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In the Championship – Royals march on
Dave Kitson grabbed a hat trick and it ended 5-1 but once again Kitson has been accused by the opposition. He got a player sent off, going down as if he had been shot, and then went down in the box somewhat theatrically from the resulting free kick, which won them a penalty.
Mark McGhee believed the referee cost them the game but despite some very strange decisions from Paul Taylor going the way of the home side they didn’t look to be in the game.
Surely though, nothing can stop Reading making the Premiership this season. They have never played top flight football but 56 points at the half way stage is an incredible return. Just four years ago we led the league at this stage with 46 points and since we won promotion only Fulham, in the first season, have bettered Reading’s total.
The top two seem to be running away with it and the gap between Sheffield United in second place and third place Watford is already thirteen points and that is going to take some catching. Saturday didn’t help as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home against Plymouth and things could have been much worse.
Nick Chadwick, he’s suddenly started scoring since we were linked with him, looked to have scored the only goal of the game but some superb wing play by Anthony McNamee led to Marlon King scoring a stoppage time equaliser. That goal takes King, on loan from Forest, level with Ade as joint leading scorer in the league.
Although it increased the gap between 2nd and 3rd by two points it was enough to move Watford up a place as Leeds were beaten at home by Cardiff. It was a happy return for Peter Ridsdale who apparently had only called in to pick up his goldfish but instead so Jason Koumas score the only goal of the game with a free kick from twenty yards.
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Harry’s well and truly gone now at Southampton and it was the Bassett/Wise double act on the touchline again. They beat Luton 1-0 and surely we witnessed the goal of the weekend in the division from youngster Theo Walcott. He outpaced the defender down the left wing, looked up and saw the keeper off his line, and chipped him. It was a fantastic finish.
Down at the bottom end of the league Dario G said before Crewe’s game against Norwich that they had missed Dean Ashton’s goals more than he thought they would. I think Norwich have too this season as he has struggled to find any sort of form and he drew a blank again on his first return to Crewe.
It was the home side who took the lead through Billy Jones but Norwich came back in the second half to win it with two goals from substitute Paul McVeigh. There’s no doubt though that Crewe are certainly missing something, since Ashton was sold they have won just five of forty-three games.
They are not bottom though, that position is still reserved for Millwall who had another bad day. This time it was at Coventry and not only were they beaten but again they failed to end the game with eleven players.
Coventry led with a first half goal from Claus Jorgensen, who I have just learned is a Faroe Island international, but things went worse in the second half when referee Tony Leake seemed to have little alternative than to send off Matt Lawrence for an elbow. There was to be no argument from the Millwall manager Colin Lee regarding the decision.
That’s not how it was at Pride Park where Preston manager Billy Davies felt aggrieved after their lead was wiped out from the penalty spot following a handball from defender Youl Mawene, formerly a Derby player.
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Glenn Hoddle has now been in charge of Wolves for a year and I think by drawing their game at Palace it probably celebrated it in the correct way. This was the twenty-sixth time Wolves have drawn since Hoddle took command and has so often been the case, they let a lead slip.
South Korean Ki-Hyeon Seol gave them the lead but Andy Johnson with his first goal since returning from injury won a point for Palace. Wolves don’t score enough goals and Hoddle is looking to bring in a striker when the window opens. He’s had two offers turned down by Franchise for Izale McLeod, the former Derby player and says he won’t be upping the bid. It is believed he may now turn his attentions to Carlisle’s Karl Hawley.
Other than bottom club Millwall, nobody loses at home more often than Stoke, and they were looking set for their seventh home defeat last Friday. They trailed Leicester 2-1 with just a quarter of an hour to go but two headed goals turned it round and was enough to see them climb above us.
Jason Price scored the winner for Hull against Sheffield Wednesday with just three minutes to go but it was far from the talking point at the final whistle.
The goal was missed by Wednesday boss Paul Sturrock who was taken to hospital after feeling unwell on the touchline. Thankfully it is nothing serious and although taking a couple of days off, Sturrock is home and feeling a lot better.
The goal was missed by Wednesday boss Paul Sturrock who was taken to hospital after feeling unwell on the touchline. Thankfully it is nothing serious and although taking a couple of days off, Sturrock is home and feeling a lot better.
That just leaves the game between Ipswich and QPR and Long Ball Joe was left fuming after referee Matt Messias failed to send off QPR’s Paul Furlong after he trod on goalkeeper Lewis Price’s head. It happened in the second minute of the game after Price had gone down as QPR got a shot in and Furlong stepped over him. It left the keeper requiring stitches.
The referee didn’t view it as an accident and yellow carded Furlong who rubbed salt into the wound by scoring just before half time to give the visitors a 2-1 lead. Seventeen year old Danny Haynes, on as a sub and still waiting for his first start in the first team, scored in stoppage time to earn Ipswich a point. But Joe was still fuming.
We’ve now got just the one set of fixtures, this weekend, before Christmas and a massive four games in eight days for most clubs. We’ll include all those Christmas and New Year fixtures in next week’s In the Championship.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 9th December | |
Stoke 3 Leicester 2 | . |
Saturday 10th December | |
Coventry 1 Millwall 0 | Ipswich 2 QPR 2 |
Crewe 1 Norwich 2 | Leeds 0 Cardiff 1 |
Crystal Palace 1 Wolves 1 | Reading 5 Brighton 1 |
Derby 1 Preston 1 | Sheffield Utd 3 Burnley 0 |
Hull 1 Sheffield Wed 0 | Watford 1 Plymouth 1 |
Sunday 11th December | |
Southampton 1 Luton 0 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Reading 5-1 v Brighton (home) |
Total goals scored | 31 |
Player scoring most goals | 3 - Dave Kitson (Reading) |
Highest Attendance | 24,628 - Ipswich v QPR |
Lowest Attendance | 6,132 - Crewe v Norwich |
Total Yellow Cards | 34 |
Total Red Cards | 3 |
Most cards in a game | Leeds v Cardiff (6Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
11 | Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley) Marlon King (Watford) |
10 | Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) |
9 | Carl Cort (Wolves) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Ashley Young (Watford) |
8 | Sam Bangoura (Stoke) Kevin Doyle (Reading) David Healy (Leeds) Rob Hulse (Leeds) Dave Kitson (Reading) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
7 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Steve Howard (Luton) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) |
6 | Dean Ashton (Norwich) Mark de Vries (Leicester) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Leroy Lita (Reading) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) |
5 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Warren Feeney (Luton) Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace) Paul Gallagher (Stoke) Joey Gudjonsson (Leicester) Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd) Leon Knight (Brighton) Glen Little (Reading) Dean Morgan (Luton) Dave Nugent (Preston) Sam Parkin (Ipswich) Michael Ricketts (Cardiff) Matthew Spring (Watford) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 42 | 2 | Millwall | 50 | 9 |
| Burnley | 37 | 3 | Norwich | 37 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 43 | 1 | Plymouth | 37 | 0 |
| Coventry | 49 | 3 | Preston | 43 | 2 |
| Crewe | 21 | 1 | QPR | 53 | 5 |
| Crystal Palace | 43 | 0 | Reading | 25 | 0 |
| Derby | 40 | 3 | Sheffield Utd | 36 | 1 |
| Hull | 23 | 3 | Sheffield Wed | 28 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 33 | 4 | Southampton | 43 | 4 |
| Leeds | 41 | 1 | Stoke | 43 | 6 |
| Leicester | 47 | 2 | Watford | 38 | 2 |
| Luton | 29 | 3 | Wolves | 27 | 1 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Friday 16th December | |
Brighton v Hull | Preston v Sheffield Utd |
Saturday 17th December | |
Burnley v Watford | Norwich v Southampton |
Cardiff v Derby | Plymouth v Crystal Palace |
Leicester v Crewe | Sheffield Wed v Ipswich |
Luton v Stoke | Wolves v Leeds |
Millwall v Reading | . |
Monday 19th December | |
QPR v Coventry | . |