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In the Championship – Paying the penalty
The first came when Hall awarded Cardiff a free kick for one of those incidents that referees will often give outside the box but not inside. Then to his horror he was asked to speak to his fourth official who indicated that it had taken place inside the box. Purse stepped up to put the home side back in the lead.
Seven minutes later and Gary Roberts went down in the Cardiff box. I think the term is these days that he went down too easily and Roberts got up to score from the spot. There was no Stuart Pearce style interview from Jim Magilton who instead singled out the Accrington player for special praise.
Maybe it's me seeing who the player was at Stoke, but when Ricardo Fuller went down in a challenge in the box I wasn't too sure he'd been fouled. I've watched it again and I still think he was very fortunate to win his side a penalty. “I thought that their striker went to ground a little bit too easily. The referee got it wrong,” said John Gregory after the game.
That was Premiership referee Martin Atkinson, and as with Hall I have some sympathy with these situations. The players are getting too damn good at going down and winning spot kicks. It only takes the official to have a difficult angle and it become near on impossible for him to spot things.
There was a penalty in what proved to be the game of the day between the two teams who started in the top two positions, Birmingham and Preston. Preston were the better side but came away with a 3-1 defeat. Even Steve Bruce admitted, “We've got away with it.”
But Preston missed chances, particularly in the first half hour of the game before Gary McSheffrey put the home side in front. From then it was an uphill battle but they probably still should have got something from the game.
Unfortunately Sean St Ledger was twice caught out by McSheffrey, from the first he scored his second and the second time it was a clear penalty that allowed him to complete his hat trick once he'd managed to snatch the ball from Nicklas Bendtner who was reluctant to hand it over.
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That defeat, only their fourth all season, has cost Preston second place. They are fourth now with Stoke going above them and Derby with their former manager Billy Davies. It was a big game for Derby at Leeds. Having won six in succession they were beaten last week at West Brom.
They were back to winning ways though, an early goal from Giles Barnes, a header from a left wing cross, was enough to take all three points against a Leeds side that are now beginning to look quite comfortable in the relegation places.
Those relegation places are still occupied by the same three clubs but there was success for one of them, Southend who recorded their first league win since mid-August. Southampton looked as good a bet as anyone for an away win but they found themselves 2-0 down following two excellent strikes.
The first came from Freddy Eastwood, his first since October, and that was bettered by Alan McCormack in the second half. McCormack is on loan from Preston but will make his move permanent in January.
Although Southampton pulled one back Southend hung on although it wasn't enough to take them off the bottom, they still trail managerless Hull by two points. The Humberside club have Phil Brown in charge following the dismissal of Phil Parkinson. Brown reckons if he can pick up points it will give him a better chance of landing the job. I assume that is as against not picking up any points.
Chairman Adam Pearson has already stated that he is looking at other candidates and Iain Dowie seems to be the favourite. That will please Simon Jordan who will at least have seen him finally move back north.
Jordan has other worries, his team lost at home again. Prior to Saturday we were the only side to have lost at home to a Colchester side whose lofty position is based on their home record. No other side has won as many home games as they have, that total is eight.
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I think a word about Colchester is more than overdue. Promoted last season and expected to go straight back down, they started the season with four defeats. Since then only Derby have won more points, and that is some achievement for a club that appeared to have been in turmoil by the end of the summer. Full credit to them.
Luton, fresh from their win against Preston, were soon in front against RK Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. The home side had loan goalkeeper Marton Fulop from Spurs making his debut. Current first choice Darren Ward was ill whilst we can only assume that Ben Alnwick, a regular at the start of the season, was away on another filming assignment.
It's back to penalties now and this time one that got away. Norwich thought they had got a last minute opportunity to grab an equaliser in their home game against Sheffield Wednesday when referee Andy Woolmer pointed to the spot, but Wednesday players pointed at the assistant who was flagging for offside, and the decision was changed.
It all looked to be heading for a goalless draw but three goals in the last ten minutes changed all that. The first followed a shot that bounced off the woodwork, hit goalkeeper Lee Camp on the back and bounced in. Wednesday doubled that lead before Dion Dublin gave the home side a last chance to grab a point.
Wolves will be another side rueing the last minute. They looked all set for a disappointing home point against out of form Leicester but Levi Porter scored a stoppage time winner to give the Foxes all three points. Manager Rob Kelly put the recent poor form down to the fact that the players were concerning themselves too much with the potential takeover by Milan Mandaric.
Finally, the weekend games came to an end at Oakwell on Sunday where Barnsley and West Brom took a point apiece. The Baggies went in front with a goal not dissimilar to the one they scored against us to go in front, this time Jason Koumas giving goalkeeper Nick Colgan no chance with a powerful shot high into the net. The lead lasted only a few minutes when Paul Hayes turned the ball in from close range to give Barnsley a much needed point.
No midweek fixtures but the weekend gets underway on Friday when Luton and Southend meet at Kenilworth Road. The game of the day on Saturday has to be the one between in form sides Colchester and Stoke. Colchester remain the league's leading scorers, Stoke meanwhile haven't conceded a goal in the last seven games.
The fixtures are shown below along with the stats from the games played over the last weekend.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 9th December | |
Birmingham 3 Preston 1 | Plymouth 1 Hull 0 |
Cardiff 2 Ipswich 2 | Southend 2 Southampton 1 |
Coventry 1 Burnley 0 | Stoke 1 QPR 0 |
Crystal Palace 1 Colchester 3 | RK Sunderland 2 Luton 1 |
Leeds 0 Derby 1 | Wolves 1 Leicester 2 |
Norwich 1 Sheffield Wed 2 | . |
Sunday 10th December | |
Barnsley 1 West Brom 1 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Birmingham 3-1 v Preston (home) |
Total goals scored | 30 |
Player scoring most goals | Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) |
Highest Attendance | 30,445 - RK Sunderland v Luton |
Lowest Attendance | 9,512 - Barnsley v West Brom |
Total Yellow Cards | 36 |
Total Red Cards | 0 |
Most cards in a game | Birmingham v Preston (6Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
14 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Soouthampton) |
13 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
11 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) |
10 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Andy Gray (Burnley) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) |
9 | Alan Lee (Ipswich) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
8 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Steve Howard (Derby) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
7 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Iain Hume (Leicester) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
6 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Dexter Blackstock (QPR) Carlos Edwards (Luton) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) 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 |
9th Dec | 3 - Gary McSheffrey - BIRMINGHAM v Preston |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 33 | 4 | Luton | 22 | 3 |
| Birmingham | 44 | 4 | Norwich | 38 | 3 |
| Burnley | 39 | 6 | Plymouth | 38 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 31 | 5 | Preston | 37 | 2 |
| Colchester | 24 | 1 | QPR | 42 | 0 |
| Coventry | 40 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 39 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 28 | 0 | Southampton | 32 | 0 |
| Derby | 50 | 2 | Southend | 38 | 2 |
| Hull | 42 | 2 | Stoke | 36 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 62 | 3 | RK Sunderland | 34 | 3 |
| Leeds | 51 | 2 | West Brom | 56 | 2 |
| Leicester | 44 | 3 | Wolves | 29 | 2 |
This Week's Fixtures | |
Friday 15th December | |
Luton v Southend | . |
Saturday 16th December | |
Burnley v RK Sunderland | Preston v Plymouth |
Colchester v Stoke | QPR v Wolves |
Derby v Crystal Palace | Sheffield Wed v Birmingham |
Hullv Cardiff | Southampton v Norwich |
Ipswich v Leeds | West Brom v Coventry |
Leicester v Barnsley | . |