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After last week’s defeat at Ipswich they opened up the door for Leicester but it would have been something of an injustice had the Foxes sneaked in and won the title.
As it happened it all ended yesterday when Leicester could only draw 1-1 in their home game against Norwich. They led with a goal from former Norwich player Trevor Benjamin but a Mark Rivers goal in the second half just about ended hopes of the title going to the Walkers Stadium.
That was confirmed in the evening ‘Songs of Praise’ slot when Pompey won 3-2 against Rotherham with all the goals coming in the first half. Svetoslav Todorov got two of the goals with Merson having scored the first from the spot after a dubious looking penalty decision.
The play offs had been decided but they all got results anyway. Sheffield United and Wolves drew 3-3 with each other, Forest got a 3-3 draw at home to Millwall whilst Reading beat already relegated Grimsby 2-1.
The first Reading goalscorer was Glen Little who hit his first for the Royals, still it has saved us £100,000 so the money men at Turf Moor will be happy.
Teams already down often relax and get unexpected wins. Grimsby didn’t but what about Sheffield Wednesday. They will not have had an easier match for years as the Clarets gifted them three points in yet another Turf Moor farce. The only thing is, a farce is supposed to make you laugh.
And so to the yet to be decided place, who goes down with Grimsby and Wednesday. Dele Adebola scored the only goal of the game as Palace beat Stoke when a point for the Potters would have seen them safe. Brighton though cruised past an inept Watford side to win 4-0.
It is quite simple now. If Brighton win at Grimsby next Sunday and Stoke lose at home to Reading then Stoke go down. Any other results and it will be Brighton on their way back to Division Two.
With no disrespect to Brighton I have no real desire to make that long journey again to sit inside a ground clearly inadequate for League Football and so I will be on Stoke’s side next weekend.
There were other meaningless games but next season things might not be sorted out quite so quickly should this absurd new play off system come in (and it almost certainly will). Another decision taken by greedy chairman without any thought about how ridiculous the system is.
Congratulations to Portsmouth – there really was no doubt who deserved to be Champions but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them make a less than triumphant return to the Nationwide in a year’s time. Do they really have the money now to carry out the changes needed to make them anything other than a struggling Premiership side?
There are a couple of matches in midweek before Sunday sees the end of the league season and the final fixtures, which all have a 1:30 p.m. kick off.
Tuesday 29th April
Sheffield United v Bradford City (7:45 p.m.)
Wednesday 30th April
Watford v Reading (7:45 p.m.)
Sunday 4th May
Bradford City v Portsmouth
Derby County v Ipswich Town
Franchise v Burnley
Gillingham v Crystal Palace
Grimsby Town v Brighton and Hove Albion
Millwall v Coventry City
Norwich City v Preston North End
Rotherham United v Nottingham Forest
Sheffield Wednesday v Walsall
Stoke City v Reading
Watford v Sheffield United
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Leicester City
Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
25: David Johnson (Nottm. Forest)
23: Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth)
22: David Connolly (Franchise)
20: Marlon Harewood (Nottm. Forest)
20: Neil Shipperley (Franchise)
18: Kenny Miller (Wolves)
17: Paul Dickov (Leicester)
16: Richard Cresswell (Preston)
16: Nicky Forster (Reading)
15: Pablo Counago (Ipswich)
15: Andy Gray (Bradford)
15: Junior (Walsall)
15: Gareth Taylor (Burnley)
14: Michael Brown (Sheffield United)
14: Steve Kabba (Sheffield United inc. 1 for Palace & 6 for Grimsby)
14: Alan Lee (Rotherham)
13: Robbie Blake (Burnley)
13: Darren Byfield (Rotherham)
13: Brian Deane (Leicester)
13: Paul McVeigh (Norwich)
13: Paul Shaw (Gillingham)
13: Bobby Zamora (Brighton)
12: Nathan Blake (Wolves)
12: Neil Harris (Millwall)
12: Paul Merson (Portsmouth)