In the Championship – No change at the top

On paper Sheffield United had the easier task but things don’t ever work out quite like that in local derbies. The last time they played Wednesday was in 2003 and they had to fight back from a goal down at half time to win it 3-1. The scorer of that Wednesday goal was Alan Quinn and he was on the mark again this time, scoring the only goal of the game but for United.

He and Leigh Bromby became the first players in years to play for both Sheffield teams in derbies when they lined up for the Blades on Saturday, and Quinn has become the first ever player to score for both clubs in derbies with this winning goal.

Further up the M1, Leeds have moved into third place but they have to count themselves very fortunate with the winning goal, scored by Matthew Kilgallon, clearly offside. He deflected in a Robbie Blake shot but Leicester were incensed, and rightly so, when the offside flag didn’t go up.

It was all too much for Patrick McCarthy who was initially yellow carded for his protests and then shown a red card when he went back for another go at the assistant. It came just four minutes after Leicester had got themselves back into the game with a penalty given away by Rob Hulse.

The arguments were nothing compared to the chaos at Stoke after they had been beaten 2-1 at home by Queens Park Rangers. As the players made their way to the tunnel, QPR keeper Simon Royce, who was at the other end, was attacked by a Stoke fan.

Incredibly Royce was left to battle alone for far too long before any stewards arrived and eventually we had a free for all as players, coaches joined in. More incredibly there was not one police officer in sight from the pictures shown on television.

Callum Davidson - three goals in three games

It overshadowed everything else, in particular a sixth defeat in eight home games for Stoke where things are still not what they should be. Manager Johan Boskamp refuses to speak to Director of Football John Rudge and won’t even refer to him by name. Chief Executive, Imposter Tony Scholes admitted it was an uneasy truce. Someone will have to leave Stoke soon to resolve this and the good money is still on Boskamp making an early departure.

Dario G thought his Crewe side had not done too badly at the Turf last week so you can imagine just how bad they were against Preston on Saturday when he admitted they hadn’t played well.

Callum Davidson, who hardly ever scores goals, got his third in three games for North End who run out comfortable winners. Billy Davies, who was unable to find anything to moan about, said the performance was magnificent.

Millwall were almost off the bottom of the league this weekend, but not quite. It’s been a bad few weeks for Ben May and since he returned from suspension he’s put through his own goal in stoppage time and missed a penalty. This week he gave his side a 1-0 lead at Palace but for the second week running they conceded in time added on when a win would have seen them climb two places.

Managers don’t like to have to make substitutions too early so it must have been a nightmare for Coventry boss Micky Adams on Saturday. Defender Matt Heath was off the field receiving treatment when Plymouth took the lead at the Ricoh Arena with 25 minutes gone and three minutes later he, and two other Coventry players all had to be replaced because of injury.

A triple substitution with less than half an hour gone is not the best but it brought about a change in fortune and when Gary McSheffrey scored four minutes into the second half it completed a 3-1 win for the home side.

It was the second goal that will be remembered though, and it was surely the best goal in the Championship this weekend. It came from Don Hutchison, who is currently on loan from Millwall. He beat a defender before hitting his shot into the corner giving the Plymouth keeper no chance.

Darren Purse - sent off in the defeat at Hull

I don’t often have much sympathy for the legend in his own mind Peter Taylor but it was a ridiculous state of affairs that saw him without his goalkeeper Boaz Myhill in the home game against Cardiff.

Myhill was wrongly sent off last week for handling the ball outside the box, it just so happened it was inside the box, but the appeal was incredibly rejected which left him suspended. This week though they benefited from a red card with Cardiff’s Darren Purse sent off and they went on to win the game 2-0 against the in form Welsh side. It couldn’t have been a surprise to see Purse go, the last time he went through a season without a red card was as far back as 1998/99.

The pressure is still on Nigel Worthington after another defeat on the road for Norwich. This time they were beaten at Derby who have just picked up seven points from three games since the heavy home defeat against Wolves.

Both goals came from loan player Andrew Davies, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see loan players scoring for Derby they have so many, although only two were in the starting line up.

If Derby have done well since losing to Wolves then the Molineux side have reverted to type with three successive draws. There were at least goals this time after two 0-0 scorelines and a win looked on the cards when Colin Cameron gave them a lead at Ipswich. But the home side came back with a penalty to earn a point.

That leaves the game between Watford and Brighton and although most would have put this down as a home win for the upwardly looking Watford, the result means that Brighton have still only lost twice on the road all season. And, alongside Southampton, they have drawn more games than any other side with thirteen.

Watford should have won it but Marlon King, who had given them a lead, failed to score from the penalty spot. The point was not good enough for either of them, Watford have lost third place in the league to Leeds whilst Brighton still struggle in the bottom three.

There are no midweek fixtures this week, but a full fixture list at weekend that gets underway with Stoke’s home game against Leicester on Friday night.

The Weekend Results
Saturday 3rd December
Coventry 3 Plymouth 1	Leeds 2 Leicester 1
Crewe 0 Preston 2	Reading 3 Luton 0
Crystal Palace 1 Millwall 1	Sheffield Utd 1 Sheffield Wed 0
Derby 2 Norwich 0	Southampton 1 Burnley 1
Hull 2 Cardiff 0	Stoke 1 QPR 2
Ipswich 1 Wolves 1	Watford 1 Brighton 1

The Weekend Stats
Biggest win	Reading 3-0 v Luton (home)
Total goals scored	28
Player scoring most goals	2 - Andrew Davies (Derby)
Highest Attendance	30,558 - Sheffield Utd v Sheffield Wed
Lowest Attendance	6,364 - Crewe v Preston
Total Yellow Cards	33
Total Red Cards	3
Most cards in a game	Stoke v QPR (6Y 1R)

The leading scorers (league only)
11	Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley)
10	Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) Marlon King (Watford)
9	Carl Cort (Wolves) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Ashley Young (Watford)
8	Kevin Doyle (Reading) David Healy (Leeds) Rob Hulse (Leeds)
7	Dele Adebola (Coventry) Sam Bangoula (Stoke) Steve Howard (Luton) Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace)
6	Dean Ashton (Norwich) Mark de Vries (Leicester) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) Leroy Lita (Reading) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd)
5	Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Warren Feeney (Luton) Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace) Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd) Dave Kitson (Reading) Leon Knight (Brighton) Glen Little (Reading) Dean Morgan (Luton) Dave Nugent (Preston) Sam Parkin (Ipswich) Michael Ricketts (Cardiff) Matthew Spring (Watford) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd)

Disciplinary Record (all games)
Club	Y	R	Club	Y	R
Brighton	39	1	Millwall	50	8
Burnley	37	3	Norwich	37	2
Cardiff	41	1	Plymouth	36	0
Coventry	49	3	Preston	39	2
Crewe	21	1	QPR	51	5
Crystal Palace	41	0	Reading	24	0
Derby	40	3	Sheffield Utd	36	1
Hull	23	3	Sheffield Wed	27	1
Ipswich	31	4	Southampton	41	3
Leeds	37	1	Stoke	41	6
Leicester	44	2	Watford	38	2
Luton	26	3	Wolves	25	1

The Week's Fixtures
Friday 9th December
Stoke v Leicester	.
Saturday 10th December
Coventry v Millwall	Ipswich v QPR
Crewe v Norwich	Leeds v Cardiff
Crystal Palace v Wolves	Reading v Brighton
Derby v Preston	Sheffield Utd v Burnley
Hull v Sheffield Wed	Watford v Plymouth
Sunday 11th December
Southampton v Luton	.