Sky Sports News forced to apologise after broadcast went down moments after cup draw

Sky Sports News suffered a malfunction on Thursday afternoon as the programme cut out shortly after conducting a cup draw.

The round of 16 draw for the Vertu Trophy, the competition that incorporates League One and League Two teams alongside several select Premier League Under 21 sides, had just been taking place.

Presenter Will Perry was joined by former EFL stars Luke Chambers and Jobi McAnuff as various teams learned their fates.

However, a few minutes after that finished, the programme cut out, with fans left curious as to what had gone on.

The channel had reverted to its usual format and was discussing the breaking news that Jude Bellingham was not expected to start for England against Serbia on Thursday night.

Host Matt Kabir Floyd was leading the debate and also touched on the topic of Thomas Tuchel's various selection headaches.

Focus then moved on to coverage of the DP World Tour Championship where Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy were in the running towards the top of the leaderboard. 

However, the programme then cut out and Floyd went quiet, before a message appeared on the screen which simply read: 'We're really sorry for this temporary fault.'

During the outage, the typical Sky Sports News screen was still operating, with the yellow ticker-tape continuing to run at the bottom. 

The outage continued for a few minutes, after which the programme moved to adverts. 

The adverts then ran for around five minutes before the programme returned and continued as usual, with no mention of the issue as Floyd pressed on with his duties. 

Speaking about Bellingham, Floyd had said: 'But no doubt what the headline news is, and that is that Jude Bellingham, we think, will not be in the XI (for England's game against Serbia). 

'Is this a sign of how Tuchel wants to go at the World Cup? It certainly feels like a real shot across the bows of Jude Bellingham. 

'He's back, he's fit, he's firing now. He's doing well with Real Madrid, but that's not been enough it seems for Tuchel to bring him into the XI. 

'Tuchel, we heard from him yesterday and he told us that he doesn't think Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Harry Kane can all start in the same England XI at the moment given the structure they're playing.

'He also said now is not the time to change the structure either. That was very, very interesting, wasn't it? And it suggests that Jude Bellingham will have a big job on his hands to get back into the XI.'