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In the Championship – A load of balls
It was the start of an amazing game. Ten man Wednesday went in front when a Chris Brunt corner went straight in, but then Madjid Bougherra put through his own goal to bring the scores level. Wednesday were doing well with ten but that soon became nine when Swarbrick sent off Brunt for a professional foul and with 53 minutes still to go.
That all proved too much and two Leon McKenzie goals, his first for Coventry, ensured the home side collected all three points. Wednesday boss Brian Laws is appealing against both red cards. He's certainly justified with the first, but Brunt will be lucky to escape his red card, Laws claiming there was no intent.
That all proved too much and two Leon McKenzie goals, his first for Coventry, ensured the home side collected all three points. Wednesday boss Brian Laws is appealing against both red cards. He's certainly justified with the first, but Brunt will be lucky to escape his red card, Laws claiming there was no intent.
Operation Premiership has now taken them into the top half but they are eleven points behind joint leaders Cardiff and Preston, with Preston the only side in the top four to record a victory. That came at Leicester where a Patrick Agyemang goal was enough to win the game, but Leicester look set to celebrate with former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric looking almost certain now to take over and invest heavily in the club.
Preston were able to catch leaders Cardiff because the Welsh club were beaten on Friday night against QPR. Again the score was 1-0 and this was a late goal from Ray Jones. I quite enjoyed watching this game, having been so fortunate to beat us a week earlier it was good to see Cardiff dropping some points.
Third place Birmingham did at least take a point, but they were very close to all three with only a late equaliser from Wolves preventing them recording a sixth successive league victory. They led with a spectacular Gary McSheffrey goal but Jody Craddock's header two minutes from time brought the scores level.
Steve Bruce wasn't happy, but then again he usually has a complaint or two if they haven't won. He felt the game should have been stopped for a foul before Wolves won their corner. Premiership referee Halsey said no. Not only did it bring an end to the wins but this was also the first goal Birmingham have conceded in seven games.
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He was on the pitch long enough to know that his side were second best and there was no disputing Ipswich's right to the points as they came storming back to win it 3-1 and that included two goals from substitute Danny Haynes, one within a minute of him coming on. Norwich boss Peter Grant admitted that his side were awful. Poor Delia's boys really don't like this Sunday lunchtime kick offs.
Chadwick at Norwich, but his old club Stoke won again. That's three in succession and six wins in the last eight games, a massive change in fortune since they decided to change their midfield with a set of loan signings.
There was another new face on Saturday, that of Liam Lawrence who has signed with a view to a permanent move in January. It appears that Lawrence has fallen out with the man who put the RK in RK Sunderland, and when you do that it is time to leave. He won't want to be heading back to the north east.
Just as he played his part in a win for his new club, the one he left behind also recorded a home win, Colchester the victims. It was always a comfortable win once they'd gone in front just before half time.
When Southampton beat Burnley back in September, Grzegorz Rasiak scored twice with Rudi Skacel getting the other. Neither player had scored since until Saturday when they again scored three times away from home with the goals coming from the same players in the same order. This time it was against Leeds, this time it as against eleven and this time they didn't concede a goal.
The highlight of the day was surely the expression on the face of the obnoxious Dennis Wise as the cameras zoomed in on him just after the third goal. Nasty they may be now but this was their sixth home defeat in the league this season.
They've conceded 36 goals and that's the worst record in the division alongside Barnsley who did something that not many teams have done recently – they lost at Selhurst Park against Crystal Palace. Such are the problems there that the Legend looks set to be told to give up his England Under-21 duties on a permanent basis to get things right at Palace.
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The Tykes are one point behind Leeds but below both of them are Southend who did at least pull one point back with a 1-1 home draw against Plymouth for whom Bojan Djordjic scored his first goal in thirteen months. Mark Gower equalised for Southend and manager Steve Tilson said after the game that they are capable of beating any team at home. Sadly that's not what they've done with only two wins from ten home games in the league.
Plymouth boss Ian Holloway is delighted with the efforts of his players and said of them: “I can't ask any more from this lot. I've been whipping them on my stagecoach, and they have been galloping off. Maybe I need to put a couple more horses on, if I can, when the window opens.”
That leaves Luton and I can confirm that the referee and both assistants were men, poor Amy Rainer had been packed off to Wycombe. Manager Mike Newell received a bunch of flowers, got a standing ovation, but hasn't as yet healed the rift with his chairman. He can't find a win either and this was their fifth successive defeat and that's seen them drop from fifth when they last won, a 5-1 victory over Leeds, to their current position of nineteenth.
Derby's goals were scored by Jonathan Stead and Steve Howard, and it was probably predictable that Howard would get one. It was from close range and he immediately and instinctively turned to run and celebrate his goal but then thought better of it in front of his old fans.
David Jones, signed on loan from Manchester United with a £1 million fee agreed for a permanent move in January, came on as a substitute. We've already mentioned Chadwick and Lawrence but other moves last week saw RK Sunderland's Tommy Miller join Preston, Alan McCormick move from Preston to Southend, whilst goalkeepers Mike Pollitt and Iain Turner moved from Wigan and Everton to Ipswich and Palace respectively. Turner replaced the pyjama wearing Gabor Kiraly who has gone to West Ham for a couple of weeks.
There could be a bit more transfer activity this week, the loan window closes on Thursday, and then the weekend football gets underway with Mick McCarthy's Wolves taking on his old club RK Sunderland.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 17th November | |
Cardiff 0 QPR 1 | . |
Saturday 18th November | |
Birmingham 1 Wolves 1 | Leicester 0 Preston 1 |
Coventry 3 Sheffield Wed 1 | Luton 0 Derby 2 |
Crystal Palace 2 Barnsley 0 | Southend 1 Plymouth 1 |
Hull 0 Stoke 2 | RK Sunderland 3 Colchester 1 |
Leeds 0 Southampton 3 | West Brom 3 Burnley 0 |
Sunday 19th November | |
Ipswich 3 Norwich 1 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Southampton 3-0 v Leeds (away) |
Total goals scored | 30 |
Player scoring most goals | Stephen Elliott (RK Sunderland) |
Highest Attendance | 27,276 - Ipswich v Norwich |
Lowest Attendance | 9,469 - Southend v Plymouth |
Total Yellow Cards | 28 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | West Brom v Burnley (6Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
11 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
10 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
9 | Andy Gray (Burnley) |
8 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
7 | Steve Howard (Derby) Iain Hume (Leicester) |
6 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) Jon Parkin (Hull) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
5 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Jay Bothroyd (Wolves) Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Leon Clarke (Wolves) Carlos Edwards (Luton) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Stern John (Coventry) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) Mark Richards (Barnsley) Martin Rowlands (QPR) Riccardo Scimeca (Cardiff) Jimmy Smith (QPR) Simon Whaley (Preston) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
14th Oct | Kevin Phillips - Ipswich v WEST BROM |
29th Oct | Alan Lee - IPSWICH v Luton |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 27 | 3 | Luton | 18 | 3 |
| Birmingham | 35 | 4 | Norwich | 32 | 3 |
| Burnley | 30 | 6 | Plymouth | 32 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 26 | 4 | Preston | 32 | 2 |
| Colchester | 21 | 0 | QPR | 37 | 0 |
| Coventry | 32 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 29 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 0 | Southampton | 28 | 0 |
| Derby | 42 | 2 | Southend | 30 | 0 |
| Hull | 37 | 2 | Stoke | 33 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 56 | 2 | RK Sunderland | 30 | 3 |
| Leeds | 42 | 1 | West Brom | 45 | 2 |
| Leicester | 34 | 2 | Wolves | 26 | 2 |
This Week's Fixtures | |
Friday 24th November | |
Wolves v RK Sunderland | . |
Saturday 25th November | |
Barnsley v Ipswich | Preston v Crystal Palace |
Burnley v Birmingham | QPR v Coventry |
Colchester v Southend | Sheffield Wed v Cardiff |
Derby v Leicester | Southampton v Luton |
Norwich v Hull | Stoke v West Brom |
Plymouth v Leeds | . |