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In the Championship – Top beat bottom
Last Updated : 23-Aug-2004 by
It’s Plymouth who are right behind the Latics and they were winners again, beating Sunderland 2-1 at Home Park. The Pilgrims were in front in the very first minute with a stunning free kick (no, it wasn’t the best goal of the day) from Paul Wotton.
The led 2-0 at half time but Marcus Stewart did pull one back for the Mackems and in doing so became the first player to score against Plymouth this season.
Tony Pulis would have been pleased to wipe the smile off Paul Scally’s face as his Stoke side beat Gillingham 2-0. Stoke are not particularly subtle in the way they play but right now it is proving effective and they sit in third place and are one of five unbeaten sides in the league.
In that respect they join the top two, the Clarets (and yes, Robbie scored the best goal of the day), and Nottingham Forest with a zero in the defeats column. Forest though also have a zero in the wins column as they collected their fourth draw of the season.
This time it was at Leeds with an Andy Reid penalty equalising a Steve Guppy goal for the home side.
West Ham went goal crazy in the first half an hour at the Alexandra Stadium against Dario G’s Crewe and were 3-0 up. Luke Chadwick is again showing his August form and he set up the first of two Teddy Sheringham goals.
But Crewe came back and the Hammers were hanging on at 3-2 at the end after Dean Ashton had scored twice for the home side.
Crewe, as predicted, are early strugglers and so are QPR who have hardly set the division on fire since winning promotion. They were beaten 2-0 at home against Derby who have got off to a much better start this season. Tommy Smith scored his first goal for the Rams since his summer move from Sunderland.
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Watford collected the result of the weekend with a more than unexpected 1-0 win against Leicester in the crisp bowl. It was a late, late goal from Danny Webber that won it against a Leicester side who have not made the sort of start they were expected to.
Along with Wolves they were pre-season favourites, and they might go on to prove the bookies right. But it is good to see them both languishing in the bottom six with only one win between them.
Apparently Long Ball Joe isn’t bothering with the long ball stuff as difficult as that is to believe. He was boasting that there isn’t a side in the league that could out pass his Ipswich team. They ran out easy winners against a poor Cardiff side. Former Claret Alan Lee got the Bluebirds consolation goal.
Coventry turned in their worst performance of the season so far, losing 1-0 to Millwall, and they had Patrick Suffo sent off for a head butt. Manager Peter Reid said the decision was a correct one but he did comment on how easily Millwall player/boss Dennis Wise went down.
I’m sure Paul Weller would be one of the first in a long, long queue to agree with Reid yet referees continue to be oblivious to his antics.
The other red card of the weekend went to Sheffield United’s Phil Jagielka in their televised win at Preston on Friday.
Needless to say the Weary Whinger had nothing to say about the bad decision and hinted that their less than inspired performance could have been caused by international fatigue as players returned from representing their countries.
He should have been at Burnley watching Michael Duff and Micah Hyde to check out how players can play after internationals.
It wasn’t the best day down at Deepdale – Ricardo Fuller has finally gone off to the Premiership yet Preston have to wait for their money. Portsmouth announced earlier in the week that he would never pass a medical and then managed to get him on a pay as you play basis.
Preston Chairman Derek Shaw admitted, “He wouldn’t pass a medical, we all know that, and we’ve thrashed out the best possible deal for Preston North End.” He did reveal that with the money coming in for Fuller it would prove difficult to get in a replacement.
And we didn’t even get a player yellow carded twice without being sent off in our division – we’ll probably get lumbered with D’Urso now though when he gets suspended by the Premiership.
It’s Carling Cup week this week which means no league midweek league fixtures – but the Championship is back next weekend with Gillingham and QPR kicking off the Bank Holiday weekend on Friday night in front of the Sky cameras. That one should keep the viewing figures down on Coronation Street.
The weekend results | |
Friday 20th August | |
Preston 0 Sheffield United 1 | . |
Saturday 21st August | |
Burnley 1 Wolves 1 | Plymouth 2 Sunderland 1 |
Coventry 0 Millwall 1 | QPR 0 Derby 2 |
Crewe 2 West Ham 3 | Reading 1 Rotherham 0 |
Ipswich 3 Cardiff 1 | Stoke 2 Gillingham 0 |
Leeds 1 Nottm Forest 1 | Wigan 3 Brighton 0 |
Leicester 0 Watford 1 | . |
The weekend stats | |
Biggest win | Wigan 3-0 v Brighton (home) |
Total goals scored | 27 |
Player scoring most goals | Dean Ashton (Crewe) |
Highest Attendance | 31,808 - Leeds v Nottm Forest |
Lowest Attendance | 7,857 - Crewe v West Ham |
Total Yellow Cards | 36 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Burnley v Wolves |
The leading scorers | |
4 | Nathan Ellington (Wigan) |
3 | Dean Ashton (Crewe) Mark Rivers (Crewe) Teddy Sheringham (West Ham) Marcus Stewart (Sunderland) Danny Webber (Watford) |
This week's fixtures | |
Friday 27th August | |
Gillingham v QPR | . |
Saturday 28th August | |
Brighton v Preston | Rotherham v Ipswich |
Cardiff v Stoke | Sunderland v Wigan |
Derby v Crewe | Watford v Plymouth |
Millwall v Reading | West Ham v Burnley |
Nottm Forest v Coventry | Wolves v Leicester |
Sunday 29th August | |
Sheffield United v Leeds (12:30 p.m.) | . |
