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In the Championship – Old Friends
Seyi Olofinjana has taken responsibility for the defeat claiming he cost them the game after giving away the first goal, but Wolves have appealed against Breen's red card which was given for an elbow. They claim it was an accident, it is very difficult to tell from the television footage.
It is five points clear then for Cardiff, ahead of Birmingham who dropped two points when Leicester scored a late and very controversial equaliser against them at St Andrew's. The home side led with Gary McSheffrey's first league goal for his new club and looked set for all three points until substitute Elvis Hammond got that late goal. But how on earth was the handball from Iain Hume missed by referee Steve Bennett?
Birmingham were not the only team to suffer a poor decision, and the one that cost Ipswich an equaliser at Colchester on Friday night goes into the ridiculous category. I don't often agree with Steve Claridge, in fact I think this might be the first time, but he said of referee Probert, “He doesn't understand the game,” the exact words I used about this particular referee some time ago.
He claimed the ball had been kicked out of the goalkeeper's hands, it clearly hadn't, and scorer Jonathan Macken couldn't believe it. Mind you, Colchester couldn't believe the clear hand ball that was missed at the other end that should have given them a penalty.
So it's not just us that suffer from bad referees and it is refreshing on a weekend when our referee did a good job to see the bad decisions going against other clubs in other games rather than in ours.
We don't usually mention our game in this column, but how could we not include a mention this week, even if it is just to recall that Norwich manager Nigel Worthington lost his job after their heaviest home defeat since Arsenal beat them by the same scoreline in August 2004, and then it took goals from Reyes, Henry, Pires and Bergkamp to beat them.
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He gave them a first half lead right in front of the away support but Patrick Agyemang, a player in scoring form just now, equalised for Preston in the second half to leave them, alongside Cardiff, as the only side with just one defeat this season.
Maybe the Stoke fans will get the red cards out again next game, if they need anymore they could contact Norwich who don't have need for theirs any longer.
Dave Jones had a good day, and another manager taking on an old club was the Legend himself who took Palace up to Hull. He was so desperate to win this one that he promised his squad a Chinese meal if they won it for him, isn't he the last of the big spenders?
It all seemed to be going so well too when former Hull player Leon Cort gave his new club the lead twelve minutes into the second half. Time looked to have run out for Hull, the table was being booked at the restaurant, and then defender Michael Turner, signed from Brentford by new boss Phil Parkinson, grabbed a stoppage time equaliser. It took Hull off the bottom and as for the Palace players, pay for your own food lads, the Legend's keeping his money in his pocket now.
Jermaine Wright scored early for Southampton in their home game against QPR. It wasn't quite the first minute, but we know from past experience that when Wright gives his side an early lead they go on to lose the game 2-1. So it should not have come as any surprise at all when firstly Dexter Blackstock equalised and then Ray Jones hit the winner for QPR.
Blackstock scoring was predictable, sold by George Burley just a few weeks ago he got in to equaliser with a diving header. Jones' winner was scored from a tight angle but owed everything to a howler from Kelvin Davis who made a real hash of trying to shepherd the ball out of play when all he needed to do was pick it up. We've seen Davis howlers against us in the past, he is prone to them, but why couldn't he have done this just a week earlier.
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The Baggies didn't just go one up, or two up but when Kevin Phillips slid in to score from close range with just eleven minutes to go it took them 3-0 up. Leeds had by then already played their trump card, goalscoring sensation Ian Moore on for Eddie Lewis, and after looking beaten they did incredibly fight their way back into it with goals from Geoff Horsfield, another scoring against his old club, and Steve Stone.
But Albion had the last laugh when Diomansy Kamara, on as a second half sub for his first league appearance of the season, got his second to clinch it at 4-2. It left the home fans delighted with the change of style, and change of attitude, and they were chanting for caretaker Nigel Pearson to be given the job on a permanent basis.
When your goalkeeper gets sent off early in a game it can make things difficult, and that's what happened to Barnsley last week at Preston when Nick Colgan went with just a few minutes gone. They hastily brought on substitute keeper Vito Mannone and the debutant was badly at fault for the only goal of the game.
On Saturday they fell behind to a good Carlos Edwards goal at home against Luton but were level within a minute when Brian Howard scored. And 1-1 it looked set to end until deep into time added on poor Mannone flapped at a routine cross that was easy to catch and presented the Hatters with a winner.
Colgan is back next time out, they will be relieved, but Barnsley need to do something about their home form, they have won just once at Oakwell since February. That was a 1-0 win against Wolves two weeks ago.
These poor runs can be broken, Plymouth proved that when they won 1-0 at Coventry in a game they dominated. They had to wait until eight minutes from time to win it with a debut goal from 20 year old former Millwall apprentice Cherno Samba who had only been on the field for eight minutes.
Plymouth might not have played at Coventry that often, but this was their first win there since 1957 when they won a Third Division South game 4-1.
Plymouth might not have played at Coventry that often, but this was their first win there since 1957 when they won a Third Division South game 4-1.
There was a first for Billy Davies and Derby, a home win against Southend. And it was comprehensive with Arturo Lupoli, on loan from Arsenal, getting two of the goals for the home side.
That leaves us with one game and a game that saw Sheffield Wednesday slip to the bottom of the league after losing 1-0 at the Stadium of Light against RK Sunderland with Grant Leadbitter scoring his first ever goal for the home side.
We've no fixtures next week, it is international weekend again, and so we have a two week break. The next set of fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 29th September | |
Colchester 1 Ipswich 0 | . |
Saturday 30th September | |
Barnsley 1 Luton 2 | Hull 1 Crystal Palace 1 |
Birmingham 1 Leicester 1 | Southampton 1 QPR 2 |
Cardiff 4 Wolves 0 | Stoke 1 Preston 1 |
Coventry 0 Plymouth 1 | RK Sunderland 1 Sheffield Wed 0 |
Derby 3 Southend 0 | West Brom 4 Leeds 2 |
Sunday 1st October | |
Norwich 1 Burnley 4 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Cardiff 4-0 v Wolves (home) |
Total goals scored | 33 |
Player scoring most goals | Andy Gray (Burnley) |
Highest Attendance | 36,764 - RK Sunderland v Sheffield Wed |
Lowest Attendance | 6,065 - Colchester v Ipswich |
Total Yellow Cards | 40 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | West Brom v Leeds (6Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
8 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
6 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) Andy Gray (Burnley) |
5 | Jon Parkin (Hull) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
4 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Paul Hayes (Barnsley) David Healy (Leeds) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Mark Richards (Barnsley) |
3 | Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Jay Bothroyd (Wolves) DJ Campbell (Birmingham) Leon Cort (Crsytal Palace) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Carlos Edwards (Luton) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Steve Howard (Derby) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Stern John (Coventry) Steve Jones (Burnley) Joe Ledley (Cardiff) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Michael McIndoe (Barnsley) Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley) Paul Parry (Cardiff) Paul Peschisolido (Derby) Riccard Scimeca (Cardiff) James Scowcroft (Crystal Palace) Simon Walton (Ipswich) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 14 | 2 | Luton | 13 | 2 |
| Birmingham | 20 | 4 | Norwich | 20 | 1 |
| Burnley | 15 | 3 | Plymouth | 19 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 17 | 2 | Preston | 21 | 2 |
| Colchester | 10 | 0 | QPR | 18 | 0 |
| Coventry | 20 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 16 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 12 | 0 | Southampton | 14 | 0 |
| Derby | 28 | 2 | Southend | 13 | 0 |
| Hull | 20 | 1 | Stoke | 18 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 25 | 0 | RK Sunderland | 18 | 2 |
| Leeds | 25 | 1 | West Brom | 28 | 1 |
| Leicester | 16 | 1 | Wolves | 16 | 2 |
The Next Fixtures | |
Saturday 14th October | |
Burnley v Hull | Preston v RK Sunderland |
Crystal Palace v Cardiff | QPR v Norwich |
Ipswich v West Brom | Sheffield Wed v Barnsley |
Leeds v Stoke | Southend v Coventry |
Leicester v Southampton | Wolves v Colchester |
Luton v Birmingham | . |
Sunday 15th October | |
Plymouth v Derby | . |