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In the Championship - Leaks and more leaks
Nobody could make much sense out of him to be honest but the Legend of the Palace stepped in today to explain that it was something and nothing, just a couple of players talking to each other on the evening before the game, presumably swapping notes.
Most Leeds fans have got it down to two, or possibly three candidates, but far be it for me to divulge their names, I wouldn't want to spoil Wise's fun now would I?
As a matter of interest, they did beat Palace 2-1 and Robbie Blake scored the second goal for the home side. He's not the guilty party, he was believed to be checking the Saturday race cards at the time the crime of the century took place, and in any case Wise has spoken highly of him today.
Robbie wasn't the only former Burnley player to score a goal on Saturday, two of our former loan players scored in the same game at the Ricoh Arena as Coventry and Cardiff took a point apiece.
Pete Whittingham, not renowned for his goal prowess, got his second in successive games for Cardiff, to add to a penalty from the former Newcastle striker Michael Chopra, a penalty given away by Robert Page who was back in the side after some training ground fun with Michael Doyle.
With the home side looking set to lose, Dele Adebola headed in an equaliser. It doesn't look enough to get Heath the manager's job, Iain Dowie looks favourite to land the post with the former Burnley manager expected to leave the club.
I tipped West Brom for the title back in August, but until recently they've done very little to suggest I'd made the right choice. They dropped points on Saturday in the game of the day at home to Southampton, relying on a Kevin Phillips equaliser for that point. It was enough to take them into the top two though, their highest position all season.
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Both the West Midlands clubs had plenty to thank Wolves for. Yes that's right, West Brom thanking Wolves. That was because they went to Deepdale and outplayed Preston who had started the weekend in second place. Wolves won with an early goal from Seyi Olofinjana but it could have been more convincing.
Preston boss Paul Simpson said it was the worst they'd played all season and they were second best on the day. Preston also ended the game with ten men when referee Graham Laws sent off Kelvin Wilson six minutes from the end. Laws giving a decision against Preston at Deepdale, now that is novel.
The fake tanned Phil Brown went back to Pride Park with his Hull City side just over a year after he was sacked by Derby. He'd got little chance with the strugglers against the league leaders and a side that hadn't dropped a point since the turn of the year.
Twice he saw his Hull side go behind, the first of the Derby goals by Gary Teale following a superb run by Stephen Pearson, but twice he saw his new side fight back to equalise and earn themselves a point.
Andy Dawson got Hull's first with a superbly struck free kick that brought back memories of him doing just the same in an FA Cup replay for Scunthorpe against us. That turned into a fantastic night, not, when Stan Ternent lost it with the Burnley fans who didn't like him substituting Andy Payton, and then completely lost it with a steward who wouldn't let him in to see the referee. And we lost on penalties.
Hull drawing, Leeds winning, and on the Friday night fellow strugglers Southend had the biggest win of the weekend/. Steve Tilson's side have found form and they simply hammered a QPR side that had no fight, maybe they'd used it all up against the Chinese side during the week.
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I think they will go down, and I think Barnsley will go with them. They turned defending into a circus act at home against Colchester and could have been beaten by more than the 3-0 scoreline. It's no surprise to see them and QPR with the biggest number in the goals against column.
Ian Holloway wasn't a happy man after seeing his side beaten at home by RK Sunderland, and he asked the question why it was that little Plymouth couldn't get free kicks that Super Sunderland could. It's always been the same Ian, and it won't change.
He was asked after the game IF he thought Plymouth would have gone on and won if they had taken an early chance. He said he would have been a centre forward IF he had been two feet taller he would have been a centre forward.
Finally Leicester's win at Ipswich allowed us to move back up a place in the table. Former Lincoln defender Gareth McAuley got his first Leicester goal to give them the lead in the first half, and he got his second to complete the scoring after half time.
There isn't a full fixture list this weekend because of some clubs having FA Cup commitments, although one of them West Brom have brought their game at Colchester forward to tomorrow night.
That's one to test the Baggies, who have the best home record in the division, new found confidence away from home against the team with the second best home record in the division. The fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 9th February | |
Southend 5 QPR 0 | . |
Saturday 10th February | |
Barnsley 0 Colchester 3 | Leeds 2 Crystal Palace 1 |
Burnley 1 Sheffield Wed 1 | Luton v Norwich - Postponed |
Coventry 2 Cardiff 2 | Plymouth 0 RK Sunderland 2 |
Derby 2 Hull 2 | Preston 0 Wolves 1 |
Ipswich 0 Leicester 2 | West Brom 1 Southampton 1 |
Sunday 11th February | |
Birmingham 1 Stoke 0 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Southend 5-0 v QPR (home) |
Total goals scored | 29 |
Player scoring most goals | Kevin Maher (Southend) |
Highest Attendance | 28,140 - Derby v Hull |
Lowest Attendance | 10,217 - Southend v QPR |
Total Yellow Cards | 23 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | Coventry v Cardiff (5Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
18 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) |
17 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
15 | Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) |
14 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) |
13 | Steve Howard (Derby) |
12 | 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) Kenwyne Jones (Southampton) |
9 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) |
8 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Dexter Blackstock (QPR) David Connolly (RK Sunderland) 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 |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 51 | 4 | Luton | 43 | 4 |
| Birmingham | 55 | 5 | Norwich | 53 | 4 |
| Burnley | 55 | 7 | Plymouth | 71 | 3 |
| Cardiff | 46 | 6 | Preston | 51 | 4 |
| Colchester | 34 | 1 | QPR | 60 | 1 |
| Coventry | 66 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 58 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 37 | 1 | Southampton | 41 | 1 |
| Derby | 70 | 2 | Southend | 50 | 3 |
| Hull | 64 | 3 | Stoke | 55 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 84 | 5 | RK Sunderland | 44 | 4 |
| Leeds | 69 | 3 | West Brom | 79 | 3 |
| Leicester | 62 | 3 | Wolves | 47 | 4 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Tuesday 12th February | |
Colchester v West Brom | . |
Saturday 17th February | |
Cardiff v Leeds | Stoke v Luton |
Crystal Palace v Birmingham | RK Sunderland v Southend |
Leicester v Coventry | Wolves v Burnley |
Southampton v Barnsley | . |