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In the Championship – Referees take centre stage
It is a wonder there was time for any goals but Derby won it 2-1 to keep Phil Brown’s unbeaten record as manager. They led 2-0 by half time with goals from Morten Bisgaard and an Inigo Idiakez penalty and it looked to be ending that way until a spectacular over head kick from Cameron Jerome pulled one back for Cardiff.
There could be no criticism of the referee at Reading. Steve Tanner’s decision to send off Millwall goalkeeper Andy Marshall with the score at just 1-0 was the correct one and with the crisis club having no sub goalkeeper they were in trouble.
Bobby Convey had scored the first goal, probably the best goal of the day in the Championship, and he got a second straight away with emergency keeper Mark Phillips’ first job being to pick the ball out of the net.
He did that another twice before half time and by then he’d had enough so Canadian long throw expert Adrian Serioux went in goal for the second half, conceding just one more goal. It all keeps Millwall at the bottom with just one point although the club is now getting some stability, manager Colin Lee has been there now for a total of twenty-six days. Lee has moved to bring in another keeper with Paul Jones coming in on loan.
Sheffield United have gone second but they left it late against Preston and in fact it was Preston who went in front through Paul McKenna during the first half. The home side scored right at the end of each half though to win it with goals from Neil Shipperley and Danny Webber.
For Preston, with great things expected, it leaves them just one point above the Clarets and with yet another player on his way out of the club. Warnock looked all set to add Preston’s Richard Cresswell to his striker collection but the player has opted for a move to Leeds and a reunion with Eddie Lewis, David Healy and Sean Gregan.
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The Yorkshire club did on Saturday what no one has done since January, they inflicted a defeat on Wolves. In front of another poor Elland Road crowd goals from Lewis and Hulse gave them a 2-0 win.
Previous leaders Luton fell to their first defeat of the season and ended the game with ten men. They were in front with less than ten minutes on the clock through Dean Morgan but it all started to go wrong when striker Steve Howard got a red card, something he manages in most seasons.
This one was for spitting, and has been hotly disputed by Luton, but the man short cost them with Marlon Broomes and Dave Brammer turning the game Stoke’s way. Brammer’s winner came in stoppage time.
When Burnley conceded a last minute penalty at Plymouth last season referee Lee Probert positioned himself on the eighteen yard line checking for players encroaching before the kick was taken.
About five Plymouth players did but he didn’t bother to do anything about it and he was at it again on Saturday. He awarded Southampton an early penalty against Norwich and by the time Nigel Quashie took the kick one of his team mates was almost alongside him.
Quasie missed and incredibly Probert, getting it wrong again, ordered a re-take. There was no slip the second time and the controversial goal was enough to win it for Southampton in the clash between two of the sides relegated from the Premiership at the end of last season.
The other relegated club, Crystal Palace, finally got their first win. It was a narrow 1-0 home win against Plymouth with summer signing from Millwall, Darren Ward, getting the goal.
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Coventry finally moved into their new stadium, or should we say arena, but the Ricoh was hardly ready and there were crowd restrictions. The club are now tenants and they have to average 22,000 crowds to break even.
Asked what would happen if they didn’t reach those targets, chairman Mike McGinnity said, “It won’t be good news.” They did get some good news with a comprehensive 3-0 win against QPR.
Claus Jorgensen scored the first ever goal there and Dele Adebola got the other two. QPR had Danny Shittu sent off for shirt pulling and manager Ian Holloway was not happy about it. With the player going through on goal it looked a fair decision to me although it was one of the few referee Leake did get right all afternoon.
Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton are the two clubs in the bottom three with Millwall and they both lost away from home. Wednesday were beaten 2-1 at Ipswich. Long Ball Joe’s side were 2-0 up Richard Naylor and Ian Westlake but had a worrying finish after Lee Peacock pulled one back for the Owls.
Brighton went down 2-0 at Hull for whom Ryan France and Ben Burgess both scored their first goals of the season. It was Hull’s first win of the season following their promotion.
That leaves Crewe against Leicester and the home side were 2-0 up inside seventeen minutes. Luke Varney scored the quickest goal of the day in the first minute and Mark Rivers doubled the lead.
Dario G’s boys didn’t win it though, they had to settle for a point after Leicester came back with goals from Danny Tiatto and a Joey Gudjonsson penalty.
There are a few transfers to report as clubs prepare for the window shutting on this division for the first time. Wolves have been doing business in Birmingham. They have taken Villa keeper Stefan Postma on loan and followed that up by signing Birmingham’s Darren Anderton.
Leeds let Seth Johnson go back to his old club Derby but took Blackburn’s Jonathan Douglas on a season long loan and should, as we said, add Cresswell.
Burnley signed Karl Bermingham and his Manchester City team mate Willo Flood has joined up with Coventry on loan and finally Malky Mackay and Matthew Spring both signed for Watford and made their debuts against the Clarets.
It’s Carling Cup week and the next league fixtures are at the weekend and shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 20th August | |
Crystal Palace 1 Plymouth 0 | Leeds 2 Wolves 0 |
Coventry 3 QPR 0 | Reading 5 Millwall 0 |
Crewe 2 Leicester 2 | Sheffield Utd 2 Preston 1 |
Derby 2 Cardiff 1 | Southampton 1 Norwich 0 |
Hull 2 Brighton 0 | Stoke 2 Luton 1 |
Ipswich 2 Sheffield Wed 1 | Watford 3 Burnley 1 |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Reading 5-0 v Millwall (home) |
Total goals scored | 34 |
Player scoring most goals | Dele Adebola (Coventry) |
Highest Attendance | 24,238 - Ipswich v Sheffield Wed |
Lowest Attendance | 7,053 - Brighton v Crewe |
Total Yellow Cards | 50 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | Derby v Cardiff (10Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
4 | David Connolly (Leicester) Marlon King (Watford) |
3 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley) Leroy Lita (Reading) |
2 | Dean Ashton (Norwich) Morten Bisgaard (Derby) Ahmet Brkovic (Luton) Marlon Broomes (Stoke) Bobby Convey (Reading) Micky Evans (Plymouth) John Halls (Stoke) Dean Hammond (Brighton) David Healy (Leeds) Darius Henderson (Watford) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Kenwyne Jones (Southampton) Steve Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Dave Kitson (Reading) Glen Little (Reading) Dean Morgan (Luton) Dave Nugent (Preston) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) Mark Rivers (Crewe) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) Luke Varney (Crewe) Ashley Young (Watford) |
The Weekend Fixtures | |
Friday 26th August | |
QPR v Sheffield Wed | . |
Saturday 27th August | |
Burnley v Derby | Plymouth v Hull |
Cardiff v Wolves | Preston v Brighton |
Crystal Palace v Stoke | Sheffield Utd v Coventry |
Leicester v Luton | Southampton v Crewe |
Millwall v Ipswich | Watford v Reading |
Norwich v Leeds | . |