Around One – All change at the top again

Dennis Wise - had an eventful start as Millwall manager

Perhaps the Blades’ defeat at Millwall was no real surprise, the London club are going well even though they did sack manager Mark McGhee after their home defeat against Preston on Tuesday. It was an amazing first game in charge though for debutant caretaker manager Dennis Wise.

He left himself out of the side and had to have been disappointed to see his players come in at 0-0 at half time after having been on top throughout but it all changed in the second half when Neil Harris gave them the lead with a penalty with Paul Ifill scoring to make it 2-0 with just under half an hour to go.

But the fun started with eight minutes to go when referee Rob Styles sent off David Livermore for a second yellow card. Two minutes later Wise brought himself on but stayed only four minutes when Styles gave him a straight red for his first challenge to leave them with nine men at the end.

Sheffield United are used to games ending with a lot less players than it started but it was too late to do anything about it. Even Neil Warnock agreed they deserved nothing. "We were fortunate only to lose 2-0. I can't blame anyone but the team - we were poor. We came on the wrong day, because everything was geared up for them," he said.

This gave Wigan the chance to go top and they took it although they hardly deserved it. In a performance that manager Paul Jewell described as woeful it took a second half penalty from Andy Liddle to win it 1-0 against luckless Gillingham.

West Brom sneaked into second place and it was another 1-0 win for them. There’s one thing about the Baggies, they do seem to have the ability to score spectacular goals and it was the same again from Jason Koumas. The talented midfielder hit a rocket from distance on the left hand side giving Norwich keeper Robert Green no chance.

Jason Koumas - his long range strike gave West Brom the points at home to Norwich

Burnley’s point at West Ham allowed Stan’s team Sunderland to climb into fourth place and they too did it with a 1-0 home win, their’ victory coming against Walsall and a strike from Marcus Stewart.

It was a victory described as scrappy by manager Mick McCarthy but nevertheless things are beginning to look up at the Stadium of Light after last season’s nightmare. The attendance on Saturday was 10,000 above the average with over 36,000 there.

Ipswich continued their march up the table with, yes you have guessed it, a 1-0 home win. It came courtesy of Matt Richards’ first ever goal just before half time and this seventh win in eight games has seen the Tractor Boys climb from bottom place (yes they were even below Franchise) to a play off position in just five weeks.

Having mentioned Franchise they excelled themselves even by their own standards on Saturday when they took a 6-0 hammering at Nottingham Forest. With a massive support having arrived in two cars and a motorbike and sidecar it was a disastrous day for the Pariahs as Forest simply tore them apart.

Gareth Taylor scored his first home goal for Forest and as with his other Forest goal (we might just remember that one) it was from his feet and not his head. This time it was from the edge of the box and was the fourth goal of the afternoon.

The Franchise fans were simply pouring out before the end with one car seen on the M1 long before the referee brought it to an end. They would have been rushing home to watch the highlights of the Manchester United game presumably.

Scott Fitzgerald - scored winner for Watford

Rotherham, still next to bottom, earned themselves a point with a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace but again were on the wrong end of a poor refereeing decision that saw keeper Mike Pollitt sent off for handling the ball around six inches outside his penalty box.

Manager Ronnie Moore had little to say about the incident, he just shrugged his shoulders knowing there would be no chance of getting it reversed but did say that the draw was a fair result despite them having been in front.

He was fastened up to heart monitors after his operation but Dario G was back at Crewe and what a difference. They hadn’t won a single game in his absence and although he is not back at work his very presence had the desired effect as they beat Derby 3-0.

Crewe have had a blasting this week from Bolton boss Sam Allardyce who was furious that they didn’t play Jonathan Walters whilst they had him on loan but they did give a debut to young Birmingham striker Andrew Barrowman who scored on his debut.

Barrowman at 18 years of age was in good company, Crewe’s other scorers were Dean Ashton and Ben Rix and they too are both teenagers.

There was plenty for the Weary Whinger to weary whinge about as Preston clutched defeat from the jaws of victory at Reading and he didn’t let us down.

They had twice been in front before the late Jon Mackie and Nicky Forster goals won it for the home side and he didn’t complain too much about Marlon Broomes’ two yellow cards in the first half.

He's whinging but this time Craig Brown is sent off after taking on the Flood Warden

Weary Whinger did and he too was sent off and was forced to watch the rest of the game from the stands. It is reported that he sat with the Preston directors where Chairman Derek Shaw missed most of the match after falling asleep.

Finally the Clarets dropped a place despite the excellent point at West Ham and this was because of Cardiff’s 3-1 win at Coventry. They had to come from behind too after Micky Doyle gave the home side an early lead.

But again a referee came into play just before half time with Cardiff 2-1 up. He turned away what looked a blatant penalty for Coventry and within two minutes awarded Cardiff a controversial spot kick. So what could have been 2-2 was 3-1 and that was game over.

There is almost a full fixture list this midweek as clubs start to catch up on matches missed because of internationals and this includes another top of the table clash, this time between Wigan and Sheffield United. This is followed by a full weekend fixture list. All the evening games shown kick off at 7:45 p.m. and Saturday games at 3:00 p.m. unless otherwise shown.

Crewe Alexandra v Preston North End
Crystal Palace v Ipswich Town (8:00 p.m.)
Norwich City v Derby County
Reading v Walsall (8:00 p.m.)
Sunderland v Rotherham United (8:00 p.m.)
Watford v Coventry City
West Bromwich Albion v Franchise
Wigan Athletic v Sheffield United (8:00 p.m.)

West Ham United v Nottingham Forest

Sheffield United v Reading

Bradford City v Nottingham Forest
Burnley v Millwall
Cardiff City v West Ham United (5:35 p.m.)
Derby County v Coventry City
Franchise v Watford
Gillingham v Crystal Palace
Norwich City v Sunderland
Preston North End v Ipswich Town
Rotherham United v West Bromwich Albion
Stoke City v Crewe Alexandra
Walsall v Wigan Athletic