In the Championship – Rotherham find a new way to lose

Last updated : 01 November 2004 By Tony Scholes

John Mullin - both Rotherham goals came from his crosses
First goals from Chris Swailes and Rob Scott, both from John Mullin crosses, looked to have set them on their way to a first win of the season. But Derby came storming back to win it 3-2 to cap a miserable 24 hours for the Millers.

The day before the takeover of the club by Earth Mortgages collapsed. Darren Millington and Mike Worthington from the company (I think they used to be the Chuckle Brothers) pulled out after conducting an analysis of the affairs of the Club.


The Club are now looking at a Community ownership, maybe they should be talking to RUST. No that’s not what falls off the roof in the away end at Millmoor, it’s the Rotherham United Supporters Trust.

Rotherham were never meant to take the headline of this week’s look at the Championship, that was already entitled, ‘Jones on the brink’ but Wolves put an end to that headline by sacking manager Dave Jones this morning.

I cannot think that he would have even been mildly surprised, providing Gillingham with their first win since they beat the Clarets on the Turf was hardly going to earn him an extension. The defeat at Priestfield Stadium also came against a Gills’ side that was down to ten men for most of the match when Ian Cox was sent off for a professional foul.

It was the only red card in the division over the weekend but there were a record number of yellow cards for a weekend’s fixtures this season with an amazing 41 from 12 games.

Despite the victory Gillingham are still next to bottom but have now caught Nottingham Forest who fell to a third home defeat of the season when they went down 2-1 against Watford. Both goals came from Heidar Helguson, a player Steve Cotterill was looking at earlier in the season.


After their excellent start to the season, inspired by goals from Danny Webber, this ended a run of six without a win for the Hornets. Webber’s goals look to have dried up and he hasn’t scored since mid-September.


Heidar Helguson - his two goals won it for Watford at struggling Forest
Watford weren’t the only early front runners to return to winning ways on Saturday. Stoke had gone seven games without a win but a first of the season from Chris Greenacre four minutes from time was enough to send Millwall packing without a point.


The partially deaf Millwall Chairman Theo Paphitis missed the goal, he was too busy trying to hear things that weren’t being shouted.


Leeds 0 Wigan 2 – that’s a result that would have taken some believing not that long ago. One club keeps on signing players whilst running up massive debts, the other is quite flush thank you very much with the financial input of former Blackburn Rovers full back Dave Whelan.

And the flush club came out on top at Elland Road even more comfortably than the scoreline of 2-0 suggests. Neither of their strikers scored, the goals came from midfielders Alan Mahon and Jimmy Bullard, but Jason Roberts played a massive part in both goals.


They are now six points clear at the top and no one would bet against them going all the way to the Premiership, whilst playing in front of paltry crowds at home.


Reading
were second but went down to a rampant Coventry side and this despite going in front. Coventry stormed into a 3-1 lead but the Royals did pull on back before going down 3-2.


That’s both Derby and Coventry who have won 3-2 and on Friday Sheffield United matched the scoreline at Crewe. Incredibly the Blades were 3-0 after just twelve minutes against Dario G’s team of no defence.

The home side pulled one back though and a last minute own goal from Paul Thirlwell made the score look a bit more respectable.

Billy Davies - not found the winning formula away from Deepdale
The Clarets weren’t the only side to go down 3-0, it was matched by our near neighbours Preston who lost by the same score at Ipswich. I wonder if Long Ball Joe was happy with the way Preston players?

Billy Davies looks to have kept one tradition since replacing WW Craig Brown, the inability to win away. Their last league win away from Deepdale was as far back as last January when they beat West Ham at the Boleyn Ground.


Craig Levein had a watching brief for Leicester’s trip to Cardiff. He saw a wooden performance from the oldest team in the division. Three times Cardiff hit the Leicester woodwork and finally had to make do with a point in a goalless draw.

It’s Leicester’s fifth successive draw whilst Cardiff have now gone five games undefeated since a late Richard Chaplow goal on the Turf gave the Clarets a 1-0 win against them.

Elsewhere Sunderland picked up all three points in a 2-0 home win against Brighton with the goals coming from Julio Arca and a Liam Lawrence penalty whilst Plymouth captain Paul Wotton came on as a sub to score and earn his side a point from a 1-1 home draw with West Ham. Steve Lomas had headed in a rare goal to give the Hammers the lead.

Apart from the Clarets, both Coventry and Gillingham moved to strengthen their squads last week. French defender Florent Laville has joined Coventry from Bolton. He becomes Coventry’s sixth loan signing and five of them were in the side on Saturday.

Gillingham have added 18-year-old Matt Bodkin to their squad. The Kent born forward has signed from Nottingham Forest on a free transfer.

It’s a full fixture list again this midweek and the full fixture list up to next Monday are included below.

The weekend results

Friday 29th October

Crewe 2 Sheff Utd 3

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Saturday 30th October

Cardiff 0 Leicester 0

Nottm Forest 1 Watford 2

Coventry 3 Reading 2

Plymouth 1 West Ham 1

Derby 3 Rotherham 2

QPR 3 Burnley 0

Gilingham 1 Wolves 0

Stoke 1 Millwall 0

Ipswich 3 Preston 0

Sunderland 2 Brighton 0

Sunday 31st October

Leeds 0 Wigan 2

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The weekend stats

Biggest win

Ipswich 3-0 v Preston (home)
QPR 3-0 v Burnley (home)

Total goals scored

32

Player scoring most goals

2 - Heidar Helguson (Watford)

Highest Attendance

27,432 - Wigan v Leeds

Lowest Attendance

7,131 - Crewe v Sheffield Utd

Total Yellow Cards

41

Total Red Cards

1

Most cards in a game
5

Ipswich v Preston
Nottm Forest v Watford
Plymouth v West Ham
QPR v Burnley
Stoke v Millwall

The leading scorers (league only)

11

Nathan Ellington (Wigan)

10

Jason Roberts (Wigan)

9

Paul Furlong (QPR)
Dave Kitson (Reading)
Danny Webber (Watford)

7

Dean Ashton (Crewe)
Teddy Sheringham (West Ham)

6

Darren Bent (Ipswich)
Stephen Elliott (Sunderland)
Heidar Helguson (Watford)
Shefki Kuqi (Ipswich)
Kenny Miller (Wolves)
Andy Morrell (Coventry)
Paul Shaw (Sheff Utd) - 2 with Rotherham
Marcus Stewart (Sunderland)

5

Ade Akinbiyi (Stoke)
Robbie Blake (Burnley)
Darren Byfield (Gillingham)
Richard Cresswell (Preston)
David Friio (Plymouth)
Kevin Gallen (QPR)
Andy Gray (Sheff Utd)
David Healy (Leeds) - 5 with Preston
Eddie Johnson (Coventry)
Steve Jones (Crewe)
Danny Pugh (Leeds)
Marco Reich (Derby)
Marcus Tudgay (Derby)

This week's fixtures

Tuesday 2nd November

Cardiff v West Ham

Plymouth v Reading

Crewe v Leicester

QPR v Millwall

Gillingham v Watford

Stoke v Wigan

Ipswich v Sheffield Utd

Sunderland v Wolves

Wednesday 3rd November

Coventry v Preston

Leeds v Burnley

Derby Brighton

Nottm Forest v Rotherham

Friday 5th November

Millwall v Sunderland

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Saturday 6th November

Brighton v Crewe

Sheffield Utd v Gillingham

Burnley v Ipswich

Watford v Derby

Preston v Leeds

West Ham v QPR

Reading v Stoke

Wigan v Plymouth

Rotherham v Cardiff

Wolves v Nottm Forest

Monday 8th November

Leicester v Coventry

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