In the Championship – Ipswich catch up

Darren Bent - his winning goal against Leeds saw Ipswich catch leaders Wigan

That means four defeats in five games for sorry Leeds who learned on Friday that Elland Road had been sold rather than become a Sainsburys. There appears to be no truth though in the rumour that the team coach was sold down in Ipswich leaving the players to walk home.

Down in west London it took a late goal by Paul Furlong to win the big game against Wigan 1-0. After a seventeen game unbeaten run they have now lost the last two and suddenly the goals are not coming from Nathan Ellington and Jason Roberts.

The team have failed to score in both defeats and neither of the two strikers have scored in the last four games. You have to go back seven games to find the last Roberts goal.

Reading are keeping right on the tails of the top two and currently sit just a couple of points behind them. Alongside Ipswich they have the best home record in the division.

The latest win came without the services of Glen Little who was ruled out yet again with a hamstring injury. This time Glen did it going upstairs at home on Saturday morning. They were two up by half time and the final scoreline of 2-1 was flattering for Cardiff who pulled one back late in the game.

Sunderland’s win at Leicester could well be one mistake too many for Foxes’ goalkeeper Kevin Pressman. He was brought in to replace Danny Coyne in the summer and has stepped into the side in place of the injured Ian Walker.

He managed to concede a goal to Preston keeper Andy Lonergan a few weeks ago but the new manager Craig Levein looks to be less forgiving than Micky Adams and after allowing Sunderland’s Stephen Caldwell to score on Saturday Levein said he would act this week.

Ipswich, QPR and Sunderland, as well as Burnley, all won 1-0 and there were two more 1-0 results in the division on Saturday.

Gifton Noel-Wiliams - his first goal since August

Brighton were the other team to win 1-0 and a shock win it was against West Ham at the Boleyn Ground. Former Gillingham defender Guy Butters headed in the only goal of the game that ended with each team down to ten men,

Hayden Mullins reacted angrily to a bad challenge by Brighton’s Adam Virgo and all hell broke loose with half the players getting involved. Both of them were sent off by referee Paul Armstrong.

Keep an eye on Derby. They ended a poor run of results at the Turf recently but have gone on and picked up thirteen points from the last five games and climbed to seventh place. They are only two points behind the play offs now and they could soon find themselves in the top six if they continue playing the way they are.

They won 2-0 at Gillingham on Saturday and won with ease against the side third from the bottom. They are worrying times for the Gills, one win in thirteen has dumped them down in the bottom three along with Forest and Rotherham and the gap between them and the side above, Crewe, is now four points.

I think the bookies will have stopped taking bets on Rotherham going down. It is not so long ago they couldn’t score a goal but they went in front again this week in their home game against Wolves through Martin McIntosh.

They led until the last twenty minutes but then two Wolves goals saw them still looking for a first win of the season.

It really is desperate for the Millers, their 84-year-old Chairman is still trying to sell the club and already twelve points from safety they are beginning to look doomed. No player, other than Paul Shaw who is back at Sheffield United, has scored more than one goal this season and there will have to be a massive turn around if they are to survive.

Patrick Agyemang - set to join Preston

No, it isn’t a joke, they really are paying that much for Agyemang. The deal should go through today once he has passed a medical. That is unless he does a Scott Dobie/Ian Hume/Chris Sedgwick and decides the grass isn’t greener at Deepdale.

Having won at Wigan last week, Plymouth went down to a 2-1 defeat against Coventry. Stephen Hughes and Graham Barrett had the Sky Blues two up inside the first quarter of an hour.

Plymouth played well, they were the better side, but were unable to recover from that start and could only pull one back through Micky Evans just after half time.

That leaves Sheffield United and the under pressure Neil Warnock. One of their Hillsborough gang Alan Quinn gave them the lead but they had to settle for a point after Watford equalised with a goal form Brynjar Gunarsson.

The natives are restless down at beautiful downtown Bramall Lane, three wins in ten home games is hardly the sort of form that is going to see them challenging for promotion. Long may it last.

With Agyemang’s move not yet complete there were just three signings by clubs in our division this week and the first of those was Gary Cahill’s arrival at Turf Moor on loan from Aston Villa.

Having snubbed North End, Scott Dobie went south and signed for Millwall for an initial £500,000 and then the objectionable Steve Claridge, recently sacked at Weymouth, joined Mark McGhee at Brighton.

The 38-year-old’s last league club was Millwall and McGhee was manager there at the time. He made his debut in the win at West Ham and his home debut comes against us next Saturday at the delightful Withdean Stadium.

Claridge against us, if we really needed one there’s another reason for wanting to win. Maybe we can borrow Arthur from QPR to wind him up again.

There’s a full fixture list next weekend, beginning on Friday when Cardiff take on Preston at pleasant Ninian Park.