|
In the Championship - Free taxi ride home
Barnsley did pull a goal back in stoppage time but Derby were easy winners and that enabled them to leave it for the others to scrap for second place behind them. That place changed hands a couple of times over the weekend because of games being played on different games.
RK Sunderland took second place on the Saturday after recording a 1-0 win at Cardiff with a Ross Wallace goal. Cardiff boss Dave Jones blamed his keeper Neil Alexander who allowed Wallace's free kick to go in to his right. It certainly wasn't good goalkeeping but the visiting fans didn't care and were celebrating on their way home.
For around 100 of them that meant a flight home from Bristol to Newcastle and they were still enjoying themselves when Chairman Niall Quinn boarded the flight. That led to them singing "Niall Quinn's Disco Pants" which somewhat upset the flight crew who promptly cancelled the flight. Up stepped the Chairman to provide them all with taxis back to Wearside, just a matter of around £8,000.
Second place, free taxis home, but they were back to third a day later when Birmingham recorded an easy win over Coventry City. Andy Cole missed his debut for Brum with a hamstring injury and that led to DJ Campbell getting a late place on the bench. He made the most of it too, coming on just after the hour and getting the second and third goals. For Iain Dowie, it was his first defeat as Coventry boss.
Fourth place Preston had a miserable weekend. As those around them won they went down to a 2-1 defeat at the home of bottom club Leeds. They even took an early lead, but if Leeds were going to come back and win it then I think we could have guessed the scorers.
Robbie Blake got the first and Preston must be sick of the sight of him, he scored five times in five games against them for the Clarets. Then it was David Healy, in the side after his hat trick in midweek and getting now getting the late, late winner against his former club courtesy of some downright appalling defending from Pavel Pergl. Why didn't they play him against us?
|
The two other promotion chasing sides, Wolves and Southampton, met at Molineux in one of the most bizarre games of the season. Wolves dominated the early stages of the game and midway through the first half, despite it still being 0-0, looked more than likely winners.
Then Marek Saganowski scored twice, and both times after the assistant failed to spot an offside, and between those goals Gary Breen put through his own goal. If that wasn't bad enough they then missed the chance to get back into the game with Michael Kightly missing a penalty.
It was clearly not going to be Wolves' day and by the end they had lost it by an incredible scoreline of 6-0, Southampton becoming the first side to score six away from home in the Championship since Coventry beat Walsall 6-1 at the Bescot in January 2004.
The Wolves fans, aware of the way the match had been going gave their side and manager Mick McCarthy incredibly support, even after the sixth goal had gone in, and McCarthy heaped praise on his fans after the final whistle.
Our game against Luton wasn't the only bottom of the table clash, third from bottom Southend travelled to Hull and took something of a hammering. Dean Windass scored three of Hull's four goals although the opening goal was somewhat fortunate. They won a fortuitous looking penalty and Windass hit home the rebound after Darryl Flahavan had saved his spot kick.
There were six goals at the Windy City where Stoke proved too strong for Leicester. Just as had been the case at the Turf in January Ricardo Fuller was in sparkling form for the home side. He netted a penalty and was the creator of the other three Stoke goals.
|
Plymouth's game at Ipswich got off to a dramatic start with the visitors down to ten men within the first two minutes after Matthias Doumbe was sent off by referee Jonathan Moss, and the task got more difficult after Owen Garvan and Alan Lee both scored to give Ipswich a 2-0 lead after a quarter of an hour.
To say Plymouth were disappointed at the decision by Moss is something of an understatement and manager Ian Holloway had plenty to say after the game about the referee and his assistant who helped change the referees mind after he had initially not even considered it a foul.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life," Holloway said. "There was a clear indication from the referee that he didn't even think it was a free kick, so we played on. Then he consults his linesman and it's a red card. Two things, he doesn't know how quick Matty Doumbe is and leaning on a shoulder is not a pull-back or a foul or a deliberate stop.
Doumbe himself admitted to being speechless at the time, and although that means he will now miss the games against Burnley and Leeds he does expect his appeal to be successful allowing him to play in the two games.
Finally we can now confirm that Crystal Palace will be playing Championship football again next season. If you don't believe us then it was also confirmed by the Legend himself after they had fallen to defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday to leave them in twelfth place.
Looking forward there are two rearranged midweek games as the Clarets take on Plymouth and Preston travel to QPR, and then we've got a double header over Easter with the big relegation clash coming on Easter Monday as QPR take on Luton.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 30th March | |
Leeds 2 Preston 1 | . |
Saturday 31st March | |
Barnsley 1 Derby 2 | Hull 4 Southend 0 |
Burnley 0 Luton 0 | Ipswich 3 Plymouth 0 |
Cardiff 0 RK Sunderland 1 | QPR 1 West Brom 2 |
Colchester 3 Norwich 0 | Stoke 4 Leicester 2 |
Crystal Palace 1 Sheffield Wed 2 | Wolves 0 Southampton 6 |
Sunday 1st April | |
Birmingham 3 Coventry 0 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Southampton 6-0 v Wolves (away) |
Total goals scored | 38 |
Player scoring most goals | Marek Saganowski (Southampton) |
Highest Attendance | 25,424 - Birmingham v Colchester |
Lowest Attendance | 5,851 - Colchester v Norwich |
Total Yellow Cards | 26 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Stoke v Leicester (5Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
21 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) |
19 | Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
18 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
17 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
16 | Steve Howard (Derby) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) |
15 | Alan Lee (Ipswich) |
14 | Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) David Nugent (Preston) |
13 | Kevin Phillips (West Brom) Rowan Vine (Birmingham) - 12 with Luton |
12 | Iain Hume (Leicester) Kenwyne Jones (Southampton) |
11 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) David Connolly (RK Sunderland) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) |
10 | Andy Gray (Burnley) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Steven MacLean (Sheffield Wed) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | 3 - Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | 3 - Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
14th Oct | 3 - Kevin Phillips - Ipswich v WEST BROM |
29th Oct | 3 - Alan Lee - IPSWICH v Luton |
28th Nov | 4 - Chris Iwelumo - COLCHESTER v Hull |
9th Dec | 3 - Gary McSheffrey - BIRMINGHAM v Preston |
27th Jan | 3 - Michael Chopra - CARDIFF v Leicester |
17th Feb | 3 - Andrew Surman - SOUTHAMPTON v Barnsley |
31st Mar | 3 - Dean Windass - HULL v Southend |
31st Mar | 3 - Marek Saganowski - Wolves v SOUTHAMPTON |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 73 | 5 | Luton | 56 | 6 |
| Birmingham | 61 | 7 | Norwich | 67 | 4 |
| Burnley | 70 | 7 | Plymouth | 79 | 5 |
| Cardiff | 58 | 8 | Preston | 65 | 4 |
| Colchester | 41 | 1 | QPR | 83 | 1 |
| Coventry | 74 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 73 | 6 |
| Crystal Palace | 44 | 1 | Southampton | 52 | 1 |
| Derby | 86 | 3 | Southend | 66 | 4 |
| Hull | 76 | 3 | Stoke | 72 | 4 |
| Ipswich | 96 | 7 | RK Sunderland | 54 | 4 |
| Leeds | 86 | 3 | West Brom | 90 | 7 |
| Leicester | 75 | 3 | Wolves | 58 | 5 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Tuesday 3rd April | |
Burnley v Plymouth | QPR v Preston |
Friday 6th April | |
Hull v Norwich | Southend v Colchester |
Leicester v Derby | . |
Saturday 7th April | |
Birmingham v Burnley | Leeds v Plymouth |
Cardiff v Sheffield Wed | Luton v Southampton |
Coventry v QPR | RK Sunderland v Wolves |
Crystal Palace v Preston | West Brom v Stoke |
Ipswich v Barnsley | . |
Monday 9th April | |
Barnsley v Birmingham | Preston v Southend |
Burnley v Cardiff | QPR v Luton |
Colchester v Leeds | Sheffield Wed v Ipswich |
Derby v Coventry | Southampton v RK Sunderland |
Norwich v West Brom | Stoke v Crystal Palace |
Plymouth v Leicester | Wolves v Hull |