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In the Championship – Leaders win again
Everything that could have gone against Wednesday did so, after dominating the first half they fell behind to a goal from a goalkeeping error by Mark Crossley and then, with the score at 2-0, they lost Crossley to injury having already made three substitutions. That left Lee Bullen in goal and he could do nothing about Cameron Jerome's last minute striker that gave the league leaders a very flattering victory.
Nothing much has changed at the top, with the top four all winning. Second place Derby made it eight wins out of nine with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace. The only goal of the game came midway through the first half when one loan player David Jones turned in a cross from another Arturo Lupoli. It's been an incredible run for the East Midlands club whose only defeat in that run came at West Brom. Hopefully they'll be suffering another defeat at the end of this week.
Preston have had something of a hiccup recently but they were back to winning ways on Saturday with a convincing victory over Plymouth. Brett Ormerod was on the scoresheet again. He's come into the side following an injury to Patrick Agyemang, and that's two goals in two games for him.
Plymouth didn't exactly make it difficult for them and manager Ian Holloway said his side were like an untethered horse. Maybe Holloway will be able to do something about his squad in January with news of a £5 million investment from some fans to boost his transfer kitty.
Southampton are in fourth place but they had to come from behind to beat what is now becoming a very poor Norwich side. New manager Peter Grant is struggling, he's already gone into blame everyone else mode, but for twenty minutes his side led 1-0 after a good goal from Robert Earnshaw. A Gareth Bale free kick just before half time levelled things and from then on there was only going to be one winner as the home side got on top in the second half.
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It was the home side who were the winners once the game got underway with Gavin Williams scoring the only goal of the game. Leeds had Kevin Nicholls sent off, a decision that Wise didn't agree with, but they won't be appealing. That's just one point from four games now for the struggling Yorkshire outfit who dropped to next to bottom with Hull's sensational win over Cardiff.
Cardiff are not in good form, they haven't beaten anyone since their very fortunate win against the Clarets, but I don't think anyone could have expected them to go down heavily at the KC Stadium against a Hull side whose recent record is even worse.
Incredibly the Tigers, playing in front of a £5 admission full house, were 2-0 up after nine minutes. It was really their day, they were 3-0 up at half time and even though Michael Chopra, the one who used to play for Newcastle, pulled one back for his first goal in six weeks, Hull got another from a rare Michael Bridges goal.
It should have been five as well, Hull won a penalty after a Darren Purse foul but Steve McPhee looked more intent on getting on Soccer AM's showboat than scoring and his dinked effort came back off the bar only for him to fail to make contact with a flashy overhead kick effort. He could live to regret that if they go down on goal difference at the end of the season.
Hull were hoping to install Iain Dowie as manager but it must not have been far enough north for him and he's turned it down. Will the fake tanned Phil Brown get it after this result? Maybe, but the exciting Gary Megson is waiting in the wings.
Southend remain bottom but came so very close to climbing off for a few hours on Friday night. They drew 0-0 at Luton but deep into stoppage time Freddy Eastwood broke clear and took the ball round goalkeeper Dean Kiely only to then shoot against the foot of the post. He'd hit the woodwork earlier in the second half with a stunning strike from distance and the Shrimpers were perhaps unfortunate not to take all three points.
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Diomansy Kamara got two goals in that game, just as Kyle Lafferty had done for the Clarets, and there was one more player to grab a brace, Colchester's Jamie Cureton. There's no stopping them right now and they soon brought Stoke's run without conceding a goal to an end. Stephen Hughes scored in the 64th minute for Leicester against Stoke in a recent game. Since then Stoke have kept seven clean sheets, but Cureton's first came in the first two minutes of the game.
When he got a second fifteen minutes later the home side were very fortunate to still be in front. Stoke equalised with a Mamady Sidibe goal only to see it ridiculously ruled out for offside. Assistant David Bushell flagged despite a Colchester clearance hitting one of their own players and dropping for a Stoke player. Referee Wright was close to the incident but backed his assistant and ruled it out. It was Bushell's last piece of action, shortly afterwards he was stretchered off after appearing to tear his hamstring.
Stoke had been the better side in the first half, but trailed to those two Cureton goals, but the home side were very much on top after the break and in the end fully deserved the win that has seen them move into the top six.
Last week Elvis Hammond and Levi Porter, scored the goals that saw Leicester return to winning ways at Wolves. The two of them were on the scoresheet again as they beat Barnsley in front of a crowd of over 30,000. It was enough to move them eight points clear of the relegation places but leaves Barnsley, who would have leapfrogged Leicester with a win, one place above the drop zone. This was Barnsley's first defeat since Simon Davey took temporary charge of the side following the departure of Andy Ritchie.
Finally to Wolves, who with Coventry have scored the least number of goals in the division. They recorded their tenth league win of the season against a QPR side who are now, according to manager John Gregory, playing for their futures. This was the eighth 1-0 win in those ten and the goal this time came from 20 year old Michael Kightly who scored his first ever Football League goal. He recently joined Wolves on loan from Conference side Grays and this was just his second game for the Molineux club.
The Legend comes up against RK Sunderland on Friday whilst all the other fixtures will be played on Saturday. They include a clash between two teams in the play off positions, Preston and Colchester, at Deepdale whilst there'll be a big Yorkshire relegation battle at Elland Road as Leeds take on a rejuvenated Hull. The weekend fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 15th December | |
Luton 0 Southend 0 | . |
Saturday 16th December | |
Burnley 2 RK Sunderland 2 | Preston 3 Plymouth 0 |
Colchester 3 Stoke 0 | QPR 0 Wolves 1 |
Derby 1 Crystal Palace 0 | Sheffield Wed 0 Birmingham 3 |
Hull 4 Cardiff 1 | Southampton 2 Norwich 1 |
Ipswich 1 Leeds 0 | West Brom 5 Coventry 0 |
Leicester 2 Barnsley 0 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | West Brom 5-0 v Coventry (home) |
Total goals scored | 31 |
Player scoring most goals | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) |
Highest Attendance | 30,457 - Leicester v Barnsley |
Lowest Attendance | 5,345 - Colchester v Stoke |
Total Yellow Cards | 38 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Ipswich v Leeds (6Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
14 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) Grzegorz Rasiak (Soouthampton) |
12 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) Jamie Cureton (Colchester) |
11 | Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) |
10 | Andy Gray (Burnley) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
9 | Alan Lee (Ipswich) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
8 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Steve Howard (Derby) |
7 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Iain Hume (Leicester) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
6 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Carlos Edwards (Luton) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Kenwyne Jones (Southampton) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Jon Parkin (Hull) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) |
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 |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 33 | 4 | Luton | 22 | 3 |
| Birmingham | 48 | 4 | Norwich | 39 | 3 |
| Burnley | 40 | 6 | Plymouth | 41 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 33 | 5 | Preston | 38 | 2 |
| Colchester | 25 | 1 | QPR | 42 | 0 |
| Coventry | 44 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 39 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 30 | 0 | Southampton | 33 | 0 |
| Derby | 51 | 2 | Southend | 38 | 2 |
| Hull | 44 | 2 | Stoke | 38 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 65 | 3 | RK Sunderland | 36 | 3 |
| Leeds | 54 | 3 | West Brom | 57 | 2 |
| Leicester | 46 | 3 | Wolves | 31 | 2 |
This Week's Fixtures | |
Friday 22nd December | |
Crystal Palace v RK Sunderland | . |
Saturday 23rd December | |
Burnley v Derby | Preston v Colchester |
Ipswich v Stoke | QPR v Barnsley |
Leeds v Hull | Sheffield Wed v Southampton |
Leicester v Cardiff | Southend v Birmingham |
Luton v Coventry | Wolves v Norwich |
Plymouth v West Bom | . |