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In the Championship – Laugh a minute at Leeds
They followed up their midweek hammering at the hands of Stoke with another pasting at Luton, this time going down by five goals to one. Without taking anything away from Luton, who have now moved to fifth in the table, it was such a poor performance that caretaker boss John Carver said in a television interview that he was embarrassed and that it should be his players facing the cameras.
It certainly won't be Carver next time the film crews arrive, he was the latest to be pushed out of the door yesterday with news that the obnoxious Dennis Wise is set to move in to replace him.
Bates, Wise, Leeds – yes I think that looks a very good combination, and as someone said yesterday it would complete the set if someone like Kevin Muscat could come back and take the captain's arm band.
They are next to bottom in the league, their former top man Peter Ridsdale is now looking down on them from the top after taking over as Chairman of Cardiff City with Sam Hammam having been forced out. The man who started the decline of Wimbledon with his private purchase of Plough Lane was smiling and said he'd done it for the good of the club, suggestions are that he had little option.
Cardiff have been a well run club, so much so that they scrounged money from the PFA when they couldn't pay the wages, and then set off on a buying spree that most clubs in our division couldn't compete with. It's taken them to the top of the league, but with massive debts, and only time will tell as to whether this new consortium, due at the end of the year, will sort things out.
New Chairman Ridsdale, without his goldfish we are told, sat in Delia's box on Saturday at Carrow Road. But he wasn't smiling as much as Barry Kilby had done during the Canaries last home game. An early goal from their training ground fighter Dickson Etuhu was enough to beat the leaders, and give new boss Peter Grant his second win in four days.
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The result has reduced the Welsh club's lead at the top to three points with our local rivals, and visitors on Friday, Preston collecting another three points with what was a very scrappy 2-1 win against Hull City.
Just as we had done a week earlier, Preston went into an early lead against the Tigers. It's been a bit like a bus service at Deepdale and Danny Dichio. They have waited over fifteen months for his first league goal and then three have all come at once. He scored last time out at home against RK Sunderland and then scored both in this victory.
RK Sunderland looked as though they might be set for another disappointing result at the weekend with hardly defensively sound Barnsley holding them to 0-0 until eight minutes from the end. Dean Whitehead finally broke the deadlock before Chris Brown added a second to give them just their second win in six games.
There were protests at Hillsborough, directed at Chairman Dave Allen following the dismissal of Paul Sturrock. It's not often a manager gets that sort of support when the team are struggling but Sturrock was popular with the Wednesdayites. Those fans have been told though in no uncertain terms that they are damaging the club, yes the fans and not the crazy chairman who sacks managers at the rate of almost one per year.
It was predictable that they would go out and win with academy manager Sean McAuley in charge, but they nearly let it slip. They were 2-0 up at half time with two goals from Marcus Tudgay, his first goals of the season, but two in four minutes from Dexter Blackstock brought QPR level.
A penalty won it for Sheffield Wednesday, and QPR goalkeeper Paul Jones can think himself very fortunate not to have been sent off in the incident. Somehow referee Hill allowed him to stay on after he had brought down Steven MacLean, but MacLean got the last laugh by converting the penalty. It was the other goalkeeper Jones, Brad for Sheffield Wednesday, who suffered most. He was pelted with coins by his own supporters.
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One new manager in the West Midlands, but the longest serving boss in the Championship appears to be on the brink. Things haven't been going too well for Steve Bruce at Birmingham but he got that little bit of luck needed on Saturday when they visited Derby.
It looked all set to end in stalemate until Stephen Clemence's late shot took a deflection and looped in over our former loan keeper Lee Grant. The result takes Birmingham to eighth in the table, and probably gives Bruce a couple of weeks grace.
Stoke had won two games in the previous seven days but they were licked by Licka when they went to Southampton. The Saints hadn't picked up a point since their win at Burnley, but that run of defeats came to an end when Mario Licka scored his first goal for the clubs since his big move from Banik Ostrava in the summer. He'd been out injured until mid-September but has now won himself a regular place in the side.
Last time out on the road, Palace looked set for a 1-0 win at Hull before conceding a late equaliser. This time it was to another of the Legend's old clubs Leicester City and the Palace boss got a hostile reception from the home fans from beginning to end.
Again he saw his side go a goal up, a first this season for Tom Soares, but again he saw the home side earn a point with an equaliser, and this is one he'll be upset with. It came from an Iain Hume penalty but the decision to award the spot kick was a bad one by Preston referee Salisbury.
Southend got back to normal service after their clean sheet at Burnley, they conceded three goals, this time to Ipswich. They were never in the game once youngster Billy Clarke had given the Tractor boys the lead. It's the fourth time in five games that Southend have conceded three goals and they remain squeezed between the four Yorkshire clubs at the bottom of the league.
That leaves Coventry and Colchester and it was the Sky Blues who picked up the last points of the weekend with a 2-1 win last night. Colchester's late goal made the scoreline look closer. Coventry, including late loan signings Richard Duffy and Clive Clarke, had been the better side.
The weekend gets under way at the Turf on Friday for the Lancashire derby in front of the television cameras. The full fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 21st October | |
Derby 0 Birmingham 1 | Preston 2 Hull 1 |
Leicester 1 Crystal Palace 1 | Sheffield Wed 3 QPR 2 |
Luton 5 Leeds 1 | Southampton 1 Stoke 0 |
Norwich 1 Cardiff 0 | Southend 1 Ipswich 3 |
Plymouth 0 Burnley 0 | Sunderland 2 Barnsley 0 |
Sunday 22nd October | |
West Brom 3 Wolves 0 | . |
Monday 23rd October | |
Coventry 2 Colchester 1 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Luton 5-1 v Leeds (home) |
Total goals scored | 31 |
Player scoring most goals | Dexter Blackstock (QPR) |
Highest Attendance | 28,762 - Leicester v Crystal Palace |
Lowest Attendance | 10,260 - Luton v Leeds |
Total Yellow Cards | 50 |
Total Red Cards | 2 |
Most cards in a game | Southampton v Stoke (9Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
9 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
8 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
7 | Micahel Chopra (Cardiff) |
6 | Andy Gray (Burnley) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
5 | Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Carlos Edwards (Luton) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Iain Hume (Leicester) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Jon Parkin (Hull) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) Mark Richards (Barnsley) |
4 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Jay Bothroyd (Wolves) DJ Campbell (Birmingham) Paul Hayes (Barnsley) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Steve Howard (Derby) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Stern John (Coventry) Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley) Martin Rowlands (QPR) Riccardo Scimeca (Cardiff) Simon Whaley (Preston) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
14th Oct | Kevin Phillips - Ipswich v WEST BROM |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 20 | 3 | Luton | 15 | 2 |
| Birmingham | 23 | 4 | Norwich | 23 | 2 |
| Burnley | 17 | 3 | Plymouth | 26 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 20 | 3 | Preston | 25 | 2 |
| Colchester | 15 | 0 | QPR | 27 | 0 |
| Coventry | 22 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 21 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 15 | 0 | Southampton | 24 | 0 |
| Derby | 34 | 2 | Southend | 19 | 0 |
| Hull | 30 | 1 | Stoke | 26 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 41 | 1 | RK Sunderland | 23 | 2 |
| Leeds | 30 | 1 | West Brom | 36 | 1 |
| Leicester | 20 | 1 | Wolves | 22 | 2 |
This Weekend Fixtures | |
Friday 27th October | |
Burnley v Preston | . |
Saturday 28th October | |
Barnsley v Coventry | Hull v RK Sunderland |
Birmingham v West Brom | Leeds v Southend |
Cardiff v Derby | QPR v Leicester |
Colchester v Southampton | Stoke v Norwich |
Crystal Palace v Plymouth | Wolves v Sheffield Wed |
Sunday 29th October | |
Ipswich v Luton | . |