Around One – Walsall go on last day

Paul Merson - first points as boss but not enough as Walsall go down

But having been forced to pay over the odds at the Bescot recently I have to admit to delight at their relegation, and a self inflicted one at that with the ridiculous dismissal of Colin Lee just at the wrong time.

They did pick up their first points under Merson though in a 3-2 win over Rotherham but it wasn’t enough as Gillingham drew 0-0 at Stoke and they went down on goal difference.

Defeat for Gillingham would have seen them go down but they were able to get that point against a Stoke side managed by their former boss Tony Pulis who had come in for some stick in the days preceding the game by Scally.

So Walsall go with BRBC and Franchise and despite the defeat to Sunderland we remain 19^th because somehow Derby managed to lose to the bottom club which saw just the second ever home victory in Milton Keynes.

Up at the top the promotion places had been decided and with Norwich winning at Crewe and West Brom going down at home to Nottingham Forest it left the Canaries eight points clear at the top with 94 points.

There was late drama in the fight for the play offs as a last minute goal at the JJB Concrete Jungle decided the last place. Sunderland were already there, West Ham would have been even had they lost because of their goal difference whilst Ipswich secured their place with a 1-1 home draw against Cardiff.

Palace lost 2-1 at Coventry and that seemed to have cost them their place with Wigan beating West Ham 1-0 and the game into stoppage time. Then deep into stoppage time Brian Deane headed in a Michael Carrick cross to equalise and that saw Wigan miss out. There was a staggering 20,000 plus crowd, something never heard of there before.

Palace were murdered at Coventry and were very fortunate to come away with just a 2-1 defeat. Coventry turned in the inspired performance they promised, it was their tribute to Eric Black who had astonishingly been sacked earlier in the week. The home fans wore black as a protest.

Finally we weren’t let down by the Weary Whinger after his Preston side drew 3-3 to prevent Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United getting close to the top six. He had no real complaints but felt the score should have been 8-3 to the home side. Surely he will be gone come August.

We know we are saying goodbye to Norwich, West Brom, Walsall, BRBC and Franchise whilst next season we already have confirmed matches against Leeds, Leicester, Wolves, Plymouth and QPR. And the division will be complete by the end of the month once the play offs are complete.

It will be a first league meeting with Leeds for 22 years whilst QPR’s promotion will give Arthur a quick return to Turf Moor.

The next league games will be in August, the fixtures are due in June. Below are the leading league goalscorers this season.

Leading Scorers (League Only)

27: Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace)

25: Marlon Harewood (West Ham – 12 with Nottm Forest)

21: Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff)

19: Dean Ashton (Crewe)

19: Robbie Blake (Burnley)

18: Nathan Ellington (Wigan)

17: Ricardo Fuller (Preston)

16: Darren Bent (Ipswich)

15: Martin Butler (Rotherham)

15: David Healy (Preston)

15: Steve Jones (Crewe)

14: Andy Gray (Sheff Utd – 5 with Bradford)

14: Geoff Horsfield (West Brom – 7 with Wigan)

14: Darren Huckerby (Norwich)

14: Marcus Stewart (Sunderland)

13: Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace)

13: Andy Reid (Nottm Forest)

13: Peter Thorne (Cardiff)