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It is being said that beleaguered Preston boss Paul Simpson has lost the dressing room at Deepdale. I can see how that's happened, the old pavilion stand has been knocked down and perhaps the dressing rooms have moved and no one has told him. Surely he will find the dressing room soon.
With that game kicking off late it meant for just over two hours Coventry lost top spot to Watford. Another Preston target Darius Henderson scored the first goal as the Hornets had a comfortable win against Ipswich. Henderson, worried about the sort of club showing an interest, has now signed a new long term deal at Vicarage Road.
There's no love lost between Palace and Charlton, neither in the stands nor in the board room. It was Charlton who came off best in this derby at Selhurst Park, a game which brought just one goal and another error from the eccentric Julian Speroni. It all came from a Charlton goal kick, headed on by Chris Iwelumo and it was all so easy for Svetoslav Todorov once Speroni had decided to leave himself in no mans land.
Elsewhere in London, it was a difficult day for Queens Park Rangers who were back in action for the first time since the tragic death of Ray Jones. I'm sure many Burnley fans had a thought for them just ahead of kick off.
For Rangers, there was a minute's applause with Jones' family and friends there, and all the players carried the name 'Ray Jones' on their shirts. They were unable to lift themselves for the home game against Southampton and were easily beaten by a Saints side for whom both Jhon Viafara and Nathan Dyer caused constant problems.
Cardiff were second best to Norwich at Carrow Road. Who says so? Cardiff boss Dave Jones who was quick to admit his side didn't deserve to take the points home. They didn't look as though they would when Simon Lappin took advantage of a Ross Turnbull mistake to give the home side the lead.
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Scunthorpe were expected to struggle in this league, but they've won another home game. This time it was Sheffield United and again they went 2-0 up. The Blades though came back to level the scores with Danny Webber twice getting on the end of James Beattie headers to score.
It all looked to be ending 2-2 but we had some stoppage time fun. Scunthorpe won a free kick. Cliff Byrne and Derek Geary had a disagreement as their heads came together and both were sent off. And Martin Paterson scored again following the free kick.
feat for Bryan Robson's Sheffield United and there wasn't much luck for their city rivals Wednesday. They are still pointless and bottom of the league but they really should have got something from their home game against Bristol City.
They fell behind to an early Brian Wilson goal which gave the visitors some Good Vibrations, but they had numerous chances to equalise but couldn't take one of them.
West Brom lose away and win at home. They were at home and so they won, against Barnsley. It wasn't too difficult, not given the way Barnsley defended and the win was probably more comfortable than the 2-0 scoreline suggests. The goals came from two of their new summer signings Felipe Teixeira and Craig Beattie.
Nothing much happened in the remaining Saturday games as Plymouth drew 0-0 with managerless Leicester whilst Stoke and Wolves picked up a point each in another 0-0 draw. It was expected that Martin Allen would go at Leicester, it is the sort of thing that happens when Milan Mandaric is running a club.
The Leicester fans have much to look forward to - rumour has it that Gary Megson, Peter Reid and the Sinister One have all been interviewed for the job at the Crisp Bowl. The new man is expected to be given until the end of October to impress the owner.
Last night Blackpool and Hull completed the fixtures at the half a ground with the home side winning 2-1. It wasn't the best of nights for Hull who lost record signing Caleb Folan fifteen minutes from the end of his debut with a serious looking injury following a clash of heads.
He lost consciousness but the good news is that he's out of hospital and should be back in training by the end of the week. And there's been more news for Hull today with the signing of Jay Jay Okocha. They've been looking for a big name all summer and have finally got their man with the capture of the former Bolton player.
It's international weekend now, just when we didn't want it, so the Championship takes a break until a week on Saturday. Leaders Coventry take on third place Bristol City whilst the bottom two, Preston and Sheffield Wednesday, clash at Deepdale. The next fixtures are shown below:
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 1st September | |
Colchester 2 Burnley 3 | Scunthorpe 3 Sheffield Utd 2 |
Coventry 2 Preston 1 | Sheffield Wed 0 Bristol City 1 |
Crystal Palace 0 Charlton 1 | Stoke 0 Wolves 0 |
Norwich 1 Cardiff 2 | Watford 2 Ipswich 0 |
Plymouth 0 Leicester 0 | West Brom 2 Barnsley 0 |
QPR 0 Southampton 3 | . |
Monday 3rd September | |
Blackpool 2 Hull 1 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Southampton 3-0 v QPR (away) |
Total goals scored | 28 |
Player scoring most goals | Andy Gray (Burnley) |
Highest Attendance | 24,292 - Norwich v Cardiff |
Lowest Attendance | 4,925 - Colchester v Burnley |
Total Yellow Cards | 30 |
Total Red Cards | 2 |
Most cards in a game | Scunthorpe v Sheffield Utd (4Y 2R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
4 | Brian Howard (Barnsley) |
3 | Freddy Eastwood (Wolves) Andy Gray (Burnley) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Martin Paterson (Scunthorpe) Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) James Scowcroft (Crystal Palace) |
2 | James Beattie (Sheffield Utd) DJ Campbell (Leicester) Jamie Cureton (Norwich) Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Plymouth) Ricardo Fuller (Stoke) Chris Iwelumo (Charlton) Marlon King (Watford) Kevin Lisbie (Colchester) Leon McKenzie (Coventry) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Scott Murray (Bristol City) Jon Parkin (Stoke) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) Andy Reid (Charlton) Teddy Sheringham (Colchester) Gary Taylor-Fletcher (Blackpool) Lee Trundle (Bristol City) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) Dean Windass (Hull) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
11th Aug | 3 - James Scowcroft - Southampton v CRYSTAL PALACE |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 10 | 1 | Norwich | 9 | 0 |
| Blackpool | 6 | 0 | Plymouth | 4 | 0 |
| Bristol City | 4 | 0 | Preston | 11 | 0 |
| Burnley | 10 | 0 | QPR | 9 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 7 | 0 | Scunthorpe | 8 | 1 |
| Charlton | 5 | 0 | Sheffield Utd | 9 | 1 |
| Colchester | 3 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 11 | 0 |
| Coventry | 5 | 0 | Southampton | 5 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 5 | 0 | Stoke | 12 | 0 |
| Hull | 11 | 1 | Watford | 13 | 0 |
| Ipswich | 7 | 1 | West Brom | 4 | 0 |
| Leicester | 11 | 0 | Wolves | 10 | 0 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Saturday 15th September | |
Barnsley v Scunthorpe | Norwich v Crystal Palace |
Burnley v Blackpool | Plymouth v Cardiff |
Colchester v Charlton | Preston v Sheffield Wed |
Coventry v Bristol City | Sheffield Utd v Wolves |
Hull v Stoke | Watford v Southampton |
Leicester v QPR | West Brom v Ipswich |
