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QPR did what top of the table teams do as the Championship weekend got underway in front of the Sky cameras at Ashton Gate last Friday, they scored a late win to rescue a point after a Jonathan Stead goal had seemed likely to give the bottom club a win.
That took them three points clear of Cardiff but their win last night closed the gap completely and you'd suspect that the Welsh club could soon be clear favourites to win this league.
Down at the bottom, we've seen Middlesbrough drop into the bottom three, replacing Preston who beat fellow strugglers Crystal Palace. One of the features of that game was the performance of referee Geoff Eltringham. He had a shocker at the Turf earlier this season and at Deepdale, in his second Championship game of the season, he had a shocker that was almost Milleresque.
Tony Mowbray has been interviewed for the vacant Middlesbrough job but it is thought that his appointment would not go down too well in the dressing room. It appears the alternatives at the Riverside are Gary Megson, Phil Brown and Paul Ince after they seemingly gave up on getting former player Graeme Souness back.
Norwich beat Swansea and they are in the play off positions with Swansea, Watford and Coventry. Our defeat has seen us drop to seventh with Coventry doing what we'd done four days earlier, beating Barnsley 3-0, taking our place.
Finally, there has to be another look at Portsmouth after they hogged the headlines again on Friday when it appeared Sacha Gaydamak was ready to let them go under. It didn't happen and Balram Chainrai, the man who put them into administration and wiping out debts and screwing the creditors in the process, has now got it back on the cheap. The idiotic Football League sit there powerless again as another club cheats its way back in. Now there's talk of Chainrai looking to sell with former Hull chairman Paul Duffen interested.
What a nonsense.
The weekend stats are shown below with the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and the next fixtures.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 22nd October | |
Bristol City 1 QPR 1 | . |
Saturday 23rd October | |
Burnley 0 Reading 4 | Norwich 1 Middlesbrough 0 |
Coventry 3 Barnsley 0 | Nottingham Forest 2 Ipswich 0 |
Doncaster 2 Sheffield United 0 | Preston 4 Crystal Palace 3 |
Hull 1 Portsmouth 2 | Swansea 2 Leicester 0 |
Millwall 2 Derby 0 | Watford 0 Scunthorpe 2 |
Monday 25th October | |
Leeds 0 Cardiff 4 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Cardiff 4-0 v Leeds (away) |
Total goals scored | 34 (18 home - 16 away) |
Player scoring most goals | 2 - Jon Parkin (Preston) |
Highest Attendance | 25,410 - Norwich v Middlesbrough |
Lowest Attendance | 8,985 - Doncaster v Sheffield United |
Total Yellow Cards | 33 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Bristol City v QPR (6Y) - Lee Mason |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
9 | Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff) |
8 | Chris Iwelumo (Burnley) Jamie Mackie (QPR) |
7 | Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 1 penalty Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest) - includes 1 penalty Jon Parkin (Preston) |
6 | Danny Graham (Watford) Billy Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 3 penalties Scott Sinclair (Swansea) Davide Somma (Leeds) Marvin Sordell (Watford) |
5 | Luciano Becchio (Leeds) James Coppinger (Doncaster) Chris Eagles (Burnley) - includes 3 penalties Heidar Helguson (QPR) - includes 3 penalties Andy King (Leicester) Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
11th Sep | 3 - Chris Iwelumo - BURNLEY v Preston |
14th Sep | 3 - James Coppinger - DONCASTER v Norwich |
14th Sep | 3 - James Vaughan - CRYSTAL PALACE v Portsmouth |
28th Sep | 3 - Jon Parkin - Leeds v PRESTON |
Disciplinary Record (all domestic games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 21 | 0 | Middlesbrough | 22 | 1 |
| Bristol City | 16 | 1 | Millwall | 22 | 2 |
| Burnley | 30 | 4 | Norwich | 16 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 14 | 1 | Nottingham Forest | 20 | 0 |
| Coventry | 23 | 1 | Portsmouth | 21 | 1 |
| Crystal Palace | 21 | 4 | Preston | 34 | 3 |
| Derby | 19 | 0 | QPR | 22 | 0 |
| Doncaster | 18 | 1 | Reading | 23 | 3 |
| Hull | 26 | 0 | Scunthorpe | 13 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 20 | 2 | Sheffield United | 19 | 2 |
| Leeds | 22 | 2 | Swansea | 30 | 1 |
| Leicester | 16 | 2 | Watford | 16 | 0 |
The Next Fixtures | |
Saturday 30th October | |
Barnsley v Hull (17:20) | Middlesbrough v Bristol City |
Cardiff v Norwich | Portsmouth v Nottingham Forest |
Crystal Palace v Swansea | QPR v Burnley |
Derby v Watford | Reading v Doncaster |
Ipswich v Millwall | Scunthorpe v Leeds |
Leicester v Preston | Sheffield United v Coventry |