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In the Championship – Congratulations Reading
An upset even looked possible when bottom side Crewe went in front against the leaders but they had no answer once the Royals started to go forward. Glen Little was involved with the second goal and Leroy Lita bagged a couple. Crewe kept going and another former Claret, Gareth Taylor, scored his first goal for them as they fought back to try and get a point.
It ended in further disappointment for Dario G’s side who also had Kenny Lunt sent off for a professional foul by Colin Webster. It’s one that will surely be overturned, there was another defender coming across to suggest that Lunt had not prevented a goal scoring opportunity.
Crewe appear to be sinking fast at the bottom of the table. Dario G said last season that it was inevitable that they would be relegated eventually and it is beginning to look as though their time is up. They are now ten points from safety and five points behind the next club Millwall who provided us with one of the most entertaining moments of the weekend.
They had a bottom of the table clash at home to Sheffield Wednesday, and to make things just a little bit easier for them they played the second half against a Wednesday side with no goalkeeper. David Lucas was injured and with no keeper on the bench it was defender Lee Bullen who became their John Spicer.
Just past the hour came the entertainment and it all started with a free kick to Millwall just outside the Wednesday box. An incredible fourteen players from both sides ended up in the wall but the shot was on target and Bullen tipped it over at the expense of a corner.
They scored from that corner but there was a clear foul on the acting goalkeeper, the free kick was given, but most of the Millwall players didn’t realise this and went off celebrating along with that dreadful goal music they have at the Den.
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Brighton remain the other club in the bottom three, they fell further behind as they went down to their fifth successive away defeat, this time at Coventry with some horrible little man getting both goals for the home side.
The reason they fell further behind was because life at Leveinless and de Vriesless Leicester is taking a turn for the better. Since manager and striker left they have collected six points from two league games and this time won at home for the first time since November.
Matty Fryatt got the only goal of the game but much of the credit must go to Wolves keeper Stefan Postma who, shall we say, put it on a plate for him when he dropped the ball right in front of the former Walsall striker.
The Crisp Bowl has for many weeks been a venue that has heard constant cries for the manager’s head and although it wasn’t quite the same this time it was still going on, as the Wolves fans got on the bandwagon and started to have a little go at Glenn Hoddle.
There was no criticism for the managers at St Mary’s but the game between Southampton and Derby was played against a background of protests. “Duck off Lowe”, was displayed on the banners as the home fans screamed once again for the removal of chairman Rupert Lowe whilst in the away corner the Derby fans concentrated their attacks on their own, somewhat mysterious, board.
It left little time for action on the pitch and it ended goalless, a result that keeps both of them in the bottom eight of the league and both still looking over their shoulders with some concern.
Back up at the top and Leeds took advantage of the clubs either side of them not playing until tonight and picked up three more points with a comfortable 3-0 win over Queens Park Rangers.
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Holloway also took a look at the differences between the sides and said, “Leeds had a lot of quality which was shown when Rob Hulse and Robbie Blake came off the bench whereas the lads from our bench came from a bring and buy sale.”
His comments have been a feature of QPR games for five years now but they could be his last. This morning he was put on gardening leave by QPR with Gary Waddock taking over as caretaker manager. The QPR board say it is primarily because of the speculation surrounding him and the Leicester job although they are concerned about the recent results.
It appears Leicester do seem to be going out of their way to upset as many clubs as possible. They certainly did with us, they also contacted Preston and Luton regarding their managers, and we know that Luton boss Mike Newell has spoken to them. And then there is Holloway and Notts County’s Gudjon Thordason.
Newell saw his Luton side lose at home to Hull, and the 3-2 result reminded us of our visit to Kenilworth Road back in November. There were no red cards and no hat tricks this time and Luton actually scored first. But three in 24 first half minutes from the visitors, including two from recent signings Darryl Duffy and Jon Parkin, were enough to take the points back to Humberside although Luton did get a second just a few minutes from the end.
Yesterday’s East Anglian derby ended in controversy with Ipswich winning it with a goal just a couple of minutes from the end. There was debate over who had scored it with it having been recorded as a Gary Doherty own goal.
But Danny Haynes is claiming it and says he got a touch. He did, and it was his hand and the goal should not have been allowed. When asked after the game if he had seen the hand ball, Ipswich boss Long Ball Joe said, “No, but I hope it was handball. We haven’t had much luck with referees lately.”
Preston seem to get a penalty against us every season and Burnley fans are sick of seeing Alexander (pen) on the list of scorers. Well there’s a solution, you get Alexander off the pitch before the obligatory spot kick is awarded. That happened on Saturday when they played Stoke at the Windy City, and with Alexander off the pitch it was left to Paul McKenna to have his penalty saved by Steve Simonsen.
That just leaves Crystal Palace’s win over Cardiff and that result means there is now a gap of six points between the teams in the play offs and the rest. It ended a run of three league games without a win for Palace but they are still in fifth place.
Sheffield United play Watford tonight and with no midweek games the next Championship game is next Friday, when leaders Reading are at home to Southampton. The week’s fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 4th February | |
Burnley 1 Plymouth 0 | Leicester 1 Wolves 0 |
Coventry 2 Brighton 0 | Luton 2 Hull 3 |
Crystal Palace 1 Cardiff 0 | Millwall 0 Sheffield Wed 1 |
Crewe 3 Reading 4 | Southampton 0 Derby 0 |
Leeds 2 QPR 0 | Stoke 0 Preston 0 |
Sunday 5th February | |
Norwich 1 Ipswich 2 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Coventry 2-0 v Norwich (home) |
Total goals scored | 23 |
Player scoring most goals | Leroy Lita (Reading) |
Highest Attendance | 25,402 - Norwich v Ipswich |
Lowest Attendance | 6,484 - Crewe v Reading |
Total Yellow Cards | 21 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | Stoke v Preston (4Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
14 | Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) |
13 | Ade Akinbiyi (Sheffield Utd) - 12 with Burnley Marlon King (Watford) Dave Kitson (Reading) |
11 | Kevin Doyle (Reading) |
10 | Dean Ashton (Norwich) Steve Howard (Luton) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) Ashley Young (Watford) |
9 | Carl Cort (Wolves) David Healy (Leeds) Darius Henderson (Watford) Rob Hulse (Leeds) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) Leroy Lita (Reading) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
8 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Sammy Bangoura (Stoke) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Steve Sidwell (Reading) Matthew Spring (Watford) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) Paul Wotton (Plymouth) |
7 | Robbie Blake (Leeds) Paul Gallagher (Stoke) Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd) Dave Nugent (Preston) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 55 | 2 | Millwall | 70 | 11 |
| Burnley | 52 | 4 | Norwich | 55 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 52 | 2 | Plymouth | 46 | 0 |
| Coventry | 66 | 4 | Preston | 55 | 2 |
| Crewe | 29 | 2 | QPR | 63 | 6 |
| Crystal Palace | 67 | 3 | Reading | 33 | 0 |
| Derby | 51 | 5 | Sheffield Utd | 55 | 1 |
| Hull | 40 | 3 | Sheffield Wed | 42 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 44 | 4 | Southampton | 54 | 4 |
| Leeds | 54 | 2 | Stoke | 56 | 7 |
| Leicester | 64 | 4 | Watford | 44 | 3 |
| Luton | 39 | 3 | Wolves | 37 | 1 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Monday 6th February | |
Sheffield Utd v Watford | . |
Friday 10th February | |
Reading v Southampton | . |
Saturday 11th February | |
Brighton v Leicester | Preston v Luton |
Cardiff v Stoke | QPR v Millwall |
Derby v Leeds | Sheffield Wed v Crystal Palace |
Hull v Norwich | Watford v Coventry |
Ipswich v Burnley | Wolves v Crewe |
Plymouth v Sheffield Utd | . |