Blackpool collecting red cards

Red, not tangerine for the Seasiders

Derby are very much the form team right now in the Championship. Things have changed dramatically since Steve McClaren replaced Nigel Clough as manager and they are currently on a run of five successive wins.

It's moved them to fourth in the table, a climb of ten places since the new manager arrived, but they certainly got some help on Saturday from Blackpool and referee Andy Haines.

Paul Ince missed five recent games recently when he received a stadium ban, but he's returned to see his own players take over with the lack of discipline. They lost it completely at Yeovil in midweek. Kirk Broadfoot was sent off in the 90th minute of that game and was followed by Ricardo Fuller and Gary MacKenzie before the final whistle blew.

Give them some credit. The discipline was much improved at Derby where they only had two players sent off. Neil Bishop was first to go when he gave away a penalty but this was as much down to a ridiculous decision by referee Haines, and he was followed by Angel Martinez as Derby came back from 1-0 down to win 5-1.

Many have been asking which of these players will miss their game at Burnley a week on Saturday. Broadfoot and MacKenzie's one match bans are over and they will be available this coming Saturday when Bishop will serve his one match ban.

They will, however, be without both Fuller and Martinez at Turf Moor. Fuller received a three match ban for violent conduct and Martinez has been given a two game ban as this was his second red card of the season.

Moving away from that game; it is not often we offer thanks to our local rivals in our review of the Championship. They've become quite boring this season with no Shebby Singh and no managerial changes, but thanks are due to them for keeping out QPR to earn a goalless draw at Loftus Road.

That, and Brighton's win against Leicester at the Amex meant a return to the top of the league for us after one week away. I suggested in my match preview for the Barnsley game that we were looking to close that two point gap; in all honesty I didn't expect to league the Turf on Saturday with us back on top.

All the fun of last week at the Concrete Jungle has come to an end. Not only did Coyle leave but Dave Whelan gave us some classic quotes as he looked for a new manager at Wigan. That new man is Uwe Rösler who was pulled off the Brentford team coach on its way to Carlisle to take over.

I bet Coyle is sadly disappointed. We've already sold over 2,000 tickets for our game here in the week between Christmas and New Year and I'm sure the lying Scotsman would have received a wonderful festive reception from all those Burnley fans.

That still leaves former Burnley connections Stuart Gray and Micky Mellon in temporary charge at Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley. Neither were able to follow up their midweek wins with any more points and with Yeovil drawing against Charlton it dropped them a point further behind and both are now four points from safety.

Gray is beginning to drop out of the betting for the Hillsborough hot seat but Mellon remains favourite for Barnsley.

The weekend results and stats are below along with the leading goalscorers, each club's red and yellow card count (and I've been able to keep a correct tally for Blackpool), the highest and lowest attendances and this weekend's fixtures.