In the Championship – Pericard beats Coventry

Last updated : 20 February 2006 By Tony Scholes
Vincent Pericard - hat trick for Plymouth
It was Pericard’s third appearance game for the Devon club but his first start at Home Park following his loan move from Portsmouth, and although he was helped by some less than convincing defending by Coventry he ensured all three points were picked up.

Plymouth haven’t found scoring goals too easy in recent weeks and had failed to find the net once in their last three games, one of which was the game at Burnley, but they were easy winners this time once Pericard had given them the lead.

Coventry hardly made it difficult for him and manager Micky Adams admitted after the game that his defence weren’t at the races. They did pull a goal back through the obnoxious former Millwall manager but good to see it counted for nothing.

Until this weekend Plymouth held a record in the division, the only team to beat Reading this season. That’s gone now following Luton’s win over the Royals on Friday. If you are going to beat the league leaders then it is perhaps not the best idea to concede a goal in the first fifteen seconds, but that’s exactly what Luton did as they let in Kevin Doyle for the early opener.

But they came storming back and got in front with two Rowan Vince goals midway through the first half and then looked to have wrapped it up when former Reading player Dean Morgan added a third after the break. There was just a late panic when Kevin Doyle got his second of the game but Luton hung on to the points their performance deserved.

It makes little difference, Reading will still win the league, but it did allow Sheffield United to get themselves three points closer with a win at Hillsborough in the Sheffield derby. They were hanging on to those points at the end after Steven MacLean pulled a goal back late in the game from the penalty spot but United had been the better side and had scored two superb goals.

The first from Michael Tonge was directly from a free kick on the left wing which he curled in at the far post and then the Sheffield fans were treated to an Ade Akinbiyi special, a superb volley on the right hand side that went in like a rocket. In typical Akinbiyi style he had missed a simple chance and then put that away.

Chris Eagles - got the winner with a shot from 50 yards
Watford have got themselves back into third place with a win at the Withdean. Brighton were the better side in the first half, and hit the woodwork, but Watford won it with a goal from some 50 yards.

Goalkeeper Wayne Henderson had come way out of his box to clear the ball but there appeared to be no immediate danger as the ball reached Chris Eagles just over the half way line out on the right wing, but Eagles promptly hit a shot goalwards and although two defenders got back they had no chance of preventing it from going in for the only goal of the game.

Watford were able to climb a place in the table when Leeds could get just a point at Leicester and they were somewhat fortunate to get that after a performance that manager Kevin Blackwell was far from happy with, and one that defender Gary Kelly described as absolute muck.

Iain Hume gave Leicester the lead after just five minutes but on eleven minutes the game was turned on its head following a foul by Patrick McCarthy on Rob Hulse. It was a foul yes, it was a penalty yes, but incredibly McCarthy was sent off by the refereeing midget Ray Olivier.

It is McCarthy’s second red card of the season, the other came in the same fixture at Elland Road, and ten men Leicester had to battle for a point once Robbie Blake had converted the penalty. It was easier than they thought it would be against the muck.

Down at the bottom of the league Millwall climbed a place above Brighton despite being outplayed by Crystal Palace at the Den. Ben Watson has played over eighty games for Palace but Saturday saw him score just his fourth goal. Incredibly three of those four have come against Millwall and, just like the other two, it didn’t come in a win.

It should have been an away win but in the very last minute of the game the home side were able to grab a point with a goal from May. It takes them above Brighton on goal difference but both remain five points behind the next club Sheffield Wednesday.

Joanatan Johansson - got the first goal for Norwich
The departure of Phil Brown from Pride Park has hardly made any noticeable difference to Derby County’s fortunes. The club is in turmoil with fans demanding the departure of the board, there is a takeover being mentioned, and Terry Westley lost his second game as caretaker manager at Norwich.

They lost 2-0 to the Canaries, they have now taken our place in the top half of the table, with the goals coming from Jonatan Johansson and Darren Huckerby. Johansson is currently on loan from Charlton and if things go to plan there could be a Charlton striker in at Derby in the next few days.

Westley is trying to sign Kevin Lisbie on loan, a player who had previously been at Norwich this season. He’s desperate with Danny Graham’s loan from Middlesbrough at an end as well as Mounir El Hamdaoui having returned to Spurs with an injury.

Two 1-0 scorelines to end. At Wolves the home side were again unimpressive but came away with all three points following a Kenny Miller penalty whilst the points went the way of the home side at Cardiff when Cameron Jerome benefited from a bad mistake from Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill.

Those points have taken Cardiff within three points of Preston who were busy making their exit from the FA Cup, along with Stoke and Southampton, bringing and end to the Championship’s interest in the competition this season.

We’re back to normal next week with a full fixture list, all of them scheduled for Saturday. Those fixtures are shown below.

The Weekend Results

Friday 17th February

Luton 3 Reading 2

.

Saturday 18th February

Brighton 0 Watford 1

Norwich 2 Derby 0

Cardiff 1 Hull 0

Plymouth 3 Coventry 1

Leicester 1 Leeds 1

Sheffield Wed 1 Sheffield Utd 2

Millwall 1 Crystal Palace 1

Wolves 1 Ipswich 0

The Weekend Stats

Biggest win

Norwich 2-0 v Derby (home)
Plymouth 3-1 v Coventry (home)

Total goals scored

21

Player scoring most goals

3 - Vincent Pericard (Plymouth)

Highest Attendance

33,439 - Sheffield Wed v Sheffield Utd

Lowest Attendance

6,658 - Brighton v Watford

Total Yellow Cards

32

Total Red Cards

1

Most cards in a game

Luton v Reading (6Y)
Wolves v Ipswich (6Y)

The leading scorers (league only)

16

Marlon King (Watford)

15

Cameron Jerome (Cardiff)

14

Ade Akinbiyi (Sheffield Utd) - 12 with Burnley
Kevin Doyle (Reading)
Dave Kitson (Reading)

12

Ashley Young (Watford)

11

Jason Koumas (Cardiff)
Gary McSheffrey (Coventry)

10

Dean Ashton (Norwich)
Robbie Blake (Leeds)
Darius Henderson (Watford)
Steve Howard (Luton)
Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace)
Leroy Lita (Reading)

9

Carl Cort (Wolves)
David Healy (Leeds)
Rob Hulse (Leeds)
Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd)
Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace)
Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd)

8

Dele Adebola (Coventry)
Sammy Bangoura (Stoke)
Inigo Idiakez (Derby)
Dave Nugent (Preston)
Steve Sidwell (Reading)
Matthew Spring (Watford)
Rowan Vine (Luton)
Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd)
Paul Wotton (Plymouth)

7

Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed)
Paul Gallagher (Stoke)
Darren Huckerby (Norwich)
Paul Ifill (Sheffield Utd)
Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd)
Garreth O'Connor (Burnley)
Michael Ricketts (Burnley) - 5 with Cardiff

Disciplinary Record (all games)

Club

Y

R

Club

Y

R

Brighton

62

4

Millwall

76

13

Burnley

58

5

Norwich

60

2

Cardiff

56

2

Plymouth

50

0

Coventry

76

4

Preston

59

2

Crewe

30

2

QPR

67

6

Crystal Palace

72

3

Reading

38

0

Derby

57

5

Sheffield Utd

57

2

Hull

45

3

Sheffield Wed

45

1

Ipswich

48

4

Southampton

57

4

Leeds

59

2

Stoke

61

7

Leicester

68

5

Watford

52

5

Luton

44

4

Wolves

42

1

The Week's Fixtures

Saturday 25th February

Coventry v Burnley

Leeds v Luton

Crewe v Brighton

Reading v Preston

Crystal Palace v Norwich

Sheffield Utd v QPR

Derby v Plymouth

Southampton v Sheffield Wed

Hull v Wolves

Stoke v Millwall

Ipswich v Leicester

Watford v Cardiff