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In the Championship – New leaders
Last Updated : 04-Dec-2006 by
One person going nowhere is manager Steve Bruce. It's not that long since he was under some pressure but he kept his job because, according to him, the people running Birmingham City are intelligent people and realised what a good job he was doing.
They went top because neither Preston nor Cardiff were able to win games they were expected to. Preston have lost only once since August, Luton lose every week these days, so this was as good an away banker as you could find. Not so, Luton went in front through Rowan Vine after just two minutes and Preston looked a beaten side once Carlos Edwards added a second.
North End boss Paul Simpson admitted that it was a disappointing performance from his side and he was quick to point out that Luton had fully deserved their points. As for the somewhat eccentric Luton boss Mike Newell, he was far too busy reading Rudyard Kipling. He's been trying to get his players interested but they weren't too keen, although it is said most of the first team squad do make exceedingly good cakes.
It was the Cardiff fans who Dave Jones was targeting. A fourth successive game without a goal, they haven't scored since the game against the Clarets, left the home fans somewhat disappointed and they dared to voice that disapproval. That left Jones having a go at them although he might have been better trying to work out why Michael Chopra has started missing sitters instead of scoring goals. That's the Chopra who has played for Newcastle.
The match of the day was at West Brom but it almost ended goalless. It had everything, goalkeeping mistakes, fantastic saves, missed chances, shots hitting the woodwork, and finally it got a goal. The worst of the missed chances was from Kevin Phillips who somehow diverted a cross away from goal instead of hitting home, but fellow striker John Hartson got the late winner for the Baggies.
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Southampton have climbed above us in the league, courtesy of a win at Hull. This was a game for defending, or should I say bad defending. Hull's was bad enough but having gone 2-0 in front Southampton lost the lead because of awful errors from Kelvin Davis and Kenwyne Jones.
Still Hull are not down there for nothing and they finally got more defending wrong than the Saints and made it nine goals conceded in four days. Chairman Adam Pearson had issued a warning following the game at Colchester the previous Tuesday and with this result you always thought manager Phil Pearson could be on the brink. That particular axe came down this morning and Phil Brown, the only man in football with a better fake tan than Simon Jordan, has been put in temporary charge.
Hull are closing in on the bottom but Southend are well and truly rooted to bottom place and even at this stage of the season they are looking very likely to be one of the relegated teams. They concede far too many goals, but they've stopped scoring now with only one goal in the last five games.
They lost this one against Wolves to a Jody Craddock goal, and it was Craddock's last piece of the action. He was involved in a collision with our old friend Efe Sodje as he scored and was stretchered off.
Leeds are with Hull and Southend in the bottom three but they were hard done to by an assistant referee against Barnsley. They twice trailed to Daniel Nardiello goals but they twice equalised with goals from their most recent signings Tresor Kandol and Ugo Ehiogu.
That was all in the first half, and Leeds thought they had won it in the second half when Matt Heath headed home from a right wing corner only for the assistant referee to flag for a non-existent foul on goalkeeper Scott Carson. It really was a poor decision, there was no foul whatsoever. If it wasn't Leeds, if it wasn't Dennis Wise then you would have some sympathy but it was Leeds, and it was Dennis Wise so there is none at all.
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Wednesday are well and truly moving up the table. It's all changed since Paul Sturrock left and under caretaker boss Sean McAuley and Laws they have won six and drawn two from nine games.
QPR should have been in front at Selhurst Park but missed two very good chances. The second miss from Marc Nygaard was as bad as the one Phillips had missed for West Brom. That was as good as it got for QPR, and in the end they were well beaten by Palace for whom Shefki Kuqi finally found some form.
Norwich, according to manager Peter Grant, were much the better side at the Stadium of Light against RK Sunderland, but they didn't get anything. Daryl Murphy won the game for the home side inside the last quarter of an hour. He took the ball on the edge of the box, turned well and hit a first time shot past Lee Camp. The keeper was in top form but had no chance of keeping it out.
Finally to Coventry and there wasn't a goal but it was no surprise to see the home side fail to score. Visitors Stoke have now kept six successive clean sheets, and these were the first points the Potteries side have dropped since losing at Leicester at the end of October. It leaves them just a point behind us and just outside the play offs. And that was with only four loan players in the side.
We've a blank midweek, but full fixtures this coming weekend with all but the game between Barnsley and West Brom being played on the Saturday. That game at Oakwell kicks off at 1:15 on Sunday.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 2nd December | |
Birmingham 3 Plymouth 0 | Leeds 2 Barnsley 2 |
Cardiff 0 Colchester 0 | Leicester 1 Sheffield Wed 4 |
Coventry 0 Stoke 0 | Luton 2 Preston 0 |
Crystal Palace 3 QPR 0 | Southend 0 Wolves 1 |
Hull 2 Southampton 4 | RK Sunderland 1 Norwich 0 |
Ipswich 1 Burnley 1 | West Brom 1 Derby 0 |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Sheffield Wed 4-1 v Leicester (away) |
Total goals scored | 28 |
Player scoring most goals | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) |
Highest Attendance | 27,934 - RK Sunderland v Norwich |
Lowest Attendance | 7,665- Luton v Preston |
Total Yellow Cards | 31 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Leicester v Sheffield Wed (6Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
13 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) Grzegorz Rasiak (Soouthampton) |
11 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) |
10 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Andy Gray (Burnley) |
9 | Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
8 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Steve Howard (Derby) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
7 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Iain Hume (Leicester) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
6 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Carlos Edwards (Luton) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Jon Parkin (Hull) |
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 |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 32 | 4 | Luton | 21 | 3 |
| Birmingham | 41 | 4 | Norwich | 36 | 3 |
| Burnley | 36 | 6 | Plymouth | 37 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 31 | 5 | Preston | 34 | 2 |
| Colchester | 24 | 1 | QPR | 41 | 0 |
| Coventry | 39 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 36 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 27 | 0 | Southampton | 31 | 0 |
| Derby | 47 | 2 | Southend | 37 | 2 |
| Hull | 41 | 2 | Stoke | 35 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 61 | 3 | RK Sunderland | 34 | 3 |
| Leeds | 48 | 2 | West Brom | 54 | 2 |
| Leicester | 42 | 3 | Wolves | 28 | 2 |
This Week's Fixtures | |
Saturday 9th December | |
Birmingham v Preston | Plymouth v Hull |
Cardiff v Ipswich | Southend v Southampton |
Coventry v Burnley | Stoke v QPR |
Crystal Palace v Colchester | RK Sunderland v Luton |
Leeds v Derby | Wolves v Leicester |
Norwich v Sheffield Wed | . |
Sunday 10th December | |
Barnsley v West Brom | . |
