In the Championship – on its head

Last updated : 28 February 2005 By Tony Scholes
Darius Henderson - scored both Gillingham goals
The biggest shock of the day was at the Priestfield Stadium as Gillingham, without a win in five and only one in the last eight games, came out on top against league leaders Wigan.

Darius Henderson was the goalscoring hero for the Gills, a player who would now be at Swindon had they been able to afford him earlier in the season.

He gave the home side the lead ten minutes into the second half but the boys from the Concrete Jungle were back in it after just two minutes but defending of the like we don’t see at Turf Moor any longer allowed Henderson to get his second and leave the pie eating manager looking distraught.

The home manager was left speechless too, but this was down to a bad throat and it was left to assistant boss Ronnie Jepson to explain how changing the formation at half time had brought about the win.

Ipswich were unable to take advantage of Wigan’s slip, they would have gone top with even a point, but slipped out of the top two for the first time since October when they lost for the second time this week at home.

Unbeaten at Portman Road until the New Year they lost to West Ham on New Year’s Day but after going down to Watford during the week they were expected to get back to winning ways against QPR.

It didn’t happen and Paul Furlong but QPR in front in the first few minutes before Danny Shittu completed the scoring a quarter of an hour from the end. It was very much down to some dodgy keeping though from Kelvin Davis who has more than once had bad games against the Clarets.

LBJ said his lads would have to hold their nerve after the bad week for the Tractor Boys whilst Ian Holloway was still looking for one more win to ensure his side would stay up. “If and when we get that win, I’ll be taking the players out for a party,” said Holloway.

Gary Breen - gave Sunderland an early lead
As for Wigan and Ipswich, they play each other next week and it is left to us to put a stop to Sunderland’s run on the rails. They have gone into second place now after a 2-1 win against Cardiff but all three sides are on the same number of points from the same number of games.

In front of almost 33,000 at the Stadium of Light, defender Gary Breen gave them an early lead on his 400th game and Marcus Stewart, in goalscoring form right now, doubled the lead right on half time.

Cardiff pulled one back late in the game but their chances of getting a point ended when former Claret Alan Lee was sent off for a dreadful elbowing offence.

Back to Gillingham’s win and it has now taken them within two points of Coventry who drew 1-1 in a game that saw them play with no goalkeeper for over half of the game. Loan keeper Ian Bennett handled the ball outside the box and left referee Singh with no alternative but to send him off.

Micky Adams had no goalkeeper on the bench and midfielder Stephen Hughes had to take on the job. Unlike Sheffield United’s Phil Jagielka in midweek, Hughes looked anything but a novice and made some good saves in the second half to earn his side a point in a goalless draw.

It could have been even better but Steve Simonsen, in goal for Stoke, was also in form and saved a Gary McSheffrey penalty.

Next to bottom Nottingham Forest earned themselves a point at the City Ground in their derby match against Derby. They were soon behind to a Grzegorz Rasiak header but just after the half they were level with a Paul Evans.

Captain Gareth Taylor put the home side in front with a stooping header with just over twenty minutes to go but Rasiak got his second to earn a point for County.

The point was a good one for Forest on top of the win against Preston but they are still six points behind Coventry.

Paul Shaw - scored the only goal of the game for Sheffield United against Rotherham
Another defeat for Rotherham as they prepare themselves for the drop. This time it was just down the road at Bramall Lane and the only goal of the game was a cruel one for the Millers, scored by Sheffield United’s Paul Shaw who had started the season on loan at Millmoor and looked all set to make the move permanent.

However, Neil Warnock called him back as he set about increasing the number of strikers at Sheffield United.

Flood warden Andy Hall was in charge at Elland Road as Leeds beat West Ham 2-1 and serious questions should be asked about this inept official. It is difficult to believe how either Rob Hulse or Sean Gregan stayed on the field after first half incidents.

Hulse should have gone for an elbow every bit as bad as the one that saw him sent off at the Turf last season and then Gregan amazingly got away with head butting a West Ham player in his back as they got up following a Gregan foul. Both were booked by this idiot but Leeds should have been playing a large part of this game with nine men.

Hulse got the first Leeds goal, a good one too after some superb work by youngster Aaron Lennon down the right. Gavin Williams got his first for West Ham since signing for Yeovil to bring the scores level but Shaun Derry, one of the latest signings at Elland Road, scored a late winner.

If you want red cards then go and take a look at Millwall. You would have thought they might just behave themselves a bit after the midweek shenanigans at Cardiff but think again. It all looked to be heading for a 0-0 draw when Brighton’s own nasty piece of work Gary Hart scored the winner in stoppage time after a goal mouth scramble.

Millwall didn’t like it, and Mark Phillips was rightly sent off for an awful challenge. Needless to say Dennis Wise didn’t condemn it afterwards and we believe that Theo Paphitis missed the indicent altogether.

Crewe's Stephen Foster - sent off
Wolves and Watford drew 0-0 at Molineux as did Reading and Leicester at John Madejski’s library. I think that sentence has included all the entertainment on offer at those two games.

Finally we had one of those rare moments in football – a Crewe player getting a red card. Now come on Dario G’s boys are angels and don’t do things to get sent off. Well they do and Stephen Foster was shown a red card for a professional foul at Plymouth.

They went on to win 3-0, as they had in midweek. What a change for Plymouth who were dropping line one big heavy stone. Two 3-0 wins, the first against a team with no keeper and the second against ten men.

Just a couple more transfers to confirm from the end of last week. Leeds were at it again signing Kevin Pressman from Leicester whilst there was a strange one at Millwall. Wise was bemoaning his lack of forwards but they were very quick to accept a £25,000 profit by selling Scott Dobie to Nottingham Forest just three months after taking him from West Brom.

There’s just one midweek fixture, and then the Clarets kick off the weekend as Sunderland visit the Turf in front of the Sky cameras on Friday.

The Weekend Results

Saturday 26th February

Brighton 1 Millwall 0

Plymouth 3 Crewe 0

Coventry 0 Stoke 0

Preston 1 Burnley 0

Gillingham 2 Wigan 1

Reading 0 Leicester 0

Ipswich 0 QPR 2

Sheffield Utd 1 Rotherham 0

Leeds 2 West Ham 1

Sunderland 2 Cardiff 1

Nott'm Forest 2 Derby 2

Wolves 0 Watford 0

The Weekend Stats

Biggest win

Plymouth 3-0 v Crewe (home)

Total goals scored

21

Player scoring most goals

2 - Darius Henderson (Gillingham)
Grzegorz Rasiak (Derby)

Highest Attendance

32,788 - Sunderland v Cardiff

Lowest Attendance

6,608 - Brighton v Millwall

Total Yellow Cards

38

Total Red Cards

4

Most cards in a game

Coventry v Stoke (7Y 1R)

The leading scorers (league only)

21

Nathan Ellington (Wigan)

18

Dean Ashton (Crewe) - now with Norwich

16

Paul Furlong (QPR)
Jason Roberts (Wigan)

15

Darren Bent (Ipswich)
Shefki Kuqi (Ipswich)

14

Grzegorz Rasiak (Derby)

13

Dave Kitson (Reading)
Kenny Miller (Wolves)
Teddy Sheringham (West Ham)

12

Richard Cresswell (Preston)
Stephen Elliott (Sunderland)
Marlon Harewood (West Ham)
David Healy (Leeds) - 5 with Preston
Heidar Helguson (Watford)
Marcus Stewart (Sunderland)

10

Robbie Blake (Burnley) - now Birmingham
Lee McCulloch (Wigan)
Peter Thorne (Cardiff)
Danny Webber (Watford)
Paul Wotton (Plymouth)

9

Carl Cort (Wolves)
Paul Shaw (Sheffield Utd) - 2 with Rotherham
Tommy Smith (Derby)

8

Bruce Dyer (Watford)
Andy Gray (Sheffield Utd)
Barry Hayles (Millwall)
Marcus Tudgay (Derby)

The Week's Fixtures

Wednesday 2nd March

Derby v Wolves

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Friday 4th March

Burnley v Sunderland

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Saturday 5th March

Cardiff v Sheffield Utd

Rotherham v Gillingham

Crewe v Wolves

Stoke v Brighton

Derby v Plymouth

Watford v Coventry

Leicester v Nott'm Forest

West Ham v Preston

QPR v Reading

Wigan v Ipswich

Sunday 6th March

Millwall v Leeds

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