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In the Championship – look who's won
They really are a club in crisis and a defeat at Rotherham was all they wanted after another day of public disagreements between Chairman Gerald Krasner and Sebastian Sainsbury.
For Ronnie Moore though it was a good night although it does still leave them some way behind the rest of the pack.
Nearest to them are Nottingham Forest who were involved in a real relegation six pointer at Gillingham where manager-cum-player-cum-director Andy Hessenthaler had the worst seat in the house – next to Paul Scally.
Ex-Claret Gareth Taylor gave Forest an early lead but the Gills got back into it with a fortuitous penalty and went on to win it with a Tommy Johnson goal. I still think Joe Kinnear will be on his way soon although maybe even Cardiff have seen sense now and decided to stick with Lennie Lawrence.
Things aren’t much better at Ninian Park though and they sit just above the bottom three after losing 1-0 at QPR where Danny Shittu scored the winner for the home side. He hasn’t been in the first team recently but Ian Holloway, hospitalised himself with a stomach illness, will have to manage without Arthur Gnohere for the rest of the season after he suffered a cruciate ligament injury.
Our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery go to both Holloway and King Arthur.
The win sees QPR in fifth place, not bad for one of the relegation favourites, and there has been a change right at the top with LBJ’s Ipswich taking over from Wigan after Shefki Kuqi gave them a 1-0 win over Brighton.
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The home side got themselves level right on half time when Lloyd Owusu headed in a superb cross from Glen Little. Watching that goal on television took you back a few years to when he did that on a regular basis for the Clarets.
Going back a few years, I’m sure we all remember winning 2-1 at Scunthorpe, when Glen got the winner, to clinch promotion to the then named Division One.
Two days later Sky covered the Leeds v Everton Premiership game live on their Monday night programme. Andy D’Urso sent off three players, and Nick Barmby equalised for Everton to give them a 1-1 draw.
But it is the Leeds goal that is relevant. It came after half an hour and was scored by striker Michael Bridges. Since then, the striker who was found by Jack Hixon and tipped for a glittering England career by the scout, has suffered a series of bad injuries.
He’s now back where he started, at Sunderland, and scored the only goal of the game at Stoke to give the Mackems three points. This was his first goal since that 1-1 draw at Elland Road in May 2000. No wonder he celebrated.
The ‘Pardew Out’ campaign was gaining momentum down at the Boleyn on Saturday even before kick off. A 2-0 lead for Watford really got it into gear.
Then it all changed as the Hammers came storming back. They were level by half time with goals from Nigel Reo-Coker and Darren Powell and just before the hour Sergi Rebrov got the winner.
Then it all changed as the Hammers came storming back. They were level by half time with goals from Nigel Reo-Coker and Darren Powell and just before the hour Sergi Rebrov got the winner.
All three players scored their first goals of the season, only former Franchise midfielder Reo-Coker had scored previously for West Ham.
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Wolves led twice but in the end were thankful for a Jolean Lescott goal three minutes from time to earn them the point.
Regarding the managerial situation at Wolves, there have been strong suggestions that the job is set to go to Sir Bobby Robson. Now I have huge respect for Robson, even more so having seen that wonderful BBC documentary about him last year.
But I’m not so sure I would be over happy if my club were considering appointing a 71-year-old as the next manager. Apparently two blokes called ‘Arry and Jim could still be in the reckoning.
Preston had the biggest win over the weekend, beating Derby 3-0. Graham Alexander got the first two, one of them from the penalty spot. Apparently they were easy winners against a Derby side who have now lost their last two games.
Coventry murdered Crewe at Highfield Road and did everything but score. In they end they lost it to a penalty from Dean Ashton. I think it is fair to call the penalty decision ridiculous. It doesn’t matter what angle you see it from you have to wonder just how on earth referee Taylor saw it as a penalty.
And to the last game where Leicester came for behind to record their third home win of the season. They went behind early to Plymouth but two goals in three second half minutes won it for them. The winner was Dion Dublin’s first goal at the Walkers Stadium since joining Leicester.
Bolton have given Derby their Blessing – well not actually given but loaned. Last Thursday Bolton’s Nigerian midfielder Blessing Kaku moved to Pride Park on loan.
At the beginning of the week there had been two money signings. Sunderland signed Stockport winger Andy Welsh for £15,000 and Preston paid Rotherham £400,000 for Chris Sedgwick.
To complete the transfers Jack Lester has gone back to Nottingham Forest after a season and a half away. He moved to Sheffield United on a free but had to pay £50,000 to get him back. It is rumoured that Neil Warnock now only has ten strikers to choose from and will be set to sign a few forwards very soon.
Burnley are off to Plymouth on Saturday and there’s a full fixture list as shown below where we have again shown the current average gates around the league:
The weekend results | |
Saturday 27th November | |
Burnley 1 Millwall 0 | QPR 1 Cardiff 0 |
Coventry 0 Crewe 1 | Reading 1 Wigan 1 |
Gillingham 2 Nott'm Forest 1 | Sheffield Utd 3 Wolves 3 |
Ipswich 1 Brighton 0 | Stoke 0 Sunderland 1 |
Leicester 2 Plymouth 1 | West Ham 3 Watford 2 |
Preston 3 Derby 0 | . |
Monday 29th November | |
Rotherham 1 Leeds 0 | . |
The week's stats | |
Biggest win | Preston 3-0 v Derby (home) |
Total goals scored | 28 |
Player scoring most goals | 2 - Graham Alexander (Preston) |
Highest Attendance | 26,269 - Ipswich v Brighton |
Lowest Attendance | 8,784 - Gillingham v Nott'm Forest |
Total Yellow Cards | 26 |
Total Red Cards | 0 |
Most cards in a game | 5 - Ipswich v Brighton |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
12 | Dean Ashton (Crewe) Dave Kitson (Reading) |
11 | Natham Ellington (Wigan) Paul Furlong (QPR) |
10 | Jason Roberts (Wigan) |
9 | Darren Bent (Ipswich) Shefki Kuqi (Ipswich) Danny Webber (Watford) |
8 | Robbie Blake (Burnley) Richard Cresswell (Preston) Stephen Elliott (Sunderland) David Healy (Leeds) - 5 with Preston Kenny Miller (Wolves) |
7 | Marlon Harewood (West Ham) Heidar Helguson (Watford) Paul Shaw (Sheff Utd) - 2 with Rotherham Teddy Sheringham (West Ham) |
6 | Carl Cort (Wolves) Steve Jones (Crewe) Andy Morrell (Coventry) Marcus Stewart (Sunderland) |
Average Attendances (league only) | |||
Avge | Club | High | Low |
28,338 | Leeds | 31,808 | 24,585 |
27,131 | Wolves | 28,397 | 26,115 |
26,976 | West Ham | 31,365 | 22,119 |
25,743 | Sunderland | 31,723 | 22,341 |
24,119 | Derby | 26,650 | 22,096 |
23,941 | Ipswich | 29,955 | 21,246 |
23,608 | Leicester | 30,231 | 21,249 |
22,479 | Nottingham Forest | 25,615 | 20,109 |
19,340 | Sheffield United | 22,959 | 16,337 |
17,290 | Stoke | 23,029 | 13,234 |
16,759 | Plymouth | 20,555 | 13,665 |
15,538 | QPR | 18,363 | 13,804 |
15,715 | Reading | 22,230 | 11,404 |
14,410 | Coventry | 18,054 | 11,966 |
13,914 | Watford | 17,780 | 11,161 |
12,921 | Cardiff | 17,006 | 10,606 |
12,503 | Burnley | 16,956 | 10,919 |
12,392 | Preston | 18,531 | 10,339 |
11,247 | Millwall | 15,025 | 9,132 |
9,648 | Wigan | 12,035 | 7,547 |
8,028 | Gillingham | 10,739 | 6,089 |
7,030 | Crewe | 9,095 | 5,682 |
6,368 | Brighton | 6,804 | 5,996 |
5,923 | Rotherham | 8,860 | 4,498 |
This week's fixtures | |
Tuesday 30th November | |
Crewe v Millwall | . |
Saturday 4th December | |
Brighton v Rotherham | Nott'm Forest v QPR |
Cardiff v Gillingham | Plymouth v Burnley |
Crewe v Ipswich | Sunderland v West Ham |
Derby v Coventry | Watford v Stoke |
Leeds v Leicester | Wolves v Reading |
Millwall v Sheffield Utd | . |
Sunday 5th December | |
Wigan v Preston | . |