|
In the Championship – Preston go second
It was probably no surprise that Jonathan Macken, on loan from Crystal Palace, chose a game against his old club Preston to score his first goal of the season. That came from the penalty spot and North End must surely have thought it was going to be a long and miserable journey home when ex-Claret Alan Lee added a second eight minutes before half time.
Whatever Paul Simpson had to say at half time certainly worked. Dave Nugent, he just loves scoring goals against Ipswich, pulled one back eight minutes after the break and twelve minutes later they had gone in front. It was a bitter sweet night for Nugent, his latest yellow card will see him suspended when they come to the Turf a week tomorrow.
That's how it stayed, and that left Tractor Boys' boss Jim Magilton seething with this coming after the 5-1 home defeat against West Brom. “It's not good enough to win an egg cup,” he fumed after the game.
They are six points behind leaders Cardiff City who can do no wrong just now. Such is their start to the season that crowds are up so much they had to turn people away from Ninian Park for their home game against a very defensive Southampton side.
George Burley's team went to South Wales looking for a point, and they almost got it, but with just six minutes to go Steven Thompson hit in the winner from the edge of the box. Preston remain the only side to have beaten Cardiff this season in the league.
West Brom had Craig Shakespeare in temporary charge of the side following Nigel Pearson's decision to leave the club, when they travelled to Crystal Palace. Manager elect Tony Mowbray, he took over the day after, had a watching brief again and saw another comfortable win at Selhurst Park with goals from Zoltan Gera and Diomansy Kamara.
|
Wolves have sneaked up to fourth, but the most economical side in the league were very fortunate to win this home game against Coventry, something manager Mick McCarthy was quick to admit. They did win it with a solitary goal, a fortuitous goal deflected into his own net by Sky Blues' defender Elliott Ward.
That's seven wins and twenty-two points now for Wolves, not bad for a side that has found the net just ten times so far this season. Six of those wins have been the same 1-0 scoreline.
Plymouth make up the top six, and they too could count themselves a bit lucky to have got a point from Barnsley at Oakwell. They fell behind to a stunning striker from all of fifty yards by Antony Kay and that Barnsley lead should have been doubled but for an incorrect flag from the assistant referee for offside. It was all the Pilgrims needed and almost immediately they drew level and then went in front. The home side fought back and earned themselves a point with an equaliser just after half time.
Hull are still down at the bottom but they will be wondering how after they should have beaten Luton. The best chances fell to Jon Parkin but twice he failed to convert when he really should have done. For Luton, our former keeper Marlon Beresford had what you could call an erratic evening, making a couple of outstanding saves but almost gifting the home side two goals.
Had Hull won then it would have dumped managerless Leeds into bottom place. Now I think you'll struggle to find a non-Leeds supporting football fan who has any sympathy for their current, self inflicted, plight but on Tuesday things did conspire against them.
They trailed 1-0 at half time to a Danny Tiatto goal, his first goal for over a year. Just ten minutes into the second half they had Matthew Kilgallon sent off, and the decision did look harsh although they have subsequently failed with their appeal.
|
You've guessed it, with the goal not given Leicester went straight down to the other end and scored a second to clinch the game although Leeds did score a late equaliser. Less than 16,500 were inside the ground, it really is crisis time at Elland Road.
The tide might just be starting to turn for Birmingham boss Steve Bruce. He's really under pressure now and having lost at Luton they really needed a win, and a good win, against Norwich City who hadn't won since August. But the Canaries gave new manager Peter Grant the best of starts with a 1-0 win even thought the goal was somewhat fortunate as it went in off the back of Jason Shackell's head.
A win from his first game in charge, but another manager had a good start recently. That's Roy Keane whose RK Sunderland started to win games once he'd arrived. The honeymoon is most definitely over, they went to Stoke having lost their previous two away games, it is three now and that after going in front.
They somewhat surprisingly allowed their own player Rory Delap, currently at Stoke on loan, to play against them but I'm sure Delap himself is regretting that decision. With only eleven minutes of his home debut played he went down under a challenge and was stretchered off with a broken leg.
Dwight Yorke, with his first goal in English football for over two years, put the Mackems in front but the new look Stoke got back into it with a second goal in two games for another loan player Lee Hendrie just after half time. Four minutes later they'd won it when Vincent Pericard added a second.
Another recently appointed boss John Gregory saw QPR lose for the first time since he took over, and typically it was against his last club Derby County. Morten Bisgaard gave Derby the lead after just four minutes, but three minutes after that his mistake led to Jimmy Smith getting his second in two games to bring Rangers level. Steve Howard won it for them with a goal on the half hour.
That leaves us with last night's game at Colchester, and this has proved to be more dramatic even than the 4-0 win they got over Sheffield Wednesday. They went in front with a well taken goal from Jamie Cureton and then hit three more with three superb strikes.
It took pre-season relegation favourites Colchester to tenth but for Sheffield Wednesday boss Paul Sturrock it was a bad night, followed by a bad Thursday. As we reported earlier, despite having signed a new four year contract less than a month ago, he's been sacked by the Hillsborough club.
Yorkshire's the place to be right now for Championship football, all four of their clubs are currently in the bottom five, and two of them without a manager.
Yorkshire's the place to be right now for Championship football, all four of their clubs are currently in the bottom five, and two of them without a manager.
The weekend fixtures are shown below the midweek stats.
The Midweek Results | |
Tuesday 17th October | |
Barnsley 2 Plymouth 2 | Ipswich 2 Preston 3 |
Birmingham 0 Norwich 1 | Leeds 1 Leicester 2 |
Burnley 0 Southend 0 | QPR 1 Derby 2 |
Cardiff 1 Southampton 0 | Stoke 2 Sunderland 1 |
Crystal Palace 0 West Brom 2 | Wolves 1 Coventry 0 |
Hull 0 Luton 0 | . |
Wednesday 18th October | |
Colchester 4 Sheffield Wed 0 | . |
The Midweek Stats | |
Biggest win | Colchester 4-0 v Sheffield Wed (home) |
Total goals scored | 27 |
Player scoring most goals | no player scored more than one goal |
Highest Attendance | 20,537 - Birmingham v Norwich |
Lowest Attendance | 5,097 - Colchester v Sheffield Wed |
Total Yellow Cards | 41 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Leeds v Leicester (7Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
9 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) |
8 | Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
7 | Micahel Chopra (Cardiff) Rowan Vine (Luton) |
6 | Andy Gray (Burnley) |
5 | Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Freddy Eastwood (Southend) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) Arturo Lupoli (Derby) Jon Parkin (Hull) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) Mark Richards (Barnsley) |
4 | Patrick Agyemang (Preston) Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Jay Bothroyd (Wolves) DJ Campbell (Birmingham) Paul Hayes (Barnsley) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Barnsley) Steve Howard (Derby) Iain Hume (Leicester) Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) Alan Lee (Ipswich) Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley) Martin Rowlands (QPR) Riccardo Scimeca (Cardiff) Simon Whaley (Preston) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
14th Oct | Kevin Phillips - Ipswich v WEST BROM |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 18 | 3 | Luton | 15 | 2 |
| Birmingham | 21 | 4 | Norwich | 21 | 1 |
| Burnley | 15 | 3 | Plymouth | 24 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 18 | 2 | Preston | 24 | 2 |
| Colchester | 12 | 0 | QPR | 23 | 0 |
| Coventry | 22 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 20 | 2 |
| Crystal Palace | 14 | 0 | Southampton | 21 | 0 |
| Derby | 33 | 2 | Southend | 17 | 0 |
| Hull | 26 | 1 | Stoke | 20 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 36 | 1 | RK Sunderland | 23 | 2 |
| Leeds | 28 | 1 | West Brom | 33 | 1 |
| Leicester | 20 | 1 | Wolves | 20 | 2 |
This Weekend Fixtures | |
Saturday 21st October | |
Derby v Birmingham | Preston v Hull |
Leicester v Crystal Palace | Sheffield Wed v QPR |
Luton v Leeds | Southampton v Stoke |
Norwich v Cardiff | Southend v Ipswich |
Plymouth v Burnley | Sunderland v Barnsley |
Sunday 22nd October | |
West Brom v Wolves | . |
Monday 23rd October | |
Coventry v Colchester | . |