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They did pull one back via a second half penalty from Tommy Mooney but Grimsby’s win was well deserved and lifts them up to 21st with Stoke joining Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton in the bottom three.
Things were no better for Wednesday with new boss Chris Turner in charge for the first time and they went down to an emphatic 3-0 defeat at Norwich, a result that sees the Canaries back up to third place.
Reading just keep on moving up and after a 1-0 win at Gillingham they have found themselves in the top six. It was a late Tony Rougier goal that clinched the points at the Priestfield Stadium and this was one of the results that helped the Clarets move up the table.
We started the day in 14th place but moved up to 11th by passing Gillingham as well as Derby and Crystal Palace. Derby were beaten at home by league leaders Portsmouth whilst Palace earned a point from a 0-0 home draw with Nottingham Forest, a game in which Nik Michopoulos was man of the match.
Nik was shown on television fumbling a less than powerful shot and then stopping the rebound by going in with his feet. Now where have I seen that sort of goalkeeping before? It’s good to know that the technique does work sometimes.
David Connolly is making up for lost time since returning from injury. A hat-trick last week was followed up by four this week as Franchise won 5-3 at Bradford. It is just a pity he isn’t scoring the goals for someone else.
Ronnie Moore’s Rotherham, our next opponents, picked up another good win at Millmoor beating Watford who started the day in 3rd place. The Millers were expected to be in the relegation dog fight again this season but are currently in 9th place with 26 points. They have without doubt been the surprise package this season, their only home defeat was against Portsmouth and even then they came from three down before eventually losing 3-2.
Improving Wolves had no game over the weekend, they play bottom club Brighton tonight, but picked up a well earned point at Portsmouth in midweek. Manager David Jones was under some pressure recently but now sees his side alongside us with 25 points although they do have two games in hand.
There are no midweek fixtures this week apart from tonight, below are the fixtures for the coming week (3:00 p.m. kick off unless otherwise shown).
Monday 11th November
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Brighton and Hove Albion (7:45 p.m.)
Saturday 16th November
Brighton and Hove Albion v Derby County
Coventry City v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Franchise v Walsall
Gillingham v Sheffield Wednesday
Grimsby Town v Preston North End
Millwall v Leicester City
Norwich City v Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest v Bradford City
Portsmouth v Stoke City
Rotherham United v Burnley
Sheffield United v Reading
Sunday 17th November
Watford v Ipswich Town
Leading Goalscorers (League only)
14: David Johnson (Nottm. Forest)
10: Alan Lee (Rotherham)
9: Nathan Blake (Wolves)
9: David Connolly (Franchise)
9: Paul McVeigh (Norwich)
8: Darren Byfield (Rotherham)
8: Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace)
8: Neil Shipperley (Franchise)
7: Carl Asaba (Sheffield United)
7: Richard Cresswell (Preston)
7: Brian Deane (Leicester)
7: Ricardo Fuller (Preston)
7: Steve Kabba (Grimsby including 1 for Crystal Palace)
7: Svetoslav Todorov (Portsmouth)
6: Darren Ambrose (Ipswich)
6: Robbie Blake (Burnley)
6: Malcolm Christie (Derby)
6: Andy Cooke (Stoke City)
6: Jamie Cureton (Reading)
6: Paul Dickov (Leicester)
6: Jorge Leitao (Walsall)
6: Paul Merson (Portsmouth)
6: David Nielson (Norwich)
5: Richie Barker (Rotherham)
5: Jay Bothroyd (Coventry)
5: Pablo Counago (Ipswich)
5: Nicky Forster (Reading)
5: Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace)
5: Andy Gray (Bradford)
5: Heidar Helguson (Watford)
5: Andy Hughes (Reading)
5: Gary McAllister (Coventry)
5: Vincent Pericard (Portsmouth)
5: Dean Sturridge (Wolves)
5: Gareth Taylor (Burnley)
5: Michael Tonge (Sheffield United)