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In the Championship – It is raining down south
A day later, further east along the south coast, Southampton’s home game against Crystal Palace was called off just under three hours before kick off with St Mary’s waterlogged. This time the referee was Andre Marriner and in a week when one referee has dominated for the wrong reasons it has to be said that, judging from the television pictures, both Woolmer and Marriner got it completely right.
For those who did play it was good news for the top two again as both had resounding home wins. Sheffield United looked to have the toughest of games against third placed Luton but after a difficult start they won it convincingly with Phil Jagielka, now successfully converted into a midfield player, scoring twice.
The Blades got no assistance from their city neighbours Wednesday who travelled to Reading. Manager Paul Sturrock though they had played well but came up against a side in top form in Reading. The first of the two goals was an own goal but the ginger haired (we had to mention this) Dave Kitson got the second after a great run from the very much in form Glen Little. Kitson is not happy about comments on his hair – I suggest that if he stopped all the cheating and diving then it might just not be noticed quite so much.
If Glen was in form there were two former Clarets far from that as Leeds went down to a 1-0 defeat at Crewe courtesy of an early Paul Butler own goal. Ian Moore, Kevin Blackwell’s fifteen goals per season striker, was amazingly preferred to Robbie in the starting line up but his only real contribution was to place a clear chance straight into the hands of goalkeeper Ben Williams.
He’s still looking for his first Leeds goal and half way through the second half he was joined by substitute Blake but even Robbie couldn’t find a way through and missed the target with two good opportunities as Dario G’s boys held on to pull four points clear of bottom club Millwall.
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He broke clear on the right before scoring from a tight angle and within quarter of an hour both David Jones and Paul McKenna had scored from distance to give them a 3-0 win. It all made a change and for the first time this season Billy Davies wasn’t talking about how decisions had gone against them. The promotion favourites, according to Davies, can still be found behind us in the league.
When things aren’t going too well it is often said that you need a bit of luck, and Norwich got a slice of it bigger than anything Delia could serve up. With three consecutive defeats they were fortunate not to be behind again after Cardiff missed a couple of good chances but then came that slice of luck with just 13 minutes left.
A shot from the right was cleared by the Cardiff defender but the clearance hit goalkeeper Neil Alexander on the back of the head and into the net for the most bizarre own goal of the season so far.
There was no luck needed for Watford who turned in their best performance of the season to beat QPR at Vicarage Road. A goal from Matt Spring gave them a half time lead and in the last twenty minutes Anthony McNamee and Ashley Young both scored to take it to 3-0. It was deep into stoppage time when QPR pulled one back from Danny Shittu but they were well beaten. Ian Holloway was fuming and described his team’s performance as unprofessional and claimed they capitulated after the second goal.
There were goals galore at Derby as they drew 3-3 with Ipswich in a game where both sides led. Loan striker Dexter Blackstock got his first start for Derby with both Stern John and Mr. Karren Brady left out and he celebrated with two goals.
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Attendances are dropping at the Ricoh and performances are not much better although Coventry did get an early advantage against Stoke with a goal from Lilian Nalis. Stoke came back to win it and the home side left to a chorus of boos from the lowest crowd yet at the new stadium.
That just leaves Wolves and apparently they were in top form again without winning. It is three draws and three defeats in the last six games for Glenn Hoddle’s team and this time they had to come back from an Alex Frutos goal at Brighton. It was substitute Colin Cameron who got the point saving goal with just eight minutes to go.
Hoddle apparently would have kept Southampton up last season had the fans not prevented his return. It is looking increasingly likely that he won’t be taking Wolves up, despite them being one of the clear favourites before the season started. It is good listening to his regular excuses though, perhaps it is time to bring in his former colleague. Come on Eileen.
We’ve just got the weekend fixtures before it is rest time again for the internationals. The fixtures are listed below and I have resisted the temptation to change Crewe’s opponents to Millwall Reserves.
The Midweek Results | |
Tuesday 1st November | |
Brighton 1 Wolves 1 | Preston 3 Hull 0 |
Burnley 2 Millwall 1 | Reading 2 Sheffield Wed 0 |
Crewe 1 Leeds 0 | Sheffield Utd 4 Luton 0 |
Norwich 1 Cardiff 0 | Watford 3 QPR 1 |
Plymouth 1 Leicester 0 - abandoned | . |
Wednesday 2nd November | |
Coventry 1 Stoke 2 | Southampton v Crystal Palace - p'poned |
Derby 3 Ipswich 3 | . |
The Mideek Stats | |
Biggest win | Sheffield Utd 4-0 v Luton (home) |
Total goals scored | 29 |
Player scoring most goals | Dexter Blackstock (Derby) |
Highest Attendance | 23,838 - Norwich v Cardiff |
Lowest Attendance | 6,642 - Brighton v Wolves |
Total Yellow Cards | 25 |
Total Red Cards | 4 |
Most cards in a game | Burnley v Millwall (6Y 4R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
9 | Carl Cort (Wolves) Ashley Young (Watford) |
8 | Rob Hulse (Leeds) Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) |
7 | Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley) Marlon King (Watford) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) |
6 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Dean Ashton (Norwich) Mark de Vries (Leicester) Steve Howard (Luton) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) |
5 | David Healy (Leeds) Leroy Lita (Reading) Sam Parkin (Ipswich) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 29 | 0 | Millwall | 36 | 8 |
| Burnley | 30 | 2 | Norwich | 27 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 29 | 0 | Plymouth | 29 | 0 |
| Coventry | 37 | 3 | Preston | 31 | 2 |
| Crewe | 17 | 0 | QPR | 34 | 5 |
| Crystal Palace | 33 | 0 | Reading | 20 | 0 |
| Derby | 32 | 3 | Sheffield Utd | 24 | 0 |
| Hull | 21 | 2 | Sheffield Wed | 23 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 26 | 3 | Southampton | 34 | 2 |
| Leeds | 27 | 1 | Stoke | 26 | 5 |
| Leicester | 34 | 1 | Watford | 32 | 1 |
| Luton | 21 | 1 | Wolves | 20 | 1 |
The Weekend Fixtures | |
Saturday 5th November | |
Crystal Palace v Sheffield Utd | Millwall v Crewe |
Hull v Watford | QPR v Reading |
Ipswich v Plymouth | Sheffield Wed v Derby |
Leeds v Preston | Stoke v Brighton |
Leicester v Southampton | Wolves v Norwich |
Luton v Burnley | . |
Sunday 6th November | |
Cardiff v Coventry | . |