|
In the Championship - Gap is closing
West Brom though, the only team with a better home record, are in such good form, and they turned in another excellent performance to go second in the table. Two goals in a minute early in the second half from Paul McShane and Diomansy Kamara were enough to win it although Colchester did pull one back.
They weren't second for long, only until Saturday afternoon when Birmingham won at Crystal Palace. Steve Bruce received a hostile reception but he was the one smiling at the end after his Birmingham side had outplayed Palace and won it with a goal from Cameron Jerome. Palace thought that they might have had a penalty but what a refreshing response from the Legend of the Palace who admitted that he thought referee Steve Tanner had got it right.
Managers praising referees, it is good to hear, but it certainly wasn't what happened at Ninian Park on Saturday as Mark Clattenburg came under attack from Dave Jones after Cardiff had beaten Leeds 1-0.
Michael Chopra scored the only goal of the game with, from a free kick outside the box. In case you weren't aware Michael Chopra used to play for Newcastle, but he wasn't playing for Cardiff for much longer, he was sent off for use of an elbow.
I thought it looked harsh to be fair, I wasn't convinced the former Newcastle striker had done it deliberately, but if that was harsh the dismissal of Simon Walton near the end was pure farce. I watched it, and watched it, and couldn't work out what he was supposed to have done. He went down in a challenge that looked something and nothing but incredibly it turns out Clattenburg has given him a second yellow card for diving.
The referee has now said it was a mistake but as it is a second yellow, nothing can be done and Walton will be suspended. Cardiff's Kevin McNaughton said after the game: "They were shocking decisions, I don't know why they were sent off."
|
It was a bad day for Clattenburg, but up at the Windy City there can be little criticism of another referee who sent off two players during a somewhat heated first half. First to go was Stoke's devout diver Ricardo Fuller. We've seen both sides of this idiot at Burnley and the nasty side of him surfaced again as he pushed Luton's Sol Davis in the face. Incredibly this was going on in the Luton penalty box whilst Stoke were getting in a shot.
Referee Trevor Kettle had no alternative but to send him off and that lands the player a four match ban. It apparently continued out of view in the tunnel area later although there was no footage of that.
Luton only had a player advantage for eight minutes when Davis himself got his marching orders. Some will say it was harsh, he did actually win the ball in the challenge, but he could have ripped Mamady Sidibe's leg in two as he charged in.
I for one think Kettle got this one absolutely right, although his explanation that Davis used excessive speed and pace is strange. Luton have appealed, they have cited the behaviour of Liam Lawrence as influencing the decision. I don't think they should win this appeal.
Barnsley were another side to finish the game a man down, but the cameras didn't see it so it isn't possible to comment. And because the cameras didn't pick it up it means Barnsley are not able to appeal, although they are far from happy with the decision and Mike Thorpe's overall performance. Join the club Barnsley.
Barnsley led 1-0, and were level at 2-2, but there were some bizarre decisions that went in favour of the home club, including the first of their penalties, and they were easy winners in the end. Andrew Surman scored his first goal of the season for the Saints, and his second, and his third, and became the eighth player to score a Championship hat trick this season.
|
The home side were two up after less than a quarter of an hour with goals from Tobias Hysen and David Connolly, and wrapped it up with two in two minutes from recent signing Stern John to record their third consecutive victory and their biggest win of the season.
Finally, Adrian Heath's time at Coventry was all over before half past three on Saturday as his side went 3-0 down to a Leicester side who were celebrating the arrival of new owner Milan Mandaric. He'd been in charge for just about a month but as previously reported he left the club yesterday ahead of the appointment of Iain Dowie this morning.
With the cup out of the way it is back to league action for all the clubs this week, and a full midweek fixture list. There are some big games and none more than the two facing RK Sunderland. They travel to Birmingham tomorrow and then play host to Derby on Saturday.
Sky wanted the game against Derby to be switched for live screening but RK Sunderland Chairman Niall Quinn said no, that he wanted the game played at 3:00 p.m. on the Saturday for his fans to be supporting them inside the stadium and not from pubs watching on a big screen.
The full fixtures for this week are shown below, after the stats:
The Weekend Results | |
Tuesday 12th February | |
Colchester 1 West Brom 2 | . |
Saturday 17th February | |
Cardiff 1 Leeds 0 | Stoke 0 Luton 0 |
Crystal Palace 0 Birmingham 1 | RK Sunderland 4 Southend 0 |
Leicester 3 Coventry 0 | Wolves 2 Burnley 1 |
Southampton 5 Barnsley 2 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | RK Sunderland 4-0 v Southend (home) |
Total goals scored | 22 |
Player scoring most goals | 3 - Andrew Surman (Southampton) |
Highest Attendance | 33,576 - RK Sunderland v Southend |
Lowest Attendance | 5,611 - Colchester v West Brom |
Total Yellow Cards | 31 |
Total Red Cards | 5 |
Most cards in a game | Cardiff v Leeds (6Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
19 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) |
18 | Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
17 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
15 | Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) |
14 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) |
13 | Steve Howard (Derby) |
12 | Kenwyne Jones (Southampton) David Nugent (Preston) Rowan Vine (Birmingham) - all 12 goals with Luton |
11 | Alan Lee (Ipswich) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) |
10 | Andy Gray (Burnley) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) |
9 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) David Connolly (RK Sunderland) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) |
8 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Carlos Edwards (RK Sunderland) - 6 with Luton Brian Howard (Barnsley) Iain Hume (Leicester) |
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 |
27h Jan | 3 - Michael Chopra - CARDIFF v Leicester |
17th Feb | 3 - Andrew Surman - SOUTHAMPTON v Barnsley |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 56 | 5 | Luton | 45 | 5 |
| Birmingham | 56 | 5 | Norwich | 55 | 4 |
| Burnley | 57 | 7 | Plymouth | 73 | 3 |
| Cardiff | 49 | 8 | Preston | 52 | 4 |
| Colchester | 35 | 1 | QPR | 60 | 1 |
| Coventry | 68 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 58 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 38 | 1 | Southampton | 42 | 1 |
| Derby | 72 | 3 | Southend | 53 | 3 |
| Hull | 64 | 3 | Stoke | 59 | 3 |
| Ipswich | 85 | 6 | RK Sunderland | 45 | 4 |
| Leeds | 72 | 3 | West Brom | 82 | 4 |
| Leicester | 62 | 3 | Wolves | 47 | 4 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Tuesday 20th February | |
Barnsley v Hull | Luton v Sheffield Wed |
Birmingham v RK Sunderland | Plymouth v Colchester |
Burnley v Leicester | Preston v Norwich |
Coventry v Southampton | Southend v Crystal Palace |
Ipswich v Wolves | West Brom v Cardiff |
Leeds v QPR | . |
Wednesday 21st February | |
Derby v Stoke | . |
Friday 23rd February | |
Cardiff v Preston | . |
Saturday 24th February | |
Colchester v Burnley | QPR v Plymouth |
Crystal Palace v Luton | Sheffield Wed v Southend |
Hull v Birmingham | Southampton v Ipswich |
Leicester v West Brom | RK Sunderland v Derby |
Norwich v Coventry | Wolves v Leeds |
Monday 26th February | |
Stoke v Barnsley | . |