Around One – Little change at top or bottom

Last updated : 02 October 2003 By Tony Scholes

Jason Koumas - wonder goal
West Brom moved up courtesy of a 2-1 home win against Millwall where the main talking point after the game was Jason Koumas even though he played for just ten minutes before coming off with an injury.

By that time he had lit up the Hawthorns with what was described as a wonder goal from 25 yards out and his manager Gary Megson said at the end, "It was a marvellous goal from Jason and he really is a special talent." It has been described as the best goal at the ground in years, it must have been something special to beat the one that Artim Sakiri scored against the Clarets in August.

They were able to move up as Wigan again failed to win on their travels. After six successive wins they have now drawn their last two, both away and this one ended 0-0 at Cardiff. It was the first time that Wigan had failed to score since the opening day defeat at Millwall.

Sheffield United remain top, they are now a point clear at the top, and no matter what the views on them and Warnock no real football fan would begrudge them this victory as they became the first team ever to win at the joke National Hockey Stadium.

They had to come from behind but goals from Ashley Ward, his first for the Blades, and Mr. Karren Brady were enough to see off the Pariahs in front of a crowd of just over 6,000. Looks as though Winkelman still hasn’t got the turnstiles working properly.

Nottingham Forest fell out of the top six after losing at home to Preston who won away from Deepdale for the first time this season. Forest boss Paul Hart blamed his side’s inability to produce in the final third and bemoaned the loss of David Johnson. They have now scored just three goals in three games since their win at the Turf and have picked up just one point in those games.

Forest target Marlon King
Hart says he knows the problem and has now stepped up his efforts to sign Gillingham striker Marlon King with an offer believed to have now gone over the £1 million. He sees King as the player to bring in to get the goals in Johnson’s absence.

West Ham, Norwich and Sunderland are the three teams that make up the remainder of the top six and all three of them marched on with home wins in midweek. The most comprehensive was West Ham’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.

Palace were top just over a month ago after winning their first three games of the season against Burnley, Watford and Franchise (us and the bottom two). They now find themselves in the bottom group, in fact 20th, after failing to win any of their seven games since.

Brooking opted for a three man attack and the one to miss out on the goals this time was David Connolly. Jermain Defoe scored the first and loan man Neil Mellor scored the other two, his first goals for the bubble blowers.

Norwich meanwhile beat a Reading side still coming to terms with the departure of Alan Pardew. This was their third successive defeat and their fourth in five games since Kevin Dillon took over as caretaker. With Madejski set to appoint a new manager before weekend Dillon’s chances appear to be fading fast.

It did take a late goal though from Norwich with Paul McVeigh scoring his first goal of the season in the 87th minute. This was after two goals in the first half where Darren Huckerby was on the mark again to give Norwich the lead before Nicky Forster equalised for Reading.

Sunderland are becoming the experts at the late finish although nothing quite so dramatic as a disputed stoppage time penalty (Palace at home) or a goalkeeper scoring in stoppage time (Poom at Derby) on this occasion. In what was the match of the week according to reports they finally won it with a Kevin Kyle goal just five minutes from the end.

John Oster - scored for both sides as Sunderland beat Ipswich
John Oster had never scored a goal for Sunderland before last weekend but he scored their second in the win over Reading and last night scored another two although they did cancel each other out.

He game Ipswich the lead with an own goal but after Gary Breen had equalised right on half time he gave the Mackems the lead with a goal early in the second half. A Richard Naylor equaliser two minutes later looked for a long time to have earned Ipswich a point before Kyle’s late winner.

After finally ending their run of defeats, that came within one of Darwen’s record, Sunderland are now the form team in the division with six wins and nineteen points from the last eight games.

Rotherham boss Ronnie Moore is under pressure according to reports from south Yorkshire but he got a lift with a comfortable win over a Stoke side that were apparently as bad as they were against us. A Darren Byfield penalty on the stroke of half time was followed by two from Martin Butler, his first goals for the Millers since his £150,000 move from Reading, and a comfortable 3-0 win in front of another pitiful crowd of just 5,450.

Crewe fans will be hoping that Dario G is soon back from his heart operation as they suffered another defeat and again without scoring. This time it was 2-0 at Coventry where player-manager Gary McAllister gave the Sky Blues the lead before Andy Morrell scored for the fifth successive game to give them a comfortable win.

Elsewhere Walsall beat Gillingham in a tedious affair in front of the Sky cameras on Monday. After seeing Andy Hessenthaler con referees into booking our players over a number of years I have to admit to enjoying his goal enormously. It was apparently his first ever own goal and won the game for Walsall. You get justice if you wait long enough.

And finally Bradford, fresh from their pasting at Burnley, lost their second home game in four days and again by a 2-1 scoreline. This time it was struggling Derby who won the points with Lee Morris, son of former Claret Colin, scoring both of their goals.

Our draw at Watford keeps us in 11th place in the league and depending on whether your glass is half empty or half full we are now just three points short of the play off positions and just five points above Rotherham who occupy the last relegation place.

This weekend’s fixtures are as follows with all games kicking off at 3:00 p.m. unless otherwise shown.

Saturday 4th October

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

Leading Goal Scorers (League Only)

9: Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff)
8: Peter Ndlovu (Sheff Utd)
7: Marlon Harewood (Nottm Forest)
6: Robbie Blake (Burnley)
6: Ricardo Fuller (Preston)
5: Patrick Agyemang (Franchise)
5: David Connolly (West Ham)
5: Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace)
5: Rob Hulse (West Brom)
5: Andy Morrell (Coventry)
5: Andy Reid (Nottm Forest)
4: Carl Asaba (Stoke)
4: Darren Byfield (Rotherham)
4: Luke Chadwick (Burnley)
4
: Jermain Defoe (West Ham)
4: Nathan Ellington (Wigan)
4: Shaun Goater (Reading)
4: Lee Hughes (West Brom)
4: Mark Rivers (Norwich)
4: Marcus Stewart (Sunderland)
4: Peter Thorne (Cardiff)