Around One – Thanks East Anglia

Marcus Tudgay - two goals for Derby

To be fair it wasn’t that easy, the penalty they scored should not have been awarded and with the two Preston had turned down the score really should have been 4-3. Those were the words of the Weary Whinger. The clown somehow hasn’t realised that 5-1 or 4-3 still means the same thing – no points for a Preston side he still thinks are chasing the play offs.

Oh, by the way WW, your Preston side are not chasing the play offs any longer. It is now mathematically impossible for them to get there. The big question now at Deepdale will be whether you choose to stay or do the fans a big favour.

Watford look to have pulled themselves away from imminent danger and ended a good week with another point, coming from behind to draw 1-1 at Rotherham. The Millers were in front after just four minutes through Martin Butler but held that lead for just about twenty minutes when Watford came back through Bruce Dyer who had replaced Scott Fitzgerald from the side that won at Burnley. Fitzgerald was not fully fit and was on the bench.

Nottingham Forest edged closer to safety with a point in a 2-2 draw at home to Millwall but it could have been more with Millwall equalising late. David Johnson scored Forest’s second, his first goal in his first start since returning from a broken leg. He came in for Gareth Taylor who was not fully fit.

Needless to say with Millwall involved it was not all plain sailing with one player from each side sent off. Kinnear will be appealing against Wes Morgan’s red card whilst Millwall are expected to do the same for Danny Dichio who could now miss the FA Cup Final.

Kenny Lunt - scored Crew'e equaliser at Reading

Crewe must surely be very close to safety now, another point at Reading takes them to 52. Kenny Lunt scored the equaliser after Reading’s Dave Kitson had opened the scoring.

BRBC will be joining Franchise in playing 2^nd Division football next season with it looking as though they will revert back to their previous name of Bradford City with Bryan Robson not being offered a new contract.

Their relegation was confirmed with a home defeat, ironically against Franchise, when they incredibly fell three goals behind. They did pull it back to 3-2 but it was too little too late.

Robson again pointed to the defeat against the Clarets as the crucial match. I find that difficult to believe, they looked relegation certainties before we arrived at the Bradford & Bingley Pulse Flamingo Land Pension Fund Valley Parade Stadium (I had to get that in somewhere) and sitting eleven points behind the next club it can hardly be down to one afternoon’s football.

And now to Stan’s friends Nigel Worthington and Joe Royle in East Anglia. We expected Norwich to beat Walsall but 5-0 was a real bonus with Walsall’s goal difference now three worse than ours.

Matt Svensson scored another couple and he is currently the in form goalscorer in Division One with six goals in the Canaries’ last six games.

Down in Kent though things weren’t going to well when John Hills put Gillingham in front from the penalty spot with only eight minutes gone.

But Ipswich did us proud in the second half and came back to win it with two goals in five minutes from Martijn Reuser and Darren Bent. It is that result that keeps us out of the bottom three and then only on goal difference.

Darren Bent - scored the Ipswich winner at Gllingham

Again can we say – thanks East Anglia.

Norwich’s win coupled with West Brom’s win at Sunderland yesterday have all but assured that the top two will be playing Premiership football next season. Sunderland are the only ones who can stop them now but a win each from the last three games will end their last hopes.

When you are top everything goes for you and it was just the case yesterday at the Stadium of Light when the Baggies, not for the first time recently, scored in the very last minute of stoppage time. This time it was five seconds from the end when Jason Koumas hit the only goal of the game.

Just as at Ipswich recently West Brom were second best overall in the game but it is goals and results that matter and they will be playing Premiership football next season whilst Sunderland will have to join the end of season play off lottery.

In the play off chase there will have been some cheer in the Ternent household with yet another bad result for Sheffield United. They lost 1-0 to Stoke at home, their sixth home defeat of the season.

The play off certainties are now down in eighth place after winning just one of their last six games. The pressure is beginning to mount on Warnock.

Wigan drew at Palace so apart from Ipswich the only winners in the group realistically chasing those four places were West Ham who beat Coventry at the Boleyn Ground. Bobby Zamora gave them the lead in the first half and David Connolly made it 2-0 to complete the scoring from the penalty spot with just under twenty minutes to go.

We’ll continue to focus mainly at the bottom end of the league and there are two midweek fixtures including sides who are still fighting to stay up followed by a full fixture list next weekend.

The midweek games kick off at 7:45 p.m. and the weekend games at 3:00 p.m. unless otherwise shown.

Burnley v Franchise
Millwall v Watford

Crystal Palace v Sunderland (8:00 p.m.)

Burnley v Derby County
Coventry City v Rotherham United
Crewe Alexandra v Crystal Palace
Franchise v Gillingham
Ipswich Town v Nottingham Forest
Millwall v Reading
Preston North End v Cardiff City
Stoke City v West Ham United
Walsall v Sheffield United
Watford v Norwich City
West Bromwich Albion v BRBC
Wigan Athletic v Sunderland (12:30 p.m.)