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In the Championship – Down, Down, Down
Wednesday knew that a win at Brighton was vital, that it would ensure they would not go straight back down, by ending any hopes any of the bottom three had of staying up. And they didn't have too long to wait to get the vital first goal.
There were only eight minutes gone when Brighton's Gary Hart put through his own goal and there was to be no way back for them after that. A second Wednesday goal in the second half, scored by Burton O'Brien, completed the scoring and that condemned the home side to League One football for next season.
That will be news greeted with delight by Championship fans up and down the country who this year found themselves with the worst seating ever at a Football League game, seats that cost £21.50 and afforded no view of the game.
It didn't matter what Crewe and Brighton did after that but Crewe did manage a point from their home game against Cardiff. They went in front during the second half with a David Vaughan goal but conceded an equaliser a quarter of an hour from the end.
Dario G, who hopes to sign both Tony Grant and Gareth Taylor on permanent deals, said, “It is a sad day but I thought Sheffield Wednesday would win. It's nice that we had a good go at the end of the season and I think the crowd have enjoyed it.”
There's no doubt that Dario G will be in charge when next season gets underway but the same cannot be said for David Tuttle at Millwall. He's admitted that relegation could well cost him his job.
They lost at Southampton and their relegation cannot come as a surprise, they have been in the bottom three since the end of September and have been relegation favourites right from the beginning of the season.
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They wrapped it up with a goal from John Halls on his league debut, he had joined the Royals from Stoke during the January transfer window and the player scored only his third ever goal against his old club.
Sheffield United were supposed to be celebrating against Leeds and they went in front from an early Eirik Bakke own goal. Leeds equalised through David Healy just before half time, to complete the scoring, but then one Sheffield United fan decided to spoil the whole evening.
His name is Neil Warnock, Colin to most of us, and on this of all nights he was sent to the stands by referee Graham Poll following comments made to Hull referee Paul Robinson who was on fourth official duty.
As Leeds and Palace drew there were wins for the other two clubs in the play offs, Watford and Preston. Two goals from Darius Henderson were enough for Watford to beat Ipswich, a side who have forgotten how to win, whilst Preston recorded an easy win against fast fading Wolves.
QPR must have thought they had picked up all three points when they went 2-0 up at Norwich just after the hour, and still held the two goal advantage with just twelve minutes to go. It all went wrong though, firstly Darren Huckerby pulled one back and then in the last five minutes Robert Earnshaw scored twice to give the home side the win.
Luton won on the road in a game that looked set to end 0-0 until home side Plymouth went in front with twenty minutes to go. That sparked the Hatters into life who won it with late goals from Rowan Vine and Calvin Andrew, his first for the club. The remaining two games both ended in 1-1 draws – Coventry v Leicester and Derby v Hull.
That's it, nothing to decide but two games left, starting on Saturday – the fixtures are listed below.
The Bank Holiday Results | |
Monday 17th April | |
Brighton 0 Sheffield Wed 2 | Plymouth 1 Luton 2 |
Burnley 0 Crystal Palace 0 | Preston 2 Wolves 0 |
Coventry 1 Leicester 1 | Reading 3 Stoke 1 |
Crewe 1 Cardiff 1 | Southampton 2 Millwall 0 |
Derby 1 Hull 1 | Watford 2 Ipswich 1 |
Norwich 3 QPR 2 | . |
Tuesday 18th April | |
Sheffield Utd 1 Leeds 1 | . |
The Bank Holiday Stats | |
Biggest win | Preston 2-0 v Wolves (home) |
Total goals scored | 29 |
Player scoring most goals | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
Highest Attendance | 29,329 - Sheffield Utd v Leeds |
Lowest Attendance | 5,865 - Crewe v Cardiff |
Total Yellow Cards | 27 |
Total Red Cards | 2 |
Most cards in a game | Brighton v Sheffield Wed (5Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
21 | Marlon King (Watford) |
18 | Kevin Doyle (Reading) Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) |
16 | Dave Kitson (Reading) |
15 | Ade Akinbiyi (Sheffield Utd) - 12 with Burnley Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) |
14 | Darius Henderson (Watford) Steve Howard (Luton) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) |
12 | Rob Hulse (Leeds) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Ashley Young (Watford) |
11 | Robbie Blake (Leeds) Carl Cort (Wolves) Paul Gallagher (Stoke) David Healy (Leeds) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Leroy Lita (Reading) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
10 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Dean Ashton (Norwich) Dave Nugent (Preston) Steve Sidwell (Reading) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 79 | 5 | Millwall | 96 | 14 |
| Burnley | 76 | 5 | Norwich | 68 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 69 | 2 | Plymouth | 63 | 1 |
| Coventry | 88 | 4 | Preston | 84 | 2 |
| Crewe | 34 | 2 | QPR | 77 | 7 |
| Crystal Palace | 81 | 3 | Reading | 44 | 0 |
| Derby | 62 | 6 | Sheffield Utd | 60 | 2 |
| Hull | 52 | 3 | Sheffield Wed | 55 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 58 | 6 | Southampton | 62 | 4 |
| Leeds | 74 | 2 | Stoke | 74 | 7 |
| Leicester | 80 | 6 | Watford | 59 | 6 |
| Luton | 62 | 5 | Wolves | 61 | 1 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Saturday 22nd April | |
Cardiff v Norwich | Luton v Sheffield Utd |
Crystal Palace v Southampton | Millwall v Burnley |
Hull v Preston | QPR v Watford |
Ipswich v Derby | Sheffield Wed v Reading |
Leeds v Crewe | Stoke v Coventry |
Leicester v Plymouth | Wolves v Brighton |