A midweek of strange results

Stuart Gray is currently in charge at Hillsborough

I don't think anyone could have predicted those results, made more surprising with two of those bottom clubs having dispensed with the services of their manager over last weekend.

Barnsley, rooted to the bottom, said farewell to David Flitcroft but under the caretaker management of former Claret Micky Mellon they won at Brighton, the team who had picked up the most points during November.

With our former coach Stuart Gray in charge there was also a win for Sheffield Wednesday. They beat new league leaders Leicester 2-1 with both goals coming from Connor Wickham, a player we'd tried to sign on loan recently.

Then there was Yeovil's win against Blackpool, a game that will be remembered not for the result but more for the antics of the Blackpool players at the end of the game. They had Kirk Broadfoot sent off for a second yellow card just seconds before the end of the 90 minutes but there was much more fun to come in stoppage time.

Less than two minutes later the red card was out again, this time Ricardo Fuller going for violent conduct. He'll miss the Burnley game as he serves a three match ban. Broadfoot will be able to play as will Gary McKenzie who became red card man number three, again for a second yellow.

Paul Ince, not long back from a stadium ban himself, said the players would be disciplined. Given the speculation as to what happened with Ince it looks as though they were doing what their manager does rather than what he says.

Back to Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday. Mellon has edged Danny Wilson, the man who took them to the Premier League in the 1990s, now in the betting. Sky Bet, at the time of writing, are offering 13/8 on Mellon with Wilson at 2/1.

Over at Hillsborough a good result has also shortened the odds on Gray. He's 9/2 second favourite behind Stuart Pearce. Interestingly, Neil Warnock was favourite this morning. Warnock managing Sheffield Wednesday; that's a bit like me being offered the job at Ewood. Mind you, the way they were going last season I could have ended up on a short list eventually.

It looks as though the betting is closed for the Wigan job. Dave Whelan, as always, has conducted his business publicly and they are currently speaking to Brentford's German manager Uwe Rösler. They've even headlined on their official web site with the news that talks are about to begin.

It looks very much as though Rösler will take the job and if so let's hope he's a manager who Whelan can get on with, who the players can get on with, and who the fans can get on with. I've heard that the skips outside the Concrete Jungle have been filled with unwanted Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

I mentioned that Brighton had won more points than any other club in November and that has won Oscar Garcia the manager of the month award. The player award went to Leeds' Ross McCormack who scored a staggering nine goals during the month in just four games.

His goals have taken Leeds into the top two over the last six games, just one point behind Derby who have moved forwards since the arrival of Steve McClaren. They've won their last four games.

It's interesting that Nottingham Forest are currently in the bottom three from the last six games period. They've won 5 points with just Watford (3 points) and Bournemouth (2 points) below them. We've played all three during that period.

But the league table in full shows us Derby, Reading and Blackpool in those play-off places with Leicester and QPR above us.

I wonder if there will be another rush of manager sackings this weekend. I can't see another three but I do keep hearing that Dougie Freedman is not very secure just now. A home win against Doncaster should help him.

The results and stats from the midweek games are below along with the usual leading goalscorers, each club's red and yellow card count, the highest and lowest attendances and this weekend's fixtures with all twelve games scheduled for Saturday.