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In the Championship – Still Wigan at the top
To add to that, in the return match, a stoppage time equaliser from Brian Deane on the last day of the season kept Wigan out of the play offs allowing Crystal Palace in and they went on to reach the Premiership.
Nathan Ellington scored twice with the other coming from Jason Roberts and it left the Hammers' fans still unconvinced that Alan Pardew is the manager to take them back to the Premiership.
Nathan Ellington scored twice with the other coming from Jason Roberts and it left the Hammers' fans still unconvinced that Alan Pardew is the manager to take them back to the Premiership.
Plymouth are right behind them on goal difference after their Friday night 1-0 win at Ninian Park which was just about deserved although they benefited from an appalling refereeing decision that should have seen Cardiff win a penalty after Robert Earnshaw was brought down.
Apart from those two four other teams remain unbeaten. We are one of them and recorded our first win at Watford courtesy of an Ian Moore goal whilst Stoke were earning themselves a point at Rotherham with an equaliser five minutes from time scored by Ade Akinbiyi, his first of the season.
Former Burnley loan man Paul Shaw had given the Millers the lead early in the second half and they too haven’t lost yet although they are still searching for that first win following their third successive draw.
It’s the same for Nottingham Forest who were held at the City Ground for the second time in four days and twice had to come from behind to get a point against Crewe for whom Mark Rivers scored both goals. Rivers, a Burnley target, has now hit three in three for Dario G’s outfit.
Sheffield United and Wolves are both still searching for their first wins. After drawing their first two games the Blades went down to a 1-0 Bramall Lane defeat against Reading whilst Wolves were held 0-0 by Leeds although Kenny Miller did have a penalty saved by Neil Sullivan after Michael Duberry had brought him down and earned himself a red card.
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This was not just a long throw, it was hurled into the six yard box from not too far over the half way line and this is going to be one big weapon for Millwall this season. The second goal from Danny Dichio followed an excellent through ball from player boss Dennis Wise.
Pride Park saw the most goals as they beat Ipswich 3-2 after coming from 2-1 behind. German international Marco Reich scored twice but it was the second goal from Spaniard Inigo Idiakez that will be remembered, a superb strike.
Probably the best goal of the weekend came from QPR’s Paul Devlin at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland. His run took him from his own half before he unleashed and unstoppable shot from outside the box.
The London side led twice but had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Sunderland’s former Newcastle defender Stephen Caldwell heading in a stoppage time equaliser from a corner.
Everyone has at least a point now – Brighton earned their first after Adam Virgo equalised in the 89th minute against Coventry at the Withdean.
Neil Wood is still waiting for his Coventry debut, he hasn’t featured in the sixteen in any of the three matches to date although he did play in their reserve match during the week against Watford.
That leaves just the one fixture – Gillingham’s 2-1 win against Preston at the Priestfield Stadium. Darren Byfield and Iwan Roberts, scorers in the midweek win against Leeds, were on the mark again with Ricardo Fuller, we expected him being at the Olympics competing against Dimitri Papadopoulos in the diving, scoring for Preston.
The Weary Whinger didn’t let us down and apparently the reason for the defeat on this occasion was the fact that Dickson Etuhu was sent off at Wolves in midweek. Playing with ten men, according to WW, left them very short of energy towards the end of yesterday’s game.
And with Fuller jet lagged too what else could be expected? “I thought we were worth a point,” he said after the game. Only a point !! They must have been bad.
Sunderland have been splashing the cash since the midweek report – they spent £25,000 on defender Neil Collins from Dumbarton although he wasn’t involved in the home draw against Crewe.
There are no midweek fixtures this week, but a full fixture list next weekend starts at Deepdale when Preston take on Sheffield United in front of the Sky cameras.
The weekend results | |
Friday 13th August | |
Cardiff 0 Plymouth 1 | . |
Saturday 14th August | |
Brighton 1 Coventry 1 | Rotherham 1 Stoke 1 |
Derby 3 Ipswich 2 | Sheffield United 0 Reading 1 |
Gillingham 2 Preston 1 | Sunderland 2 QPR 2 |
Millwall 2 Leicester 0 | Watford 0 Burnley 1 |
Nottm Forest 1 Crewe 1 | Wolves 0 Leeds 0 |
Sunday 15th August | |
West Ham 1 Wigan 3 | . |
The weekend stats | |
Biggest win | Wigan 3-1 v West Ham (away) |
Total goals scored | 27 |
Player scoring most goals | Nathan Ellington (Wigan) |
Highest Attendance | 28,397 - Wolves v Leeds |
Lowest Attendance | 5,925 - Rotherham v Stoke |
Total Yellow Cards | 32 |
Total Red Cards | 2 |
Most cards in a game | 4 Derby v Ipswich |
The leading scorers | |
3 | Mark Rivers (Crewe) |
2 | Dean Bowditch (Ipswich) Darren Byfield (Gillingham) Nathan Ellington (Wigan) James Harper (Reading) David Healy (Preston) Lee McCulloch (Wigan) Kenny Miller (Wolves) Marco Reich (Derby) Iwan Roberts (Gillingham) Jason Roberts (Wigan) Paul Shaw (Rotherham) Marcus Stewart (Sunderland) Gareth Taylor (Nottm Forest) Danny Webber (Watford) |
This week's fixtures | |
Friday 20th August | |
Preston v Sheffield United | . |
Saturday 21st August | |
Burnley v Wolves | Plymouth v Sunderland |
Coventry v Millwall | QPR v Derby |
Crewe v West Ham | Reading v Rotherham |
Ipswich v Cardiff | Stoke v Gillingham |
Leeds v Nottm Forest | Wigan v Brighton |
Leicester v Watford | . |