. “It’s when you get it from behind, from the director’s box, that you have to worry,” he added.Ade Akinbiyi was the one player who stood most to benefit from the situation. Normally the Palace striker is public enemy number one with his own supporters, who love to ridicule his efforts, but four minutes after the £2.5m signing had had a header cleared off the line by Michael Hughes, he was even forgiven his sluggishness that prevented him from reaching Dean Austin’s perceptive through ball before Michael Johnson.Birmingham, unbeaten now in seven games and initially resembling the side that Palace were when Bruce left, had the better of the first half.

Stern John and Geoff Horsfield scorned chances that they made for each other, but they barely troubled Palace’s second-choice goalkeeper Cedric Carasso thereafter.The Frenchman, who had come on for his debut at half- time after Matt Clarke had suffered double vision, watched from afar as Palace dominated the subsequent proceedings, revealing a potent new threat in Danny Granville. His free-kicks became increasingly more difficult for Nico Vaesen. The Belgian goalkeeper plunged full length to claw out the best one in the 84th minute and responded quickly enough to deny Dougie Freedman from the follow-up. With that Palace fans virtually resigned themselves to being deprived of the victory they could crow about ever more at Bruce’s expense.Crystal Palace (3-4-1-2): Clarke (Carasso, h-t); Austin, Mullins, Murphy (Gray, 72); Fleming, Riihilahti, Thomson, Granville; Freedman (Black, 84); Morrison, Akinbiyi. Substitutes not used: Roger, Kirovski.Birmingham City: Vaesen; Kenna, Tebily, M Johnson, Williams (Lazaridis, 55); D Johnson, B Hughes (Devlin, 84), M Hughes, Woodhouse; John Horsfield (Mooney, 76). Substitutes not used: Bennet (gk), Eaden.Referee: S Baines (Chesterfield).. Ten-man West Bromwich kept the pressure on Manchester City and Wolves yesterday as Bob Taylor gave them a potentially crucial 1-0 win against their play-off chasing rivals, Coventry.