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In the Championship – Leeds keep dropping
Last Updated : 14-Sep-2006 by
So far his pleading his working, although it wouldn't be if the Leeds fans had their way. They are either staying away or criticising him and having now dropped to their lowest league position in 21 years his position could hardly be considered secure.
It was somewhat ironic that it was Liam Miller who gave RK Sunderland the lead, he played 28 league games for Leeds on loan last season but this was his first ever goal at Elland Road. It was all downhill from there as the new look RK Mackems hit another two goals with another of their recent signings Graham Kavanagh also getting his first goal for them.
Leeds sit just above Queens Park Rangers and bottom club Hull City. QPR were beaten by new leaders Birmingham whilst Hull recorded their first win of the season at Leicester, and that means every team in the division has now won and lost at least one game.
It needed just one goal at the Crisp Bowl for Hull to take all three points and it was one of the goals of the week from Michael Bridges, his first goal for them since his move from Carlisle. It was a superb long range effort, and from his weaker foot, that gave Leicester keeper Paul Henderson no chance.
QPR meanwhile conceded a goal in each half to Birmingham and that result was enough to see the midlands club go top, and they did it despite playing over twenty minutes with ten men after Nicklas Bendtner was sent off for an off the ball incident.
Cardiff fell from the top in an amazing game at Plymouth, where the home side provided the comebacks of all comebacks. The Welsh side, in front at the start of play, went two up within the first half hour and just a few minutes after half time it was 3-0 and it looked all over.
That's when Plymouth came storming back, well sort of because Cardiff did give them something of a helping hand with two own goals. Kevin McNaughton turned the ball in for the first, and after Barry Hayles had claimed the last touch in a goalmouth scramble for the second it was left to Darren Purse to score with a delightful header past his own goalkeeper.
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Stay to the end they did at Southend where they joined the Clarets and Plymouth in coming back. They took an early lead through Freddy Eastwood but then found themselves 3-1 down against Norwich, a surprise in itself with Norwich not having previously scored an away goal.
It was 3-2 with twenty minutes left and Mark Gower scored a stoppage time equaliser to earn Southend a point. It all left Nigel Worthington downbeat claiming his players had let him, the club and the supporters down.
Wolves saw their run of wins come to an end but they should have got something from their home game against Derby. They missed a penalty at 0-0, Jay Bothroyd's effort saved by Stephen Bywater, a player who once had a month's loan at Molineux in the close season.
Steve Howard gave away the penalty but it was his night in the end, he stooped low to head home the only goal of the game and in doing so got his first Derby goal in his eighth appearances following his £1 million move from Luton in the summer.
There was only one goal in it at Deepdale and it was without doubt the most spectacular goal of the week. With his back to goal, some fifteen yards or so from goal, Patrick Agyemang produced the perfectly executed overhead kick. It was like watching Tom Cowan.
Coventry's Operation Premiership suffered a slight setback when they were beaten 2-1 at Ipswich, the Tractor Boy's third successive win. All the goals came in the second half with 18 year old Billy Clarke, on as a substitute, again hitting the winner.
The Legend wasn't happy with the Crystal Palace performance as they fell to a 2-0 home defeat against Southampton. The manager who recently described his team's start to the season as a sensible one was critical of them this time. “I was disappointed with the performance,” he admitted. “I hold my hands up, the players hold their hands up, and we have got to get better.” Southampton scored early in both halves of the game through Kenwyne Jones and another for Grzegorz Raskiak.
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Youngster Martin Paterson gave Stoke the lead against Sheffield Wednesday but a Chris Brunt penalty earned the Owls a point. This is the fifth successive game that Stoke have failed to win after going in front.
Sheffield Wednesday get the weekend fixtures started when they travel to Hull on Friday in what is hardly expected to be a Sky Sports classic, but the fixture of the weekend is surely at Derby where they entertain Preston. I remember the Preston fans with their, ‘Billy won't be going anywhere' claims just after the end of last season. I wonder if those travelling to see their team on Saturday will still be as pleasant to their former manager.
Ahead of those games, a couple of clubs have already strengthened their squads via the emergency loan system. Everton's young Scottish defender Patrick Boyle has joined Norwich whilst the more experienced Danny Mills has moved from Manchester City to Hull for a couple of months.
The Midweek Results | |
Tuesday 12th September | |
Burnley 4 Barnsley 2 | Preston 1 West Brom 0 |
Crystal Palace 0 Southampton 2 | QPR 0 Birmingham 2 |
Ipswich 2 Coventry 1 | Sheffield Wed 1 Stoke 1 |
Leicester 0 Hull 1 | Southend 3 Norwich 3 |
Luton 1 Colchester 1 | Wolves 0 Derby 1 |
Plymouth 3 Cardiff 3 | . |
Wednesday13th September | |
Leeds 0 RK Sunderland 3 | . |
The Midweek Stats | |
Biggest win | RK Sunderland 3-0 v Leeds (away) |
Total goals scored | 35 |
Player scoring most goals | 3 - Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley) |
Highest Attendance | 21,546 - Wolves v Derby |
Lowest Attendance | 7,609 - Luton v Colchester |
Total Yellow Cards | 48 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Leeds v RK Sunderland (7Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
6 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
5 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
4 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Paul Hayes (Barnsley) |
3 | Nickas Bendtner (Birmingham) Jay Bothroyd (Wolves) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Michael McIndoe (Barnsley) Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley) Jon Parkin (Hull) Mark Richards (Barnsley) James Scowcroft (Crystal Palace) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 9 | 1 | Luton | 7 | 0 |
| Birmingham | 14 | 2 | Norwich | 12 | 0 |
| Burnley | 10 | 2 | Plymouth | 16 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 14 | 2 | Preston | 16 | 2 |
| Colchester | 8 | 0 | QPR | 9 | 0 |
| Coventry | 14 | 0 | Sheffield Wed | 12 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 6 | 0 | Southampton | 10 | 0 |
| Derby | 15 | 0 | Southend | 6 | 0 |
| Hull | 12 | 1 | Stoke | 12 | 0 |
| Ipswich | 17 | 0 | RK Sunderland | 13 | 1 |
| Leeds | 18 | 1 | West Brom | 18 | 0 |
| Leicester | 10 | 0 | Wolves | 12 | 1 |
This Weekend Fixtures | |
Friday15th September | |
Hull v Sheffield Wed | . |
Saturday 16th September | |
Barnsley v Wolves | Norwich v Crystal Palace |
Birmingham v Ipswich | Southampton v Plymouth |
Cardiff v Luton | Stoke v Burnley |
Colchester v QPR | RK Sunderland v Leicester |
Coventry v Leeds | West Brom v Southend |
Derby v Preston | . |
