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In the Championship – Crewe still fighting
There was a familiar sight for Burnley fans in this latest Crewe win, both goals were scored by our former striker Gareth Taylor whilst Tony Grant was again pulling the strings. Grant has been an influence and they've collected fourteen points from eight games since he took his place in the side.
Brighton are bottom now, and that will be news enjoyed by many supporters of clubs in our division who have suffered the appalling new away conditions at the Withdean this season. They've not had a good few days, there was news of the new stadium that will delay things followed by a home defeat against Southampton where again a former Claret was in the news.
The Saints needed a result to easy any worries they might have had and Richard Chaplow scored their second in what was a comfortable win. It is certainly some time since Chappy last scored a league goal, it was the last minute winner against Cardiff at the Turf in September 2004.
Millwall were also losers down at the bottom, they turned in another poor performance at Derby and despite there being just the one goal from Tommy Smith they were easily beaten. Everyone spoke about Millwall's threat and that they had an easy run in, it does not look to be serving them well.
Up at the top of the league there was an incredible game at Bramall Lane between Sheffield United and Hull. The home side won it in the end with a late, late goal from David Unsworth but Hull must have felt aggrieved after surely the worst non-penalty decision of the season.
The Blades were two up just a few minutes into the second half but Hull came storming back to equalise and could have been in front had referee Crossley not incredibly missed the most blatant of penalties. Goalkeeper Paddy Kenny didn't catch Stuart Green's leg, he actually grabbed hold of it to pull him down.
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They've had a hiccup but that should be that now with neither Leeds nor Watford able to win again. It's just one win in six games for Watford and even worse for Leeds, they haven't won any of their last six. They both looked all set to give Sheffield United a really difficult last few weeks, but they've both faltered too often and will now have to settle for the play offs.
Neither of them could win at home and Leeds turned in another poor performance in front of their own fans, picking up a point in a goalless draw against Plymouth. There were just over 20,000 there despite the promotion chase, maybe Bates is going to have to up the prices again to cover the losses. Blackwell's team have stopped winning games at the vital time.
It's the same with Watford, although they went in front in their derby against Luton. I got some stroppy emails back at New Year when I said I couldn't take this fixture too seriously as a big derby and I stand by that. It's an important game for the fans of the two teams though, and Luton fans will be delighted to have put a spoke in Aidy Boothroyd's upwardly looking promotion battle.
Marlon King gave Watford the lead and in doing so became the first player in the Championship to reach twenty league goals this season. I don't think many would have predicted that when the season got underway. Ahmet Brkovic got Luton's equaliser, a goal that has surely condemned Watford to a play off place.
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Palace went down 2-0 in front of the Sky cameras on Friday night and for Leicester it was time to celebrate, as they ensured they would be playing in this division again next season. It is not all that long ago they were in the bottom three. At the end of January they were two points behind current bottom club Brighton.
Preston meanwhile moved up a place and will never get a more fortunate win. There are some who think they will struggle to score goals but they won't need to if their games are going to be like this. Twice in the first half Norwich obliged with own goals, not deflected shots but clear own goals, from Jason Shackell and Gary Doherty.
All on Billy Davies Day too, although we have not had it confirmed as yet that the home supporters had to have their legs shortened, wear suits and charge around like someone demented for the entire afternoon to give it a realistic flavour.
It's sometime since we got this far down a Championship review without mentioning Reading but there's no need to now. They are up, they are Champions but just to rub it in they hit another five goals, although Cardiff did give them a bit of a scare by pulling it back to 3-2 with ten minutes to go.
The pick of the goals just had to be the Glenn Loovens own goal that took the score to 3-0, I'm not sure what he was doing but it wasn't a bad header right into the corner of the goal. There's no relaxing for Reading, only Glen Little was missing from what is considered their strongest side.
Elsewhere, the pressure is beginning to tell on Glenn Hoddle, and his chances of being in charge at Molineux next season must be slim. Mick McCarthy's name is already being mentioned and after another home draw the fans are running out of patience.
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On Saturday they raced into a two goal lead through Paul Ince and the returning Colin Cameron but allowed Coventry back into it. They pulled one back very quickly with a Stern John goal and Gary McSheffrey earned them a point with an equaliser on the hour.
That leaves Ipswich v Stoke and surely the Stoke board have worked this one out now, they have picked up better results during the two periods when John Rudge and Jan de Koning have been suspended.
Even Luke Chadwick and Sammy Bangoura scored on Saturday as LBJ's Ipswich suffered a 4-1 home defeat. It's not been the best of seasons for Ipswich or Joe and he's being touted now for the Derby job, despite him saying Ipswich would be his last job. We've heard managers say that before then take another job.
It's Easter next week and the fixtures are below, yes we are playing at Easter again after the farce of last year left us without a game.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 7th April | |
Leicester 2 Crystal Palace 0 | . |
Saturday 8th April | |
Brighton 0 Southampton 2 | Ipswich 1 Stoke 4 |
Burnley 1 QPR 0 | Leeds 0 Plymouth 0 |
Cardiff 2 Reading 3 | Preston 2 Norwich 0 |
Crewe 2 Sheffield Wed 0 | Sheffield Utd 3 Hull 2 |
Derby 1 Millwall 0 | Wolves 2 Coventry 2 |
Sunday 9th April | |
Watford 1 Luton 1 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Stoke 4-1 v Ipswich (away) |
Total goals scored | 31 |
Player scoring most goals | James Harper (Reading) |
Highest Attendance | 26,324 - Sheffield Utd v Hull |
Lowest Attendance | 7,999 - Brighton v Southampton |
Total Yellow Cards | 28 |
Total Red Cards | 0 |
Most cards in a game | Watford v Luton (5Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
20 | Marlon King (Watford) |
18 | Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) |
17 | Kevin Doyle (Reading) |
16 | Dave Kitson (Reading) |
15 | Ade Akinbiyi (Sheffield Utd) - 12 with Burnley |
14 | Steve Howard (Luton) Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) |
12 | Darius Henderson (Watford) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Ashley Young (Watford) |
11 | Robbie Blake (Leeds) Carl Cort (Wolves) Rob Hulse (Leeds) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) Leroy Lita (Reading) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
10 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Dean Ashton (Norwich) Paul Gallagher (Stoke) David Healy (Leeds) Dave Nugent (Preston) |
9 | Sammy Bangoura (Stoke) Paul Ifill (Sheffield Utd) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Kenny Miller (Wolves) Steve Sidwell (Reading) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 71 | 4 | Millwall | 94 | 14 |
| Burnley | 70 | 5 | Norwich | 66 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 69 | 2 | Plymouth | 60 | 1 |
| Coventry | 87 | 4 | Preston | 79 | 2 |
| Crewe | 34 | 2 | QPR | 74 | 7 |
| Crystal Palace | 79 | 3 | Reading | 44 | 0 |
| Derby | 61 | 5 | Sheffield Utd | 59 | 2 |
| Hull | 52 | 3 | Sheffield Wed | 52 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 55 | 6 | Southampton | 60 | 4 |
| Leeds | 70 | 2 | Stoke | 73 | 7 |
| Leicester | 77 | 5 | Watford | 58 | 5 |
| Luton | 57 | 5 | Wolves | 60 | 1 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Friday 14th April | |
Cardiff v Sheffield Utd | Wolves v Watford |
Saturday 15th April | |
Cystal Palace v Crewe | Luton v Coventry |
Hull v Burnley | Millwall v Plymouth |
Ipswich v Brighton | QPR v Derby |
Leeds v Reading | Sheffield Wed v Norwich |
Leicester v Preston | Stoke v Southampton |
Monday 17th April | |
Brighton v Sheffield Wed | Plymouth v Luton |
Burnley v Crystal Palace | Preston v Wolves |
Coventry v Leicester | Reading v Stoke |
Crewe v Cardiff | Southampton v Millwall |
Derby v Hull | Watford v Ipswich |
Norwich v QPR | . |
Tuesday 18th April | |
Sheffield Utd v Leeds | . |