With news coming through that Billy Sharp's goal had won it for Doncaster, a win would have taken West Ham to the top for the first time this season and displacing Southampton who have held that top spot for all but two weeks since mid-August.
It wasn't to be and with both clubs losing it has allowed those just below to close the gap and the next three, Cardiff City, Middlesbrough and Leeds United all did that. Leicester, meanwhile, started Saturday in sixth place but went down to Hull City on Nigel Pearson's return to the KC just a couple of weeks or so after he walked out to take on Leicester.
The fixture list often throws up these games very quickly. It happened to Steve Cotterill at Portsmouth recently and Pearson got just what Cotterill got there, absolutely nothing with Robert Koren scoring a late goal for the home side.
The game of the day just had to be at Peterborough. The one thing you can expect to see at London Road is goals and there were an abundance of them with a quarter of the 28 Championship goals this weekend coming in this one game.
The visitors were Barnsley and they looked to be strolling it when they went 3-0 up ten minutes into the second half. They did win it, eventually, but not until they'd got a fourth after Peterborough came storming back with three goals in six minutes to draw level.
That Doncaster win has now seen Coventry dumped onto the bottom of the league. It's going to be a massive battle for them this season to stay up. They are now the Championship's longest serving club. It's their 11th consecutive season at this level since losing their Premier League place but you wouldn't bet against them playing League One football next season. They haven't played at that level since winning the old Third Division in 1963/64 season.
Overall, the league is looking so much better than it's done for some time. For the first time this season we need to look in the top half of the table to find Burnley and long may that last.
The results from the weekend along with the stats, the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and the highest and lowest attendances are all below along with the week's fixtures.
| The Week's Results | |
| Crystal Palace 1 Derby County 1 | |
| Saturday 3rd December | |
| Blackpool 1 Reading 0 | Ipswich Town 1 Watford 2 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Nottingham Forest 0 | Leeds United 2 Millwall 0 |
| Bristol City 0 Middlesbrough 1 | Peterborough United 3 Barnsley 4 |
| Doncaster Rovers 1 Southampton 0 | Portsmouth 2 Coventry City 1 |
| Hull City 2 Leicester City 1 | West Ham United 1 Burnley 2 |
| Sunday 4th December | |
| Cardiff City 1 Birmingham City 0 | |
| The Week's Stats | |
| Biggest Win | Leeds United 2-0 v Millwall (away) |
| Total Goals Scored | 28 (16 home - 12 away) |
|
Player Scoring Most Goals |
2 - Robert Snodgrass (Leeds United) |
| Highest Attendance | 27,161 - Leeds United v Millwall |
| Lowest Attendance | 8,320 - Peterborough United v Barnsley |
| Total Yellow Cards | 28 |
| Total Red Cards | 2 |
| Most Cards in a Game | Cardiff City v Birmingham City (4Y 1R) Ref: Anthony Taylor |
| Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
| 12 | Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - includes 5 penalties |
| 10 | Ross McCormack (Leeds United) |
| 9 | Matty Fryatt (Hull City) - includes 1 penalty Darius Henderson (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty |
| 8 | Charlie Austin (Burnley) Lukas Jutkiewicz (Coventry City) - includes 1 penalty Grant McCann (Peterborough United) - includes 2 penalties Chris Wood (Birmingham City) |
| 7 | Carlton Cole (West Ham United) Guly Do Prado (Southampton) Marvin Emnes (Middlesbrough) Nicky Maynard (Bristol City) Kevin Phillips (Blackpool) Billy Sharp (Doncaster Rovers) - includes 1 penalty Robert Snodgrass (Leeds United) Pete Whittingham (Cardiff City) - includes 2 penalties |
| 6 | Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town) Michael Chopra (Ipswich Town) Craig Davies (Barnsley) Adam Lallana (Southampton) Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) Kenny Miller (Cardiff City) Kevin Nolan (West Ham United) David Nugent (Leicester City) Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) Jonjo Shelvey (Blackpool) - includes 1 penalty Marvin Sordell (Watford) - includes 2 penalties Paul Taylor (Peterborough United) |
| Hat Tricks | |
| Date | Player & Game |
| 20/08/11 | 3: Lee Tomlin - PETERBOROUGH UNITED v Ipswich Town |
| 10/09/11 | 3: Rickie Lambert - SOUTHAMPTON v Nottingham Forest |
| 11/09/11 | 3: Chris Wood - BIRMINGHAM CITY v Millwall |
| 12/10/11 | 3: Darius Henderson - Leicester City v MILLWALL |
| 02/11/11 | 3: Jonjo Shelvey - Leeds United v BLACKPOOL |
| 19/11/11 | 3: Rickie Lambert - SOUTHAMPTON v Brighton & Hove Albion |
| Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
| Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
| League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
| Barnsley | 29 | 1 | 30 | 1 | Ipswich Town | 20 | 3 | 20 | 3 |
| Birmingham City | 27 | 1 | 27 | 1 | Leeds United | 32 | 5 | 36 | 5 |
| Blackpool | 28 | 0 | 29 | 1 | Leicester City | 28 | 4 | 32 | 4 |
| Brighton and Hove Albion | 47 | 2 | 53 | 2 | Middlesbrough | 31 | 2 | 32 | 2 |
| Bristol City | 28 | 0 | 29 | 0 | Millwall | 33 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| Burnley | 27 | 1 | 35 | 1 | Nottingham Forest | 29 | 2 | 32 | 2 |
| Cardiff City | 22 | 0 | 32 | 0 | Peterborough United | 27 | 2 | 29 | 2 |
| Coventry City | 22 | 2 | 23 | 2 | Portsmouth | 31 | 2 | 34 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 23 | 0 | 25 | 0 | Reading | 28 | 0 | 30 | 0 |
| Derby County | 29 | 1 | 29 | 1 | Southampton | 25 | 2 | 26 | 2 |
| Doncaster Rovers | 32 | 0 | 32 | 0 | Watford | 27 | 0 | 28 | 0 |
| Hull City | 34 | 1 | 34 | 1 | West Ham United | 28 | 1 | 28 | 2 |
| Highest and Lowest Attendances | |||
| Highest | Lowest | ||
| Att | Fixture | Att | Fixture |
| 33,465 | West Ham United v Portsmouth (10/09) | 6,351 | Peterborough United v Cardiff City (18/10) |
| 33,010 | Derby County v Southampton (15/10) | 7,650 | Doncaster Rovers v Watford (26/11) |
| 32,150 | Southampton v West Ham United (18/10) | 7,778 | Doncaster Rovers v Bristol City (27/08) |
| 31,812 | Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion (19/11) | 7,901 | Peterborough United v Burnley (17/09) |
| 31,448 | West Ham United v Blackpool (15/10) | 7,928 | Peterborough United v Ipswich Town (20/08) |
| 30,410 | West Ham United v Leicester City (29/10) | 8,320 | Peterborough United v Barnsley (03/12) |
| 30,391 | Derby County v Hull City (19/11) | 8,426 | Doncaster Rovers v Coventry City (29/10) |
| 29,895 | West Ham Utd v Peterborough Utd (24/09) | 8,500 | Peterborough Utd v Doncaster Rovers (01/10) |
| 28,252 | West Ham United v Leeds United (21/08) | 8,685 | Peterborough United v Hull City (10/09) |
| 27,980 | West Ham United v Bristol City (01/11) | 8,900 | Barnsley v Bristol City (29/10) |
| The Next Fixtures | |
| Tuesday 6th December | |
| Barnsley v Crystal Palace | |
| Wednesday 7th December | |
| Hull City v Birmingham City | |
| Saturday 10th December | |
| Barnsley v Ipswich Town (17:20) | Middlesbrough v Brighton & Hove Albion |
| Birmingham City v Doncaster Rovers | Millwall v Cardiff City |
| Burnley v Portsmouth | Nottingham Forest v Crystal Palace |
| Coventry City v Hull City | Reading v West Ham United |
| Derby County v Bristol City | Southampton v Blackpool (12:45) |
| Leicester City v Peterborough United | Watford v Leeds United |