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In the Championship – Frosty down in Plymouth
Last Updated : 29-Dec-2005 by
Davies didn’t hold back either after the game was called off. “It’s a complete shambles,” he fumed. “We are absolutely disgusted with the lateness of the postponement and we only found out because someone heard on the radio that there was to be an inspection.
“We never had any official communication from Plymouth to tell us that it was under threat which I find shambolic. It beggars belief and our clubs and our fans have been shown no respect.”
Plymouth refute the allegations and claim they spoke to Preston at lunchtime, so there should be some fun over that one in the next few days. But such a late postponement is not acceptable and neither is the folly of having supporters travelling these ridiculous distances in Christmas week.
At least we had a game to watch last night at Carrow Road but who in their right minds sends clubs this sort of distance for midweek evening games at this time of year? The leagues are trying to defend it and say it is unavoidable, but no one is going to believe that.
Elsewhere the other games were all played and the top two won again in their pursuit of Premiership football. If you deducted twenty points from League Two leaders Wycombe they would drop to 19th place. If you did similar with Brentford, top of League One, they would be joint bottom. But if Reading were to lose twenty points they would incredibly drop only one place and would be above Leeds on goal difference.
There was no Glen Little for the Royals last night, he’s out with a gashed knee that was at first feared would keep him out for the rest of the season. His place was taken by John Oster who was making his first league start since our defeat at Gillingham last April.
It was business as usual with Kevin Doyle again on the scoresheet for Reading. He gave them the lead and a late second from Brynjar Gunnarsson was enough to see off Leicester. Mark de Vries was back for Leicester so it was no surprise they didn’t score, but they were unlucky not to win a penalty for handball against Nicky Shorey.
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Sheffield United returned to winning ways at Southampton but they remain nine points behind the leaders. Neil Shipperley got the only goal of the game but it was a thoroughly deserved win in what was George Burley’s first home game in charge of the Saints.
I’m sure Burnley fans will be pleased to know that Nathan Dyer played another full ninety minutes and coincidentally these two games he’s played for them have been against Watford and Sheffield United, the same two sides for whom he played his last two games for Burnley.
Whilst looking at ex-Clarets there is nothing to report in our Ian Moore goal watch. He was not in the Leeds squad again that went to Stoke and won. Apparently Stoke were the better team, according to the Stoke management, but Paul Gallagher missed the chance to give them the lead with a penalty in the first half and Leeds won it through Eddie Lewis.
Wolves’ win at Sheffield Wednesday brought with it a little piece of history. When Darren Anderton opened the scoring he scored their 7,000th league goal, the first club to reach that figure. Burnley I can tell you are some way behind yet but have scored over 6,400.
Once in front they were always likely winners against a Sheffield Wednesday side who last scored back in November, a stoppage time consolation goal at Watford.
Crewe’s draw at Coventry enabled them to go above Wednesday and Dario G’s boys have finally worked out how to get points. They trailed 1-0 but then Coventry had Micky Doyle sent off for speaking out of turn to the referee. Down to ten they then had Robert Page stretchered off, and this after using all three substitutes, and it was reduced to eight when Richard Shaw went off for treatment.
Crewe came into their own then and equalised with a first goal for Luke Rodgers since his summer move from Shrewsbury. They almost won it too but Eddie Johnson missed a chance in the sixth and last minute of stoppage time.
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Ipswich are struggling right now and they fell to defeat again at Hull. It is hard to believe that for much of last season they looked likely to go back up to the Premiership. But they had to sell players in the summer and they are nothing like the same side.
Luton were very much bang in form against Brighton and their 3-0 win ended a run of four games without a win. Every time I think they are about to slide away from the top few clubs they seem to get a couple of wins and fight back. The last goal, from Steve Robinson, was the pick and was as good a goal scored this week. It’s his first of the season.
There was a home win too for QPR. They were very unfortunate to lose their last game at Loftus Road against Coventry and did well to win against Cardiff, although the Welsh side are not in the best of form just now. A goal just after half time from Danish defender Marc Nygaard proved to be the winner.
That was one more goal than at the Den where the previous youngest manager in the division, Aidy Boothroyd went to take on the new youngest manager in the division David Tuttle. It proved to be a dull affair with neither side looking like scoring although Millwall will probably be somewhat relieved that they did at least end the game with eleven players on the field.
So the hectic schedule continues on Saturday with what will be the last games of 2005. Those fixtures and the first of 2006 are shown below.
The Midweek Results | |
Wednesday 28th December | |
Coventry 1 Crewe 1 | Plymouth v Preston - Postponed |
Crystal Palace 2 Derby 0 | QPR 1 Cardiff 0 |
Hull 2 Ipswich 0 | Reading 2 Leicester 0 |
Luton 3 Brighton 0 | Sheffield Wed 0 Wolves 2 |
Millwall 0 Watford 0 | Southampton 0 Shefield Utd 1 |
Norwich 2 Burnley 1 | Stoke 0 Leeds 1 |
The Midweek Stats | |
Biggest win | Luton 3-0 v Brighton (home) |
Total goals scored | 19 |
Player scoring most goals | no player scored more than one goal |
Highest Attendance | 27,443 - Southampton v Sheffield Utd |
Lowest Attendance | 8,450 - Millwall v Watford |
Total Yellow Cards | 41 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Reading v Leicester (6Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
12 | Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley) Marlon King (Watford) |
10 | Dean Ashton (Norwich) Kevin Doyle (Reading) Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) |
9 | Carl Cort (Wolves) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Dave Kitson (Reading) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) Ashley Young (Watford) |
8 | Sammy Bangoura (Stoke) David Healy (Leeds) Steve Howard (Luton) Rob Hulse (Leeds) Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) |
7 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Paul Gallagher (Stoke) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) |
6 | Ahmet Brkovic (Luton) Mark de Vries (Leicester) Warren Feeney (Luton) Joey Gudjonsson (Leicester) Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd) Leroy Lita (Reading) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 49 | 2 | Millwall | 58 | 11 |
| Burnley | 42 | 3 | Norwich | 46 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 46 | 2 | Plymouth | 42 | 0 |
| Coventry | 56 | 4 | Preston | 44 | 2 |
| Crewe | 25 | 1 | QPR | 58 | 6 |
| Crystal Palace | 55 | 2 | Reading | 30 | 0 |
| Derby | 45 | 3 | Sheffield Utd | 43 | 1 |
| Hull | 26 | 3 | Sheffield Wed | 32 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 37 | 4 | Southampton | 47 | 4 |
| Leeds | 47 | 2 | Stoke | 48 | 6 |
| Leicester | 51 | 4 | Watford | 41 | 2 |
| Luton | 33 | 3 | Wolves | 31 | 1 |
The Holiday Fixtures | |
Saturday 31st December | |
Brighton v Millwall | Leeds v Hull |
Burnley v Sheffield Wed | Leicester v Norwich |
Cardiff v Southampton | Preston v Coventry |
Crewe v QPR | Sheffield Utd v Stoke |
Derby v Reading | Watford v Crystal Palace |
Ipswich v Luton | Wolves v Plymouth |
Monday 2nd January | |
Coventry v Wolves | QPR v Burnley |
Crystal Palace v Leicester | Reading v Cardiff |
Luton v Watford | Sheffield Wed v Crewe |
Millwall v Derby | Southampton v Brighton |
Norwich v Preston | Stoke v Ipswich |
Plymouth v Leeds | . |
Tuesday 3rd January | |
Hull v Sheffield Utd | . |
