|
The promotion places are getting very close to being confirmed now after both Portsmouth and Leicester won again. Pompey picked up a 2-1 win at Walsall whilst Leicester beat relegation strugglers Grimsby 2-0 at home.
Should Sheffield United win all their remaining games it would mean Portsmouth needing only another six points and Leicester another nine points to ensure Premiership football next season. When they are confirmed it will come as no surprise, they have simply been the best two sides in the division all season.
The four teams holding down the four play off places didn’t fair to well this weekend, only Nottingham Forest won. And what a win it was. This was always billed to be the top match of the day as they travelled to take on 7th place Ipswich.
Ipswich went 2-0 up but Forest stormed back to go in front with three goals in six minutes. It got to 3-3 but Marlon Harewood scored the winner with a quarter of an hour to go. Incredibly Forest scored four and David Johnson didn’t get any of them against his former club.
There were draws for Sheffield United (2-2 at Crystal Palace) and for Wolves (0-0 at home to Rotherham). The Blades twice came from behind and grabbed a late equaliser from the player you would have expected to score, Steve Kabba. How on earth could Palace have sold this guy for just £250,000?
Wolves were left cursing Rotherham keeper Mike Pollitt for keeping the score down and referee Flood Warden Andy Hall for reducing them to ten men. There was some confusion over the red card, apparently for elbowing, and Wolves look set to appeal. It was of course the Flood Warden who booked Gareth Taylor for elbowing after six seconds of our game at Rotherham as he was carried off concussed. Good to see he can get it wrong elsewhere.
The fourth team in the play off area received extensive television support from Burnley fans on Friday night as Glen Little made his debut for Reading looking very strange in a blue and white hooped shirt.
Glen did well, he looked, alongside James Harper, Reading’s best player but he couldn’t inspire them to victory and they went down 2-1 to strugglers Brighton courtesy of the antics of keeper Marcus Hahnemann.
Ipswich having lost at home to Forest it was left to their rivals Norwich to take advantage of Wolves dropping points but they too lost. They were beaten 2-1 by Derby who were under the control of former Ipswich boss George Burley for the first time.
|
That leaves Wolves three points clear with a game in hand and it is now that bit tougher for the two East Anglian clubs. Gillingham come next and they certainly have pretty much no hope of getting in being a further six points behind.
Bottom club Sheffield Wednesday won and how much they needed it after Brighton’s Friday night win. Wednesday lost a two goal lead against Franchise at Hillsborough when the visitors scored twice in a minute. But they came back to win it 4-2.
The Wednesday fans have waited patiently for a Lloyd Owusu goal. He scored his first goal for them at the beginning of September in the Sheffield Derby but nothing since. Just like the bus service two came at once. The other two came from loan players Michael Reddy and Lee Bradbury.
They are still five points behind Brighton but have closed the gap somewhat behind Stoke and Grimsby. The Mariners were the only one of the four to lose as Stoke picked up a point in a 0-0 draw at home to Gillingham.
It would be unfair not to mention 19 year old Michael Chopra who is currently on loan to Watford from Newcastle. He hasn’t started a first team game for the Magpies and has not featured in the Premiership at all. Saturday saw his second game for Watford and his first goal in league football. In fact his second, third and fourth goals in league football.
Seven goals away from home (nobody else has achieved that this season) must give Watford the Performance of the Week award.
Elsewhere Millwall won at Bradford 1-0 with a late stoppage time goal from Neil Harris who headed in a cross from the right whilst Preston also scored a late goal, through Pawel Abbott, to earn a point in a 2-2 home draw with Coventry.
There are a number of matches this midweek, including tonight as follows. All Saturday games are 3:00 p.m. and midweek games 7:45 p.m. unless otherwise shown.
Monday 7th April
Franchise v Sheffield United
Tuesday 8th April
Burnley v Preston North End
Crystal Palace v Watford (8:00 p.m.)
Grimsby Town v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Leicester City v Nottingham Forest
Wednesday 9th April
Stoke City v Rotherham United
Friday 11th April
Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Saturday 12th April
Brighton and Hove Albion v Preston North End
Coventry City v Ipswich Town
Franchise v Derby County
Gillingham v Walsall
Grimsby Town v Crystal Palace
Millwall v Stoke City
Norwich City v Burnley
Portsmouth v Sheffield Wednesday
Rotherham United v Leicester City
Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
22: David Johnson (Nottm. Forest)
20: David Connolly (Franchise)
20: Marlon Harewood (Nottm. Forest)
19: Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth)
17: Paul Dickov (Leicester)
17: Kenny Miller (Wolves)
15: Richard Cresswell (Preston)
15: Neil Shipperley (Franchise)
14: Andy Gray (Bradford)
14: Steve Kabba (Sheffield United inc. 1 for Palace & 6 for Grimsby)
14: Gareth Taylor (Burnley)
13: Michael Brown (Sheffield United)
13: Darren Byfield (Rotherham)
13: Nicky Forster (Reading)
13: Alan Lee (Rotherham)
13: Paul McVeigh (Norwich)
12: Brian Deane (Leicester)
12: Paul Shaw (Gillingham)