Championship has new leaders going into international break

Last updated : 03 September 2013 By Tony Scholes
Charlie Austin's last league goals scored at Watford

I have to say that I didn't expect Blackpool to be up there at this stage, but I suppose those of a tangerine flavour wouldn't have expected us to be just three points behind them and QPR in third place.

Blackpool were, apparently, somewhat fortunate to beat Watford but the goal from Tom Ince was worthy of winning any game. It received plaudits from all the television experts over the weekend, the same experts who hadn't even noticed Danny Ings' opener for us.

QPR were also 1-0 winners. They won the early kick off televised game against Leeds at Elland Road. Leeds on television? What a shock! The home side went down to a Clint Hill goal fifteen minutes from time.

"Charlie hasn't scored again," someone said to me just after that game finished. "That's five successive league games he hasn't scored in," he added. He didn't score in any of his last three for Burnley either so make that eight. His last league goals came in the 3-3 draw at Watford when he scored twice.

I'm not sure he ever went on a run like that with us but he has nothing to worry about. Charlie will score goals for QPR. The wait won't be long either and when he gets off the mark there might just be a flood of them. He's a proven goalscorer, it's as simple as that.

Martin Paterson hasn't scored for Huddersfield and neither has Chris McCann for Wigan. Lee Grant meanwhile has netted one for Leicester whilst providing Burnley with an assist.

Eddie Howe's Bournemouth kept a clean sheet away from home. That was a talking point. It's something he managed seven times during his time as Burnley manager, but with our win at Derby on Saturday I was looking at the amazing turnaround in our away form since the day Howe walked in.

We were seriously struggling to win away under Brian Laws, although we did win the last away game he was in charge at Barnsley. To be honest, the away form wasn't very good under the management of either Owen Coyle or Steve Cotterill.

But since Howe took over, under his management and that of both Terry Pashley and Sean Dyche, we've actually won 24 out of 61 away games with only 28 defeats. Long may that last.

Poor Bolton. Their local sports writer was bemoaning the fact that they couldn't get any players in yesterday because of the finances and wondered what poor Dougie Freedman would think of it. I think that journalist needs to take a long look at some of the other clubs in the Championship or maybe ask where the money came for signings such as Marc Tierney, Alex Baptiste, Jermaine Beckford, Andre Moritz and Jay Spearing.

He might want to look at the league table too. It won't be too difficult to find his team if he starts from the bottom. If he needs a clue they are just below Millwall who are next to bottom.

We've got a break now so we can watch England bore us to death on the magic lantern. Then we're back for the next set of league fixtures in eleven days time. It's just a quiet one for us, but how I miss Shebby Singh.

Last weekend's results and stats are below along with the leading goalscorers, this season's hat tricks, each club's red and yellow card count, the highest and lowest attendances and the next fixtures.

The Results
Saturday 31st August
 BARNSLEY 2 HUDDERSFIELD 1 DERBY 0 BURNLEY 3
BIRMINGHAM 1 IPSWICH 1 DONCASTER 0 BOURNEMOUTH 1
BLACKBURN 4 BOLTON 1 LEEDS 0 QPR 1
BLACKPOOL 1 WATFORD 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1
BRIGHTON 1 MILLWALL 1 WIGAN 2 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1
CHARLTON 2 LEICESTER 1 YEOVIL 0 READING 1

 

The Stats
Biggest Win BLACKBURN 4-1 v BOLTON (home)
BURNLEY 3-0 v DERBY (away)
Total Goals Scored 27 (14 home - 13 away)

Player Scoring Most Goals

2 - JORDAN RHODES (BLACKBURN) v BOLTON
Highest Attendance 26,804 - BRIGHTON v MILLWALL
Lowest Attendance 6,769 - DONCASTER v BOURNEMOUTH
Total Yellow Cards 38
Total Red Cards 2
Most Cards in a Game BLACKPOOL v WATFORD (7Y): Ref: GEOFF ELTRINGHAM
CHARLTON v LEICESTER (6Y 1R) Ref: DARREN DEADMAN

 

Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
6 JAMES VAUGHAN (HUDDERSFIELD) - including 1 penalty
5 TROY DEENEY (WATFORD) - includes 2 penalties
4 LEWIS GRABBAN (BOURNEMOUTH)
JORDAN RHODES (BLACKBURN)
LEO ULLOA (BRIGHTON)
3 DANNY INGS (BURNLEY)
ADAM LE FONDRE (READING) - includes 1 penalty
SHAUN MALONEY (WIGAN) - includes 1 penalty
CHRIS MARTIN (DERBY)
ROSS McCORMACK (LEEDS)
CHRIS O'GRADY (BARNSLEY)
ANDY REID (NOTTINGHAM FOREST)
SAM VOKES (BURNLEY)
2 GABRIELE ANGELLA (WATFORD)
LEON BARNETT (WIGAN)
CHRIS BURKE (BIRMINGHAM)
ANDREW CROFTS (BRIGHTON)
DANNY DRINKWATER (LEICESTER)
JORDI GOMEZ (WIGAN)
GRANT HOLT (WIGAN) - includes 1 penalty
TOM INCE (BLACKPOOL)
ANDREW JOHNSON (QPR)
JEM KARACAN (READING)
YANN KERMOGANT (CHARLTON)
HENRI LANSBURY (NOTTINGHAM FOREST)
LEWIS McGUGAN (WATFORD)
DARREN PRATLEY (BOLTON)
THEO ROBINSON (DONCASTER)
JOHNNY RUSSELL (DERBY)
JAMIE VARDY (LEICESTER)

 

Hat Tricks
 Date Player & Game
10/08/13 3: TROY DEENEY - WATFORD v BOURNEMOUTH (home)
24/08/13 3: JAMES VAUGHAN - HUDDERSFIELD v BOURNEMOUTH (home)

 

Disciplinary Record (League and Cup)
Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R
  League   Total   League  Total 
BARNSLEY 5 2 5 2 IPSWICH 5 0 6 0
BIRMINGHAM 12 0 18 0 LEEDS 5 0 7 0
BLACKBURN 7 0 9 1 LEICESTER 8 1 8 1
BLACKPOOL 10 0 11 0 MIDDLESBROUGH 4 0 4 0
BOLTON 10 1 10 1 MILLWALL 7 1 8 1
BOURNEMOUTH 9 0 11 0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 11 0 14 0
BRIGHTON 9 1 10 1 QPR 9 0 10 0
BURNLEY 10 1 13 1 READING 6 0 10 0
CHARLTON 5 1 8 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 9 0 9 1
DERBY 10 0 13 0 WATFORD 9 0 11 0
DONCASTER 9 1 10 1 WIGAN 4 1 6 1
HUDDERSFIELD 7 0 10 0 YEOVIL 8 0 15 0

 

Highest and Lowest Attendances
Highest Lowest
Att Fixture Att Fixture
33,432 LEEDS v BRIGHTON (03/08) 6,769 DONCASTER v BOURNEMOUTH (31/08)
26,804 BRIGHTON v MILLWALL (31/08) 7,047 YEOVIL v DERBY (24/08)
26,238 BRIGHTON v DERBY (10/08) 7,305 YEOVIL v READING (31/08)
26,007 BRIGHTON v BURNLEY (24/08) 8,707 DONCASTER v BLACKBURN (16/08)
25,535 NOTTM FOREST v HUDDERSFIELD (03/08) 8,717 YEOVIL v BIRMINGHAM (10/08)
23,766 LEEDS v SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (17/08) 9,002 DONCASTER v BLACKPOOL (03/08)
23,514 DERBY v BURNLEY (31/08) 9,097 BOURNEMOUTH v WIGAN (17/08)
23,437 DERBY v LEICESTER (17/08) 9,503 MILLWALL v HUDDERSFIELD (17/08)
23,341 LEEDS v QPR (31/08) 9,554 BARNSLEY v CHARLTON (17/08)
22,725 LEICESTER v LEEDS (11/08) 10,085 BURNLEY v YEOVIL (17/08)

 

The Next Fixtures
Saturday 14th September
BOLTON v LEEDS MILLWALL v DERBY
BOURNEMOUTH v BLACKPOOL NOTTINGHAM FOREST v BARNSLEY
BURNLEY v BLACKBURN (12:15) QPR v BIRMINGHAM
HUDDERSFIELD v DONCASTER SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY v YEOVIL
IPSWICH v MIDDLESBROUGH WATFORD v CHARLTON
LEICESTER v WIGAN  
Sunday 15th September
READING v BRIGHTON (13:15)